Jouann Heinrich Merck, a German scholar, born in Darmstadt, April 11, 1741, died June 27. 1791. He officiated in various public functions in his native town, translated Addison's "Cato" and other works from the English, cooperated with Lavater in the publication of his work on physiognomy, and took an active part in the Frankfurter gelehrte Anzeigen, Deutscher Merkur, and other leading periodicals, and in various other literary enterprises. His select works were edited long after his death by Stahr, and published in Oldenburg in 184o. He is chiefly remembered in German literature on account of his intimate association with Goethe, Herder, and other eminent men, upon whose intellectual development he exerted a great influence by his literary criticism. The latter part of Merck's life was saddened by. domestic and pecuniary misfortunes, which led him to shoot himself. The letters addressed to him by Goethe, Herder, Wieland, and others were published by Wagner (Darmstadt, 1835); and another edition of his correspondence, including both letters received and written by him, appeared in 1838.