The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Burmeister, Hermann

BURMEISTER, Hermann, a German naturalist, born at Stralsund, Jan. 15, 1807. He studied medicine at Greifswald and Halle, and in 1830 went to Berlin to qualify himself to be a teacher of natural history. He was soon after appointed an instructor in the gymnasium at Cologne, and in 1842 became professor of zoölogy in the university of Halle. In 1848 he was a deputy from Halle to the national assembly of Frankfort, and afterward a representative from Liegnitz in the first Prussian chamber, where he took his seat among the liberals. In 1850-'51 he made a scientific journey in Brazil. Upon his return to Europe he resumed his professorship at Halle, again travelled in South America from 1856 to 1860, and in 1861, after another year's stay in Halle, resigned his professorship and became director of the museum of natural history established by him at Buenos Ayres. His principal works are: Grundriss der Naturgeschichte (Berlin, 1833; 9th ed., 1857); Handbuch der Naturgechichte (1837); Zoologischer Handatlas (1835-'43; 2d ed., 1858-'60); Handbuch der Entomologie (5 vols., 1832-'55); Genera Insectorum (9 parts, 1833-'46); Die Organisation der Trilobiten (1843); Die Labyrinthodonten (3 parts, 1849-'50); Geschichte der Schöpfung (Leipsic, 1843; 6th ed., 1856); Geologische Bilder zur Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Bewohner (2 vols., 1851-'3; 2d ed., 1855); Zoonomische Briefe (2 vols., 1856); and several works on the natural history of Brazil, &c., and his travels in South America.