December 10, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



833 



•where an offending tumor lies. I\Iy pres- 

 ent purpose, however, is not so much to 

 impress you with the diflSeulties of making 

 a sane diagnosis, as to caution you against 

 the making of an insane one. An ill-bal- 

 anced judgment in diagnosing disease is 

 one of the commonest faults of the physi- 

 cian, and if the nature of the disease is 

 not discovered, the success of the treat- 

 ment is not even problematical. 



The moral of my tale is quickly drawn. 

 It is, first of all, for you, who are to be- 

 come healers of the sick, to be sane. It is 

 for you diligently to seek after the truth, 

 and, having found it, to follow its teach- 

 ings. But you can do more than this, and 

 it is your duty to do more. "With your 

 training and with your growing experi- 

 ence, your opinion in matters of health 

 and of disease, in whatever pertains to the 

 human body, will be sought and will de- 

 serve respect if that opinion is in accord 

 with what learned men have declared to be 

 wisdom. You will thus be called upon to 

 be mentors and teachers. I plead, there- 

 fore, not only for sanity in your own be- 

 liefs and practises, but for the constant 

 exercise of your enlightened influence 

 toward the eradication of what has pithily 

 been called "pestilential nonsense" from 

 the minds of your patients and your fel- 

 low-men. Swayed by sentiment, they will 

 often seek the bizarre, the foolish and the 

 delusive. "The time will come," said a 

 wise man, "when they will not endure the 

 sound doctrine. . . . They will turn av.-ay 

 their ears from the truth, and turn aside 

 unto fables." They will hold to their 

 opinions with the tenacity that is born of 

 ignorance. Montaigne has said that 

 "nothing is so firmly believed as that which 

 a man knoweth least." You will have 

 many opportunities to show to the world 

 that the way toward strange gods is not 

 the way of salvation. You should hail the 



chance of thus becoming mis.sionaries of 

 common sense to those less well equipped 

 than you. May you make good use of your 

 education and your powers, and, both as 

 physicians and as citizens, always stand as 

 staunch defenders of the gospel of sanity. 

 Frederic S. Lee 

 Columbia University 



AyTON DOERN, FOUNDER AXD DIRECTOR 

 OF THE NAPLES AQUARIUM 



Aston Dohrx, founder and director of the 

 Naples Zoological Station, or, as it is more 

 popularly called, " The Aquarium," died in 

 Munich after a protracted illness, on Sep- 

 tember 26. His death severed one more link 

 which connected the present generation with 

 a group of great men, most of whom were his 

 intimate friends, Darwin, Huxley, Virchow, 

 DuBois-Eaymond, Helmholtz and Pasteur. 

 The story of his life is of special, no less than 

 general, interest to Americans. Idealism 

 rendered effective through the will and cre- 

 ative genius is the mark of an unusual com- 

 bination of mental traits and that, in brief, 

 was the keynote of his personality. 



Anton Dohrn was born at Stettin in the 

 year 1840. His father, a man in affluent cir- 

 cumstances, was extremely solicitous that his 

 sons should fully appreciate the responsibility 

 attaching to the possession of wealth ; and the 

 paternal admonition to the younger Dohrn to 

 choose his own profession provided it was not 

 a money-making one, proves that the form of 

 idealism of the son, to which he always re- 

 mained true, was in part, at least, inherited. 



Those who had the privilege of knowing 

 Professor Dohrn were greatly impressed, not 

 only by his remarkable versatility, but by the 

 great capacity he displayed in dealing success- 

 fully with men and affairs. His power to ad- 

 minister and direct the organization of a 

 large institution never seemed to diminish 

 his interest in, nor his ability to carry on 

 scientific investigations of great importance. 

 Honored by the personal friendship of the 

 German Emperor, and received as a not infre- 

 quent guest by families of the greatest dis- 

 tinction in Europe, he never permitted the 



