Mat 30, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



813 



would probably not only continue to live when 

 introduced into warm-blooded animals, but would 

 grow or increase in size. 



The transplantation of tumors has be- 

 come an important method of pathological 

 research. We should not forget that Leidy 

 originated the method. 



Leidy 's supreme gift was the ability to 

 see, coupled with an inexhaustible delight 

 in seeing. He saw so well not only with 

 his eye, but with his intelligence and inter- 

 preting mind, that his published observa- 

 tions maintain a level of accuracy to which 

 few naturalists have risen. His charac- 

 teristic accuracy shows equally in his brief 

 notes and in his extended monographs — it 

 seems never to have failed. Dr. Thomas 

 G. Lee says of Leidy 's publications that 

 they "probably contain fewer errors of 

 fact and interpretation than those of any 

 other writer on so many and such varied 

 subjects." The joy of seeing is an inborn 

 gift. It manifested itself very early in 

 Leidy and was accompanied by a talent for 

 drawing. This talent was so marked in 

 the boy that his father withdrew him from 

 school when he was sixteen, with the idea 

 of educating him as an artist. But at this 

 age he was already a naturalist, a student 

 of nature by spontaneous instinct. He 

 dissected cats, chickens and other animals 

 and showed such intense interest in com- 

 parative anatomy that it was decided that 

 the lad should study medicine. He at- 

 tended lectures on medicine at the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania and obtained the de- 

 gree of doctor of medicine in 1844, and for 

 two years actually practised. In 1846 he 

 was demonstrator of anatomy in Franklin 

 Medical College, and in 1847 he became 

 a teacher in the university under Dr. 

 Horner. In 1850 he had the great advan- 

 tage of a trip to Europe with Dr. George 

 B. "Wood, to collect material to illustrate 

 Dr. Wood's lectures. It gave the young 



naturalist fresh stimulus, for he made the 

 acquaintance of a number of famous anat- 

 omists and physiologists. The late Mr. 

 Isaac Hinckley was fond of relating how 

 Dr. Wood found it difficult to persuade 

 Leidy to overcome his modesty so far as to 

 send in his card also to Johannes Miiller. 

 Presently Miiller came into the room, cry- 

 ing out, "Which is Leidy?" Extreme 

 modesty was a marked characteristic of 

 Joseph Leidy throughout his life, and 

 was accompanied by an amiable unselfish- 

 ness, which endeared him alike to his 

 friends and his students. In 1858, after 

 the death of Dr. Horner, Leidy was made 

 professor of anatomy in the university and 

 continued to fill the chair until his own 

 death, thirty-three years later. 



Leidy 's death terminated the career of a 

 man whose noble and unflagging devotion 

 to science secured a rich harvest of dis- 

 covery. He has left a message to us which 

 I deliver to you in his own words: 



The study of natural history in the leisure of 

 my life, since I was fourteen years of age, has 

 been to me a constant source of happiness; and 

 my experience of it is such that independently of 

 its higher merits, I warmly recommend it as a 

 pastime, which I believe no other can excel. At 

 the same time, in observing the modes of life of 

 those around me it has been a matter of unceasing 

 regret that so few, so very few, people give atten- 

 tion to intellectual pursuits of any kind. In the 

 incessant and necessary struggle for bread we re- 

 peatedly hear the expression that ' ' man shall not 

 live by bread alone, ' ' and yet it remains unappre- 

 ciated by the mass of even so-called enlightened 

 humanity. In common with all other animals, the 

 engrossing care of man is food for the stomach, 

 while intelleetual food too often remains unknown, 

 is disregarded or rejected. 



It is an honor to Philadelphia that the 

 statue of Joseph Leidy stands by the great 

 city hall. It is an honor to the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania that his name is to be 

 from this evening forth associated with the 

 university's highest work. We are gath- 



