Other institutions were soon started in imitation of the Dessau Philanthropinum. The first of these was opened in October of 1775 at Marschlins, in Switzerland, but closed its doors in the following year. A second, at the castle Heidesheim, not far from Mannheim, lived only from the first of May, 1777, until some time in 1779. The task of organization in each instance was confided to Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, who had spent four weeks at Dessau and was recommended by Basedow himself. But one philanthropinistic school, the Schnepfenthal Educational Institute, long outlived its parent, and has survived even to the present day. Its founder, _Christian Gotthilf Salzmann_ (1744-1811), had been called from a pastorate in Erfurt to become liturgist and teacher of religion in the Philanthropinum at Dessau, remaining there from the spring of 1781 until the end of February, 1784, and he himself attributed much of his later success to what he saw and learned in these three years. A growing desire to carry out independently his ideas of education, upon similar principles but with some important differences in organization and surroundings, finally induced Salzmann to give up his position in order to found a new school in the country, remote from the influences of city life. The site selected for the venture was Schnepfenthal, an estate in the vicinity of Gotha. Toward its purchase Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha contributed four thousand thaler, and the cornerstone of the main building was laid June 18, 1784.