CHARLES SEDGWICK MINOT. 845 



its maxiinuin in tlic very youiiij stages and the rate of senescence 

 diminishes witii age." He protests against "the medical conception 

 that age is a kind of (Hsease," chronic and incurable, of any such nature 

 as intestinal intoxication or arteriosclerosis. On the contrary he finds 

 that it has a cytological cause, equally operative in the lower animals 

 which have neither intestines or arteries and in man; and he ascribes 

 senescence to the increase and difTerentiation of cytoplasm as compared 

 with nucleoplasm. 



In 1901 he proposed "the new term cytomorphosis to designate 

 comprehensively all the structural alterations which cells, or suc- 

 cessive generations of cells may undergo, from the earliest undiflfer- 

 entiated stage to their final destruction." His latest works on this 

 subject, aptly characterized as "thoughtful and suggestive," refer 

 to cytomorphosis as a most promising field for further study, and at 

 the time of his death, plans had been made for careful in^-estigations 

 to test the Aalidity of his cytomorphic hypothesis concerning age." 



Of Minot's shorter contributions perhaps the best known is a paper, 

 1900, " On a hitherto unrecognized form of blood circulation in the 

 organs of Vertebrata." Evervone was familiar with the differences 

 in the thin walled capillaries running in the connective tissue of most 

 organs, easily compressible, their calibre varying with the activity 

 of the circulation, and the vessels in the liver which were wide, closely 

 applied to the parenchyma and whose calibre cannot easily vary. 

 He regarded such vessels not as capillaries but as sinusoids, showed 

 their manner of development and the organs in which they were found. 



]Minot was greatly in demand as a giver of addresses and these cover 

 a wide range of subjects. His style was ^•igorous, graceful, the 

 subject enlivened by himior, sometimes with a little satire, and 

 always interesting. They were collected and issued in a German 

 translation under the title "Die Methode der Wissenschaft und 

 andere Reden" — Jena, 1913. Altogether he has published more 

 than one hundred and eighty notes and papers, including his addresses. 



In 1912-1913 he was Harvard Exchange Professor at Berlin and 

 Jena, and used the position largely in bringing to the attention of his 

 German colleagues the amount and character of the contributions of 

 American in^•estigators. The position was very enjoyable to him, 

 for he renewed and extended his wide acquaintanceship with the 

 German men of Science. 



Minot possessed a wide acquaintance with scientific men here and 

 abroad; he was constant in his attendance on scientific meetings, 

 taking part in the discussions, and occupying a prominent place in 



