XXXI 



Lower House in the form of a memorial, and these views had all the 

 more weight from the fact that, instead of pressing the urgent need of 

 more space for his own department, he insisted specially on measures 

 of more general usefulness, such as the establishment of a library and 

 the arranging of a collection of casts. The second Chamber cordially 

 voted to the University 10,000 . dollars, in addition to the sum origin- 

 ally proposed by Government. 



The city of Leipzig soon had reason for joining in the approbation 

 of his colleagues when he succeeded in preventing the increase of taxa- 

 tion which it had been contemplated to impose on the mercantile class, 

 and he finally won the hearts of all Protestant Saxony by the manly, 

 yet temperate language which he made use of in the discussions 

 on the subject of religious education. On his return to Leipzig the 

 citizens received their delegate with great demonstrations of respect, 

 and he was even conducted into the city through a triumphal arch. 



Weber took an active part in the establishment of the Polytechnic 

 Society, and of the Scientific Society of Leipzig, as well as of the 

 Professorium. He instituted microscopic work in the University, and, 

 in conjunction with the medical faculty, introduced improvements into 

 the medical examinations. 



After the death of Kiihn he undertook the regular discharge of 

 the duties of the chair of Physiology. 



In 1850 he followed up his research on the theory of waves by an 

 elaborate series of experiments, designed to study the wave movement 

 in the arterial system, and explain the fact that the pulse-beat is felt 

 in the chin a fraction of a second sooner than in the foot. The results 

 showed that the pulse-beat travels with a rapidity of about thirty-five 

 feet per second, and that in general the rapidity of a wave in small elastic 

 tubes is not affected by the increase of pressure on the walls. The 

 results obtained by these experiments were published in the treatises 

 " De Pulsu Arteriarum, ' " De Utilitate Parietis Elastici Arteriarum," 

 and, above all, in that entitled " Die Anwendung der Wellenlehre auf 

 den Kreislauf des Blutes." These experiments gave a new direction 

 to the study of the subject of blood dynamics. Weber subsequently 

 explained the difference between absorption by the veins and absorp- 

 tion by the lymphatics, and on another occasion he was able to deter- 

 mine with certainty, the manner in which the excretory ducts of 

 racemose glands end, and the relation between their alveoli and the 

 blood current. 



Weber also made a series of most careful observations on nerve 

 trunks, and published their results in a series of treatises beginning 

 with that entitled " De Subtilitate Tactus," and ending with " Die 

 Lehre vom Tastsinn und Gremeingefuhl fur Aerzte und Philosophen." 

 He also published some interesting results of experiments on the 

 mechanism of the ear, as well as on the microscopic phenomena visible 



