Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/447

 FRIDAY, MAT 22, 1885.

��COMMENT AND CRITICISM. As WE LOOK BACK at the literature of mod- ern physiologj', — a retrospect suggested by the recent appearance of an index to Pfliigor's Arckiv fiir physiologie, — two facts eajjeciaUy impress us: fii-st, that the bulk of the researches comes from Germany; secondly, that modern experimeutal science is scarce over forty years old, but has developed in extraordinary cre- scendo. There ia, perhaps, no other science so pre-eminently German, and to which other nations have contributed relatively so little. In Germany the first pbysiological laboratories were founded, and these have become impor- tant ' institutes,' which are the patterns other countries are now slowly imitating. In Ger- many the science first became strictly experi- mental, and its modern methods and aims were wrought out. The German universities have been the training-places of the majority of professional pliysiolt^ists the world over, and these men have been the apostles of German influence.

��Our indebtedness to modern physiology can

hardly be over-estimated ; for its acquisitions represent not only an invaluable intellectual evolution, but also knowledge of immeasurable utility in manifold practical aspects. It has changed medicine from a crude empirical art to an intelligent application of science, and has done more than any other cause to raise the mental status of the medical profession by inculcating the rational foundation of the practice of medicine. The chief initiatory impulse to modern physiology was given by the greatest of Geiiaan biologists, Johannes Midler, — a man remarkable alike for his own iDtellcctual achievemeuts, and for the stimulus he imparted to others. He was one of the

��chief founders of the sciences of morphology, physiolc^j, and compnraLive anatomy. His influence in physiology has been perpetuated by his distinguished pupils, notably the veter- ans, Ludwig, Helmholz, Briickc, and Du^Bois Reyniond, who are living to see two generations of followers. Thus the young physiologist of to-day might be called the great-grand -pupil of Johannes MiiUer.

��The Ulerature of physiology has grown with constantly expanding rapidity. At first the memoirs were scattered in numerous scientific and medical publications, but soon two peri- oilicals acquired the lead as media for the announcement of pbysiological discoveries. Miiller's own Arckiv expressly included physi- ology in its scope, as did also the Zeitsckrifi fiir ralionelte medidn, a journal of high scien- tific rank. It was long before there was any l)eriodical exclusivelj- devoted to phyMology, Pfliiger's ^rcAiu not being founded until 1868. At first Plliiger's volumes were annual, but at present he issues nearly three volumes a year. Since then two other first-class physiological journals have been started in Germany. Hoppe-Seyler edits a new and successful Zeitachrtjl fiir physiologische chemie; and the continuation of Midler's Archiv has been divided, the physiological part now forming a separate annual volume. The annual regxirt on the progress of physiology, giving abstracts only, alone makes a bulky volume, which shows, moreover, that nearly all the papers are in German. While the eitraordinarj- develop- ment of physiology in Germany has been going on, what have other countries contributed? Very little. There are only two other physio- logical journals of any note, — one decidedly second-rate, in France ; and another the out- come of the combined eSbrts of Paigland and America, which, though excellent scientiflcally, is uncertain as to ita viability. In short, the

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