Page:Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, volume 1.djvu/147

Rh Hamburg in March, 1906, he was still very unwell. From time to time he had severe dysenteric symptoms, with intermittent attacks of fever. On seeking advice he was ordered to take complete rest, and to try the effect of a change; but, having in the meantime been appointed representative of Germany to the International Congress at Lisbon, he persuaded himself that the anticipated benefit might be obtained from that trip. It was not to be. During the return voyage across the Bay of Biscay a peri-rectal abscess pointed and was opened, but with little benefit to his general condition. On arrival at Hamburg, seriously ill and suffering intense pain, Schaudinn was carried to a surgical nursing home. Evidence of deep suppuration round the sigmoid flexure was then discovered, and a further operation was undertaken to evacuate the pus which had formed. But it was too late; septicaemia had set in; the care and skill of his devoted friends and admirers were unavailing, and on June 22nd, 1906, he passed, aged 34 years and nine months.

So died Schaudinn, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, observer in natural science of all time. It is certain that his life was lost as a direct result of his disastrous experiment of self-infection, and it is more than probable that his health was undermined by his almost reckless industry. We are told that he would sit continuously for many days and nights, following at once the life-cycles of a series of different organisms, and that, like the chess-player who simultaneously engages five or six adversaries, he never forgot or confused the issues. He strove to observe life itself, and to work with material that was actually alive, and to that end, whenever it was possible, he discarded stains and dyes. And by this unwearying industry, by this marvellous facility of technique, by this phenomenal power of interpretation, by this almost