After Baer arrived in Petersburg he ceased his systematic 

 study of embryology. This change in his scientific interests 

 foreign biographers explained as due to difficulties in getting 

 embryological material. Baer himself in his autobiography 

 supported this version of the story of how he could not organize 

 a supply of frogs, fish eggs, and mammalian embryos. Even 

 N. A. Kholodknovsky, the author of an excellent biography of 

 Baer, in spite of Academician V. F. Ovsyannikov's contrasting 

 opinion, 11 also cited the same strange explanation of the 

 striking fact that this great embryologist, who was making 

 more scientific progress than all his predecessors, suddenly 

 left this sphere of science in which he had enthusiastically 

 worked for more than fifteen years. 



The true cause of why Baer stopped his study of embryology 

 appears in extracts of his correspondence reported by B. E. Raikov 

 in the commentary to his translation of Baer's autobiography. 12 

 Raikov cited a long portion of Baer's letter of December 30, 

 1845 to T. L. Bischoff (published in ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, 

 1880, No. 325, appendix). In this letter Baer explained his 

 departure from embryology as due to the lack of consideration 

 and the unfair attacks with which his remarkable discoveries 

 were met in Prussia. The Minister of Education, Altenstein, 

 after the publication of DE OVI MAMMALIUM ET HOMINIS 

 GENESI, declared that "the existence of the mammalian ovum 

 had been known for a long time," and Plagge attempted to claim 

 for himself the fame of the discovery of the ovum in the ovary. 

 Other German biologists showed extreme indifference to his 

 work, which offended Baer. Not finding sympathy in their midst 

 and not receiving from the Prussian Ministry of Education the 

 necessary material for continuation of embryological work, 

 Baer, in his words, "decided to tear radically from his heart 

 all scientific ambition." Baer spoke further about his promise 

 to himself to cease his work on embryology and not even to read 

 any embryological literature for nine years. This decision 

 was taken undoubtedly because of nervous exhaustion caused by 



11. F. V. Ovsyannikov, "Brief biography of Baer read in 

 December's general meeting of the Society of Naturalists," 

 TR. SPB OBSHCH. ESTESTV. (1877), 8, pp. 97-107. 



12. The materials stated below are cited with commentary 8 in 

 Chapter 15 (pp. 519-523) . 



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