CAMPER, Peter (1722-1789), a celebrated anatomist and naturalist, was born at Leyden, May 11, 1722. He was educated at the university of Leyden, and in 1746 graduated in philosophy and medicine. After the death of his father in 1748 he spent more than a year in England, studying under the most famous medical teachers in London. He then visited Paris, Lyons, and Geneva, and returned to Franeker, where he had been appointed to the professorship of philosophy, medicine, and surgery. He visited England a second time in 1752, and in 1755 he λvas called to the chair of anatomy and surgery at the Athenaeum in Amsterdam. He resigned this post after six years, and retired to his country house near Franeker, in order uninterruptedly to carry on his studies. In 1763, however, he accepted the professorship of medicine, surgery, and anatomy at Groningen, and continued in the chair for ten years. He then returned to Franeker, and after the death of his wife in 1776 spent some time in travelling. He made the acquaintance of Diderot and Marmontel at Paris, and was received with great respect by Frederick the Great at Potsdam. In 1762 he had been returned as one of the deputies in the assembly of the province of Friesland, and the latter years of his life were much occupied with political affairs. In 1783 he was nominated to a seat in the council of state, and took up his residence at the Hague. His death (7th April 1789) was caused by a violent pleurisy, the effects of which were accelerated by political excitement. Camper’s works, mainly memoirs and detached papers, are very numerous; the most important of those bearing on comparative anatomy were published in 3 vols, at Paris in 1803, under the title Oeuvres de P. Camper qui ont pour objet VHistoire Naturelle, la Physiologie, et ...