HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



At the same time, although he was practical, no one 

 more strongly denounced the pursuit of science 

 merely for its practical results. All his physiological 

 work, whilst of the most thorough-going kind, was 

 pursued because it was his duty as a disciple of 

 science to ascertain the truth, and he felt sure that 

 any practical advantage to medicine, or to science 

 in general, would naturally flow from what to many 

 would seem to be abstruse and theoretical work. He 

 did not require to invent an ophthalmoscope to show 

 the practical side of his genius ; it was the outcome 

 of his knowledge of science, including the anatomi- 

 cal structure of the eye and the laws of optics. Yet 

 the invention of this little instrument, from the 

 time of its conception the daily companion of medical 

 men all over the world an instrument, too, that can 

 scarcely be supplanted by any other will keep his 

 memory green when many of his more elaborate 

 works may be forgotten, or are absorbed in the general 

 body of scientific truth. 



In a speech, delivered many years after, Helmholtz 

 remarked, 'In Konigsberg I had to teach general 

 pathology and physiology. A teacher in a university 

 is subject to excellent discipline, in that he is obliged 

 each year not only to give at least an outline of the 

 whole of his science, but also to convince and satisfy 

 the clear heads among his hearers, some of whom 

 will be the great men of the next generation. This 

 necessity was most beneficial to myself. In prepar- 

 72 



