ON THE IDEA 



OF THE 



INDIVIDUAL IN THE ANIMAL KINGDO.AI. 



An Address delivered at the 56th Congress of Germccn Naturalists and 

 Physicians at Freiburg, i.B., on the 21st September 1883, 



BY 



Peof. De. G. H. THEODOR EIMER of Tubingen. 



From the stenographic report published in the daily proceedings of tlie 



CoDgress. 



Man loves to isolate himself from Nature. 



He is reluctant to confess his kinship with beiugs wliich 

 he thinks beneath him. 



He alone will be lord, alone ^yise ; he the crown of 

 creation. 



But who gives him the right to assume this pre-eminence ? 



How small is his power 1 



Man the mighty — is powerless against the iiitinitesimal 

 organisms which seek to enter his blood and destroy liini. 



A wave kills him, while the ocean is teeming with life 

 that mocks his sovereignty. 



