Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/186

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174 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 22, 1920

his father's footsteps. Accordingly, he graduated in medicine in 1871 and in 1878 was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Histology in which capacity he continued active with but few interruptions to the time of his death. Aside from his successful labors as a teacher, his scientific investigations range over the wide field from protoplasm to human craniology, with special attention as a rule to histology or minute structure. He has contributed more or less voluminous monographs, e.g., on protoplasm, on spermatozoa, on the eye, the ear, the brain, and the nervous system, in addition to his more strictly anthropological papers. His biological publications alone comprise nineteen folio volumes with copious illustrations, many of them in his own hand. Altogether he left behind approximately five hundred important titles, two hundred and fifty of which are listed in his memorial volume.

The extraordinary volume of Retzius' labors is explained in part by the fact that he was able to finance 'his own publications, which he put out in superb style. Another explanation was his ability to inspire others to assist him, including both his wife and his mother. Back of it all, however, was his own genuine love for work.

One of the interruptions in his scientific career was the interval of 1884-87 when as editor-in-chief of one of the Stockholm dailies, Aftonbladet, the idealistic side of his nature had free play. As a young man he had tried his hand at poetry, had in fact won the Academy prize for a collection of sonnets. With his sister he had also translated and published many of Burns' poems and in later days he found time to compose cantatas, as for example on the occasion of the Linnaeus Celebration in 1907. In his new capacity as editor he took hold of a financially and politically bankrupt jour- nal and in three years transformed it into a strong thoroughly progressive sheet. To indicate his liberal attitude it will be enough to mention that he did the unheard of thing of appointing a woman to the staff of the foreign department. For the rest he solicited articles from the ablest and most prominent men and women of the day. All social and humanitarian as well as pedagogical and scientific questions were presented. Art and literature likewise

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