— Sir Mchael Foster. lxxix 
it was wrong and in these it always seemed as though Foster thought that 
the man himself had changed not that his first impression was incorrect. 
With respect to his scientific work, his paper “on the Action of the 
Constant Current upon the Heart of the Snail,” in conjunction with Dew Smith, 
is a model of the way in which a research should be thought out and a 
scientific paper written. He it was who was one of the first to study 
embryology in this country, and he used to tell how he believed he was the 
first man to cut up an embryo chick, and mount every section in the right 
order in series throughout. Huxley, he said, was very pleased, and had 
thought such a feat hardly possible. 
It was a memorable day.in the history of biology when Foster, talking in 
the little room of the philosophical library about his future career with 
Balfour, who wanted to devote himself to science, but was uncertain what 
line of research to follow, took up an egg, cracked it, showed him the 
embryo inside, and said “ What do you think of working at that ?” 
Foster’s influence extended far beyond the limits of his own country. His 
‘Text-book of Physiology,’ published in 1877, made him known throughout 
the world. In the excellency of its literary style, and the suggestiveness of 
its criticism of the unsettled problems of physiology, it was far superior to 
any other text-book, in recognition of which it was translated into Italian, 
German, and Russian. In America it was the text-book. In 1876, through 
Foster’s influence, H. N. Martin became Professor of Physiology at Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore; he took over with him his enthusiasm for 
Foster and for his methods of teaching, and, with the aid of the text-book, 
which appeared in the following year, he revolutionised physiological 
teaching in the United States. To this day Martin is looked upon in the 
States as the father of the present-day method of teaching. 
Apart from his text-book, Foster was known and loved throughout the 
physiological world. When he was eiected perpetual Honorary President of 
the International Congress of Physiologists in 1901, there was a great pro- 
longed outburst of applause, that seemed as though it would never stop. At 
the Congress of 1904, at Brussels, when he was not well enough to be 
present, he sent a telegram: “Though absent, I am with you.” Immediately 
the International Committee interrupted the business going on in order that 
the President might read the telegram. There was genuine distress at 
his ill-health among the people present 
This appreciation of Foster throughout the world was manifested by the 
various distinctions bestowed upon him. He received honorary degrees from 
the Universities of Dublin, Glasgow, Montreal, Oxford, and St. Andrews, 
and was appointed honorary or corresponding member of a large number of 
learned societies both at home and abroad. In 1900 he was urged by many 
of his friends to stand for the representation of London University in 
Parliament, and finally, after a good deal of hesitation, accepted and was 
elected. He had always belonged to the Liberal party; he belonged to a 
family of strong nonconformist views, but could not side with Gladstone on 
VOL. LXXX.—B. k 
