RUDOLPH VIRCHOW, 1821-1902. 657 



sources of our Western culture he could not subscribe to a t-oiuplete 

 displacement of classic studies by the modern practical subjects. 



The great pathological and anatomical collections, which are the 

 results of the manifold labors of his long life, nuist (^tand in the front 

 rank for purposes of instruction in his own brancli of science. 

 Although nuich of the material there assembled is primarily adapted 

 to purposes of pure scientific inquiry , still the objects were gathered 

 by him chiefly with a view to their educational vahu\ It nuist, there- 

 fore, have been a g-reat satisfaction to liim to see in tlie newly erected 

 pathologic museum a worthy depository for this unecjualed collection. 

 In the arrangement of this museum it is not ojdy the directly interested 

 scientific circle, but quite as nmch the popular audience whose instruc- 

 tion is considered. He formed a special easily accessible exhil)it to 

 illustrate to the widest circles the knowledge most valuable to the 

 general welfare, just as in his younger days he had not disdained to 

 endeavor to awaken in the popular mind by the simplest ways and 

 appreciation for the value of science. It would require a special 

 article to tell how nmch work he spent on the objects of this collection, 

 but an idea of the innnensity of it can l)e gathered from the fact that 

 about 23,0()<) preparations in the pathologic nmseum bear labels written 

 by Rudolf Virchow. These labels give in the most concise ti^-ms the 

 chief result of an often extensive investigation devoted to each sing'le 

 object. 



In all the pro])l<MUs to whose investigation he devoted himself, in all 

 practical matters which came to his attention, and in every branch of 

 science with which Kudolf Virchow engaged he kept in mind the rela- 

 tions of th(^ subject to the })ublic life. If at the first attack upon a 

 new problem it was the love of knowledge for its own sake which 

 spurred him on, yet in every case the wider ap})lication appealed at 

 length to the warm heart and ideal loving mind that kept in view in all 

 that he did the good of his fellow-men. lie put away each little ego- 

 istic striving and devoted his whole strength to the work, never hesi- 

 tating to take up matters which hardly required the powers of a Rudolf 

 Virchow to accomplish them. He knew that even in our German 

 fatherland, penetrated as it is by Kant's philoso})hy, not all men pos- 

 sess that degree of trustworthiness which he desired to see in all, but 

 which in men of science he held indispensable. Whenever he failed 

 of finding exactly the man to do a piece of work he undertook it him- 

 self where any particular degree of responsibility rested upon him in 

 the matter. A deep inbred modesty kept him from any feeling of 

 vanit}^ but it is easy to understand why h(% the deep ])hilosopher and 

 the minute observer, after he became acquainted with the real situa- 

 tion entered into the political arena. With the keen vision of the stu- 

 dent of nature he recognized the real cause of public ill-health could 

 only be removed* by a general uplifting of public intelligence, and only 

 SM 1903 42 



