The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Endlicher, Stephan Ladislaus

ENDLICHER, Stephan Ladislaus, a Hungarian botanist and linguist, born in Presburg, June 24, 1804, died in Vienna, March 28, 1849. He studied at the universities of Pesth and Vienna, and intending to become a clergyman, he entered subsequently the archiepiscopal seminary in the latter city. After having received the minor clerical orders, he abandoned theology and devoted himself to the study of the natural sciences, especially botany. He continued at the same time his studies of the oriental languages, and obtained in 1828 a position in the court library of Vienna, where he was intrusted with the compilation of a new catalogue of the manuscripts. In 1836 he was appointed keeper of the court cabinet of natural history, and in 1840 professor of botany and director of the botanical garden of the university. During this period he exhausted his personal resources in supplying the institution with costly materials for the study of botany which the government failed to procure, and in publishing or aiding others in publishing valuable works. He corresponded with scientific men and institutions in every part of the world, and was one of the chief founders of the Vienna academy and of the Annalen des Wiener Museums. He presented his own choice library and rich herbaria to the state, and passed several hours every week for ten years in the society of the emperor Ferdinand; but he received no other reward than the title of Regierungsrath. The political turmoil of 1848 found him in pecuniary embarrassment, and becoming known as a sympathizer of the popular party, he was made the butt of the intrigues of his enemies, which hastened his death. Some believe that he died by his own hand. He made valuable contributions to the science of old German and classic literature, and pointed out new sources of Hungarian history, publishing Fragmenta Theotisca Versionis antiquissimæ Evangelii Matthæi (edited with Hoffmann von Fallersleben, 1834); an edition of two poems of Priscian (1828); and Anonymi Belæ Regis Notarii de Gestis Hungarorum Liber (1827). His linguistic publications comprise Analecta Grammatica (with Eichenfeld, 1836), and Anfangsgrunde der chinesischen Grammatik (1845). His Verzeichniss der japanesischen und chinesischen Münzen des kaiserlichen Münz- und Antikencabinets (1837) and Atlas von China nach der Aufnahme der Jesuitenmissionäre (1843) are finely executed, and deserve mention as specimens of his great liberality. The majority and the most valuable of his works treat on botany. Foremost among them are his Genera Plantarum (1831-'41), in which he lays down a new system of classification; Grundzüge einer neuen Theorie der Pflanzenerzeugung (1838); and Die Medicinalpflanzen der österreichischen Pharmakopöe (1842). The principal of his other botanical works are: Ceratotheca (1822); Flora Posoniensis (1830); Diesingia (1832); Atacta Botanica (1833); Iconographia Generum Plantarum (1838); Enchiridium Botanicum (1841); and Synopsis Coniferarum Sancti Galli (1847.) Besides these he wrote several works in conjunction with other scholars, and many of his minor writings are scattered among the periodicals of his time, especially in the Annalen des Wiener Museums. (See Botany.)