New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-02
PROFESSOR VIRCHOW.
HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND, Ills RECEPTION
HERE, HIS SPEECHES-PROFESSOR
IIuXLEY'S EULOGY.
London. March %.

London, March %.
Professor virchow's visit 70 London has given
the English, and especially the English world OF
science. an opportunity Of doing homage to the
great German. Whether he ought TO be cahed
great German may be doubtful, but at least he
is great German savant. If one must use such
word None of the neologists. and their name
is legion, has yet invented q good word for men
Of science Whcwel, who produced the more
successful physicist" coined also scientist.
which is less good, and has never fairly passed
into the common speech Of common men, what
ever may he the case in the world OF sciences
itself Some later inventor is responsible for the
still more intolerable " scentican, which ! iind
in the Century Dictionary with no other note
of warning than the word recent Savant.
also, is in the Century. which imparts TO the
inIlfiring student the very curious information
that it ought 70 be pronounced "savon" exactly
as if il were French for soap: which it is not
The question whether Professor Virchow be a
great man or only great professor has, perhaps.
not much Importance. But it is interesting.
lie might for aught know. treat it as a matter
Of biological Investigation He has himself
given rise to the question by the very singular
speeches and addresses he has delivered in this
country. lie delivered. in the first place. the
Croonian Lecture of the Royal Society in the hall
Of the University OF London. before a large and
distinguished audience This lecture was in
English; occasionally of somewhat Tcu'onic
pattern. When the Professor acknowledged the
vote Of thanks moved by Sir Joseph Lister. he
spoke in German. At the banquet given in his
honor in the evening he again spoke in what he
supposed to be English; kind Of Ango-German
dialect very scientific in its way.
Finally. ycserday-or perhaps it is but the
finally of the preacher in the middle of his sermon
the University of Cambridge held special Con
gregation for the comforting Of honorary degrees
and bestowed its honorary Doctorship in ScieNc"
on the great exponent OF cellular pathology The
Public Orator Of the University, DR.. Sandys
pronounced glowing panegyric upon the " Rector
Magnfcus' of the University Of Berlin: III the
Latin tongue You may learn from it, with that
precision characteristic of the Latin and dear TO
the scientific mind, the claims Of Professor VIZ
chow 70 the gratitude Of the world. You max
learn. though doubt YOU knew before. that
ne has rendered distinguished services to the
science of medicine and of public hea'th-the
latter surely q new division Of the scientific
domain. You may hear him described as an
anthropologst, an ethnoogist and an archaeolo-
gist. You may applaud while he is euogized
as the leader, the former leader. of the German
Liberals. 1t is just possible you may smile
though hope not for this is serious occasion
when, after this shower of compliments, you are
told that his modesty makes him avcrse to being
extOed in public. The sincerity Of the Orator
conviction that his subject has modest aversion
to praise is further attested by the remark that
the Professor had combined the highest dstinc-
lions in medicine and in natural science. All of
this is true, true as Public Orator, whose
business is laudation is ever expected to be.
The British public, and also the American pub
lilo, may care more about different kind Of
testimony, from different kind Of man. Pro-
fessor Huxley, whose business certainly IS not
and never has been mere laudation Of anybody
Professor Huxley spoke of Professor virchow, at
the Whitehall Banquet, as one who worthiy
represented q large portion of the scientific
sctivity inherent in the blood of the Teutonic
race" blood Which courses as vigorously III our
veins as in his )" added Mr.. Huxley. character
istically. What makes this peculiarly interest
ing Is Mr.. Huxley's well-known views on the
scientific work Of Germany. Speaking generally
he holds that the main work of Germany has
been one of Investigation. Of the patient accumu-
1stion Of facts, Of scientific specialization. Others
than Germans have done than the Germans
in co-ordinatine all these facts, in making the
true scientific and synthetic Use of them; in
building up the splendid fabric OF modern science
Of which they are hardly more than the foundation
/ stones and general su5-structure.
N These views, if they be indeed his Professor
ing to the toast in Professor Virchow's honor.
He offered him a right British welcome" Medl-
cal men. he said, owed a great debt of gratitude
to Professor Virchow for his biological and patho-
logical studies during the last fifty years Then,
stretching his view beyond the individual, the
English savant most gladly acknowledged the
indomitsbe perseverance, the vast knowledge and
tie quick insight of the scientific men of Ger
mary" He spoke Of the changes in medicine,
within recent years. as immense as to be almost
Incredible; and added:
"Germany has all along taken the leading part
as far as biology and medicine concerned and
i may venture to say with truth that the largest
share of these changes has hcon due 10 Professor
Wicklow"
And he summed up his tribute to Germany in
tho declaration that to the scientific work Of the
last half century the contribution from the great
German nation has been greater than that of q" all
other nations" 1t is possible that Mr. Huxley
said any other nation" but I give his words as
they are reported. They will not please every
body. They will not please our French friends
for example, who are fond of describing them
selves foremost in every intellectual field They
may not even be altogether pleasing TO the Eng
fish, who hold definite views of the value of their
own scientific work. But, examined critically
and giving to each sentence its due weight do
not know that there is in the present deverance
OF Mr. Huxley anything inconsistent with the
opinions have ascribed TO him above He is not
IN easy man to convict Of self contradiction; any
more than Mr.. Gladstone is. but for "a different
reason. Mr.. Gladstone takes care to leave loop
hole. Mr. Huxley despIses loopholes. but he has
convictions strong. and he il 80 little compelled
by the exigencies Of his life, Of his relation to
the world, to modify OF reverse them. that q
single set may be said to have served him during
his whole career.
Whether the personal impression which Pro
lessor Virchow has made in England corresponds
completely with the immense reputation which
preceded him may be a question. The man and
the man OF science-or, for that matter. of art or
of letters-are not always the same. lie chose TO
preGx TO his ROYAL Society lecture a kind Of