View source for Paper - Wilhelm His - His relation to the institution of learning

{{Header}}
{{Ref-Mall1905a}}
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! Online Editor &nbsp;
|-
| [[file:Mark_Hill.jpg|90px|left]] This paper by [[Embryology History - Franklin Mall|Franklin Mall]] discusses [[Embryology History - Wilhelm His|Wilhelm His]].

See also later paper by Streeter, GL. [[Book - Contributions to Embryology Carnegie Institution No.24|The Developmental Alterations in the Vascular System of the Brain of the Human Embryo]]. (1921) [[Book_-_Contributions_to_Embryology#Volume_VIII|Contrib. to Embryol. 8]]:7-38.

{{Ref-Streeter1915}}

The following pages also relate to this paper topic. [[Neural - Vascular Development]] | [[Neural - Ventricular System Development]].

{{Mall Links}}
|-
| {{Heart Links}}

{{Neural  Links}}

Some of the numbered embryo used in this paper:
|}
{{Historic Disclaimer}}
=Wilhelm His - His Relation to the Institution of Learning=
[[File:Franklin Mall 01.jpg|thumb|alt=Franklin Mall (1911)|link=Embryology History - Franklin Mall|Franklin Mall (1911)]]
[[File:Wilhelm_His.jpg|thumb|alt=Wilhelm His (1831-1904)|link=Embryology History - Wilhelm His|Wilhelm His (1831-1904)]]
By

[[Embryology History - Franklin Mall|Franklin P. Mall]].

From the Anatomical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University.

==Introduction==
The ancient science of anatomy has been perpetuated and extended during the many centuries of its existence by great men who have dedicated their lives to it. The list is a long one for the development of the science has been slow and progressive from the earliest ages to the present time; we ﬁnd in it on the one hand, some of the names of the greatest who have ever lived—Aristotle, Vesalius—on the other, the names of those who rank as leaders of a generation, Bichat, His.

Undoubtedly the reason for the continuous progress of anatomy through so many centuries is that man has always shown an interest in a knowledge of his own structure and, in turn, that this knowledge has been of great service in battling for rationalism against mysticism in many directions. But in order that a science may progress, it must be inthe hands of able men with the highest ideals and with inexhaustible zeal. The full beneﬁts of "a science cannot be obtained from its literature alone; it is well known that countries without leaders in a science live almost in ignorance of it. No science will develop to its fullness unless it is represented by men who are great enough to grasp the science as a whole and broad enough to understand its relation to -cognate sciences as well as to the needs of a civilized community.

A man of this caliber was Wilhelm His. He was born of a distinguished family which felt that it owed much to the community and therefore educated its children for a strenuous life to be dedicated to the community. He was in no sense a self-made man though ‘he had in him the qualities to make one; his powers were fortunately developed under the best possible conditions. His father taught him, by example, simplicity in living, clearness of thought and seriousness of life. His‘ mother, who died while he was still a youth, guided his education with the greatest care, -laying much stress upon a good command of German. In a private school in a country town, he received a training so rigorous that it makes one shudder to think of it. At the age of thirteen, he returned to his home in Basel and entered the Gymnasium from which he graduated ﬁve years later, in 1849.‘ During his years in the Gymnasium, His rated only as an average pupil, for his bent toward physics and natural history was great, and what spare time he had was devoted to these subjects. He also photographed a great deal, the art then being still in its infancy; he constructed his own camera and made his own plates. In those days the_professors of the University taught also in the higher classes of the Gymnasium (the Pedagogium, as it was called), and it was from them that he received his greatest inspiration. Especially grateful was he to the Professor of German for a thorough training in the use of the German language in which he had received such a good start in his father’s house.

Throughout life the good command of language he h-ad gained and the marked technical ability he had acquired were of the greatest use to him in furthering the cause of anatomy; it is interesting to note that these powers were developed long before he entered the University. It was fortimate for him and for anatomy that he came under the inﬂuence of able men early in his career. Most of his student friends had decided to study law and naturally His thought that he must accompany them. His inward feeling was drawing him tow-ards natural history, but he felt that one’s inclination is to be viewed as a forbidden fruit and therefore he had nearly decided to go with the stream of his fellows. Before taking the ﬁnal step, however, he consulted his superiors, one of whom was Winscheid, later one of the foremost jurists of Germany. Winscheid advised him to follow his own bent and this carried him into medicine.

As soon as he became a student of medicine in the university, he found himself free to follow his own inclinations. For the ﬁrst few years he devoted most of his time to the sciences. Anatomy, physiology, natural history, psychology, chemistry a.nd geology were studied at Basel and Bern under a variety of men. He soon learned that for the student, the quality of the teacher is more important than the subject taught; in order to have a great teacher and the important subject together, he decided to study anatomy with Johannes Miiller, in Berlin.

The lectures of Miﬂler were a revelation to him and he felt for the ﬁrst time the inspiration of a strong personality. His learned from Miiller and later from Remak, how great an inﬂuence a teacher can have upon a pupil, when, as an authority, he presents his own line of work. Then the teacher and pupil stand upon the common ﬁeld of nature. The power of the successful explorer is most stimulating. It encourages the pupil to attack open problems, and, if he can, he formulates questions and takes his position towards them. Thus Miiller’s presence worked upon His and unconsciously the latter soon found himself in the library studying Miiller’s monographs.

His also pursued a course in embryology with Remak in Berlin. The subject was then a new one, but it made a profound and lasting impression upon the young student for it showed the relation between histology, embryology and comparative anatomy. To Remak, His owed more than to Miiller, for Remak’s teaching helped him to formulate problems which occupied ~him during the following half century; his efforts to solve them, have, in many respects, changed the aspects of anatomy.

How different is the study of medicine in Europe from that in Amer ica! There freedom reigns and students wander from place to place being controlled only by a fairly rational system of examinations in case they wish to graduate. Weak students fall out, for there is no cram system to drive them onward; able students select great men as teachers and thereby develop themselves and become stronger. So His, soon tiring of the sterile lectures in practical medicine, turned his eye towards a new star which was beginning to illuminate the medical world and wended his way to Wiirzburg to study with Virchow. During one of Reinhardt’s lectures, His had happened to see Virchow’s great paper upon connective tissue which had just appeared and it made so great -an. impression upon him, that he at once decided to go to Virchow. He was then far from prescient of the fact ‘that in a few years he was to take an important part in the great discussion which Virchow had opened.‘

In the early ﬁfties, the University of Wiirzburg was at the beginning of that rapid rise coincident with the appearance there of a brilliant band of young professors. The change was brought about largely _by a reformer, Professor Reinecker, through whose personal efforts Virchow and Kiilliker were secured. It was the good fortime of His to enter this atmosphere; a select faculty was chosen by a talented student. He entered Wiirzburg at the beginning of his fourthvyear of medical study and began to work in the clinics. He soon found that the laboratories attracted him more than the clinics and during three semesters much time was devoted to practical chemistry; the weekly meetings of the Scientiﬁc Society always found him present to hear of the new medicine from Virchow and Kiilliker.

For a time he attended regularly a kind of journal-meeting at K61liker’s house where a variety of scientiﬁc subjects were discussed. There he became acquainted with Ludwig’s physiology which was then heterodox and called forth severe criticism. Ludwig, very critical towards others with pupils who were more so, kept the camp stirred up pretty well; this had the right effect upon his critics (His included) for they studied the new physiology. Converts were made at a rapid rate and before His had reached middle age, he found that both Virchow and Ludwig were very orthodox; the scientiﬁc world had come to them.

