522 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



founding of the university; for the man who possessed the least polit- 

 ical inclination was called upon to display, in that time of agitation, 

 the abilities of the politician and statesman. 



From this time on Miiller worked as hard as ever, but with sadly 

 altered spirits. The nervous strain of overwork was beginning to tell. 

 He suffered much from sleeplessness and this condition he fought 

 with larger doses of opium, which in turn led to a more serious trouble 

 of the heart. In the winter of 1856-7 his health received the first 

 open shock when a gastric fever, the first serious illness since 1827, 

 necessitated the giving up of his lectures. In these days he worried 

 much about himself, feared typhoid fever and wrote to his son, Max 

 Miiller, at Cologne. He set in order all his private affairs and en- 

 gaged, in the case of his death, Dr. Diffenbach to open his body. At 

 this time, however, he developed only a slight trouble in the joint of 

 one foot, and the next summer found him again in fair health. The 

 following winter, however, he again overburdened himself with work, 

 suffered even more than ever from lack of sleep, and again resorted to 

 large doses of alkaloids. For some time he had suffered from moments 

 of dizziness, but had become accustomed to attribute them to the long 

 hours he spent bending over his microscope. These attacks now be- 

 came so frequent that he dared not venture even on his library ladder. 

 In the evening one would see him sitting listless in his easy chair; 

 or, as if driven by a deep inner anxiety, and gloomy foreboding, pacing 

 restlessly at night through the secluded streets of Berlin. 



Easter of the year 1858 did not bring him the accustomed feeling 

 of satisfaction at having completed a period of uninterrupted scientific 

 work. At the end of the summer semester he fully realized, but all 

 too late, the necessity of taking the most energetic measures to bring 

 about an improvement in the condition of his health. He again called 

 his son from Cologne, and, after a consultation, decided to give up 

 all his work and lectures in physiology. He planned an early con- 

 sultation with his physician in order to decide more definitely regard- 

 ing his future work; but the end came suddenly. On the morning of 

 the day when this consultation was to have taken place, Miiller was 

 found in his bed, lifeless, April 28, 1858. It is needless to say that 

 the tidings of the sudden end of his laborious and valuable life caused 

 profound sorrow in every part of the world where science is cultivated. 



II 



Having now considered the more prominent events of Mullens 

 life and his career as a man among men, let us now consider more in 

 detail the nature of Miiller's work, its fullness and its limitations. 

 Let us attempt to discover wherein it has proved so substantial a 

 foundation for the later development of modern physiology; and lastly 

 let us make ourselves better acquainted with Miiller's strong person- 



