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1878-1940

After a two years' illness, during which his courage made pos-sible an almost normal continuation of his manifold undertakings,Hans Zinsser died on September fourth. It was his wish thathe might work, unharassed by the sympathy and concern of hisfriends, normally and without fear until the end. To this purposewe few, who were his constant associates, were bound to silence,and so well did he maintain his stand that many in daily associa-tion with him had no suspicion of the facts. The personal lossis not for us alone, but is shared by the thousands of physicianswhom he has taught and stimulated during more than thirtyyears, and tens of thousands, medical and lay, who knew himindirectly through his various activities.Born in New York, November 1878, he was educated at Colum-

bia University (A.B. 1899, A.M. 1903), then at the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons of Columbia University (M.D. 1903).After completing his interneship, he served as bacteriologist inthe Roosevelt Hospital 1905-06, and during the same period wasAssistant Bacteriologist at the College of Physicians and Sur-geons, where he was gradually promoted to an Instructorship(1907-1910). In 1910 he went to Stanford University, Californiaas Associate Professor of Bacteriology and served as Professorthere in 1911-13. He was recalled to Columbia as Professor ofBacteriology in 1913 where he served for ten years, leaving in1923 to accept the chair of Bacteriology and Immunology at theHarvard Medical School, which he filled until his death. Heheld honorary degrees from Columbia, Western Reserve, Lehigh,Yale and Harvard. He was a member of the American RedCross Sanitary Commission to Serbia in 1915, Major and Colonel

President, Society of American Bacteriologists, 1926.747

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in the Medical Corps in 1917-18, Sanitary Commissioner inRussia for the League of Nations' Health Section in 1923 andExchange Professor to France in 1935 and to China in 1938.He received decorations from France and from Serbia and wasawarded the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States.At sixty-two Zinsser's mind was young and vigorous, and the

list of his accomplishments, already overwhelming, could havebeen expected to reach to even higher peaks. By instinct andearly training a master of literary style, he became fascinatedby the unexplored paths of science while still an undergraduate,and, turning to medicine, was absorbed in the problems of in-fectious disease. A student, and later an associate of PhilipHiss, he found immediately in research, teaching, and the prepa-ration of the manuscript for the Hiss and Zinsser textbook ofmedical bacteriology the natural outlet for his talents and dy-namic energy. Reaching into an ever widening field, he becamea pioneer in the newly opening science of immunology, and withina short time had organized classes in this subject and producedhis second book, "Infection and Resistance."From those early years until his death his activity continued

unabated. Along with this teaching at Stanford, Columbia andHarvard an ever-increasing range of subjects have been illumi-nated by his keen insight, investigative skill and intelligencework so well known to bacteriologists as to make review in detailsuperfluous. His investigations of anaphylaxis and immunephenomena of various sorts led to the adoption of the simplifyingunitariann" theory of the nature of antibodies. Tireless attemptsto cultivate the organism of syphilis established the situation asit rests today. His "residue antigen" work developed into thenew and remarkable knowledge of "soluble specific substances,"and his investigation of bacterial allergy went far toward bringingorder out of that chaotic subject. He was a pioneer in themeasurement of the relative sizes of the invisible viruses. Histyphus researches, so rich in theoretical and practical results,were perhaps those from which he derived the greatest satis-faction, and already he had begun to select new objectives,

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delving into the obscurities of the filterable viruses and planningan approach to a study of the dread disease, leprosy.These achievements in teaching and research by no means ex-

hausted his capacities. He became one of the foremost authoritieson epidemiology and public health as related to infectious diseases.Military sanitation in 1917-18 with the Second Army, and fieldinvestigations of typhus fever in Serbia, Russia, Mexico andChina claimed his attention. He gained richly in experiencefrom each such expedition, but returned full measure in practicalresults.Throughout, his love for literary expression, his happy mode

of speech and the play of his active mind resulted in perpetualcharm to many an audience and to myriads of unseen readers.In addition to his contributions in the scientific field, he wroteand spoke of many subjects,-religion and poetry, history andeducation. Every bacteriologist reads his "Rats, Lice andHistory," and his very recent autobiography "As I RememberHim." Many, too, have doubtless been moved by an occasionalsonnet in the Atlantic Monthly signed merely "R. S." withoutrealizing that its author was, like themselves, a bacteriologist.

These are the aspects of Hans Zinsser's career which are familiarto most bacteriologists, but they do not tell the whole story. OnOctober 8th, 1940 a meeting in his memory was held at theHarvard Medical School when Dr. John F. Enders read thefollowing paragraphs concerned with that more intimate knowl-edge derived from long personal association which we in thelaboratory were fortunate to share. They describe somethingof this side of a remarkable character known to many but in-directly through his accomplishments.

"Various were the attributes of Hans Zinsser's luminous mindand spirit. In thinking of him to-day, some of you see him as agreat teacher, others as a distinguished investigator, many as aperspicuous and sensitive commentator on science, letters, edu-cation, and on his own and others' lives. An increasing numberrecognize in him a poet of great emotional intensity. But a

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comparatively small group of us-possibly the most fortunateof all-were with him in the laboratory. We were his friends,and with him shared the task. I am the inexpert spokesmanfor these privileged people.

