Franciscus Cornelis Donders / by Henry W. Williams.
- Williams, Henry W. (Henry Willard), 1821-1895.
- Date:
- [1889?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Franciscus Cornelis Donders / by Henry W. Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)
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![Before he was twenty-two years of age, Donders was sent as junior military surgeon to the garrison at Vlissingen. Here, and especially at The Hague, the seat of government, where he was sta- tioned a year later, he hud the advantage of polite society, and of contact with distinguished men, — with opportunities for culture in art and literature, as well as in science and general and professional knowledge. He amply profited by these advantages, and perfected his acquaintance with French, English, and German, so that he wrote and spoke these as if they had been his native tongue; acquir- ing also a grace and urbanity of manner for which he was distin- guished in all his social and professional life. The attention of his superiors being attracted by some of his published scientific papers, he was sent again to Utrecht, in 1842, to reorganize, the Military Medical School; and was appointed Professor of Anatomy and of Physiology at the institution where so recently he had been a jmpil. Here began Donders's real scientific life. Convinced that book knowledge, especially in the natural sciences, has little value in con- tributing to further advancement, unless completed by careful personal experimental investigation, he accepted the offered position without a moment's hesitation, although he thus gave up the pleasures and advantages of the capital, and accepted a smaller income : For I felt, he says, that to teach was my vocation. Thus he established himself for life, as it proved, in a small city of Holland. Quickened into still greater activity by the labors he assumed, and animated by the example of Professor Mulder, — who>e laboratory became, as Donders expressed it, the cradle of physiologi- cal chemistry, — and in co-operation with his venerated teacher. Pro- fessor Schroeder, he devoted himself with ardor to explorations in every part of anatomy and physiology, verifying each observation with his own eyes, and accepting nothing as proved which his own experi- ence had not confirmed; but showing marvellous lucidity in directing researches, in forming conclusions, and in appreciating the values of results gained and the means of utilizing them. There is no domain in the vast science of Physiology, says Landolt, in which Douders did not leave traces of his labors. The vitality of tissues, the circula- tion of the blood, digestion, secretions, movements, language, the organs of sense, the secrets of the nervous system, have all in turn been investigated by this indefatigable explorer. He founded, with Ellermann and Jansen, the Nederlandsch Lancet, that they might have an organ for tlie announcement of new discoveries; and he largely augmented his own labors by fre(]uent contributions to its](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21633368_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
