in the summer of 1821, where he would remain for the rest of his professional life.

Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner was born in Greifenberg in Pommern as the son of Johann Friedrich Gottlob Kastner, who was teacher and headmaster at the school of Greifenberg and a Protestant pastor. After his father had been displaced to Swinemünde, Kastner started his vocational education at a pharmacy in 1798. Three years later, he travelled to Berlin, to work as assistant of a pharmacist and to visit lectures