In Wiirzburg, a great opportunity came to His——Virchow at once set him at work in ‘a good ﬁeld to answer fundamental questions. Probably the most important step in the life of a scientist is to .be started aright in research after a good preliminary training. The earlier this is done the better. His was twenty-one years old, mature for his years and he was given every opportunity to use all of his ingenuity and strength in answering important questions. Henle and Virchow had crossed swords, but this did not make the great pathologist try to enslave the mind of His in order to win a victory, but now a.s so frequently afterward, a desire to know and to understand were Virchow’s only considerations in directing a pupil in his work. The results of His were not what Virchow had -anticipated for they showed that Bowman’s corneal tubes and Coccius’ serous spaces were artifacts and had nothing whatever to do with the system of connective—tissue spaces described by Virchow. But His was encouraged to continue and the monograph upon the cornea which he published a number of years later has proven to be a standard until the present day. His had been in the arena and had shown his prowess; he had originality and strength as well as training from a great master and henceforth during all his life he was to win victory after victory for science.

It was still necessary for His to take his medical degree and as was customary with many at that time, he ‘proceeded to Prague and Vienna to study with the great clinicians there. At the end of a year he returned to Basel -and passed his examination with the highest mark.

The young student had received the best from his home, the school, the gymnasium and the university of his native city, had wandered for four years studying at famous foreign universities receiving information and inspiration from the greatest masters—M1'iller, Virchow, Ktilliker and many others—and had now returned to Basel to receive his degree. How much longer must we wait for similar privileges in America?

The following three years of leisure and lack of responsibility, those in which the real stuff in a scholar is tested, were devoted to a continuance of the work already so well begun.’ Part of the time was passed in his private laboratory, one of the years being broken by a journey to Paris, another by a visit to Berlin. Throughout this period he associated only with the best, for there was a never-wavering desire in him to devote his life to science. During this time he became a Privat docent in the University of Basel and gave regular lectures there on histology.

In most of the continental universities any person approved by the faculty may teach and thus new blood is constantly being infused long before a fogy or a dog in the manger has been removed by a beneﬁcent Providence. There is thus maintained a constant competition for better teaching within the walls of the university, and strong young men are brought to the front. If under these conditions a young scientist takes deep root without being spoon-fed or coerced, and commands a broad ﬁeld, adding to its borders, the greatest assurance has been given that he will remain active and productive until he is three score and ten. In America, we frequently ﬁnd recent graduates who tell us that they would follow an academic career if their future were assured as far as salary is concerned. Little do they realize that this attitude of mind alone should exclude them absolutely from such a career. Unfortunately, we seem to have some university presidents who are as easily deceived by such “ scientis ” as the public is by a Mesmer. Within a year, I have known of a president who, when seeking a great anatomist for a rich university, selected a man who had done no scientiﬁc work whatever and had never been tested, simply on his own assurance that he would “ try to do something.”

In 1857 the chair of anatomy at Basel became vacant, and, as is custom-ary, the faculty sought the best available man. They found in His an able earnest young scientist of the best training, tested through freedom and research, whose work had been continued with increasing successful results through the three years of leisure following his advancement to the doctorate. A man who had studied a subject for its own sake ‘ and had contributed to it, was more likely to represent it well than one who had studied it for other rewards. Only too often do we see scholars whose work is good and imitative, but not profound, shift from one thing to another in order to keep before the public in an upward career; they ﬁnd themselves sterile at forty and have to be shelved in some good berth as an active “pensioner,” at ﬁfty. To avoid this danger, great productive men must sit in faculties, for they alone are able to recognize genius in a young man.

When the Chancellor of the University informed His of his appointment as professor of anatomy and physiology, he said: “ We have thrown you into the water, learn to swim;” and the remark was appropriate, for the new professor had never served an apprenticeship in the teaching of either anatomy or physiology. Often did he seem to sink but he always came to the surface again, for he had overcome great difficulties before—-he was independent. After all, research is to the problem of teaching as manoeuvres are to a battle.

The power in His now blossomed and bore fruit. With his great background he was able to construct strong courses, marked by his individuality, and soon he was to inﬂuence the teaching of anatomy the world over. The attitude of the comparative anatomist he had learned from Johannes Miiller, that of the histologist from Virchow and Kolliker, but that which made the greatest and most l.asting impression upon him was the attitude of the embryologist which he learned from Remak. The histological work begun with Vircliow was continued and soon extended to include the lymphatic system. In 1862 he published ‘a paper on lymph radicles, advocating a closed lymphatic system, by all odds the best paper on that side of the question which has ever been published.

During this time, his embryological studies were also actively prosecuted for he had learned of their great value in histology from Remak. The classic object, the chick, as well as the structure of the ovary was studied again. That a plan underlay his work was very apparent, but no one dreamed of its magnitude until the‘ publication of his academic program in 1865, entitled “ Die Hiiute und Hiihlen des Kiirpers.” In this paper he gives the key by which the genetic relation of tissues can be ascertained and following it faithfully, he made one discovery after another. The “ Program ” is now incorporated with our science ;-it proved to be really a program for anatomy, and it was ﬁtting that it should have been reprinted as the last paper during His’s editorship of the Archiv fiir Anatomic, nearly forty years after its ﬁrst publication. It certainly must be gratifying to a scientist to see his early dreams so well realized before his work is over. As His said of Bichat, “ It is a mark of genius to see great truths in a relatively small number of observations.” °

The great contribution to anatomy during the eighteenth century was the discovery of the tissues, the conception of which received its full development in the general anatomy of Bichat, published in 1801. Cellular tissue had been gradually making its way during that century and among others, Haller was trying to see in it some unit of organization, but the cell of Haller proved to be only a connective-tissue space and the all-important ﬁber was viewed by most anatomists as an artiﬁcial production. But the doctrine of cellular tissue was the foundation of general anatomy and this in turn that of histology which, through embryology, has given us modern anatomy.

During the nineteenth century we see three great steps in anatomy, general anatomy, associated with the name of Bichat, the cell doctrine with that of Schwann, and histogenesis with that of His. Compare the great text-books of anatomy of 1790 with those of 1810, those of 1830 with those of 1850 and those of 1880 with those of 1900 and the reasons for this statement will be apparent.

At the time His began his embryological studies the plan of the development of the vertebrate body, as enunciated by Von Baer with Remak’s, classiﬁcation of tissues, had been accepted generally. But the work of Remak was incomplete and in some respects unsatisfactory as, for instance, his conclusion regarding the development of the nervous system, the central portion of which he believed arose from the ectoderm and the peripheral portion from the mesoderm. This and other defects were corrected by His who made a new classiﬁcation of tissues and germ layers which differs more from Remak’s classiﬁcation than this in turn did from Von Baer’s.

In the “Program” His also showed that there is an embryological foundation for Bichat’s classiﬁcation of membranes since they are related directly to the germ layers. Further, he extended the conception of the serous spaces to include the vascular system. All of the serous spaces arise in the mesoderm, and His showed that they are lined with a special kind of cell, designated from the time of his paper on, as endothelial.

After this, his greatest work was histogenetic——witness for instance his studies upon the nervous system and upon the development of the bloodvessels. Contribution after contribution was published upon histogenesis. During the last years of his life he often complained to me that his time was short and that it was necessary for him to make haste in order to round up his work.

Thus His continued to be active until he was over seventy years old; his ﬁnal papers, “although fragmentary,” are of the highest quality. In his great paper upon the angioblast he gave his latest classiﬁcation of tissues from an embryological standpoint’ and stated in conclusion that the riddle which had interested him so much still remained unsolved.

