xiv Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



After his appointment to the Oxford Chair in 1882, Burdon-Sanderson 

 had to brave the turmoil of an opposition in which an antivivisectionist 

 outcry was utilised. This opposition was directed successively against a 

 proposed expenditure of £1,500 for apparatus in 1882, and of £10,000 in 

 1883 for erecting an appropriate physiological laboratory. In 1884 it 

 culminated in an attempt to throw out the decree authorising a maintenance 

 grant of £500 a year for the incidental expenses of the newly erected 

 Physiological Department. The details of the scenes which were associated 

 with the debates upon the subject in Convocation are now almost forgotten, 

 and it is unprofitable to revive them. It will be sufficient in this memoir to 

 say that, in spite of the virulent character of the feeling displayed by his 

 opponents, it was generally felt that Burdon-Sanderson came through the 

 storm with, if anything, an added dignity, both opponents and supporters 

 being impressed by his self-control under circumstances which might have 

 justly provoked his resentment. One who knew him well at this time, 

 Sir William Church, wrote that he would " never forget his striking face and 

 figure as he stood quietly leaning against the wall of the Sheldonian Theatre 

 during the momentous debate in Convocation on February 5, 1884." 



The establishment of Burdon-Sanderson in Oxford, with the erection of the 

 Physiological Laboratory, and thus the foundation of that scientific study 

 which used to be called the Institutes of Medicine, may be regarded as the 

 third landmark in his career. It is true that it was to Sir Henry Acland that 

 Oxford owes the idea of resuming its part in medical education, but with 

 Sanderson's arrival the creation of the Oxford Medical School passed from a 

 fruitful idea into reality, and it is now generally recognised that he achieved 

 the end for which he left London by establishing on an enduring, because a 

 scientific, foundation, the Oxford Medical School. He thus enjoyed the 

 rare felicity of living to see the purpose which he had so much at heart, in 

 all essentials, attained. An excellent Department of Human Anatomy was 

 erected during his Physiological Professorship, and when, in 1895, he resigned 

 the Physiological Chair, on his being nominated Regius Professor of Medicine, 

 he devoted his energies towards the efficient equipment of pathology. The 

 scientific progress of this subject had always been one of his great aims, and 

 his satisfaction was unbounded when, through the stimulus of a generous 

 donor, the University acknowledged its importance and erected an adequate 

 laboratory. He gave not only time and thought but material help towards 

 the task of making this new University department an efficient one, and left 

 in his will the sum of £2,000 in the hands of trustees " for the support of the 

 Laboratory of the Pathological Department of the University of Oxford and 

 specially to provide for the expenses of research in pathology conducted in 

 the said laboratory or elsewhere." 



The most extensive of the researches which he carried out at Oxford were 

 upon muscle. In order to obtain exact records of the electromotive changes 

 during muscular activity, he devoted great attention to the working out of an 

 adequate method. Inspired by his enthusiasm, Burch took in hand the 



