602 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



highest traditions of German science, men who could never surrender 

 their faith in academic freedom. 



Frederic Bremer exemphfies all that we most admire in his country- 

 men: loyalty, self-reliance, humor, industry, and, with it all, a burning 

 zeal for research that sustained him in his vigorous way of life during 

 the lean years through which he has just passed. AVhen conditions 

 in his university laboratory made work impossible in 1943, he retired 

 to the cellar of his house for nearly two years, and there continued his 

 experimentation and his writing. Virtue cannot be enhanced by calling 

 it to public notice and I do so now, not to add luster to Frederic 

 Bremer's position in the world of science, but rather that others may 

 take inspiration from his faith and his example. He states modestly 

 that he has merely followed in the pathways of those he seeks to 

 emulate. Many of us here share with him a common devotion to two 

 of his masters: one was Harvey Gushing; the other, Sir Gharles Sher- 

 rington. Sir Gharles, whom Bremer has recently seen, is now in his 

 ninth decade. Bremer found him hard at work, bringing out a biog- 

 raphy of Jean Fernel, the sixteenth century physician and humanist; 

 while he is somewhat crippled by arthritis, his mind remains ever 

 vigorous. 



Another pupil of Sherrington is John Eccles, whose industry, like 

 that of Bremer's, is phenomenal. In a very short space of time, he has 

 had eight children, and, not content with bringing up a large family at 

 home, he also created a laboratory family of loyal associates: Hebbel 

 Hoff and David Lloyd who were his pupils at Oxford, and Stephen 

 Kuffler (whom you have all enjoyed hearing at the Gonference), Ber- 

 nard Katz, and many younger men whose names we are beginning to 

 see in the literature. Ghandler Brooks of Baltimore permits me to tell 

 you that he, too, is going presently to New Zealand, to experience for 

 a year the stimulating atmosphere of Eccles' laboratory. Gharacter- 

 istic of the Eccles family, Mrs. Eccles has extended a cordial invitation 

 to Dr. and Mrs. Brooks to live with them while they are in Dunedin, 

 should they have difficulty in finding accommodations. I could tell 

 you more about Jack Eccles, but since he is a good friend of mine I 

 shall spare him, the more so since he knows much too much about me to 

 make it safe to indulge in blackmail. 



My pleasant duty in closing is to propose a toast. Since we did not 

 wish to obligate anyone to speak, it seemed inappropriate to single out 

 our guests, for they have been one with the Gonference. But it has 

 seemed highly appropriate to ask you to drink a standing toast to the 

 man who has probably influenced our thinking more profoundly than 

 anyone now living — Sir Gharles Sherrington. 