Similarly, in his last monograph upon the nervous system, he wrote: “ The notes are not to be considered as a report of a ﬁnished research, but they only indicate the line of work which must be followed by united eﬁort' in order that a better understanding of the structure of the brain may be gained.” He saw more and more clearly that many hands are required to survey these great ﬁelds and during the last twenty "years of his life, thought much about the organization of research. He lived to see his eﬁorts in this direction crowned by the establishment of a committee for the study of the brain by the International Association of Academies, of which more presently.

In 1872, the chair of anatomy at Leipsic became vacant and through the efforts of Ludwig, His was secured. Professor Ludwig told me that it was by no means the unanimous will of the faculty to call His, for in general he was not well known, nor was he considered a good teacher. But Ludwig knew his Jnan for he had found in His the strongest opponent of his notions regarding lymph radicles ; furthermore, he was fully able to appreciate the author of the great academic program on “ Haute und Hohlen.” ° For over thirty years Ludwig and His were colleagues, consulting each other almost daily, an ideal relation for great scientists.

The work of His had branched in many directions at Basel, but it grew with increased vigor at Leipsic, for here he had all the material aid he could desire. Photographer, modeller, mechanic, technician, artist and others were at his command. A new laboratory, which proved to be a model, was built according to his ideas. Each of these factors was to play a part in the campaign he was conducting and it was soon seen how his hands were thus extended.

Through the better technical assistance, His increased his productivity, for his plan was broad enough to use it to the greatest advantage. The members of his staﬂf, however, were never subject to his orders in their scientiﬁc investigations, nor did he ever use “research assistants” for his ethical standard would not permit such employment of scientists. That a great man can increase his productivity enormously without the questionable use of young colleagues is shown by example in the life of His. Furthermore, his plan of organizing research is one of the best from both the ethical and the scientiﬁc standpoint.

The microtome which His had invented in Basel was now perfected and better serial sections were made of embryos of different classes of vertebrates than ever before. The great monograph upon the chick had just been published and smaller but equally important papers appeared upon ﬁshes; these were soon to be followed in 1880 by the ﬁrst part of the monumental work upon human embryology.

Throughout his embryological work His was constantly interested in the broader problems and he was among the ﬁrst to view development from a mechanical standpoint. His views -and general plans were brought together in 1874 in the classic, “Unsere Kiirperform ” dedicated to his new colleague, Ludwig, appropriately for in it the subject of development is presented from a physiological standpoint. These views were immediately antagonized to the utmost; when arguments failed, his opponents resorted to ridicule, but, in general, His held his own and continued a forward course. He now became the leading advocate of the theory of mechanics in development and it subsequently tinctured all of his papers. Although he made no experiments upon the growth of animals, he must be viewed as one of the pioneers of the new science of experimental morphology.

Throughout His’s embryological papers we see that he believed that the form of the animal body, as well as of its organs and tissues, is due to mechanical inﬂuences of the structures upon one another. This conception was often erroneously construed as mea.ning that there is a mechanical cause for growth, but His repeatedly denied this. “ The stimulant which causes cells to multiply cannot be traced to mechanical inﬂuences.” His mechanical conceptions of development- are comparable with the study of the mechanics of the circulation rather than with that of the evolution of the heart. When analyzed, it appears to me that his mechanical conceptions are related principally to the wandering of tissues -and organs in development. One of the best examples of His’s ideas is his conception of the growth of nerve ﬁber from the central cell to the periphery, where, through secondary connections, it makes itself fast to its end organ. With this conception, we can understand and picture to ourselves the formation and the inﬁnite number of variations of the peripheral nervous system. Other examples may be found in the wandering of the diaphragm and in the metamorphosis of the branchial arches. Mechanical inﬂuences must guide these structures to their fate. And ﬁnally, great masses of tissue wander in the embryo long before we can see what is to become of them. The best example of this kind is to be found in the early development of ﬁshes formulated in His’s brilliant theory of concrescence. According to His, the word “ mechanica ” is to be applied to the movements of these avalanches of tissues and their inﬂuence upon one another in gaining their ﬁnal position and not to the cause of growth.

One of the characteristics of His’s embryological work is that he viewed the embryo as a whole; he always approved of embryological papers which carried a subject to its logical conclusion.“ As he improved the microtome more and more, so that he could cut serial sections ﬁfty microns thick, he constantly kept in mind the relation of the individual section to the embryo as a whole; this led to his well-known method of graphic reconstruction in 1868. At that time haphazard sections of an embryo were often compared with chance sections of older embryos which led to all kinds of erroneous conclusions. In the course of time, he perfected his method by drawing an enlarged picture of the embryo upon ruled paper into which he projected in their proper positions the sections enlarged to the same scale. Photography, as well as a new instrument which he invented, the embryograph, aided him in his work. In order to be better able to compare stage with stage, the reconstructions were converted into models which were duplicated by Ziegler; these models now form the most valuable asset of many of the embryological museums the world over. More accurate models can be made by drawing the sections upon wax plates which when placed upon one another reproduce the embryo ; this method, invented by Born, was used to a very great extent by His in his later years.

Until this time the embryological campaign had been conducted by His from all sides, but one great fortress, the human embryo, still stood before him. Human embryos were very diiﬁcult to obtain and the literature upon the subject was meagre and poor, but His was soon able to select a few important stages from a mass of poor material, normal and pathological. These he studied with such care that the knowledge of the anatomy of the human embryo now exceeds that of any other animal. To be sure the earliest stage were missing, but this mattered but little, for being master of the whole ﬁeld of anatomy, he was able to produce a model work. Each chapter in his monograph is great and original, giving a mass of information; the work reaches. its climax of interest and value in the part on the nervous system.

During the last dozen years of his life, His’s attention was taken away from the study of the nervous system by a variety of subjects; thus, for example, he was interested constantly, as his letters show, in the embryology of ﬁshes.“ The work on this latter subject he was able to round out, but it seemed as if his promised work upon the brain would never appear. When I visited him the summer before his death, I found a broken man, working away at a large manuscript which by no means satisﬁed him. What could be arranged, was published in a monograph upon the brain, which will serve as a foundation for investigation for many years to come. He had hoped to write another volume, but his illness rapidly grew worse, and, unable to work longer, a week before his death, he wrote that his remaining wish was that the end might come soon.

The technical ability of His which had been pretty well trained in the gymnasium, gradually developed farther -and proved to be of great value to him as a teacher. Optical instruments of all kinds, magic lanterns and microphotographic apparatus were much used by him; demonstrations with the microscope after each lecture aided in illustration. The pictures which he drew uponthe board while lecturing were models of their kind and he developed them before the students in such a manner Franklin P. Mall 149

that they could be copied gradually while being evolved. The subject matter of ‘his lectures was chosen in a very conservative way, the substance being always sound and free from all kinds of wild theory and speculation."

Early in his career, he had made crude models of the mesentery and the like, for these were subjects the forms of which were difficult to understand. Toward the end of the seventies, modelling was prosecuted on an extensive scale with the aid of the modeller, Steger, resulting in a series of papers on the form and position of the organs which are now standard. His many models have been duplicated and ﬁll an important corner in all anatomical museums; they have made His the founder of a new school of topographical anatomy. The method which His had introduced in embryology were thus also applied to gross anatomy, for he was never satisﬁed until he could see adult forms in the embryo and the outlines of the embryo in the adult.

In His the power of visualizing forms——the power which enabled him to do his work of reconstruction, to make those Wonderful blackboard drawings during his leetures—was developed to an extreme degree. This power was one of his principal gifts, and one of the chief foundations of his achievements in science. As he grew older there was not only an increase in the depth of insight into problems, which is natural in so able a man, but also what is rarer, a very great improvement in the power of expounding his results. His last papers are models, characterized by conciseness of style, great clearness of description and a suppression of all superﬂuous details.