"I want to speak mostly of him as head of the laboratory; todepict as best I can some of these qualities of mind and heartwhich enabled him to fashion that office into a remarkable instru-ment whereby not merely bacteriology and immunology wereadvanced, but the lives of those who came to him were broadenedand enriched. It is a truism which cannot be too often repeatedthat no man can arouse the enthusiasm of others and lead theminto the delights of his chosen paths unless he himself burnswith the fires of devotion. In Hans Zinsser this flame burnedwith an extraordinary brilliance and, like a beacon, attractedothers from all over the earth. For more than three decades,every day and frequently at night, he was in the laboratoryuntil the very last. And he was here because he could not stayaway. The problem of the moment absorbed him completely.It broke his sleep and dragged him willy-nilly to his experimentalanimals and his cultures. Its progress, as he has said, largelygoverned his mood, which was either 'himmelhoch jauchzend'or 'zum Tode betribt,' depending on the success or failure ofhis experiments. He has himself told us how he looked upon hiswork: 'There is in this profession,' he says 'a fascination whichholds the spirit with feelings that are not exaggerated by the word"passion"; indeed, like the happiest personal passions, it feedson the intimate daily association of long years and grows-likelove-with an increasing familiarity that never becomes completeknowledge. For what can be more happily exciting than tostudy a disease in all its natural manifestations?'"But this is not the only, nor perhaps the most significant

aspect of his attitude toward his profession, for many-accordingto their natures and capacities-are thus enslaved. His gallantand imaginative spirit saw in scientific research high adventure.The investigation of infectious disease became for him a field ofbattle. Always loving and even often seeking out a strugglewhere benevolent causes were at stake, this lifelong conflict with

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the agents of syphilis, tuberculosis, typhus and the rest whichhe regarded perhaps only half-humorously as sentient malignitiessatisfied in large part his need for dangerous experience in thepursuit of generous ends. Those who surrounded him were setalight and newly energized by this flaming idealism.

"Also, we followed and loved him because of his complete lackof cant and his hatred of any trace of academic affectation andprofessional posing. This came, I am sure, not only from hisown good sense-which he had in abundant measure-but alsofrom his essential modesty and true humbleness of mind. Morethan most, he was aware of the broad lacunae in the knowledgeof every man to-day, even in his own science. This made himeager to learn wherever he could. In a Cambridge undergradu-ate, a first year medical student, in a hostler, a fisherman or aWhitehead, he first saw a human being whom he possibly mighthelp in some way, and then a source of information. With thesepurposes in mind, one can't for long preserve the professorialmanner."But the extent of his general knowledge was sufficient to

furnish forth respectably two or three professor's chairs. Theworld of letters only recently has become aware of his broadcultivation, but for us it was an old and delightful story. Forsome years we all lunched together in the laboratory. As weate, the conversation-led by him-became animated. Litera-ture, politics, history and science-all he discussed with spon-taneity and without self-consciousness. Everything was il-luminated by an apt allusion drawn from the most diverse sources,or by a witty tale. Voltaire seemed just around the corner,and Laurence Sterne upon the stair. Here, indeed, was a liberaleducation to be gained pleasantly, while one dined."Under such influences, the laboratory became much more than

just a place to work and teach-it became a way of life. Cominghere, I have seen younger men of considerable knowledge butlittle wisdom, still marked by lingering traces of adolescence, changealmost suddenly into mature people aware of the infinite possi-bilities of existence. Often, he also brought about a rapid maturi-zation of their latent capacities as independent investigators

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through his deep wisdom in allowing those who showed somepromise much freedom in working out their problems. Thoughalways ready to help the neophyte with advice or a happy sug-gestion, he not only permitted him every opportunity for selfdependence, but subtly urged him to develop his own powers tothe top of his bent. Upon another he was seldom tempted toimpose either his own ideas or his own will for he believed pro-foundly in the doctrine of intellectual and spiritual democracy,according to which it is the duty of the individual to follow to theend the beckonings of his own best genius."But more important still 'The Professor,' as we affectionately

called him, became the friend of those who gathered about him.What he wrote of his colleague, Oscar Teague, is in double meas-ure characteristic of himself: 'No one can know with exactitudethe number of those who were helped by him according to theirneeds. His mind, his heart and his purse were open and accessibleto those who needed them, and he is mourned-with us-bymany a laboratory boy and technician who has had his hand onhis shoulder at a difficult time.' Constantly the quick sympathyof Hans Zinsser's friendly and affectionate nature expresseditself in acts of helpfulness.

"And, finally, shining out above all was his courage. Of hischaracter this was the very essence. Always he sought thehazardous task, the dangerous place-not without fear, for heconfessed to being sometimes terribly afraid-but because heknew that in its conquest was strength and peace."And so it would seem that all his life he was preparing himself

for these last two years, when he came to know that the end couldnot be far away. We who were with him then will ever be thebetter for having seen him tranquilly continuing his researches,writing his books and teaching his students as if no term hadbeen set. But the attainment of this inward calm was not aseasy as he would have us believe, in what he has written. Asthe weeks and months passed, I know that it took the full measureof his brave soul to preserve it. Deeply we miss him, here inthis place, and mourn the irreparable loss of his companionshipand counsel. Yet the memory of the manner in which he faced

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and met death compensates us in part. For, as a great poethas said of another who, suffering much, endured to the end:

'Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wailOr knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,Dispraise or blame; nothing but well and fair,And what may quiet us in a death so noble.'"

Here, indeed, is the measure of a remarkable man who livedhis life to the full,-student, philosopher, scientist, organizerand executive, poet, friend and companion. Seldom is it pos-sible in a brief span of years to penetrate such diverse ways.Rarely can untimely death inflict a greater loss.

J. HOWARD MUELLER.

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