Oscar Schmidt was characterized by Ludwig von Graff, his successor at
Grätz, as a real naturalist who, keeping up with the advances of
science and philosophy all his life, as a zoölogist spanned the whole
domain of that science, giving equal interest to every part and branch
of it. The animal as a whole, as a living being in the series of
organisms, was the object of his concern, and all the parts of the
animal and all the processes that go on within it were alike
interesting and important to him; and the ultimate purpose of his
study of that object was to gain from the facts disclosed a
philosophic view of Nature.
EDUARD OSCAR SCHMIDT was born at Torgau, Prussia, February 24, 1823,
the son of a military chaplain who was descended from an old family of
clergymen--"a man of fine Saxon culture, with no very great taste for
theology, and open-minded to a ripe old age," and who died in 1875.
His mother was of French and German (Hamburg) descent, and counted the
great Aristotelian Petrus Ramus among her ancestors. The father was a
gentle instructor to the son; and the latter, attending in the
intervals of study to duties of the household and the farm and making
good use of his opportunities for relaxation, enjoyed a young life
that was invigorating to mind and body. He thus acquired tastes that
led him frequently in his later life to leave the city and his study
and go into the country to build and plant, whereby he endeared
himself to the Badenese farmers. On rainy days and winter evenings, as
he gleefully told of himself in 1858, the boy of eleven or twelve
years of age entertained himself and had his fancy stimulated by
reading Campe's old accounts of his travels. He thus became interested
in geography, and acquired a thirst for travel that was never
quenched.
Having finished his elementary schooling at Weissenfels, on the Saale,
where his grandfather had served as superintendent, he went in 1836 to
the celebrated Royal School at Pforta, of which his father was an
alumnus, and whither he himself took his son thirty years later. He
was much impressed by the teaching of Koberstein, the historian of
literature, who unlocked for him the world of Goethe and of romance;
and he went out from Pforta into life with a full conviction that the
soundness of our culture depends upon its humanistic foundation. He
went to Halle in the fall of 1842 to fulfill his military obligations
and study mathematics and natural science, and became interested in
other branches. At the Berlin Hochschule, whither he went next, he
further broadened the scope of his culture, pursued philosophical
studies, and finally settled upon the organic sciences. His interest
was gradually diverted from mathematics, and he took up zoölogy with
enthusiasm. Johann Müller--whose portrait, his son Erich Schmidt says,
in the memorial address from which we draw most of the facts of his
life, always adorned his room--permitted him, in 1845, after a summer
term in comparative anatomy at Heligoland, to take part in a research
upon sea animals, and impressed a stamp on the young investigator's
view of Nature that lasted till the Darwinian revolution. Christian
Gottfried Ehrenberg interested him in the investigation of the minute
life of the infusoria, and, besides being his teacher, had a fatherly
affection for him.
In 1846 Schmidt obtained a promotion to Doctor of Philosophy at Halle,
the subject of his still unprinted dissertation being the sacred
_Scarabæus_. He passed the higher teachers' examination in Berlin, and
thereby avoided a year of probation at a realgymnasium. In August,
1847, he habilitated himself at Jena. He presented, on the occasion, a
paper entitled Morphological Fragments, in which, while the name of
Oken was mentioned appreciatively in the introduction, the gap between
his philosophy and the current zoölogy was insisted upon. He became
Professor Extraordinary of Natural History in this university in 1849,
and Director of the Grand Ducal Zoölogical Museum in 1854. While at
Jena he published the Handbook of Comparative Anatomy (1849), the Hand
Atlas of Comparative Anatomy (1852), and a historical study on the
Development of Comparative Anatomy (1855). Some results of a journey
to the North in the course of his studies of the _Turbellaria_ were
embodied in a lecture on the Faroe Islands (1848), and Pictures from
the North, collected during a Journey to the North Cape (1854), a
versatile work, in which his sharp powers of observation were well
illustrated. A work of somewhat different character was a lecture on
Goethe's Relation to the Organic Natural Sciences, which was delivered
in the Berlin Singakademie and was printed in 1853.
