548 CARL THliODOR ERNST VON SIEBOLD. 



GAEL THEODOR ERNST VON SIEBOLD. 



Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, the last in the male line 

 of a family very distinguished during four generations in science and 

 medicine, was born iu Wiirzburg, Germany, on the 16th of February, 

 1804. After a long career of almost incessant and invariably success- 

 ful industry, his life closed on the 7th of April, 1885, at Munich. 

 His death deprives the Academy, of which he became an honorary 

 member in 1854, of one of its most distinguished associates. 



Siebold was a zoologist from inward necessity, and turned to zoology 

 as an occupation under all circumstances. He had a natural inclina- 

 tion for collecting and systematic arrangement, and an irrepressible 

 interest in the living animal. These two tastes were his most marked 

 professional traits, and fixed to a great extent the scope of his work. 

 His researches were in lai-ge part, though not exclusively, upon the 

 species and classification of various groups, and secondly upon the 

 phenomena of animal reproduction. The former class of investiga- 

 tions reveal the painstaking and accurate temperament of the man, 

 and also his extensive knowledge of the literature of his science. 

 They are represented by numerous papers on Invertebrates, and an 

 invaluable monograph of the Fresh-water Fishes of Middle Germany, 

 — a work undertaken at royal request, and representing the labor of 

 several years. His most important achievement in systematic zoology 

 was the definite recognition of the protozoa as uuicellular animals, 

 forming a distinct sub-kingdom. This fine generalization has been 

 the basis of all the subsequent progress of knowledge concerning this 

 group. 



Siebold's studies upon reproduction were very fruitful, and their 

 fruit of the best value. He elucidated much of our present knowl- 

 edge of the life history of helminths, a subject of equal scientific and 

 practical importance ; and it is principally to his many observations 

 that we owe the discovery of the laws of parthenogenesis, one of the 

 most significant phenomena of animal life. 



Besides all this. Von Siebold produced, together with Stannius, a 

 text-book of Comparative Anatomy, which, though written forty years 

 ago, has never been surpassed in thoroughness and comprehensive 

 treatment, and still remains a mine of information to the student. 

 This remarkable book, of which Siebold wrote the part dealing with 

 the Invertebrates, is not a mere compilation, although it shows an 

 exhaustive acquaintance with the literature of the subjects, but is 

 much more, since it contains very numerous original observations. 



