[Born 1782. Died 1853. Aged 71.]
Director in Berlin of the Government department of trade, commerce, and buildings, and head of the Great Industrial Society of Prussia. In his public service he endeavoured to advance the principles of Free-trade, and always acted upon the idea that the regulative intervention of government in matters of commerce should be restricted to cases of general danger. He established many useful institutions in connexion with his department, and caused the issue of several works of instruction for industrial schools and for artisans. He also introduced into Prussia valuable improvements in manufactures, brought home by himself from the United States, England, and France, into which countries he had travelled. An active promoter of enlightened industry.
[By F. Tieck. 1847. Modelled for a large gold medal struck by the Great Society for the Encouragement of Industry in Berlin, and presented to Mr. Beuth.]
357. Karl Gustav Carus. Physician and Anatomist.
[Born at Leipzig, 1790. Still living.]
The son of a painter. Intended for a dyer,—he devoted himself to the study of chemistry; but, widening his sphere, applied himself to medicine, and, subsequently, to anatomy. In 1811, appointed to the Chair of Comparative Anatomy in Leipzig; and, in 1815, to the Directorship of Clinical Midwifery, at the Medico-Surgical Academy of Dresden. Has acquired great reputation by his lectures on Psychology. Also a painter of considerable talent, and the author of numerous works on Medicine, and upon Art. His Letters on Landscape-painting are valuable to artists; their merit was recognised by Goethe. No less important is his book on the “Proportions of the Human Body,”—just published. In him severe science and beautiful art—a rare union—are happily combined.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Plaster. 1846. In the possession of the sculptor.]
358. Karl Gutzkow. Journalist and Dramatist.
[Born at Berlin, 1811. Still living.]
A German author, who, after the breaking out of the Revolution of 1830, exerted himself to advance the interests of his countrymen by publishing one work against Revelation, for which he received three months’ imprisonment, and another against Marriage, which was scarcely issued before he himself entered the marriage state. The dramas of Gutzkow have fared better than his polemical writings, some of his plays being very popular. He is a prolific author, and has cleverness and wit, which he brings to the illustration of every topic of the day; but his vanity and conceit surpass his abilities, and perpetually mislead him.