Having occupied the professorship at Jena for seven years on a salary
never exceeding one hundred thalers, and after declining an invitation
to Prague, Schmidt in 1855 accepted the appointment of Professor of
Zoölogy in the University of Cracow. The conditions at this
institution were quite different from those which had surrounded him
at Jena. He received more liberal allowances than had been granted him
there; but political affairs were disturbed, and he withdrew in 1857
to become Professor of Zoölogy and Comparative Anatomy, and eventually
rector, at Grätz. Here he spent the fifteen most enjoyable and most
fruitful years of his life, of which his son, Erich Schmidt, has
given, in his memorial address, a most pleasant picture. "In the
magnificent scenery," he says, "among which he often wandered with his
growing children, with warm-hearted men around him, sure of the
increasing affection and capacity of his students, he reached his
culmination as a naturalist and as a man. He was active in every
direction. The university was in a very promising period of its
career. A medical faculty was required, and that magnified his
function. He also represented his department in the Johanneum, and
presided over the museum. He went every year to Dalmatia while he was
composing his monograph on the sponges, and made experiments in their
artificial cultivation, being given one year a small war steamer at
his disposal. These journeys were doubly enjoyed when Franz Unger went
with him to Lesina or to the Ionian Islands. He and the great botanist
had a close community of interests, and it was an inestimable
privilege, during the great scientific crisis, to stand shoulder to
shoulder with an older man, who to power of following philosophical
intricacies united the habit of the most exact research with finely
trained effort and suggestive intuition. Together the two devoted
themselves to the study of Darwinism, at first opposed to it, as is
shown by one of Schmidt's printed essays, but soon becoming impressed
with the conviction that all scientific progress was connected with
that revolution, and finally Schmidt gave all his energy to the
advancement of it. As Rector Magnificus--the first Protestant to wear
the golden chain at an Austrian university--he declared himself, in
his inaugural address, for Darwinism with a resoluteness peculiar to
him, and neither the silly demonstrations of the theological students
nor the wrath of Cardinal Rauscher could intimidate him from the
vindication of free investigation.... The rectoral year 1865-'66 was
also the year of the Austro-Prussian War, and he now proved that the
rashly progressive man to whom the whole clash of opinions was a bath
of steel also possessed a considerable measure of self-control. He
bore himself correctly in every sense in his difficult position, and,
without turning his back upon his native Prussia, he so completely
devoted himself to the care of the wounded as to receive a note of
thanks from the General Archduke Albrecht. Having been chosen a deputy
to the Landtag, his voice was always heard in favor of the Liberal
side. He served indefatigably in the communal council and the school
board. The Protestant communes depended upon him as one of their most
effective champions, even to the end of the partisan contest. Besides
all this many-sided scientific and public-spirited activity, Schmidt
had time to describe the lower animals for Brehm's _Thierleben_, and
to write a number of popular treatises. A lively social disposition
bound him to numerous colleagues, and on the whole he felt so much at
home in Grätz, especially after he had a new institute and a share in
the direction of a zoölogical station at Trieste in prospect, that he
had no thought of a change. He declined invitations to Marburg and
Dorpat. He was always favored by the Government, and kept the marks of
its consideration faithfully in memory."
Ludwig von Graff describes three plainly marked periods in Schmidt's
scientific career. The first, the beginning of which coincided with
his entrance into his scientific professorship, was characterized by
his labors on the _Turbellaria_, from which he was only occasionally
diverted during his residence at Jena and Cracow. "The observations on
infusoria, radiates, and tapeworms, the structure of the annelids and
the development of the mollusks, the descriptions of new amphibia, and
the important discovery of the crustacean nature of the peltogasters,
were, we might say, only rests in the uninterrupted course of the
_Turbellaria_ studies; and that Schmidt was constantly returning to
them was not merely because particular interest had been devoted to
them in Germany at that time only by M. Schultze and R. Leuckart, for
other animal groups had fared no better among the then small number of
scientifically working zoölogists, but Schmidt had won his earliest
scientific fame with his little book on the fresh-water _Rhabdocoelas_
(1848), and had by means of it entered the circle of recognized
investigators. He gave in this book the first connected presentation
of the whole organization of a group of animals, the diversity and
great abundance of which in fresh water were hardly suspected, and the
anatomy of which consisted of few and imperfectly understood isolated
data; described new systems of organs in them, and based an improved
classification on their remarkably complicated and variously graded
structure, with new families, genera, and species. The little book was
therefore received with much interest. A journey to the Faroe Islands
in 1848, and his first excursion to Lesina in 1852, followed in 1856
by a journey from Cracow to Nice and Naples, enabled him to increase
the number of new species, and permitted an insight into the great
diversity of forms, without, however, giving him time for accurate
anatomical investigations, for the nature of the objects promised a
considerable advance in this direction only at the cost of tenacious
patience and untiring industry. His subsequent labors on the
_Rhabdocoelas_ of the vicinity of Cracow, the _Dendrocoelas_ of the
vicinity of Grätz, and his researches on the _Turbellaria_ of Corfu
and Cephalonia, which (in 1861) closed this period of his career as
worthily as it had begun, proved that Schmidt possessed both these
requirements. These labors, if he had accomplished no more, would
have been sufficient to give him an honorable position in science for
all time.
