BARON VON HELMHOLTZ. 595 



Fortunately for scieuce, Helmholtz was pre-eminently an observer 

 and an interpreter ; fortunately for science and for himself, he was 

 destined to fill positions, one after another, not only of preferment, but 

 of opportunity. When at an early age, in 1855, four years after his 

 invention of the ophthalmoscope, he was appointed Professor of 

 Anatomy and Physiology at Bonn University ; then, three years later 

 he became Professor of Physiology at Heidelberg University. Since 

 1871 he has been Professor of Physics at Berlin University, and in 

 1877 he became its Rector, becoming thus a veritable apostle of 

 natural science. 



On his election to membership in the French Academy he was 

 hailed as " the foremost naturalist of his age, to whose glory nothing 

 was wanting, but whose admission conferred fame upon the Academy." 

 In 1873, the Copley Medal was awarded to him by the Royal Society 

 of Great Britain. 



In 1856, when thirty-five years old, Helmholtz published one of 

 his works, modestly styled by himself a " Handbook of Physiologi- 

 cal Optics," but which is a book of more than a thousand pages, — a 

 stupendous monument of his patience, his alert and wise perception, 

 his industry, and his accuracy in a field where not only conditions^ 

 but functions came to be investigated in the light of new revelations, 

 and where the observer must be a law unto himself. 



It was this complete equipment of various knowledge, — in physi- 

 ology, in physics, in biology, in mathematics, in optics, — joined to 

 powers of quick and accurate perception and judgment, which so 

 greatly enhanced the glory of Germany's and Europe's most illus- 

 trious and honored savant. It is hoped that the work of the later 

 period of his career may be collected and published, to add yet further 

 contributions to scientific knowledge. 



In 1883 an hereditary title of nobility was conferred by the Em- 

 peror of Germany upon Plelmholtz. In 1891, on his seventietli birth- 

 day, a jubilee ovation was tendered to him, where, in response to 

 enthusiastic testimonials of admiration and affection from the Ger- 

 man Emperor and other European sovereigns, from tlie President of 

 the French Republic, from numerous learned societies and the great 

 Universities, the Professor with great emotion referred to his disabil- 

 ity of health in his earlier years of childhood, and spoke of his strong 

 inclination, even from that period, for exact and experimental studies, 

 which he had most zealously pursued. 



In 1893, Baron von Helmholtz, accompanied by the Baroness, 

 made a brief visit to this country, attending the Pan American. 



