THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 Ex Libris 
 
 Katharine F. Richmond 
 
 and 
 Henry C. Fall 
 
 1 
 
 m
 
 
 A <f
 
 SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 AND 
 
 IN MEMORIAM 
 
 OF 
 
 DR. CARL HERRMANN HORSCH 
 
 1822 1891 
 
 BY 
 
 J. W. BARTLETT 
 
 at the Htttra&e |Drroo, 
 
 FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION 
 1893
 
 H T52 
 
 A SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 DR. CARL H. HORSCH 
 
 CARL HERRMANN HORSCH was born July 
 23, 1822, in the small, pleasant village of 
 Eythra, six miles from Leipzig, Saxony. He 
 was one of a family of five, three girls and 
 two boys, who, although widely separated 
 in early youth, remained devotedly attached 
 to each other through life. Of these, only 
 his brother Ernst, long a resident of Russia, 
 survives him. His parents, Johann Gottfried 
 and Christiana Friedericke Horsch, were per- 
 sons of very superior character, who, owing 
 to sickness and misfortune, were in extremely 
 moderate circumstances. His early life was 
 one of toil and hardship, and he was obliged 
 to work his own way upward through the 
 world. 
 
 Fortunately, the village schoolmaster, Jo- 
 hann Christoph Leuschner, was a man of 
 
 1 C66706
 
 4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 great talent and discernment, who saw the 
 boy's worth and awakened in him a thirst for 
 knowledge. At the age of fourteen, he left 
 home and went to Altenburg, to earn his own 
 living. Here the court surgeon was attracted 
 toward him ; he strongly advised him to be- 
 come a physician, and gave him instruction 
 in the rudiments of medicine and surgery. 
 Working his own way, and studying when 
 opportunity offered, Dr. Horsch, when twenty 
 years old, had fitted himself for the univer- 
 sity. Being obliged to practice rigid economy, 
 he traveled on foot, with his knapsack on his 
 back, from Leipzig to Prague. In the re- 
 nowned university of this ancient city, he 
 received his medical and surgical education. 
 Here he studied six years, supporting himself 
 during the first four by his own exertions. 
 Being obliged the last two years to devote 
 his whole time to practical, clinical studies, 
 through the friendship of his former teacher, 
 Cantor Leuschner, he obtained a small loan 
 from the Gutbesitzer of Eythra, which ena- 
 bled him to finish his course. This loan he 
 repaid in a very short time from the meagre 
 salary of an assistant army surgeon. 
 
 He graduated with honor, September, 1848,
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 5 
 
 receiving an especial commendation from his 
 professors, his papers being endorsed ausser- 
 ordentlich. Returning home, he applied for 
 a position in the army, and passed the requi- 
 site examination, the diploma of an Austrian 
 university not being recognized in Saxony. 
 At this time he was offered an excellent sit- 
 uation in the Dutch East Indian service. 
 Fortunately for himself and others he de- 
 clined it, and entered the Saxon army, Octo- 
 ber 1, 1848, as assistant surgeon in the field 
 hospital. 
 
 I give here an account of a portion of Dr. 
 Horsch's life in his own words, taken from an 
 address delivered in 1888 to the Strafford 
 District Medical Society, on " Some Expe- 
 riences in a Study and Practice of Medicine 
 of Forty-four Years : " 
 
 " When I landed on the shore of the study 
 of medicine I thought that my professors were 
 superior to all others ; but some of them com- 
 pelled me to be almost as humble as Uriah 
 Heep, and with pity I think of their haughty 
 bearing and arrogance ; yet the majority of 
 my teachers kindly imparted their knowledge 
 and treated me as a man deserves, and with 
 gratitude and thanks I recognize and remem- 
 ber how much I am indebted to them.
 
 6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 " A medical student in the Austrian univer- 
 sities, at the time when I studied in Prague, 
 was more dependent than in other medical 
 colleges, because the semi-annual examina- 
 tions kept him constantly under the control 
 of the professors ; which was well to keep the 
 lazy and negligent students to their studies, 
 but rather hard for those who had not the 
 favor of a pedantic professor ; but with pleas- 
 ure I praise and honor the thoroughness of 
 teaching in those institutions, and in Ger- 
 many generally. 
 
