66 



GRAHAM LUSK 



After passing his "physicum" examination, he went to Wiirzburg 

 in 1851, which was at that time a much more celebrated medical center 

 than Munich. After a year he returned to Munich, which had received 

 an academic stimulus by the arrival of Liebig. He graduated in medicine 

 in 1854 and, in order to prepare himself for a scientific career, he de- 

 voted the following year to attending lectures in physics, zoology, an- 

 atomy and chemistry. The last-named course was given by Liebig. He 



entered the laboratory of prac- 

 tical chemistry then conducted 

 by Pettenkofer. With Petten- 

 kofer he studied an outbreak of 

 cholera, especially the accumu- 

 lation of urea within the organ- 

 ism during the infection and its 

 elimination subsequently. He 

 devoted a large part of his time 

 to the study of the works of the 

 great Liebig, whose reputation 

 filled the world. On Liebig's 

 advice he spent a year with 

 Wohler in Gottingen. He then 

 planned to pass a year with 

 Bidder and Schmidt in Dorpat, 

 but he was turned from this by 

 an offer of an assistantship to 

 Bischoff, professor of anatomy 

 and physiology in Munich. In 

 1859 he became professor extra- 

 ordinarius, and in 1863, at the 

 age of thirty-two, professor 

 ordinarius of physiology in 

 Munich, a position which he 

 held for forty-five years until 

 his death. 



During his early student days he had a desk adjoining that of Brush, 

 for many years the dean of the Sheffield Scientific School. Of him 

 Voit said, "I can see him now, how accurately he worked !" And through- 

 out Voit's life it was "die Genauigkeit" upon which he placed the maxi- 

 mum of stress. 



Perhaps it may be of interest to present some of the earliest of Voit's 

 work in this historical review. The ideas are largely expressed in the 

 light of the doctrines of Liebig. A young man is usually at first imbued 

 with the doctrines of his master. The master who has a knowledge of 

 accumulated facts can often most helpfully attempt to give the reasons 



Fig. 7. Carl Voit. From a plate in the 

 "Jubelband" of the "Zeitschrift fur Biologic" 

 (Vol. XLII), published in honor of his seven- 

 tieth birthdav. 