While His was teaching and investigating, the question of nomenclature came up. ‘Each century, each country, each school, each specialty and each teacher seemed to have a particular groupyof terms based upon an imaginary normal; the result was that there were so many normals that it was extremely difﬁcult to construct a table of synonyms.

When His and a few others founded the Anatomische Gesellschaft, one of the ﬁrst questions discussed was the formation of a uniform nomenclature. After much work and expense, His drew up the oﬂicial report of the international commission, in 1895; it is another standard which the leading teachers and authors have agreedto follow. The new nomenclature is a compromise; it is not radical, but it has reduced the number of anatomical names, including synonyms, by about eighty per cent. It will not be diﬂicult for English-speaking anatomists to accept this terminology, for it differs less from ours than from that of any other language.

If we consider the great amount of work His did upon the form and position of the organs, upon the general morphology and structure of the brain, upon embryology, histology and histogenesis, and upon anatomical terminology, it may safely be s-aid that there is barely a page in the broad ﬁeld of anatomy from the ovum to the adult in which his work does not appear.

Early in his career, His showed much interest in physical anthropology as we see by the great monograph he and Riitemeyer published on Swiss skulls. But his time was occupied in so many other directions that it was impossible for him to continue in this kind of work with the inadequate assistance he had at Basel. However, some thirtyyears later, he had an opportunity to open up a new line of research in anthropology. A skeleton, presumably that of Bach, had been found and His was asked to give an opinion regarding it. It was known that Bach had been buried in an oak coﬂin near a certain corner of a church-yard. Here among others was found the skeleton of an elderly man (Bach died at the age of sixtyﬁve) in an oak coffin. The skull was found to be peculiar and in it the anatomist could discern the features of the portraits of Bach. His at once proceeded to measure the thicknesses of the soft parts over the bony prominences of the heads of cadavers and found that in average bodies these thicknesses are constant, varying only with age and sex. He next drew averages from the measurements taken from cadavers of elderly men of fair development, and, with these, Seifner, the sculptor, constructed a clay bust on the skull in question. It was found that the reconstructed bust presented all of the characteristics of Bach even more pronouncedly than do his portraits. The commission that had the matter in charge decided that the skeleton in question was undoubtedly that of Bach. As such, it was reinterred. The musical world through His’s studies now has a bust of the great composer.

These results gave His the greatest aesthetic pleasure, for they meant a new victory." From this time on he was greatly interested in inductive anatomy and when I began my career at the Johns Hopkins, he gave me every possible encouragement in this direction.“ He often wrote and he often talked about statistical work, but little did I realize the diﬁiculties of it until we began to tabulate a peripheral nervous system from a very large number of individual records. It became apparent from our records that variations are more common in certain parts of the body than in others and this result interested His very much.“

His was never inclined to develop a school nor was he anxious to have pupils. When I knocked at his door at ﬁrst I was turned away, but after appearing -a number of times, was ﬁnally accepted. When he set a problem, it was concisely stated; he outlined the general plan by which it was to be solved. All of the details were left to the pupil and it annoyed him to be consulted regarding them. He desired that the pupil should have full freedom to work out his own solution and aided him mainly through severe criticism. Specimens and drawings of them which were not analyzed did not appeal to him and he objected much to pictures which appeared to represent a mass of “baked tissue.” Through reactions, either with coloring matter or with some destructive reagents, or by means of reconstructions, tissues must be emphasized and we see this characteristic in the illustrations of all of his publica— tions. A His drawing can always be recognized even if it appears without his name attached to it.

His was unwilling to give his own problems to pupils and though later in life he advocated the establishment of research institutes, it is not altogether clear how he reconciled the one attitude with the other. But the institute is rather for routine research and for a discussion of work by leading investigators who consequently formulate problems to be solved by organized united effort; it is not intended to dwarf individual effort in -any respect. His was unwilling to write papers for his pupils and the manuscripts they placed before him were improved only through erasure, for he excluded all doubtful evidence and irrelevant matter. “ Your paper will be read by a few specialists, and they do not Want a treatise on the science,” he would say, and this criticism coming to a pupil during the same years that silence on such subjects and encouragement came from Ludwig, proved to be of the greatest value.

His did not have much power to extend his own private work through his assistants and pupils; they were always given the greatest freedom for it was against his nature to enslave them to the least degree. Nor did he possess the patience of a Liebig or a Ludwig in training others to follow in his path. Further, he did not ﬁnd that successful research can often be stimulated by example, although men, and scientists too, are imitative. He often told me that the acceptance of a. discovery is frequently postponed by numerous “conﬁrmatory” publications which are ﬁlled with so much crude and irrelevant matter that the real point is buried again; and that the desire of authors to attract attention often induces them to invent names and write much, thereby making the answer to a questionemore obscure than it was before.

Several visits to the Zoological Station at Naples made a profound impression upon His for it showed him what organization can do for research, and in 1886 he published a paper on the necessity of research institutes. In this he pointed out that the function of such institutes is (1) to solve problems which exceed the power of one man to settle, 152 Wilhelm His

and (2) to collect, classify and conserve all the material relating to such problems. After a whole life-time has been occupied in collecting material, it seems a great pity that so much work should be lost at the death of the collector; could such material and such lives be made available for the solution of the great problems by an institute or institute of institutes (as is the case in astronomy) more progress might be made. In the foundation of such an institute the many details of embryology and neurology should ﬁrst be surveyed; were the ﬁeld divided, this could be done quickly. Problems would have to be formulated, and a common nomenclature and standard of measurements agreed upon. In no case should individual effort be hampered. Conferences would be necessary from time to time to compare, to criticise results and to formulate new problems and new plans for their solution, thus aiding all with the best, as should be the case in ideal scientiﬁc investigation. The underlying thought is to extend the power of able investigators through the whole science without dwarﬁng in any way individual effort; in this way the best qualities of all could be made to serve the progress of science." The Anatomische Gresellschaft was founded with this as one of its objects in view; it naturally resulted as we have seen in the casting of a uniform nomenclature. Two great steps had thus been taken and His lived to see the beginning of a third.

The tendency in the world during all of His’s life was more and more towards specialization and organization in science, a movement which gradually became international. An index of this tendency may be seen in the organization of the International Association of Academics and through its machinery, His was able to launch his favorite scheme.

Unlike many promoters of science, His was not an impressario and consequently the learned world had full faith in him. What he advocated always wa-s the advancement of science. The possibility of personal gain was excluded from his thoughts as is shown by his attitude towards endowments, especially the Nobel Fund." He maintained all along that a research fund must fall into the right hands if it is to beneﬁt science and that it was of positive injury to science when in the hands of impressarios.“

His proposed -at the ﬁrst meeting of the International Association of Academies, held in Paris in 1901, that a commission be appointed for the promotion of the study of human embryology and another for the study of the anatomy of the brain. The Association agreed to the appointment of the latter, at the same time recommending that for the present, human embryology should be taken up by the anatomical societies. Later, upon the recommendation of the Saxon Academy, the Royal Society of London appointed a Neurological Commission of seven members with His as chairman. The Commission had been established and three bulletins had been published preparatory to the ﬁrst general meeting, but His died before the meeting convened. His plan will live, for it has taken deep root and has the approval of leading anatomists of the world.”

