HALLER, ALBERT VON, was born at Berne, October 16th 1708, of an ancient and respectable family. His father, Nicholas Emmanuel von Haller, who was an advocate and had the reputation of being an able lawyer, died in 1721; but even at that time he could foresee the distinction which hie son would attain, from the superiority which he evinced over his fellow-pupils. In early life Haller was feeble and delicate, being affected with rickets—a circumstance which, as his friend and biographer Zimmermann observes, not unfrequently tends to foster and develop the talents of a youth. He is said, at the ago of nine, to have been in the habit of writing down each day all the unusual words he met with. He composed also abort lives of nearly two thousand distinguished persons, after the manner of Bayle's dictionary, and formed a Chaldee grammar. A satire in Latin verse upon hie master was known to have been written by him when only ten years old, and two years later he first began to compose verses in his native language.
His father had intended him for the church, but his own inclinations leading him to the study of physic, he went iu 1723 to the University of Tiibingen, where he lived with Duvernoy, afterwards professor of anatomy at St. Petersburg. Being but little satisfied with his progress there, he resorted in 1725 to Leyden, where the zeal and talent of the professors afforded him an opportunity of pursuing hie studies in a manner more accordant with his wishes. At this university Boerhaave was then in the height of his fame, attended by 120 pupils, whose instruction was hie greatest delight ; and Albioua was delivering lectures on anatomy and surgery. Having enjoyed such advantages as these, it is not extraordinary that Haller should ever after speak with the greatest satisfaction of his residence at Leyden. About this time he visited Rnyach at Amsterdam, then in his eighty-ninth year, and saw a portion of his celebrated collection of anatomical prepara tions, the superiority of whioh, he tells us, depended rather upon skill in manipulation than on any secret process. At the end of the year 1726 ho offered himself for his doctor's degree, and delivered his thesis ' De ductu ealivali Coschwiziano,' which he showed to be merely a blood-vessel. In 1727 he visited London, where be became acquainted with Sir Hams Sloane and Cheaelden; thence he went to Oxford, and thence to Paris, whence, having pursued his anatomical and surgical studies for some time under Winslow and Le Drat; he went to Basel to study mathematics under Bernoulli, and then returned to his native country and began to practise as a physician. In 1735 he
was appointed physician to the hospital at Berne, and soon after principal librarian to the large public collection of books and medals; but these offices be did not hold long, for in the followiog year he was offered the professorship of medicine, anatomy, botany, and surgery, at Gottingen, by George 1L, which after some hesitation he accepted. Having declined practising, he devoted himself to the duties of his office with the greatest zeal, and especially exerted himself to increase the facilities for the study of anatomy. During eighteen years that he retained this appointment, while fully discharging all its laborious duties, he was a constant contributor to the different scientific ' Trans actions.' In 1747 he published the first edition of his Prima) Liners Physiologim,' which he had that year used as the groundwork of his lectures, having previously employed the ' Institutions' of Boerhaave. In 1751 the Royal Society of Gottingen was established, and Haller, at whose house the first meeting took place, was appointed perpetual president. To their 'Transactions,' of which the first volume appeared shortly after under the title of ' Commentarii Societatis Regina Scientiarum Gottingensis,' he was a constant contributor, even after 1753, when, in consequence of the delicate state of his health, being obliged to leave Gottingen, ho retired to Berne. Here he resided during the rest of his life, constantly occupied in the publication of his most important and voluminous works, in the cultivation of tho science of his profession and of general literature, and in the active and honourable discharge of various duties in the service of the republic, in which he at all times strenuously advocated the of tho aristocracy. He died in October 1777, in the enjoyment of the highest reputation both as a citizen, a scholar, and a philosopher, his literary labours ceasing only with his life.