OLIVER CLINTON WENDELL. 875 



work was based on embryology and the study of stages of processes, 

 as revealed in the abundant material which was at his disposal and of 

 which he made skilful use, rather than on the experimental method. 

 There is a disposition at present to tlecry all knowledge not l)ased on 

 experiment, but we must remember that there is not a radical difi'erence 

 between the methods of observation and experiment in disease. The 

 anatomical lesions studied are the results of experiments made by 

 nature in which it is true all the conditions are not known and judg- 

 ment as to their nature mode of production and relations are based 

 on embryology and stages in the process revealed in the differing single 

 examples which arise. Of this method von Recklinghausen was a 

 master, and most of his work has borne the test of time. 



He was a tireless worker, arriving at the laboratory at seven in the 

 morning, and often remaining late into the night. His life was quiet, 

 without distraction, and eminently serviceable. Our ideas of Ger- 

 man culture have been derived from the work and lives of such men 

 as this. 



W. T. Councilman. 



OLIVER CLINTON WENDELL (1845-1912) 



Fellow in Class I, Section 1, 1884. 



Oliver Clinton Wendell was born at Dover, N. H., on May 7, 1845. 

 After a life largely devoted to astronomical research, he died in Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., on November 5, 1912. 



]\Ir. Wendell was fitted for college in the old academy of his native 

 town, and graduated from Bates College in 1868. From this college, 

 also, he received the degree of Master of x\rts, in 1871, and of Doctor 

 of Science, in 1907. He was one of the comparatively few men who 

 seemed "predestined" to a specific career, for on his graduation it 

 was announced by the President of the college that one of the small 

 class of five was to be an astronomer. This was Wendell, who appar- 

 ently had come to this decision in his sophomore year. Two months 

 after leaving college he began work at the Harvard College Observa- 

 tory, but a year later he was compelled to resign his position on ac- 

 count of illness. 



For about ten years he found it necessary to engage in outdoor 

 pursuits. During a part of this time he was an assistant to the emi- 

 nent engineer, James B. Francis, a man to whom he often referred in 