The life of His was a life of work, and his energy, industry and endurance were so great that he hardly knew the meaning of leisure. He possessed the qualities of a courageous leader, but lacked the magnetism that compels many admirers and followers. He was a daring and original investigator, possessing great technical ability and artistic feeling; he was fearless and honorable in controversy and knew no compromise. He was a great ch-aracter, true to his family, true to his friends and true to science.”

Through His, another milestone has been set for anatomy. Through him the great mother science has given birth to a new science, histogenesis. His career is marked bya monument of neurological research which is unique. His’s life was that of the ideal scholar. During youth hewas strengthened through his own efforts, directed by great masters. During middle age, he won many victories for anatomy, improving the science in all its parts. In old age, he completed and rounded up his work, leaving a great legacy to his survivors, no small part of which consists of wise plans for future work.

==References and Extracts from Letters==

‘Wilhelm His was born in Basel on July 9, 1831. His father, Edward His, was a son of the Swiss statesman, Peter Ochs. In 1818, when Edward Ochs became engaged to be married to Anna La Roche, he assumed the name of His, the maiden name of his father's mother. He did this with the consent of Peter Ochs in order to remove the ridicule of his name from which he had undoubtedly suffered. After graduating from the Gymnasium, His studied medicine in Basel, Bern, Berlin, Wiirzburg, Prague and Vienna, returning to Basel to take his doctor's degree, in 1854. Later, he studied in Paris, returning to Baselas "Privatdocent" in 1866. In the summer of 1857 he was again in Berlin and in the autumn he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Basel. In 1872 he accepted the call to the chair of anatomy at Leipzig, where he died May 1, 1904.

A charming account of His’s early life is 'given by him in his Lebenserlnnerungen (ale Manuslcript gedruckt), Leipzig, December, 1903. See also W. SPALTEHOLZ, Zum siebzigjiihrigen Geburtstag van Wilhelm His, Mﬁnchener Medizinischen Wochenschrift, No. 28, 1901; and Wilhelm His, ibid, No. 22, 1904. RUDOLPH Frcx, Wilhelm His, Anatomischer A-nzeiger, Vol. 26, 1904. B. Rswrrz, W. His, Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau, No. 24, 1904. 154 Wilhelm His

FRANCIS DIXON, Prof. Wilhelm His, Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, Vol. 88, 1904. W. Wnnnmmn, Wilhelm His, sein Leben and Wirlcen, Deutsche M edizinische Wochenschrift, Nos. 39, 40 and 41, 1904. J. KOLLMANN, Wilhelm His, Worte der Erirmerung. Verhandl. der Natar. Gesell. in Basel, Bd. 15, 1904. J. MARCHAND, Wilhelm His, Nekrolog, Bericht. d. K. s. Gesell. d. Wiss., Nov. 14, 1904.

’ Ich hatte in Berlin bei Johannes Miiller und bei Remak tiefe Anregungen erfahren, im iibrigen aber einen nur mﬁszigen Schatz von geordneten Kenntnissen eingespeichert. Es'hat_te mir an sicherer Fiihrung getehlt: unter den Medizinern hatte ich keine Gleichgesinnten gefunden, und mein eigentlicher Freundeskreis bestand aus Landsleuten, meistens Theologen und Juristen. Schtine Gelegenheiten, mir grﬁndlichere physikalische und chemische Kenntnisse zu erwerben, habe ich verpasst und statt dessen einige recht sterile medizinische Vorlesungen abgesessen. Auch die historischen Vorlesungen von Ranke und die geographischen von Ritter, von denen meine Freunde soviel Interessantes zu erziihlen wussten, hiitte ich ohne Opfer an Fachbildung besuchen k6nnen.—Lebenserirmerungen, p. 28.

‘An jene Zeit absoluter Arbeitsfreiheit habe ich seitdem oft mit Sehnsucht zuriickgedacht. Allerdings bot sie auch die Gefahren des Sichveglierens, so habe ich einmal acht Tage lang an der Herstellung eines Glasbliisertisches gezimmert, bin aber dann, nach dessen notdiirftiger Vollendung, von einem gehiirigen Katzenjammer iiber die sinnlos vergeudete Zeit heimgesucht warden. Im Grund habe ich aber in spiteren Jahren die Erfahrung gemacht, dass fiir den Fortgang eigener geistiger Arbeit die Belastung mit einem miiszigen Pﬂichtenpensum vorteilhafter ist als die absolute Freiheit, und insbesondere habe ich oftmals beim Beginn ersehnter Ferien gefunden, dass zugleich mit dem Eintritt freier Zeitverfiigung eine Erschlaffung der geistigen Spannkraft sich einstellte, die erst allmiihlich und dutch Zwang sich wieder iiberwinden liess. Das Gefiihrlichste ist hierbei das Abwartenwollen von Arbeitsstimmungen; solche wirklich fruchtbare Stimmungen kénnen ja zeitweise unverhofft einhrechen, viel hiiuﬁger aber sind sie nur dadurch erreichbar, dass man sich erst gewaltsam durch iide und anscheinend unfruchtbare Anfﬁnge hindurch kéimpft. Hat man einmal sein Arbeitszlel klar vor Augen, dann lernt man auch bald die kleinsten Zeitabféille des sonstigen Tagewerkes ergiebig zunutze zu ziehen.—Lebenserinnerungen, p. 48.

‘Die meisten jungen Miinner miissen nach Abschluss ihrer Universitéitszeit eine Periode des Missbehagens durchmachen, bis es ihnen gelungen ist ihre idealen Bestrebungen in eine Thiitigkeit fiir’s Leben umzusetzen.— From a letter of March 20, 1887.

‘Es ist ein schweres, dem seiner Natur getreu bleibenden Forscher a.uferlegtes Gestiindniss, dass die Ietzten Ziele, fiir deren Verfolgung er seine gauze Kraft einsetzt, hier, wie au.f allen Gebieten der Forschung, in um so ent1egenere Ferne riicken, je weiter er auf dem in ihrer Richtung fiihrenden Wege voranschreitet. In der kriiftigenden Arbeit selbst, im Bewusstsein sicheren Voranschreitens und in den reichen, am Wege ihn erwartenden Friichten ﬁndet er den vollen Ersatz fiir alle geiibte Entsa.gung.—l7nsere Kdrperform, 1874, p. 215.

‘' Ist es ja doch die Gabe geistvoller Naturen, dass sie, auch bei beschrﬁnkten Hiilfsmitteln materieller Erkenntniss, Beziehungen zuahnen und in ihrem Zusammenhang zu durchschauen vermiigen, die Anderen bsl welt relcherem Material nur stiickwelse zugﬁngllch sind, und dass sle selbst lm Irrthum oft Gesichtspunkte eréffnen, die der langsam und miihsellg vordrlngenden Einzelntorschung als Wegweiser tiir die Richtung ihres Ganges dienen k6nnen.—Die Hiiute und Hiihleu des Kdrpers (1865), Archiv far Anatomic, 1903, p. 369.

' S011 ich zum Schluss noch elnmal versuchen, die histologlschen Rollen der Keimschichten zu sondern, so komme Ich zu folgender Aurstellung:

Der Epiblast lletert das Nervengewebe und die Horngewebe.

Der Hypoblast gliedert slch in den embryonalen Mesoblast, die gemeinsame Anlage fiir das quergestrelfte und glatte Muskelgewebe, ﬁir die Eplthellen des Genltalapparates und fiir die embryonalen Bindesubstanzen.

das ausserembryonale Mesenchym,

den Angioblast, die Anlage des Blutes und der Blutcapillaren,

das Endoderm, die Anlage der Epithellen und Driisen des EIngeweiderohres.

Der Lecithoblast, da, wo er zur Entwickelung kommt, bildet einen Theil des Hypoblast.