 " In the spring of 1848 we had a revolu- 
 tion in Prague, and every student belonging 
 to the Academic Legion was forced to fight 
 on the barricades, and to defend himself 
 against an unnecessary attack ordered by 
 General Windischgratz. This was a trying 
 week. One day a poor old mother was killed 
 and dragged through the streets by the mob 
 with a rope around her neck ; and all that 
 poor soul had done was to try to carry some 
 food to her son, who was a soldier and com- 
 pelled to fight us. This mobocracy was on 
 our side, robbing and murdering friend and 
 foe; and this element, about twenty thou- 
 sand, we had to accept as our comrades.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 7 
 
 " After we were shelled out I got home 
 safely, and went to Dresden, Saxony, passed 
 the examination, and received the appoint- 
 ment as assistant surgeon in the field hospital 
 of the Saxon army. In the spring of 1849 
 I was ordered to the ambulance corps, and 
 went to the war in Schleswig-Holstein. Here 
 I did my part of duty in the battles of Satrup, 
 Diippel, and Friedericia ; and after the Saxon 
 troops returned to their fatherland I was 
 ordered to take charge of a military hospital 
 at Flensburg. 
 
 " While I was in charge of this hospital, 
 of which a regimental surgeon was the direc- 
 tor, I had a case of pneumonia. The patient 
 was a fleshy, lymphatic person, twenty-six 
 years old. On the fourth day, when my 
 superior medical officer was visiting the hospi- 
 tal, we found the pulse a hundred and sixteen, 
 very feeble, extremities cold, breathing quick, 
 lower lobe of the lung hepatized ; the director 
 commanded bleeding ; I argued, in a respect- 
 ful way, against it, on the ground of his con- 
 dition and constitution, and expressed the fear 
 of pulmonary O3dema ; he took out his lance, 
 and was ( going to reduce that pulse ; ' the 
 next day he bled him a second time. (Edema
 
 :8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 took place, and our patient died. After that 
 event the medical director became stern and 
 showed a dislike to me, which was not a pleas- 
 ant experience for a subordinate to suffer. 
 When I sent in my monthly report to the 
 surgeon-general's office I described the case, 
 and petitioned for a command to the military 
 hospital in Dresden. My request was grant- 
 ed, and, returning from here to Saxony, I 
 received the appointment as assistant surgeon 
 in the King's body-guard. 
 
 " The aristocratic notions and rather slavish 
 adherence to royalty of some of the officers 
 were somewhat disagreeable. One day we 
 were discussing the obedience to our king, 
 when one of them remarked : ' If his Majesty 
 commanded me to jump out of the window in 
 the second story of a house, I would obey his 
 command. ' I was arguing on the ground of 
 self-preservation, and said I would attend to 
 that superior law and command. ' Oh ! ' said 
 a superior officer to me, ' you are one of the 
 heroes of the barricades of Prague, in 1848.' 
 That stopped the argument, and it was not 
 safe for me to press it any further ; I thought 
 it better to let him jump ! 
 
 "In Budissin (Bautzen), Saxony, where I
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 9 
 
 was from 1850 to 1852, I became a member 
 of the Natural Scientific Society, Isis, and was 
 secretary two years. Here we had very inter- 
 esting papers and pamphlets. 
 
 " Although I had the credentials from the 
 University of Prague, wherein it was certified 
 that I had given satisfactory answers in all 
 the subjects taught in that medical college, 
 and had passed the examination for medical 
 and surgical service in the army, I had to 
 pass the examination of the state of Saxony 
 before I could be promoted in the military 
 ranks or practice medicine generally in said 
 state. 
 
 " During this examination, Dr. Pech, pro- 
 fessor of surgery, a kind and pleasant old 
 gentleman, but extremely pedantic, asked me 
 a question, and, when I answered it, said, 
 ' That is not the way I have taught it/ think- 
 ing that I must explain the case in accordance 
 with his own words ; but Professor Chousant 
 said, ' Professor, the gentleman has given a 
 correct explanation.' 
 
