OBITUARIES. 



G. H. THEODOR EIMER. 

 Born 22nd February 1843; Died 29th May 1898. 



Dr. G. H. Theodor Eimer, Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at 

 Tubingen, was born at Stiifa, in the Canton of Zurich, where his father was 

 district medical officer. His earliest years were passed at Freiburg, in Breisgau. 

 At twelve years of age he entered the Gymnasium of Bruchsal. On leaving the 

 Gymnasium he became a student in the medical faculty of the University of 

 Tubingen, where he was in zoological subjects a pupil of Leydig. In 1863-64 

 he studied at Freiburg, in 1864-65 at Heidelberg, and in the latter year passed 

 the examination in Natural Science at Karlsruhe. In the following winter he was 

 again at Tubingen, and thence he went to Berlin to study the practical subjects 

 of medicine. During the two years he was at Berlin he came much under the in- 

 fluence of Virchow. He graduated at the German metropolis in medicine and 

 surgery in 1867, and in the following year passed the state examination at 

 Karlsruhe. He had formed the resolution of devoting himself to research instead 

 of practising the medical profession, and, on the advice of Virchow, went again to 

 Freiburg to work in Weismann's laboratory. Here his interest in the problems of 

 evolution, already aroused, was strongly developed, and he commenced the in- 

 vestigations which led him to views in many respects diametrically opposed to 

 those of his teacher. In 1869 he acted as Prosector of Zootomy to Kolliker in 

 Wurzburg, but in 1870 he gave up academical pursuits for a time, and the day 

 after his marriage set out with his bride for the seat of the Franco-German war. 

 He took part in the campaign as volunteer field-surgeon, while his wife was a 

 volunteer field-nurse. The hardships of the campaign enfeebled his health, and 

 in 1871 he went to Italy to recuperate. During this and subsequent visits to 

 Italy he carried out his well-known researches on Medusae and other marine 

 forms, and on the variations of the lizard. On his return to Wurzburg in 1871 

 he set up as privat-docent in zoology. In 1874 he became Inspector of the 

 Grand Ducal Museum at Darmstadt, and Professor of Zoology at the Polytechnic 

 High School of that city, and in the following year was invited to succeed 

 Leydig as Professor of Zoology at Tubingen in the University in which he com- 

 menced his academical career. 



Although he made various contributions to histology and other subjects, 

 Eimer's most important investigations are those which deal with problems of 

 evolution. He has taken a prominent part in the tournaments waged over these 

 questions during the last two decades. Not entirely neglecting other phenomena, 

 he gave his attention principally to the external characters which distinguish 

 species and genera from one another in various groups, and has contributed power- 

 fully to the growing conviction that such characters are not to be explained on the 

 principle of simple utility. In his work on Lacerta muralis, and his papers on 

 the markings of mammals published in "Humboldt" between 1878 and 1888, 



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