BRIEF tfOTICE,

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Fim.rnucn Wilhelm Brssf.i, was born at Minden, July 22, 1784.II is fathcr hold an otrice of local administration undcr the Prussiangovernmcnt (Justiz-Rath). Ilis mothor was the daughter of a cler-gyman, Schrader by namc, at Rchme. Being one of a family ofnino children, his education, thou'g'h .not neglected, was in norespoct calcnlated to fit him.for liis futüiedistinguished carecr. 1tis said that lie shewcd an early disinclination for ihe Clements ofclassical literaturo; most probabjy' frotii the repulsivc form inwhich thcy arc nsually adrriinistcred to- children. Be that as itmay, he manifested a decided prefercncc for. and early expertnessin, arithmotic ; which his father perceiving, placed hini, at the age offifteen, as an apprenticed clcrk in a considerable commercial houseat Bremen (Kuhlenkamp and Sons).

A boyish story is told of his grinding a glass with emery in asaucer, and remarking, with dclight, that it in some degree con-centrated the rays of the sun ; pcrhaps in rüde imitation of someprocess 1ie had read of, or been told. A moro decidedly charac-teristic anecdotc is recorded of his having, in his thirteenth year,rcmarked, while comparing the constellations in the heavens withtheir representation on a planisphere, that 1 Lyrce, marked as onestar in the chart, consists of two, which his eye was sharp enoughto distinguish scparately, though at so small an interval as 3' 32".This must certainly be regardcd as an uncommon proof, not only ofacute vision, bat of close and careful attention in a boy so young,and as manifesting that capacity for becoming earnestly intcrestedin a subject to which the natural facultics of the mind are bestadapted, which is all that can be understood by an early beut ofgenius.

Earnest attention and zcalous oecupation with the busincssbefore him, of whatever nature, seems, however, to have been aprimary feature of his character. In his new Situation, he speedilymastcred, not mercly the routine of his own subordinate position,

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