October 11, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



461 



and Flora ' ' ; to-day an imposing contribu- 

 tion of thirty-three volumes. The desire to 

 have a medium for publishing the briefer 

 records of observation conducted in the 

 station, as well as to give this work pub- 

 licity, led to the appearance of the Mitteil- 

 ungen. The necessity of procuring for the 

 library all the newest biological literature 

 was the reason for the publication of the 

 Zoologischen Jahreshericht; a model of its 

 kind. Soon came countless demands for 

 material for experiment and observation. 

 This led to the development of a new tech- 

 nique for conserving specimens which were 

 supplied to museums in many different 

 countries. The specimens of the wonder- 

 ful creatures of the sea were most life-like, 

 and the microscopical technique of the 

 Zoological Station was also greatly ad- 

 vanced. The rapidly appearing communi- 

 cations of investigators working there testi- 

 fied to the brilliant way in which the new 

 institute fulfilled the object of its founda- 

 tion. The head of the station saw without 

 envy how the fruits of his creation even in 

 his own special field of investigation were 

 harvested by others, so numerous were the 

 claims made upon his time from every side, 

 and the greatness of his character is dem- 

 onstrated by the unselfish way in which 

 Dohm regarded men of equal strength de- 

 veloping beside him. What he once had 

 confided to well-tried hands, that he now 

 allowed to grow in these same hands and 

 become independent. One name rises to 

 the lips of all here — Lo Bianco. In the 

 porter's lodge of the house in which Dohm 

 then lived, he had often noticed a boy al- 

 ways usefully busy. Dohrn made use of 

 the fourteen-year-old boy for every kind 

 of small service at the station. In this 

 environment the unusual and very gifted 

 young man grew up to become one of the 

 most important factors in the station, 

 founding and brilliantly directing his own 



department. Suddenly this powerful fig- 

 ure whose presence can not be dissociated 

 from the Zoological Station, the friend and 

 helper of all working there, has vanished; 

 struck down as by a thunderbolt. 



Five years were given over by Dohrn 

 almost entirely to the building and equip- 

 ping of the Zoological Station. He looked 

 with impatience for the moment when he 

 could return to his own extensive investiga- 

 tions. It is not the wish of this assembly 

 that the importance of Dohrn 's scientific 

 achievements should be touched upon in a 

 valedictory; but if it were I, knowing so 

 little of the particulars of Dohrn 's special 

 investigations, would refuse the task. As, 

 however, the purpose is to present a char- 

 acter-sketch I can not refrain from at- 

 tempting to give a picture of the man. 

 When one asks what Dohrn could have 

 meant when he said it was by accident he 

 became a zoologist, I believe we must see in 

 this an expression of the conscious feeling 

 that he was not born a naturalist. The 

 study of his scientific work leads to the con- 

 clusion that he did not lack any of the 

 highest attributes of an investigator. He 

 did not, however, possess the elementary 

 desire, the wish, to make observations, to 

 discover new facts known only to the in- 

 vestigator himself. He did not underesti- 

 mate the value of discoveries, but he was 

 almost indifferent about making them him- 

 self. Is it not remarkable that, having 

 opened the shaft leading to the mine of the 

 undiscovered, he did not decide to follow 

 this path? External influences did not 

 determine for him the direction of experi- 

 ment, but to his own mind problems of a 

 certain kind were presented in theories, 

 which he then tried to prove by known 

 facts. We see that the conceptions he had 

 grasped while in Jena governed the direc- 

 tion of his thought to the end. In his sci- 

 entific activity he showed himself to be 



