MODERN BIOLOGY 411 



ulties at the universities this science likewise has its own representatives and 

 its own laboratories provided with special equipment. One or two of the 

 most important representatives of this line of research will be cited here as 

 examples showing the aims of physiology during this period and its attempts 

 to realize them. 



Emil du Bois-Reymond was born in 1818 in Berlin. His parents were of 

 French extraction and came from Neuchatel, which then belonged to Prus- 

 sia. Some time after their son's birth they moved back to their home district, 

 so that the boy grew up in a French environment, but at the same time, 

 thanks to family influence — his father was a Prussian official — he ac- 

 quired a strong affection for Prussia. After completing his school studies, 

 therefore, he went to the University of Berlin, where, after some wavering 

 as to a career, he applied himself to medical studies and became a pupil of 

 J. Miiller. In 1858 he became Miiller's successor as professor of physiology 

 and held this post until his death, in 1896. He never had any very large cir- 

 cle of pupils; but the influence on the educated public which he exercised 

 as secretary to the Berlin Academy of Science was all the greater. The lec- 

 tures that he had to hold annually in this capacity proved to be brilliantly 

 eloquent; he usually took some subject from the theory of history or natu- 

 ral science, sometimes even discussing political questions of the day, for 

 Du Bois-Reymond was, in spite of his French mother-tongue, a warm Ger- 

 man, or rather Prussian, patriot, with an almost devout reverence for the 

 reigning family. These lectures displayed deep scientific general knowledge 

 and keenness of thought and they possessed a lasting value in German lit- 

 erature. 



Electric currents in the living body 

 In 1840 Du Bois-Reymond was commissioned by J. Miiller to study the phe- 

 nomena of electric currents in the nervous and muscular systems and he was 

 thus led to take up a field of research that he never afterwards abandoned. 

 He recorded his results in an important work entitled Untersucbungen tiber 

 tierische Electrizitdt, the first part of which came out in 1848, hut the work 

 was never completed; the last part was published in 1884. Au R. Tigerstedt 

 has justly remarked, it is seldom that an investigator has for so long occupied 

 himself exclusively with so limited a sphere of research. That Du Bois-Rey- 

 mond must nevertheless be counted amongst the pioneering natural scien- 

 tists of his age is due to the general principles he expressed and consistently 

 applied in his research work. In the foreword to his great book he expounds 

 his ideas on the innermost essence of vital phenomena, and pf-obably the 

 weaker sides of the vitalistic theory have never before and seldom since 

 been subject to such keen and striking criticism as here. The old life-force 

 is reviewed from all sides and the arguments in its favour are refuted one 

 after another; the finality of the living organisms, which so impressed 



