352 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



markable skill in injecting fine blood-vessels. His most celebrated 

 work is the monograph on epithelial cancer, in which he first deter- 

 mined with precision the origin of malignant tumors, and at the 

 same time drew the most important practical conclusions from an 

 essentially embryological idea. His excellent treatises on the healing 

 of wounds and on transplantation of the skin are no less based on 

 theoretical preliminary study. The certainty of his surgical methods 

 was with Thiersch the result of his anatomical and pathological 

 knowledge. In a thoughtful obituary notice, Professor Landerer, 

 one of his former pupils, writes : " Thiersch's operating was the 

 direct outcome of applied and pathological anatomy. With his 

 phenomenal knowledge of these departments he could allow himself 

 to build up his plan of operation directly on the diagnosis, and 

 always to proceed as a free, creative worker." 



Thiersch is reported to have said of himself that he was really 

 an anatomist gone astray. In the interest of suffering humanity, 

 however, it was surely well that he turned from anatomy to surgery, 

 for he was a surgeon by the grace of God. He possessed not only 

 the necessary firmness of eye and hand, but also a sovereign calmness 

 that even in the most trying situations never failed him. Above all, 

 the most beautiful quality that a great physician can have was his: 

 he was possesssed of delicate sensibilities, and was thoroughly hu- 

 mane in his disposition. This last quality was perhaps the most 

 prominent of Thiersch's many virtues, yet it was the one he endeav- 

 ored most carefully to conceal. He burdened his heart with every 

 one of his seriously sick patients; in critical cases he hurried to the 

 hospital at the most unusual times, and if, contrary to his expecta- 

 tions, a serious operation resulted unsuccessfully, it was often days, 

 and even weeks, as Landerer tells us, before he could reconcile him- 

 self to the result. He would criticise himself severely in order to de- 

 termine whether he had not some mistake or neglect with which to 

 reproach himself. 



Thiersch's favorite resort was the children's wards. There he 

 could devote himself to each without reserve. He remembered 

 each of his little patients, and when, after their leaving the hospital, 

 he occasionally met them in the street, he used to speak with them 

 and inquire after their health. And for this the " Herr Geheim- 

 rath " was deeply revered by all who had been his patients, and it 

 was a festival for them when his birthday or some other occasion 

 gave them an opportunity of showing their affection by some little 

 attention. 



I should overstep the limits of an academic discourse if I followed 

 further the tender side of Thiersch's personality. Yet one thing I 

 must not pass over: that is, the beneficent influence of his humanity 



