| RECENT ADVANCES IN SCIENCE, AND THEIR BEARING ON MEDICINE AND SURGERY.[1] |
By Professor RUDOLF VIRCHOW.
THE honor of being invited to deliver the second Huxley lecture has deeply moved me. How beautiful are these days of remembrance which have become a national custom of the English people! How touching is this act of gratitude when the celebration is held at the very place wherein the genius of the man whom it commemorates was first guided toward its scientific development! We are filled not alone with admiration for the hero, but at the same time with grateful recognition of the institution which planted the seed of high achievement in the soul of the youthful student. That you, gentlemen, should have entrusted to a stranger the task of giving these feelings expression seemed to me an act of such kindly sentiment, implying such perfect confidence, that I at first hesitated to accept it. How am I to find in a strange tongue words which shall perfectly express my feelings? How shall I, in the presence of a circle of men who are personally unknown to me, but of whom many knew him who has passed away and had seen him at work, always find the right expression for that which I wish to say as well as a member of that circle itself could? I dare not believe that I shall throughout succeed in this. But if, in spite of all, I repress my scruples it is because I know how indulgently my English colleagues will judge my often incomplete statements, and how fully they are inclined to pardon deficiency in diction if they are convinced of the good intentions of the lecturer.
Professor Huxley's Work.
I may assume that such a task would not have been allotted to me had not those who imposed it known how deeply the feeling of admiration for Huxley is rooted within me, had they not seen how fully I recognized the achievements of the dead master from his first epoch making publications, and how greatly I prized the personal friendship which he extended toward me. In truth, the lessons that I received from him in his laboratory—a very modest one according to present conditions—and the introduction to his work which I owe to him form
- ↑ The second Huxley lecture, delivered at the opening of the winter session of Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, on October 3, 1898. Originally printed in the London Times.