Das alte Riithsel erweist sich zur Zeit immer noch ungeliist: noch k6nnen wir nicht sagen, weshalb ein Thell der gegebenen Anlagen zu Bindesubstanzen wird, und was die Blut- und Capillarzellen bestimmt, so frﬁhzeitig und so schart slch von ihren scheinbar so nahen Verwandten, den Zellen der Bindesubstanzen, zu scheiden.—Lecithoblast und Angioblast der Wirbelthiere, Abhandl. d. K. Sdch. Gesellschft. d. Wiss., Bd. 26, 1900, p. 326.

' Ich schliesse diesen in jeder Hinsicht fragmentarischen Autsatz iiber die intramedullaren Faserbahnen des Gehirns mlt der Bemerkung, dass er zur Zeit nicht viel mehr zu bieten vex-mag, als ein Arbeitsprogram fiir kommende detailliertere Forschungen. N och sind wir eben in Erkenntniss dieser Dinge in den allerersten Anfﬁngen, und es bedart hier, wie anderwﬁrts, ziher A1-belt bis die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Gehirns nach ihren verschiedenen Richtungen hin befriedigend kann klar gelegt werden. Zur Zeit kann ich nur angeben, wo diese Arbeit einzusetzen hat. Friiher oder spiiter wird man am‘. diesem Gebiet zum System organisierter gemeinsamer Arbeit ﬁberzugehen haben —Dz'e Entwiclcelung des Menschlichen Gehirns, Leipzig, 1904, p. 175.

”Im Leben unsrer Universitiiten macht slch bel aller anscheinenden Fortdauer ihrer Leistungen, und auch bei ununterbrochenem Ersatz abgehender Kriifte durch neu eintretende, eine ganz bestimmte Periodicitit der Entwicklung geltend. Fﬁr die Gesammtuniversitﬁt und ﬁir die Facultiiten folgen auf Perioden geistigen Aufschwunges solche der Ruhe und des Riickgangs. Aeussere und innere Bedinglmgen wirken dabei zusammen und es ist nicht immer leicht, deren Ineinandergreiten zu verstehen. Eine Grundbedingung muss aber stets erﬁillt sein, falls eine Kiirperschaft bliihen soll. Die K6rperschaft muss kriiftige und zielbewusste Fiihrer besltzen, welche deren Geist in bestimmte Bahnen zu lenken und unter ihren Gliedern die Gemeinsamkeit des Strebens zu sichern wissen.

Solch ein fiihrender Geist ist in unsrer Facultiit wiihrend mancher Jahrzehnte Ernst Heinrich Weber gewesen, welcher vom Jahr 1821 ab die Professur der Anatomie und spiiterhin (van 1841 ab) noch die der Physiologic bekleidet -hat. Die Spuren seiner mﬁchtigen Perstinlichkeit haben sich als bleibende erhalten nicht nut in den Acten unserer Facultiit, sondern noch tiefer begriindet in denen der Wissenschaften, die er vertreten und die er um ausgedehnte neue Gebiete bereichert hat.

Bis zum Jahre 1865 hat Ernst Heinrich Weber, von seinem Bruder Eduard unterstiitzt, die Doppellast der beiden ausgedehnten Fiicher getragen. Dann aber, als die Neuschiipfung einer physiologischen Anstalt in Aussicht genommen wurde, und dadurch neue Verpflichtungen an den Lehrer der Physiologie herantreten sollten, zog sich der alternde Gelehrte auf seine urspriingliche Anatomieprofessur zuriick, und es ist nun aut Ostern 1865 (unter dem Dekanat Wunderlichs) die Berufung von Karl Ludwig als Professor der Physiologie und Director des neu zu begriindenden physiologlschen Instituts erfolgt.

Die Initiative zu diesen Neuerungen ist von der kiiniglichen Regierung ausgegangen. Im Sinn ihres hohen Monarchen, des Kiinigs Johann, hatten sich die einsichtigen Leiter des Ministeriums, Hr. Staatsminister v. Falkenstein und Hr. Geh. Rath Dr. Hiibel, die Aufgabe gestellt, die Universitiit Leipzig mit allen aufwendbaren Mitteln zu neuem Glanze zu erheben. Die physiologische Anstalt wurde als das erste Glied einer Reihe von Neuschiipfungen geplant, deren Endziel die Umgestaltung des gesammten naturwissenschaftlichen und medizinischen Unterrichts sein sollte. In der Wahl von Professor Ludwig hat die k. Regierung eine besonders gliickliche Hand bewiesen, denn sie gewann an ihm fiir ihre ferneren Entscheldungen einen vermiige seiner Einsicht und seiner organisatorischen Kraft ganz besonders befiihigten Rathgeber. Ludwig’s Einﬂuss hat sich wiihrend der v. Falkenstein'schen Periode weit iiber das medizinische Facultiitsgebiet hinaus erstreckt, und seiner Anregung sind von den bedeutendsten Berufungen jener Zeit zu verdanken gewesen. Spiiter, nachdem einmal die Organisation naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichts ﬁir Leipzig erreicht und nachdem auch das Cultusministerium in andere Hiinde iibergegangen war, hat sich Ludwig auf sein engeres Arbeitsgebiet zuriickgezogen. Was er aber aut diesem Gebiete geleistet hat, das hat den Ruhm der Leipziger Universitiit bald durch alle Liinder verbreitet.-—KAnL LUDWIG und K431. Tnmnscn, Beilage, Allgemeinen Zcitung, Nr. 164. 19 Juli, Miinchen, 1895.

"Ich danke Ihnen fiir den inhaltsreichen Aufsatz iiber die Da.rmentwicklung, die in der mir iiberreichten Jubiliiumsschrift thatreich hervortritt. Alle diese Bezeugungen haben mich herzlich gefreut. Dauernd wird die Betriedigung ﬁber Ihre Arbeit sein, die ein bis jetzt so wenig klarer Gebiet endgultig in's Reine bringt. Was ja. bei den meisten unserer bishiirigen entwiekelungsgeschichtlichen Vorstellungen fehlt, das ist die Beobachtunggrundlage fiir die Uebergangsphasen aus den friih embryonalen in die foetalen und von da in die ausgebildeten Stufen. Fiir den Darm haben Sie nunmehr die ganze Kette vom Anfang bis zum Ende zusammengefiigt und das halte ich ﬁir einen grossen Fortschritt.—From a. letter of October 29, 1897.

“So weit ich iiber solche freie Augenblicke verfiige, widme ich sie noch meiner alten ungliicklichen Liebe den Knochenﬂschen. Ich habe seit dreissig Jahren schon unendlich viel Zeit damit verloren. sie sind ein methodisch Franklin P. Mall 157

aehr schwer zu bearbeltendes und launisches Material, und doch locken mich die uniiberwundenen Schwierlgkeiten und iiﬂenen Fragen immer wieder zu neuen An1auten.—From a letter of December 25, 1898.

“Wie bei der wissenschattlichen Arbeit, so trltt auch bei unserer heutigen Lehrweise der Respect vor der Thatsache in den Vordergrund, und wir bemiihen uns in erster Linie auch unsere Schiiler dazu zu erziehen. Beim naturwissenschaftlichen und somit auch beim medizinischen Unterricht ist unsere Sorge, dem Anfﬁnger die Kunst unbefangener Beobachtung beizubringen. Wir halten ihn an, die Sinneswahrnehmungen scharf zu trennen von den daran sich ankniipfenden Schlussfolgerungen, wit warnen ihn vor der Beeinﬂiissung durch vorgefasste Meinungen und belehren ihn iiber die Ta.iischungsquellen, die in unsern eigenen Sinnen sowie in unsern besten Apparaten enthalten sind. Vor allem aber suchen wir den Schiiler dazu zu bringen, dass er sich angewiihnt, das Gebiet eigener Erfahrungen selbstiindig zu klaren Begriﬂen zu verarbeiten. So kleln Anfangs das Capital an solch eigenem Erwerb sein mag, so gewihrt es dem Besitzer doch bald das Gefiihl elner bestimmten geistigen Freiheit und Unabhﬁngigkelt, das Gefiihl des tiichtigen Menschen.

