THE LIFE AND WORKS OF BROWN-SEQUARD. 681 



would be very unjust to make general. Among the devotees of science 

 there are many who are happy to aid and encourage beginners, to sus- 

 tain them, and to hand to them iu turn the torch of science, which it is 

 our duty, our honor, and our pleasure to keep burning still more bril- 

 liantly during the next generation. 



In this manner Brown-Sequard lived until about 1848. At this epoch, 

 so fertile in disclosures and in quickly-blighted hopes, he found himself 

 placed, because of his experimental work, in relation with the Society of 

 Biology, founded during that very year, and of which he was later to 

 become one of the principal pillars of support. 



The Society of Biology had just been founded at the instance of cer- 

 tain young men, such as Charles Robin, Claude Bernard, Pollin, and 

 others whose names have become well known. Brown-Sequard was one 

 of its first four secretaries. It was and has not ceased to be an excellent 

 forum for the study and discussion of problems of natural science, a 

 forum less solemn than those of the academies, the discussions being 

 more friendly, not being exposed iu the same degree to disturbing 

 vanities and personalities unduly excited by a sometimes excessive 

 publicity. There is found there a siucerity and consequently a greater 

 certitude in the demonstrations as well as the concurrence and col- 

 laboration of comrades of the same age not yet disunited by the rival- 

 ries of a career. 



On the other hand, resources of all kinds were scanty at the Society 

 of Biology. Science, especially at that time, furnished but little to 

 beginners. Since then the Republic has increased these resources, 

 especially in the form of those scholarships for superior instruction, 

 which have in recent times been unjustly attacked by those who have 

 narrow views, and who are perhaps actuated by jealousy of progressive 

 methods. 



While the Society of Biology did not furnish the same resources as 

 we have at our command to-day, it nevertheless aided, even from the 

 first, the young scientists who crowded to its ranks, attracted both by 

 the confraternity of scientific work and by the good will of the first 

 president, Rayer. Rayer was a man of experience and judgment rather 

 than of originality; a clever man who had by his merit attained a good 

 position, both from a pecuuiary and a scientific point of view. This 

 did not prevent him from remembering that in his youth he had suf- 

 fered from the religious and philosophical intolerance of the Restora- 

 tion, which had barred him from a teaching career, and he took pleasure 

 in protecting young scientists and iu aiding them by his influence, 

 which was great, and which was to become much greater by reason of 

 the repute that attached to him because of professional medical services 

 rendered to prominent and powerful people. Claude Bernard, Charles 

 Robin, and others also, among whom I have the honor to count myself, 

 have received from Rayer assistance in their careers which they have 

 never forgotten. 



