MELVILLE WESTON FULLER. 875 



His influence on physiology in America has been great, especially 

 in that through his influence H. N. Martin became Professor of Physi- 

 ology at Johns Hopkins University in 1876. 



In closing it may be fitting to mention the great monument which 

 marks his career in the unique group of physiologists which it was my 

 privilege to see gathered together in the Cambridge laboratory in 1912. 

 Here, with Gaskell retired but still keeping in touch with the work, 

 and with Langley at the head, was a constellation of physiological 

 stars probably unsurpassed by any other group. Many branches of 

 physiology were being investigated by men of exceptional ability. 

 But what commanded my admiration especially was the work of 

 Lucas and his coworkers who in the years 1904 to 1914 threw more 

 light on the fundamental functional properties and vital phenomena 

 in the excitable tissues, nerve and muscle, than had been thrown by 

 all previous workers. This work, whose influence on physiological 

 thought has only begun to be felt, redounds of course chiefly to the 

 credit of the workers themselves. But it is probable that none would 

 be readier than the Cambridge physiologists of today to agree that 

 Foster's influence in creating the school is a factor without which it 

 would be impossible to picture the result as it has been realized in the 

 present decade. 



Alexander Forbes. 



MELVILLE WESTON FULLER (1833-1910) 



Fellow in Class III, Section 1, 1900. 



Melville Weston Fuller, Eighth Chief Justice of the United States, 

 was born at Augusta in Maine on the 11th day of February, 1833. 

 He entered Bowdoin College at the age of sixteen, after his graduation 

 studied law at the Harvard Law School, and began the practice of his 

 profession in his native city. He shortly afterwards became city 

 attorney, served as an alderman, and was the editor of The Age which 

 was the rival of the Kennebec Journal, at that time controlled by James 

 G. Blaine. Though he rose thus rapidly at home he was not satisfied 

 with the opportunities which were offered to him in Maine, and at the 

 age of twenty-three he emigrated to Chicago, where he commenced 

 life anew. His practice in Chicago was large and varied, and he won 