Was hat nun aber diese, vorwiegend ant Schﬁrfung der Kritik hinstrebende Form der Schulung mit der Spaltnng der Lehrfiicher zu thun? Der Zusammenhang ist leicht nachzuweisen. So lange es sich um blosse Ueberlieferung systematisch geordneter Begritfe in dogmatischer Form handelt, ist ein ﬂeissiger Gelehrter mit Hilfe der niithigen Lehrbiicher, der duces Arnemann, Gaubius und Metzgerus im Stande, ein ausgedehnte Gebiet als Lehrer zu umspannen, ja. selbst vom Ueberspringen von einem Fache nut ein anderes, mehr order minder entlegenes, wird ihn kein inneres Hinderniss abhalten. Wenn wir hiiren, dass in einem friihern Jahrhundert die Lehrficher innerhalb der philosophischen Facultéit jedes Jahr frisch ausgeliist wurden und dass auch nach Beseitigung dieses Modus noch die Verpﬂichtung bestnnd, dass ein jedes Facultiitsmitglied allen Fiichern gerecht sein mnsste, so ist diese heutzutage undenkbare Elnrichtung dadurch verstiindlich, dass in jenen Perioden die Bedeutung der allgemelnen Gelehrtenbildung ﬁber diejenige der Fachbildung weit iiberwog, wiihrend wir nunmehr auf dem entgegengesetzten Standpunkt stehen. Sowie verlangt wird, dass der Lehrer die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse seiner Disciplin anstatt blos in dogmatischer Form, auch nach ihrer Begriindung dem Schiiler mittheile, so fiillt eine Hauptseite des Unterrichts in die wlssenschattliche Methodik.—Ueber Entwickelungsver hiiltnisse des Alcademischen Unterrichts, Eektoratsrede, Leipzig, October 31, 1882, p. 33.

1' Ludwig’s Forscherwaﬂen waren eine ungemain scharfe Analyse der ihm vorliegenden Naturerscheinungen, eine stets klare Fragestellung und eine absolute Sicherheit seiner Methodik. Dabei verfiigte er aber auch iiber eine ausreichende Dosis jenes Findersinnes, ohne den in Erforschung der lebenden Natur selbst die klarsten Denker oft machtlos bleiben. Die Natur last sich nicht imxner mit Logik zwingen, ihre Wege sind nlcht selten versteckt, und sie enthiillen sich nur dem, der sich in ausdauernder und treuer Beobachtung den Blick auch fiir deren unscheinbare Spuren geschﬁrft hat. Die unmitte1bare Liebe zur sinnlichen Beobachtung hat aber Ludwig im hohen Maasse 158 Wilhelm His

besessen, und tiir ihn ist ein gelungenes Priiparat oder ein schlagender Versuch stets Gegenstand eigentlich asthetischen Genusses gewesen.—-CARI. LUDWIG, Geddchtnissrede, Bericht, d. K. s. Gesell. d. Wiss., November 14, 1895, p. 6.

1‘ Ihre Bestrebungen eine inductive anatomische Unterrichtsmethode zur schaﬂen, interessiren mich sehr lebhaft. Wenn es Ihnen mit fiinfzig Schiilern gelingt, zum Ziel zu kommen, so ist dies jedenfalls eine anerkennungswerthe Leistung. Vor Kurzem publicirte der bekannte, Dr. Schweninger, einige Autsiitze iiber die Erzlehung von Medizinern, worin er iiberhaubt das Priipariren verwarf und meinte, man soll die Anatomie gleich am Lebenden vornehmen, die Studenten durch Percussion, u. s. w. die Organe auf den K61-per zeichnen lassen, u. s. w. Unsere Medizinererziehung ist zwar krank an zu vielem Auswendiglernen von Biicherweisheit und gewiss kiinnte auch in der Anatomie dem Studenten manches osteologisches Detail erlassen werden. Aber abgesehn davon, ist ja der Priipariersaal eine so wichtige Schule der Beobachtung und der Handtertigkeit, dass eine grosse Beschranktheit dazu gehiirt, das anatomische Préipariren beseitigen zu wo1len.—From a letter of December 31, 1896.

“’His's inﬂuence in America has been great, greater than in any other country, even Germany. He took a lively interest in our whole development, in the development of our universities, scientiﬁc societies and journals. He was much pleased with the numbers of the American Journal of Anatomy, and appreciated above all the leading article by Bardeen and Lewis. “Auch dariiber habe ich mich gefreut dass Sie mit so viele Andere zusammen arbeiten.” He always approved of cooperation.

“Was Sie mir damals von “ Carnegie Institution,” geschrieben haben, muss uns, diesseits des atlantischen Oceans Lebende mit innigem Neid erfiillen. Es ist indessen keine Frage, wir sind in eine Periode eingetreten, in der die zu leistende Arbeitssumme immer griisser und die Anspriiche an Relchlichkeit des Materiales und die Pracision seiner Durcharbeitung immer strenger werden und da hilft eben schliesslich nur ein wissenschaftlicher Grossbetrieb mit guter Organisation. Noch haben wir in Deutschland bei aller Arbeit ein zu planloses Durcheinanderrogen, und zu viel Kraft geht in persiinlicher Reibung verloren. Der Ehrgeiz ist ein wichtiger Antrieb zur Arbeit, aber anderseits fiihrt er auch vielfach dahin, dass die Arbeiter anstatt sich zu unterstiitzen, sich gegenseitig herabzumindern suchen. . . . Noch vor zehn Jahren hatte mir die Organisation eines grosseren rein wissenschaftlichen Institutes, die griisste Freude gemacht. Mit zwei und siebenzig Jahren weiss man aber, dass die Arbeitszeit nur noch knapp zugemessen ist, ganz abgesehen davon, dass die Arbeit viel langsamer von der Hand geht.———From a letter of March 17, 1903.

" Ich hatte im vorigen Sommer einen Anlauf genommen, um die Begriindung besonderer entwickelungsgeschichtlichen Institute und Gehirninstitute in Anregung zu bringen, aber bis jetzt habe ich noch nicht Viel erreicht. Es fehlen uns in Deutschland und in Europa jene Milliardiire die bei Ihnen so ﬁx bei der Hand sind, wenn grosse Schopfungen fundirt werden sollen. Das immense Capital, dass der Ingenieur Nobel fiir wissenschaftlichen Zwecke vermacht hat, ist dadurch nutzlos, dass er die Vertheilung der Zinsen in Form von Preisen bestimmt hat. Da. diese Preise jedes Jahr vertheilt werden sollen so wird, wie ich fiirchte, die Zutheilung bald zu Parteisache werden und viel Unfrieden herbei f1'ihren.—From a letter of December 31, 1902.

