Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/355

Rh in the person of Ernst Heinrich Weber, who in 1821 became professor of anatomy, and later (in 1841) also took the position of professor of physiology. His powerful personality has left its traces not only in the proceedings of our faculty, but still more noticeably in the sciences he represented and whose scope he extended in no small degree. Ernst Heinrich Weber, assisted by his brother Eduard, bore the double burden of the two important branches until 1865. In that year, however, it was decided to build a new physiological institute, and Weber, feeling that he no longer had sufficient strength to undertake the new duties that would now devolve upon the professor of physiology, decided to keep only his original position of professor of anatomy. Thus at Easter, in 1865, Wunderlich being at that time dean, Carl Ludwig was made professor of physiology and director of the new physiological institute.

In these changes the royal government took the initiative. At the request of their noble ruler, King Johann, the far-sighted leaders of the ministry, Secretary of State von Falkenstein and Geheimrath Dr. Hübel, had undertaken the task of raising the University of Leipsic to new importance and splendor with all the means at their disposal. The physiological laboratory was planned as the first of a series of new constructions, the final object of which was to be a complete revolution of the entire system of scientific instruction. In the choice of Professor Ludwig the royal government made a most fortunate selection, for it secured in him a man whose judgment and powers of organization made him a most able adviser in all its subsequent undertakings. In von Falkenstein's time, Ludwig's influence extended far beyond the sphere of the medical faculty, and some of the most important appointments of that time were due to his suggestion. Later, when at last instruction in the natural