 " In 1853 I received a satisfactory offer from 
 a physician in Boston, Dr. William Wessel- 
 hoeft; and he kindly sent me two hundred 
 dollars to defray traveling expenses. Decem-
 
 10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 her, 1853, I embarked in a sailing vessel, at 
 Bremen, for America, and, after a nine weeks' 
 voyage, arrived in New York; from here I 
 went to Boston, where I found a pleasant 
 home in the house of my generous friend. 
 He was a sincere believer in Hahnemann's 
 maxim, ' similia similibus curantur,' and 
 carried it out consistently in his extensive 
 practice. 
 
 " My aim was then, and is now, to accept 
 and practice what I consider rational and ben- 
 eficial for suffering humanity, from whatever 
 so-called system of medical treatment it may 
 come ; and I think that a truly scientific sys- 
 tem must have a scientific basis, and cannot 
 be established on any of the maxims, 'contra- 
 ria contrariis curanturf 'similia similibus 
 curantur,' or ' cequalia cequalibus curantur? 
 and that a regular medical practitioner is one 
 who can prove before any just forum that he 
 is versed in all the branches of the medical 
 encyclopaedia, and bases his treatment upon 
 them. I therefore accepted and practiced 
 what I had learned and found rational from 
 the works of others and my own experience. 
 
 " When I came to Dover, N. H., August, 
 1855, 1 made a mistake by suffering myself to
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 11 
 
 be advertised as a homoeopathic physician, 
 which title I renounced October, 1869 ; and 
 I have explained my standpoint as well as I 
 could in various published articles, wherein 
 any person may find that I only renounce the 
 names and false claims of the { pathies,' but 
 acknowledge that all have some truth and 
 principles which ought to be recognized and 
 valued by any rational physician and person." 
 It is somewhat singular how an apparently 
 trivial event will sometimes change the whole 
 current of a man's life. While in Dresden 
 Dr. Horsch received an invitation to spend an 
 evening with a friend. He at first decided 
 not to go, but afterward changed his mind. 
 Here he met Mrs. Wesselhoeft. She was 
 much pleased with the appearance of the 
 young surgeon, who at that time had not the 
 least idea of quitting the army or emigrating 
 to America. Some time afterwards Dr. Wes- 
 selhoeft, wishing for a physician to take 
 charge of a water-cure establishment in Brat- 
 tleboro, Vt., with which he was connected, 
 offered the position to Dr. Horsch, which he 
 accepted. His coming, however, was delayed 
 by various circumstances, and when he ar- 
 rived Dr. W. had severed his connection with
 
 12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 the institution, but retained him in his own 
 family, to assist in his practice. 
 
 Dr. Horsch remained about a year in Bos- 
 ton, and practiced mostly among the Ger- 
 mans. At that time there were many of his 
 countrymen residing in that city who were 
 connected with the political troubles of 1848- 
 49, and were obliged to seek shelter in Amer- 
 ica. They were all educated men, many of 
 whom had occupied high positions at home. 
 This congenial society met two or three times 
 a week at the gasthof of the elder Pfaff, on 
 Park Square, and in the rooms of a German 
 brewer on Avery Street, where, over mugs of 
 lager beer, a beverage then recently intro- 
 duced into Boston, they discussed the political 
 affairs of their country, cheered each other's 
 exile, and lived again for the hour their life 
 in the Fatherland. 
 
 Preferring a country life, he declined a 
 generous offer from Dr. W., and went with a 
 German friend to the little village of South 
 Berwick, Me., to spend some months in the 
 study of the English language, which he had 
 thus far had little opportunity to acquire. 
 In August, 1855, he settled in Dover, N. H., 
 where he remained during his life in a large
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 13 
 
 and very successful practice. In March, 
 1858, he married Miss F. A. Littlefield, who, 
 with two daughters, survives him. 
 
