1896.] Ludwig and Modern Physiology. 11 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, January 24, 1896. 



Sir James Crichton-Browne, M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Treasurer and 

 Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Professor Burdon Sanderson, M.D. D.C.L. LL.D. F.E.S. 



Ludwig and Modern Physiology. 



The death of any discoverer — of any one who has added largely to 

 the sum of human knowledge, affords a reason for inquiring what 

 his work was and how he accomplished it. This inquiry has interest 

 even when the work has been completed in a few years and has been 

 limited to a single line of investigation — much more when the life 

 has been associated with the origin and development of a new science 

 and has extended over half a century. 



The Science of Physiology as we know it came into existence 

 fifty years ago with the beginning of the active life of Ludwig, in 

 the same sense that the other great branch of Biology, the Science 

 of Living Beings, as we now know it, came into existence with the 

 appearance of the ' Origin of Species.' In the order of time 

 Physiology had the advantage, for the new Physiology was accepted 

 some ten years before the Darwinian epoch. Notwithstanding, the 

 content of the Science is relatively so unfamiliar, that before entering 

 on the discussion of the life and work of the man who, as I shall 

 endeavour to show, had a larger share in founding it than any of his 

 contemporaries, it is necessary to define its limits and its relations 

 to other branches of knowledge. 



The word Physiology has in modern times changed its meaning. 

 It once comprehended the whole knowledge of Nature. Now it is 

 the name for one of the two Divisions of the Science of Life. In 

 the progress of investigation the study of that Science has inevitably 

 divided itself into two : Ontology,^ the Science of Living Beings ; 

 Physiology, the Science of Living Processes, and thus, inasmuch as 

 Life consists in processes, of Life itself. Both strive to understand 

 the complicated relations and endless varieties which present them- 

 selves in living Nature, but by different methods. Both refer to 

 general principles, but they are of a different nature. 



To the Oniologist, the student of Living Beings, Plants or 



* I do not forget that this word is ordinarily used in another sense. Its 

 suitability is my excuse for employing it. 



