GABRIEL GUSTAV VALENTIN. 667 



tant investigations on the subject of the twilight, based on his obser- 

 vations at Hamburg, Rome, Naples, and in Greece, from 1843 to 1864, 

 obtaining very interesting results ; published, as Annals of the Athens 

 Observatory, important contributions to our knowledge of the physical 

 phenomena of comets, and also on the Physical Geography of Greece ; 

 co-operated largely in the construction of Hour V. of the Berlin Acad- 

 emy Charts, the most elaborately worked of the series ; made series 

 of measures of the diameters of the various planets, as well as obser- 

 vations on Saturn's rings ; and finally took a very large share in the 

 work of position determinations of comets and asteroids. 



Surely this devoted servant of science has well earned the tribute 

 of admiration which astronomers universally pay to his memory. To 

 make good his loss, not one, but several assiduous workers will be 

 required in the various fields which he has so long and ardently 

 cultivated. 



Schmidt died of heart disease, being found dead in his bed, Thurs- 

 day morning, February 7, 1884, after having passed the previous 

 evening apparently in perfect health at the German Embassy at 

 Athens. The funeral was made an occasion for national mourning, 

 in which all classes sorrowfully participated. 



GABRIEL GUSTAV VALENTIN. 



Gabriel Gustav Valentin, for forty -five years Professor of 

 Physiology at Berne, died in that city on the 23d of May, 1883. 

 He was born of Jewish parents, at Breslau, on the 8th of July, 1810. 

 He took his degree in medicine in his native city in 1832, and con- 

 tinued to practise his profession there till 1836, when he was called to 

 the chair of Physiology at Berne. This position he held till 1881, 

 when he resigned on account of ill health. 



During his long period of scientific activity Professor Valentin made 

 contributions to nearly every department of Physiology. We find him, 

 for instance, in 1842, contributing to "Wagner's Lexicon of Physiology 

 articles on Secretion, Animal Electricity, Nutrition, Biliary Movement, 

 and on Galvanism in its effects on the animal body and the tissues of 

 the human and animal body. His associates in this important sci- 

 entific undertaking were the brothers Weber, Piirkinje, Lehmann, 

 Ludwig, Von Siebold, Berzelius, Bischoff, Bidder, Frerichs, Leuckart, 

 Volkmann, and many others of that band of devoted investigators 

 whose labors during the middle of the present century contributed so 