 During the Rebellion, in 1863, the officers 
 of the Fifteenth Regiment New Hampshire 
 Volunteers wished to have Dr. Horsch as 
 their surgeon, and applied to the state author- 
 ities to have him commissioned. Wish- 
 ing to do his part in serving his adopted 
 country, and expecting opposition from the 
 examining board, in order to give some proof 
 of his ability besides his credentials from 
 Europe, he went before the medical examiners 
 of Massachusetts, and passed a triumphant 
 examination, receiving from them a recom- 
 mendation to the governor for an appoint- 
 ment. A week later the medical commission 
 of New Hampshire rendered the following 
 decision, " We have examined Carl H. Horsch, 
 M. D., and find him not competent to dis- 
 charge the duties of surgeon." This singular 
 decision against a man who had served with 
 honor five years in the German army was due 
 to the aversion of the board to homoeopathy. 
 Three months afterward the surgeon of the 
 Fifteenth Regiment resigned, on account of 
 illness, and the field and staff officers peti-
 
 14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 tioned for Dr. Horsch's appointment as their 
 surgeon. Governor Berry immediately gave 
 him his commission, and he joined the army 
 near New Orleans. Here his experience in 
 the German army was of great benefit to him, 
 and his merit was soon recognized. He re- 
 ceived especial commendation from the medi- 
 cal director of the Gulf Department for the 
 excellence of his field hospital. He was 
 a great favorite with the regiment. Many 
 are the expressions of gratitude which we 
 have heard from officers and men, who have 
 told us that but for his devoted care they 
 never would have returned to their homes. 
 
 At the siege of Port Hudson Dr. Horsch 
 was appointed assistant operator. During the 
 engagement on the 27th of May, to use 
 his own words, " We all had to do our full 
 duty, day and night." One of the surgeons 
 who worked with him at that time stated that 
 " many poor fellows owed to his skill the 
 preservation of their limbs, which otherwise 
 would have been sacrificed." The work was 
 continued until late at night, and, when his 
 last case was disposed of, Dr. Horsch sank 
 exhausted on the ground, under his operating 
 table. On the 7th of June he received an
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 15 
 
 order promoting him to first operator, and 
 assigning his brigade-surgeon and another as 
 his assistants. In vain he tried to decline the 
 position, insisting that it belonged to another 
 by seniority of commission, and declaring that 
 he "cared nothing for rank or precedence, 
 but desired only to do his duty." He was 
 not allowed to refuse. But his work was 
 done; fatigue, consequent on over-exertion 
 and exposure, brought on a malarial fever, 
 which nearly cost him his life, and from 
 whose effects he never fully recovered. Every 
 summer, for many years, the hot weather 
 brought on a return of the fever. Returning 
 home with his regiment, to the great satisfac- 
 tion of our citizens he resumed his extensive 
 practice. 
 
 In 1882 he was by the recommendation of 
 many prominent physicians of New Hamp- 
 shire appointed a member of the first state 
 board of health. He helped organize it, and 
 served thereon until failing health compelled 
 him to resign in 1886. Shortly before this 
 he became aware of a trouble with the heart 
 (insufficiency of the mitral valve). Although 
 slight, he felt the necessity of avoiding the 
 overwork and exhaustion consequent on his
 
 16 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 large, active practice, and determined to give 
 up a part of it. In this he only partially suc- 
 ceeded, owing to the constant demands of his 
 patients and their extreme unwillingness to 
 place themselves under the care of any other 
 physician. After a few years, however, more 
 frequent attacks of illness compelled him to 
 confine himself almost entirely to office prac- 
 tice. 
 
 He devoted much of his leisure time to 
 microscopy, and became very proficient there- 
 in, using it much in professional work, and 
 finding intense enjoyment in the study of the 
 lower forms of animal and vegetable life. He 
 took great pleasure in imparting to others the 
 results of his observations and experiments. 
 
 His health gradually failed, the heat of 
 each succeeding year having more and more 
 effect on him. The last summer of his life he 
 spent at his seaside cottage at Wells, Me. 
 He took considerable exercise, and several 
 times visited the patients of an absent physi- 
 cian in the village of Ogunquit, three miles 
 away. He spent many pleasant hours in our 
 cottage. Speaking, one day, of his health, he 
 said he had made a gain over the previous 
 season, and expressed the hope that he should
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 17 
 
 live many years. September 14th he had a 
 sudden nervous attack, followed by extreme 
 prostration. Rallying a little he returned to 
 his home in Dover. Unfortunately, he en- 
 countered three days of intense heat, which 
 had a very injurious effect upon him, and, 
 after a few days of suffering, on the evening 
 of September 22, 1891, he suddenly passed 
 away. 
 
