THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



187 



THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE. 



PROFESSOR RUDOLF VIRCHOW. 



The eightieth birthday of one of the 

 leaders of modern civilization has been 

 celebrated with imposing ceremonies 

 at Berlin. Virehow is the founder of 

 the science of pathology, and his serv- 

 ices for anthropology have been nearly 

 as great. He has not only demonstrated 

 that the scientific research of the labo- 

 ratory may be directly beneficial to 

 mankind, but he has himself applied his 

 own discoveries for the welfare of Ber- 

 lin and of the German army, whence 

 they have extended to the whole world. 

 Tliere is no city whose inhabitants are 

 not healthier and happier because Vir- 

 ehow has lived and worked; it is indeed 

 scarcely an exaggeration to say that 

 there is no patient of any village phy- 

 sician who does not benefit from the 

 labors of this man whose name he may 

 never have heard. Virehow often stood 

 opposed to Bismarck; in written his- 

 tory the iron chancellor may always be 

 the more frequently named, but the 

 world's progress has probably been 

 more directly led by the man of 

 science. 



The ceremonies at Berlin included 

 the presentation of a marble bust of 

 Virehow to the great Pathological In- 

 stitute founded by him; the presenta- 

 tion of an additional endo\vment to the 

 Virehow Fund for the promotion of re- 

 search, toward which the municipality 

 contributed $20,000; the presentation 

 of addresses of congratulation on behalf 

 of the empire, state and municipality, 

 and from national and foreign institu- 

 tions, and, most interesting of all, a 

 lecture by Virehow on the history and 

 scope of pathology. Lord Lister, who 

 represented the Royal Society and other 

 British institutions, said: "All these 

 bodies join in recognition of your 



gigantic intellectual powers, in grati- 

 tude for the great benefits that you 

 have conferred upon humanity, and in 

 admiration of your personal character, 

 your absolute uprightness, the courage 

 which has enabled you always to advo- 

 cate what you believed to be the cause 

 of truth, liberty and justice, and the 

 genial nature which has won for you 

 the love of all who know you. The 

 astonishing vigor which you displayed 

 in the address to which we listened to- 

 day justifies the hope that, when many 

 of us your juniors shall have been re- 

 moved from this scene of labor, it may 

 be granted to you to celebrate your 

 ninetieth birthday not only in health 

 and honor but in continued activity in 

 the service of mankind." 



THE YALE BICENTENyiAL EXER- 

 CISES. 

 Universities are among the most 

 stable of institutions. Glasgow Uni- 

 versity recently celebrated its ninth 

 jubilee, while Harvard University com- 

 memorated in 1886 the two hundred 

 and fiftieth anniversary of its founda- 

 tion. Yale University, the third in age 

 of our American colleges, is now two 

 hundred years old and the event has 

 been celebrated in a manner commen- 

 surate with the prestige of the insti- 

 tution. Such occasions are almost 

 medieval in their gowned processions, 

 the presentation of Latin addresses, the 

 conferring of degrees and the like; but 

 they are nearly as modern as football 

 games, in so far as they serve as an 

 occasion of collecting endowments, 

 attracting students and arousing the 

 loyalty of alumni. Both in its dra- 

 matic exhibition and in its financial 

 outcome the celebration at New Haven 

 was eminently successful. There were 