“ Wird dutch solche Preise die wissenschaftliche Arbeit wirklich gefiirdert?" Ich glaube, man kann diese Frage ruhig verneinen: kein aus innerem Antrieb arbeitender Forscher wird dadurch, dass ihm das Schicksa] eine griissere Summe Geldes in den Schooss wirft, ein Anderer werden. Er wird eben iiber die Ehre des Preises und ﬁber den empfangenen Betrag sich freuen, im Uebrigen aber seinen Gang weiter gehen, als ob Nichts geschehen wiire. Und wer den Preis nicht bekommt, wird nicht anders verfahren. Hiichstens liegt fiir den Ietzteren, wenn er nicht edel veranlagt ist, die Versllchung vor, dem bégiinstigten Collegen, oder denen, die ﬁber den Prels zu bestimmen hatten, unfreundliche Gefiihle nachzutragen.—-Ueber wissenschaftliche Sttftungen, Bericht. d. K. s. Gesell. d. Wiss., 1901, p. 434.

“ Sie haben an ihren neueren amerikanischen Universitiiten einen kriiftigen Nervus rerum, und wenn reiche Hilfsmittel in die richtigen Bahnen kommen, so lasst sich ja Vieles in verhiltnissmiissig kurzer Zeit erreichen. Die Hauptsache bleibt immer dass die Fiihrung solch fortschreitender Bewegungen in den Handen von Miinnern bleibt, die wissen, woraus es bei geistigen Sch6ptungen ankommt. Es ist immer befriedigender, viillig Neues zu schaifen, als am Alten herumzuﬂicken. Letzters Schicksal fﬁllt uns in Europa nun allzu oft zu. Augenblicklich soli wieder an unsern Examenreglementen geﬂickt werden, eine Arbeit die nur wenig Freude bringt, da der Ballast alter Vorurtheile und Wiederstiinde nicht iiber Bord geworien werden kann.——From a letter of April 22, 1899.

" GENERAL OUTLINE on THE DEVELOPMENT 01' H,Is’s INSTITUTE FOR 131: STUDY or THE BRAIN.

A.—Proposz'tion to the International Association of Academies, Paris, April 20, 1901.

Die Internationale Association der Akademien miige eine Fachcommission aufstellen zur Berathung der Mittel und Wege, wie ant den Gebieten, einestheils der menschlichen und thierischen Entwicklungsgeschichte, anderntheils der Hirnanatomie eine nach einheitlichen Grundsiitzen erfolgende Sammlung, Verarbeitung und allgemeine Nutzbarmachung von sicherem Beobachtungsmaterial erreicht werden kann.

B.—-Decision of the Association of Academies.

1. Die Berathung der auf menschliche und thierische Entwick1ungsgeschichte beziiglichen Abschnitte des Antrages ist vorerst den betreﬂenden Fachvereinen (den anatomischen Gesellschaften) zu iiberlassen.

2. Dagegen setzt die Internationale Association der Akademien eine Specialcommission nieder, die eine nach einheitlichen Grundsiitzen ertolgende Dutchforschung, Sammlung und allgemeine Nutzbarmachung des auf Gehirnanatomie beziiglichen Materiales zu berathen hat. Die Commission hat insbesondere die Schaiiung eines internationalen Systemes von Centralinstituten in Erwiigung zu ziehen, in denen die Methoden der Forschung entwickelt, das vorhandene Beobachtungsmaterial aufgespeichert und der allgemeinen Benutzung der dabei interessirten Gelehrten zugﬁnglich gemacht werden.—An160 Wilhelm His

tray der Ko'n. Sach. Gas. an die Royal Society of London, Ber. d. K. 8. Gas. (1. Wiss., February, 1902.

C.—Objects of the Institute.

1. Die Aufspeicherung und Zugiainglichmachung von wissenschaftlichem (normalem) Material an Préiparaten, Modellen, Photogrammen, Zeichnungen u. s. W.

2. Die technische Hilfeleistung bei wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen.

3. Die Aufbewahrung von wertvollem experimentellphysiologischem und pathologischem, bereits bearbeitetem oder noch zu bearbeitendem Material.

4. Die Bewialltigung grosserer, iiber die Krafte einzelner hinausgehender Aufgaben, soweit solche zur Kooperation sich eignen.—Antrag der von der Internationalen Association der Akademien Niedergesetzter Commission fur Hirnforschung der Generalversammlung der Association in London zum 25 Mai, 1904, vorgelegt, Leipzig, 1904.

D.—Organisation of the Institute.

1. Arbeitsfeld und Arbeitsweise bleiben jedem einzelnen Institute ﬁber lassen. Es sollen jedoch angestrebt Werden: a. Eine einheitliche Nomenklatur. b. Verwendung eines einheitlichen Masses und Gewichtes.

2. Alljéihrlich statten die Institute der Centralkommission einen Bericht iiber ihre Thiitigkeit ab. Dabei sollen der Bestand und die Zugiinge an Druckwerken, Abbildungen, Modellen und Priiparaten mitgetheilt werde-.1.

3. Die Institute sind gehalten ihre Arbeitsmaterialien und die Sammlungen ihrer Priiparate einander unter sich, sowie den derselben bediirftigen Forschern nach Mﬁglichkeit zuginglich zu machen.-——Bericht, etc., Bericht. d. K. s. Gesell. d. Wiss., June 8, 1903.

D.—Sections.

1. Die systematische Anatomie des menschlichen Centralnerven-systems, einschlieszlich der Anthropologie.

2. Die vergleichende Anatomie. Die histologische Forschung. Die entwickelungsgeschichtliche Forschung. . Die Physiologie, einschliesslich der physiologischen Psychologie. Die pathologische Anatomie, experimentelle Pathologie und Teratologie.

7. Die klinische Forschung.—E'ntwerf. Motiv zu den Antragen, etc., Leipzig, Jan am] 3, 1904.

F.—/special Committees. 1. Waldeyer, Cunningham, Mall, Manouvrier, Zuckerkandl. 2. Ehlers, Edinger, Giard, Guldberg, Elliot Smith. Golgi, Ramon y Cajal, Dogiel, van Gehuchten, Retzius. His, Bechterew, v. Ktilliker, v. Lenhossek, Minot. H. Munk, Horsley, Luciani, Mosso, Sherrington. 6. Obersteiner, Dejerine, Monakow, Langley, Weigert. 7. Flechsig, Hentschen, Ferrier, Lannelongue, Reymond.——Protokou von der Internattonalen Association der Akademien Niedergesetzten OentraZlcommis sion fiir Gehirnforschung, January 11, 1904. Bericht. d. K. S. Gesell. d. Wiss., 1904.


"’ Es that mir wohl' ans Ihrem Brief, wle aus vielen Andern, die ich bekommen habe, zu sehen, wie meln Mann nlcht nur durch seine Wissenschaft, sondern noch mehr durch sein Leben und selnen Katakter seinen Schiilern etwas Gutes erwlesen ha.t.—From a letter from Frau Professor His of June 8, 1904.

Ich bin mit diesen Autzeichnung an einen Punkte angelangt, wo ich sie abschliessen kann. In reichem Wechsel sind mir beim Niederschreiben obiger Blﬁtter Bildér vor Augen getreten von einer Fiille von tremichen und von hervorragenden Menschen, mit denen ich im Laufe meiner Entwicklungsjahre in Beziehung getreten bin. Gar manche Namen hiitte Ich der Schar noch beifiigen kiinnen. Von allen diesen Menschen habe ich gelernt oder sonstwie Gutes empfangen. Die weit iiberwiegende Mehrzahl derselben sind liingst dahingeschieden, allen aber bewahre ich eln dankbares Andenken. Miigen andere dereinst auch von mir dasselbe sagen k6nnen.——Lebenser1'nner1mgen.


{{Footer}}
[[Category:Wilhelm His]][[Category:Franklin Mall]][[Category:1900's]][[Category:People]]