CARL LUDWIG. 333 



phologists — in Ludwig's developmental method of study of 

 the central nervous system a purely physiological principle 

 is laid hold of, and in a physiological spirit the further 

 researches employing it have been carried on. Flechsig's 

 Him Anatomic was in later years Ludwig's Him Physi- 

 olosi-e. I well remember how in his lectures he inserted the 

 latest discoveries in the anatomy of the central nervous 

 system with the utmost promptitude. His bent of mind in 

 this direction he reveals exquisitely in his Lehrbuch? in a 

 well-known passage which I will quote fully to give at the 

 same time a sample of its amusing and yet powerful style : 

 " Wem die zahllosen Schwierigkeiten vor Augen treten, 

 welche sich hier der Untersuchung entgegen werfen und 

 wer, im Geiste den wunderbaren Bau des Hirns schauend, 

 von Staunen ergriffen ist iiber die Leistungen dieses zarten 

 und verschlungenen Gefiiges, der wird gewiss mit Abscheu 

 sich wegwenden von den rohen Versuchen jener Klasse 

 von Henkern, w r elche blindlings durch den Schadel hindurch 

 mit Nadeln und Messern in das feinste aller Gebilde stechen 

 und schneiden unter dem dreisten Vorgeben, der Wissen- 

 schaft einen Dienst zu leisten. Das Beginnen dieser 

 Hirnbohrer ist kaum weniger sinnvoll als das Bestreben, 

 durch Schusse aus Flinten und Pistolen, die man in eine 

 Cylinderuhr sendet, die Functionen ihrer Ruder und Federn 

 zu ermitteln." If we compare the modern delicate methods 

 of experimental research on the brain with those of Magendie, 

 Flourens and others, to whom the just quoted passage re- 

 fers, we cannot but be grateful to the great man who here 

 saw that anatomy is an essential basis of experiment. 



Ludwig was the first to make chemical considerations an 

 integral part of experimental research in physiology. With 

 his accustomed genius for analytical method he contrived 

 to vary the chemical conditions, and thereby induced most 

 important vital reactions. While he left the study of the 

 constituents of the animal body to chemists, he undertook 

 an examination of the chemical processes in the various 

 organs and made these work to his bid and call. Like 



1 Vol. ii., p. 203, 2nd edition. Leipsic, 1858. 



-J 



