344 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY, OF GENEVA. 



termiuations or ends of tlie nerves in the tougne, a study which he made 

 for the most part upon the tongue of a living frog. This new method 

 of investigation in regard to the nervous system, which obtained for 

 Waller the prize of physiology from the Academy of Sciences at Paris, 

 has been of great service. In order to give a just idea of its merits we 

 shall quote the words of Professor Vulpiau, who in his Course of 

 Physiology of the Nervous System, describes with care this method, to 

 which he proposes to give the name of the Wallerian method. After hav- 

 ing given numerous examples from the experiments we have already 

 cited, M. Vulpian adds: "To this day we have not deduced from this 

 method all the results which it is able to furnish ; but sooner or later 

 we will institute some special researches, taking it as our point of de- 

 parture, and without doubt we shall discover important and valuable 

 truths in regard to anatomical physiology." An important discovery of 

 Waller is that of the exudation of the white globules of the blood 

 from their vessels. The memoir which he published upon this sub- 

 ject in 1846 had been forgotten, when Cohnheim and other microsco- 

 pists rediscovered the facts in 18G7, and from them deduced a new 

 theory in regard to inflammation. M. Strieker, of Vienna, in an inter- 

 esting article which appeared in 18G9, awarded to Waller all the honor 

 of the priority of this discovery. We have confined ourselves 

 to the analysis of the works of Waller, and for more ample in- 

 formation we refer the reader to the list of his publications. It Avill 

 suffice to give at least an approximation of the extent of the 

 researches of this eminent man's investigations, all of which bear the 

 stam]) of true originalit}". 



Waller hud, indeed, a mind essentially ingenious. The experiments 

 which he devised, the subsequent operations he employed, the new 

 methods lie put in practice, all, to the minutest details, exhibit the char 

 acteristics of an eminently inventive genius. He also possessed the very 

 valuable trait of never allowing himself to be carried away by hypotheses. 

 Whatever oi)inions he advanced, he desired to prove mathematically. 

 As long as there remained any doubt on his mind, he would have recourse 

 to new experiments and imagine new methods by which it might be 

 removed. His talent for exposition was remarkable, as we all know by 

 experience in listening to the communications he made to our society. 

 In him science has lost a man of rare merit, while Geneva was only too 

 happy to include him among her residents. 



Having rendered all due respect to the memory of our lamented col- 

 league, I will give a rapid sketch of the labors of the society, in accord- 

 ance with the plan adoptetl for the report of each year. 



PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



It is principally in this domain of science that we have listened 

 to the most numerous lectures ; partly because the stranger savants who 

 have visited us were principally physicists, partl}^ because of the 



