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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 928 



of the Zeiss works, Ernst Abbe ; the gifted 

 inventor, Werner von Siemens ; Robert von 

 Keudell, ambassador, distinguished in mind 

 as in character ; the great musician, Joseph 

 Joachim; and the painter, Hans von 

 Marees, who at last, after long neglect, is 

 receiving recognition, are enough to prove 

 to us what a noble and rich nature Dohrn 

 must have had. Without these mental 

 qualities would it have been conceivable 

 that he could have won and kept for the 

 station such remarkable professional asso- 

 ciates at a time when the future of his 

 creation and of these young men was still 

 unknown ? And this attachment of his fel- 

 low workers is so much the more remark- 

 able as there were times when the attempt 

 to work with Dohrn was no easy task; but 

 even then the essential element of Dohrn 's 

 nature shone out through the mist, so that 

 even the simple fisher-folk were able to 

 appreciate it. Underneath the overbearing 

 character of a nature born to command 

 they were able to recognize a kindly per- 

 sonality in whose hands they knew them- 

 selves to be secure. With faithful devo- 

 tion they hung upon their ' ' Signor Dohrn, ' ' 

 and whatever he might have demanded of 

 them each and all would have obeyed. 



Fragmentary as is the picture, it were 

 incomplete in a most important point 

 should a subject I have just touched upon 

 remain unexpressed; namely, that the 

 shadow-side as well was not lacking in this 

 wonderfully successful life. Already in 

 the beginning of the early seventies the 

 periods of his greatest development of 

 strength were broken by times of such deep 

 nervous depression that all the remarkable 

 qualities which distinguished Dohrn on 

 other days then seemed almost to disap- 

 pear. He himself attributed the origin of 

 this afHiction to his mother's family, but 

 the indescribable fatigues and condition of 

 mental tension under which he lived were 



sufficient to explain the occurrence even in 

 a very strong constitution, of these periods 

 of complete exhaustion. Much as he en- 

 joyed his life in a foreign land, this exile 

 brought a great deal that was painful. 

 Dohrn 's was one of those natures which, 

 while fully conscious of their achievement, 

 look upon that which is finished almost as 

 the work of another, and hence again and 

 again feel impelled to prove their right to 

 live by new deeds accomplished. Thus 

 the latter years of his life were almost a 

 continual torment to this man of action, 

 for his bodily strength could not keep pace 

 with the still active spirit. Yearly, physi- 

 cians sent the rebellious man northward, 

 over the Alps, for months at a time. And 

 like Albrecht Diirer, who after only a short 

 journey in Italy sighed at parting, "wie 

 wird mich nach der Sonnen frieren; hier 

 bin ieh ein Herr, daheim Schmarotzer, " 

 so exclaimed Dohrn as he left his life-work 

 behind him. 



To linger awhile in the world of his own 

 creation, and to sail once again in his well- 

 beloved boat out upon the blue waters, was 

 his last wish; but before it could be real- 

 ized, he died suddenly in Munich on the 

 twenty-sixth of September, 1911. 



When I undertook the task of speaking 

 to you of Dohrn, I asked myself which one 

 of his qualities was it above all others that 

 gave birth to the wish to honor his memory 

 before an International Zoological Con- 

 gress. Scientific achievement alone, as far 

 as I know, has never prompted such an 

 honor. If one should say in Dohrn 's case 

 it was the influence exerted on collective 

 achievements, the instance might be par- 

 alleled by Abbe's improvements on the 

 microscope. Those, although in a different 

 way, were not less far-reaching in their 

 • effect on the development of biology, but as 

 a result of this accomplishment it does not 

 follow that a congress of zoologists should 