"The second period begins in Grätz. Some contributions to the
knowledge of the prehistoric vertebrate fauna of Steiermarck resulted
from Schmidt's keen observations of Nature during an excursion in the
Alps. But the Adriatic, so near, enticed him into new paths, and
offered an inexhaustible field for work in the sponges. Aside from his
contributions to the theory of the _Bathybius_ and to the systematics
of the _Gephyrea_, the sea sponges constituted the object of his
studies during the whole period of his residence in Grätz, and were
the occasion of yearly journeys to the Adriatic coasts. The results
reached by Schmidt in this field placed him in the foremost rank of
contemporary investigators, while his occupation with the sponges
marked the completion of a revolution in his view of Nature by
converting him to Darwinism. After his work the characteristic fluid
form of the sponges became a classic subject in the study of the
transmutation theory.
"At the time of the appearance of Schmidt's first work on the sponges
of the Adriatic (in 1862), just enough of their anatomy and physiology
had been made known through individual labors, especially those of
Lieberkühn, to prove their animal nature; and then, also, the sponges
first found a place in the fifth edition of Schmidt's Handbook of
Comparative Anatomy. But any one who undertook either in the Adriatic
or the Mediterranean to make his way through the immense wealth of the
forms would have found himself without help of any kind. It was
therefore Schmidt's purpose to lay the basis, through exact
description and definition of the forms, for continued investigation
through which the study might be further advanced. He carried out this
purpose, recognizing in the skeleton parts what survived amid the
changes, clearly defining the species and genera, nineteen of which
were new, and brilliantly demonstrating his talent in systematization.
While in the first supplement, in 1864, which brought up the histology
of the sponges, he still acknowledged himself an adherent of the old
school, he expressed the hope in the second supplement that science
might some time come upon the track of the genealogical relations of
species; and, in the memorable rector's address of November 15, 1865,
he openly signalized his passage to the new theory, and proclaimed it,
with all the youthful enthusiasm and carelessness as to consequences
characteristic of his nature, as the gospel of the research of the
future.
"The idea of utilizing the great reproductiveness of the sponges for
artificial cultivation was suggested to Schmidt during his studies of
the Dalmatian fauna, and his experiments in this direction made his
name well known in the Austrian coast land and far beyond. After the
publication of an article on the subject in the _Wiener Zeitung_ he
was requested, by the Imperial-Royal Ministry of Trade and National
Economy, to make a special presentation of his views respecting the
possibility and methods of cultivating sponges artificially in
Dalmatia. He first asked for means for experimenting, as furnishing
the prime and most essential method of determining where and how a
sponge culture could be instituted with the best prospect of success.
The request was not granted, but Schmidt was requested to furnish data
respecting the provisions and measures within reach which might be
employed with advantage till further information could be obtained
concerning the adaptability of sponges to propagation from such local
experiments as might be carried on through the industrial and
commercial chambers of Dalmatia. The Notes on Sponges in the Adriatic
Sea and an article of similar import in the _Triester Zeitung_ of
March 12, 1862, were the answer to this request, and they were
followed by Schmidt's having placed at his disposal, by the exchanges
of Trieste, in the next season, money and the control of the war
steamer Hentzis for use in scientific and practical investigations on
the Dalmatian coast. With the assistance of his brother, Eugen, he
carried his experiments to a successful issue at Sebenico, Zlarin
Valle Socolizza on Lesina, Curzola, Lagosta, Meleda, and Ragusa, but
especially in the more favored stations of Zlarin and Lesina, and
demonstrated the possibility of artificial propagation. In order to
test the practical value of the experiments, propagating stations were
established on the island of Lesina and visited by Schmidt every
spring. The results of the experiments were presented in a report to
the Imperial-Royal Ministry of Commerce and National Economy, in which
the possibility of artificial propagation was emphatically affirmed."
Unfortunately, the Dalmatines have not been quick enough to take
advantage of the opportunity thus offered to them to establish a new
industry on their not very busy coast. Bucchich continued Schmidt's
experiments till 1872, but no capitalists have been found to establish
the cultivation of sponges on an extensive and permanent scale.
Another enterprise, however--the Zoölogical Station at Trieste, to
which Schmidt for a time devoted all his energy--has had a more
fortunate realization. The plan of it was developed by Carl Vogt, but
it would never have been erected if Schmidt's practical sense had not
adapted the plan to the actual needs of the case and the financial
conditions imposed by the state, and if he had not given the weight of
his personality to the accomplishment of it.
