1898 | JULIUS VON SACHS 9 
can friends and colleagues, the Lehrbuch has worked wonders in 
the United States.‘ 
It is characteristic of the painstaking and thorough nature 
of his work that Sachs could never bring himself to permit the 
appearance of a fifth edition of a book which had been so rap- 
idly prepared. ‘It had become no longer the expression of my 
ideas,” he writes in the preface to his Lectures upon Plant Physt- 
ology, in referring to the Lehrbuch. The Lehrbuch, however, had 
become the court of last appeal in matters of botanical discus- 
sion in its particular field, having been more quoted as an 
authority than any other botanical work. 
To the ripened mind of Sachs there had come to be no 
longer any pleasure in the mere assembling of facts and critical 
references, which had been necessary in the preparation of the 
Lehrbuch. His artistic nature had prompted the thought that 
he had a greater work to do in the way of cultivating that feel- 
ing toward nature which is so conspicuously lacking in the 
majority, and which he regarded as essential. With this thought, 
he devoted himself to the development of a work which was to 
contain the whole of his botanical grasp and conviction. This 
was the origin of his Vorlesungen, which yet remains the founda- 
tion of all investigation in plant physiology. Perfect in its 
pleasant and vigorous style of presentation, possessing the charm 
of keen and comprehensive observation, this remarkable work 
added to these qualities evidences of a master’s ideas of artistic 
work. 
A man of a definite and decidedly original conception of 
things in general, Sachs was able none the less to regard fairly 
all subjects from other standpoints than his own, a quality which 
brought him into thorough sympathy with many other fields of 
work. In one of his lectures he said: ‘‘ You shall know the 
process of reasoning whereby your lecturer has formed the men- 
tal picture of the field of science which is his personal belief. 
Your acceptance of it, however, is quite another thing, and 
4See Professor Arthur’s address before the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, 1895. Proc. A. A. A. S., 7, 9, 15, 17, 18. 1895 
