Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/367

Rh He loved, moreover, to absorb himself in especial problems, even when they really did not belong to his department. His address as rector at Erlangen on teaching and studying, and especially his Hamlet Glossary, show how much he also liked to devote himself to problems of human psychology. With all this tendency toward the subtleties of mental analysis, Thiersch was yet an accurate observer, and full of sound common sense. Endowed with such qualities, he easily developed into a clever and experienced judge of human nature. His fine command of language made him a spirited and much-admired speaker. As a general thing, however, he made sparing and thus most effective use of this gift, and even in expressing serious thoughts he often employed the weapon of a never-failing humor.

Thus Thiersch was one of those harmoniously gifted and well-rounded natures who have the power of accomplishing well any task that presents itself to them. As scholar, investigator, and physician, in the service of peace or of war, as well as now and then in executive positions, he always filled his place and accomplished excellent work. He never put himself forward, but rather let people and things come to him; yet nothing was further removed from him than ostentation, whether as regards his erudition or any other of his mental endowments. He preferred to hide his fine qualities beneath a mantle of dry humor. Those who did not see this absolutely conscientious man at work might well be doubtful as to his real earnestness. He was, however, extremely sensitive to vanity and obtrusiveness in others. When he met with these qualities, he could repel their owners severely by dignified reserve or by pointed remarks. The students who were aware of this danger perhaps avoided it with unnecessary care.

Thiersch's scientific works, whether on theoretic or practical questions, produce an impression of great maturity and perfection. Often original in their conception, they are always very careful in their plan and execution, and clear in the form of their presentation. His first printed essay, a medical dissertation on materia medica, still shows Schelling's youthful pupil. In the language of natural philosophy, he tries in it to deduce the action of medicaments from principles of the most abstract kind. But Thiersch did not remain long in this field. In his next works, which he undertakes as prosector, he proves himself already a creditable and thoughtful naturalist. It is the same in his investigations on pyæmia, on the formation of the sexual organs, and in his great experimental treatise on the origin of cholera. When Thiersch became a surgeon, his thorough theoretic knowledge was again and again of use to him, and he also was able to employ to great advantage his