The erection of a German Empire at the conclusion of the
Franco-Prussian War was an occasion of proud and exultant joy to
Schmidt; and when, in the spring of 1872, he was elected, at the
instance of his friend Haeckel, a professor in the newly instituted
university at Strasburg, he deemed it a patriotic duty to accept.
With his removal to Strasburg, what both Erich Schmidt and Professor
von Graff call the third period of Schmidt's scientific career began.
It was a period of undisturbed ease in his home life, and was devoted
chiefly to the continuation of the studies of the sponges, with a few
special researches, the results of which appeared in books, on the
theory of descent, fossil animals, on Hartman's theories, and on
social democracy. His systematic and anatomical labors on the
sponges--the provisional conclusions of which, in 1870, constituted
the _Grundzüge einer Spongienfauna des Atlantischen Gebietes_
(Outlines of a Sponge Fauna of the Atlantic Region)--were carried on,
Professor von Graff says, from the point of view of the development
theory. Besides several smaller contributions to the building up of
the theory of descent, the most important of all his works of this
time is his book on the Theory of Descent and Darwinism (Appletons'
International Scientific Series)--"one of the best presentations of
all the questions pertaining to that subject, and distinguished from
other similar works both by the philosophical spirit with which the
whole discussion is carried on, and by the even consideration it gives
to all the various fundamental points of the principle of descent. The
prominent features of Schmidt's presentation appear most especially in
the final chapter, the subject of which is the Application of the
Theory of Descent to Man, which he had also previously discussed in a
public address. Shortly after this he reduced to absurdity, in a very
forcible attack on Hartman's Philosophy of the Unconscious, the idea
of the Social Democrats that they could use Darwinism to the advantage
of their Utopia, and treated the subject of the Mammalia in their
Relation to Primeval Times (Appletons' International Scientific
Series) most vigorously from the point of view of the development
theory." He also found time for special researches on the Structure
and Development of Loxosema, the Eyes of Arthropods, and, still
keeping up his studies of the sponges, closed his more than twenty
years' labors on this group with his Sponges of the Gulf of Mexico,
and his last scientific work--Derivation of New Species through the
Decay and Atrophy of Older Characteristics. The preface to the former
work, Professor von Graff says, shows plainly how Schmidt, in contrast
to so many fellow-laborers in the field of the theory of descent, was
always circumspect in a high degree, and never suffered himself to be
carried so far in his zeal as to leave the ground of facts. Although
a champion of monophyletic derivation, he did not overlook the facts
that might be brought to bear in favor of a polyphiletic origin.
During the later years of his life Schmidt visited Heligoland, and
enjoyed the sea air, which seemed to have become necessary to him,
during two winters at Dohrn's Institute at Naples, in southern France,
and at Grado, and attended the meetings of naturalists at Leipsic,
Wiesbaden, Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Munich, Cassel, and Freiburg, where
he was a welcome guest and a prominent speaker. In September,
1885, as president of the Zoölogical Section he entertained his
fellow-specialists at his house. A slight stroke of apoplexy, which he
suffered in the summer of 1882, passed away without seeming to leave
any trace. He spent the Easter season of 1885 with his son's family in
Vienna and with Graff in Grätz. He intended to speak on Easter of 1886
in Weimar and to visit Jena, "whither he expected to return in his
sixty-fifth year so as to attach a good end to a good beginning." But
on the morning of January 9, 1886, after he had spent the previous
evening in pleasant social intercourse, there came another stroke. He
never recovered consciousness, but died on January 16th.
Professor von Graff describes Schmidt's method of teaching as one
encouraging the students to pursue their own ways of thinking. He did
not expect formal theses from them, but, having indicated the theme,
left them to work it out according to their own logical processes, and
as often let them choose their own subjects. Having found a pupil's
bent, he sought to turn him into a corresponding course, "and never
tried to make a poor naturalist out of one who might become a good
doctor or teacher." In his lectures he was earnest and enthusiastic,
not as good a speaker as writer, and sometimes betraying his trouble
to find the right word; "but he knew how to win the love of his pupils
for his subject, and, while trying to make the comprehension of the
matter not too difficult, to keep interest alive by occasional glances
at the theoretical significance of the facts. It was very far from his
purpose to make pastime for his hearers, and, when he was polemical,
every one had to be made sensible of the purely technical bearing."
Professor Schmidt's literary work covered a field of extraordinary
breadth. Besides numerous works and text-books in systematic and
anatomical zoölogy and life histories, he published popular lectures
and essays in many different periodicals, recensions, reviews of
books, translations, and even political articles. It would be
impossible to give a complete bibliography of his works, because he
left no notes respecting them. A list of his publications in zoölogy,
by Professor von Graff, includes ninety-nine titles.
Correspondence.