LIXXEAX SOCIETY OF LONDON. 35 



■obtained leave of absence from Freiburg for two years (1869-71) 

 iind went with his family to Italy. On his return there was so 

 great an improvement in his sight that he was even able to use 

 the microscope during the following ten yeai's, when the trouble 

 again became more serious and he was obliged to confine his 

 researches to observations which did not cause so great a strain 

 on his eyes and to more theoretical work, leaving much of the 

 actual observation to his assistants and others working under his 

 inspiration and direction. Reading also became a difficulty, and 

 was practically impossible by artificial light, so that he had to 

 employ someone to read to him. He had very wide interests in 

 literature and art, and often enjoyed having a simple German or 

 English novel read out to him. 



One of AVeismann's chief recreations was his daily walk on the 

 hills and in the woods around Freiburg, of which he never tired. 

 He used to be an energetic walker, but when the eye-trouble 

 became worse, he had to avoid long stretches of open road as well 

 as anything dazzling or glittering. His afiliction often prevented 

 him from joining in with others and from going much into 

 society. He was a man of splendid phvsique, tall and strongly 

 built. 



Up to last August, when he was staying at his son's house near 

 Lindau on the lake of Constance, he continued his work on the 

 coloration of butterflies. The sudden outbreak of war affected 

 him greatly : the shock and grief brought on an attack of heart 

 trouble, but he recovered sufficiently to be taken back in 

 September to Freiburg, where he was tended by his eldest 

 daughter. About the middle of October he began to lose 

 strength, and his son, who was at the time engaged at the base- 

 hospital in Lindau, obtained leave to be with his father. He 

 passed peacefully away on November 5th, while his son was 

 playing some of his favourite music. 



Many English biologists can recall the attractiveness of Weis- 

 mann's personality and his kindness to younger men ; but perhaps 

 few knew him intimately enough to appreciate fully the nobleness 

 and generosity of his character and his capability of deep 

 affection. 



He visited England three times, attending the meeting of the 

 British Association at Manchester in 1887, and going to Oxford 

 in 1894 to deliver the Eomanes Lecture and to receive the 

 honorary D.C.L. of that L^uiversity. In addition to the many 

 honours he received in his own country, he was elected a Foreign 

 Member of tlie Linnean Society in 1887 and of the Eoyal Society 

 in 1910, and was awarded the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the 

 former Society and the Darwin Medal of the latter in 1908. 



For many years the Zoological Department of Freiburg 

 University was housed in part of the old monastic buildings. In 

 1886 a new Zoological Institute and Museum were built, the 

 lecture-room of which soon proved to be too small, and some 

 years afterwards was replaced by one capable of seating about 



d2 



