LTNNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON, 4 1 



HuDOLPH Albert ton Koellikeb was born at Zurich iu Switzer- 

 land on the 6tli of July, 1817. Before his death, on the 2nd of 

 November, 1905, he bad become Geheimrat Prof. Dr. Eudolph 

 Albert von Koelliker. His long life was filled with science. But 

 just as a caisson may be tilled with cannon balls and yet have 

 room for bullets and shot, so Koelliker i'o;ind means to dovetail 

 in with intellectual pursuits many other activities. His ambition 

 did not need to spurn delights, while he was living laborious days. 

 From boyhood to old age he rejoiced in every sort of athletic 

 exercise. His agreeable " Beminiscences,"' published in 1S9SJ, 

 diversify the details of anatomical research with glimpses of his 

 exploits and powers of endurance in sl<ating, swimming, riding, 

 mountaineering, and chamois hunting. He attributes in part his 

 vigorous health to this constant indulgence in outdoor pursuits. 

 It is just possible, however, that the vigorous health made the 

 indulgence possible, rather than resulted from it. On one of his 

 early voyages he was able to resist a strong temptation to be 

 sea-sick, and celebrates this as a victory of mind over matter. 

 On a subsequent occasion the tumbling waves were too much 

 even for his resolution. He does not in this case point any 

 moral as to the victory of matter over mind, but it is creditable 

 to his fairness that he reports the circumstance. His candour is 

 manifested at several points. For example, in 1845, as our 

 Proceedings show, he adopted the current opinion, and argued 

 against Costa that the hectocotylus-arm of the Oetopoda was 

 an independent organism. Fifty-four years later he calls this 

 mistake to mind. Be the excuses what they might, he can 

 scarcely forgive himself for it, and speaks of it as a still gna\Aing 

 Avorm. In the course of his career he had so many successes and 

 received so many distinctions, that a few errors and disappoint- 

 ments help to humanise the picture. At the age of twenty-seven 

 he became a professor in his native town, and would fain have 

 remained there. But the home authorities were insufficiently 

 awake to the claims of his budding renown, so that at thirty he 

 reluctantly accepted an invitation to "Wiirzburg, with the result 

 that its university profited for more than half a century by his 

 valuable and steadfastly loyal service. 



It is pleasant to reflect that at every stage of his public life the 

 genius of Koelliker met with appreciation in Great Britain. So 

 early as 1853 his 'Manual of Human Histology' was translated 

 into English by Busk and Huxley. He was elected a Foreign 

 Member of the Linnean Society in 1858, and was awarded the 

 Linuean medal in 1902. Our Proceedings for the latter year 

 contain the eloquent eulogium passed upon him by Professor 

 Vines, then president. From the Eoyal Society he received the 

 Copley medal in 1897. He bad been one of its Foreign Members 

 since 1860, and delivered the Croonian lecture before it in 1862. 

 In 1889 he took part in the ' Challenger ' reports, contributing a 

 Monograph on the Peunatulida?, and utilising the opportunity 

 to introduce a new classification of that group. 