 Dr. Horsch had a lofty, noble character ; of 
 his perfectly unselfish life all who knew him 
 bear witness. He never regarded his profes- 
 sion simply as a means of acquiring wealth, 
 but gave freely of his knowledge and skill to 
 every one who needed it, whether rich or 
 poor. His only thought was to alleviate suf- 
 fering. None but his most intimate friends 
 were aware of the extent of his benefactions 
 to the unfortunate. His presence always 
 brought sunshine into the sick-room, and 
 every patient felt him to be a personal friend. 
 Often have strangers approached us, who ex- 
 pressed their sorrow for his death, and told us 
 of the affection and esteem in which they held 
 their beloved physician. Not his patients 
 only, but all who knew him, loved him, and 
 the mourning for him was universal through- 
 out his adopted city.
 
 18 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Dr. Horsch stood very high in both 
 branches of his profession, and was much 
 sought for in consultations. In addition to 
 a most thorough education, he possessed a 
 rare insight into the nature of disease. He 
 had few equals in the correctness of his diag- 
 noses, which were always the result of careful 
 observation and close reasoning. In surgical 
 cases his firm, strong hand was balanced with 
 a feminine delicacy of touch. Keeping 
 abreast of all the latest discoveries in medical 
 science, he believed in relying on one's own 
 experience more than on the teaching of 
 books. Opposed to all sectarianism in med- 
 icine, he persistently refused to join any par- 
 tisan society. He did not believe that any 
 one school possessed "the only scientific 
 treatment," or that such a treatment has yet 
 been discovered. He advocated much greater 
 strictness in our laws in regard to the prac- 
 tice of medicine. He believed the state 
 should require all applicants to be thoroughly 
 educated in all that pertains to that honorable 
 profession, and to that end should recognize 
 the diploma of no school, but require a strict 
 examination by its own authorities. That, 
 after admission to the profession, the members
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 19 
 
 should be known as physicians only, and be 
 left free to adopt any and all means which 
 in their judgment would alleviate suffering. 
 In accordance with this conviction, in 1881, 
 he prevailed upon all the physicians in Dover 
 to give up their distinctive names and claims 
 and unite in one harmonious society. One of 
 the leading practitioners said to us that no one 
 else could have succeeded in doing this. He 
 was a member of the American Medical As- 
 sociation, the Medico-Legal Society of New 
 York, and the Strafford District Medical So- 
 ciety of New Hampshire, which he joined, 
 after repeated invitations, in 1886. He was 
 elected president of the latter society in 
 1887-88. 
 
 Dr. Horsch was also a prominent member 
 of the American Public Health Association. 
 Throughout his whole medical career he took 
 a deep interest in sanitary work, believing the 
 prevention of disease to be as much a part of a 
 physician's duty as its cure. He ever had the 
 welfare of his fellow townsmen and the public 
 generally at heart, and was earnest and active 
 in every good cause. The hygienic surround- 
 ings of his patients always received his care- 
 ful attention, and many of the improvements
 
 20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 in the sanitary condition of our city are due 
 to his untiring efforts. Numerous valuable 
 papers have been contributed by him to san- 
 itary publications throughout the country. 
 Dr. Vaughan, of Michigan University, wrote 
 of him : " The cause of public health has 
 sustained a great loss in his death, and he 
 will be missed, not only in his own state, 
 but by the sanitary workers throughout the 
 land." 
 
 One of the most prominent traits in his 
 character was his strict conscientiousness in 
 every act of life. He never promised a cure, 
 always telling patients he " would use the 
 best means in his power for their recovery/' 
 He was much averse to what he considered 
 undue praise, and was exceedingly unwilling 
 any should say " they owed their lives to 
 him," believing a physician could rarely claim 
 that the cure was due to his skill alone. In- 
 capable of the least professional jealousy, he 
 always strove to obtain due appreciation for 
 all good efforts of other practitioners, and 
 through his influence many dissensions among' 
 them were healed. He gave freely of his 
 knowledge to younger members of his profes- 
 sion, and, when recognizing merit, did much
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 21 
 
 to assist them. Some have told us they never 
 could forget his kindness to them, when as 
 strangers they settled in Dover. 
 
 Naturally of a bright, joyous temperament, 
 his presence was everywhere welcomed. 
 Though preferring to spend a quiet hour with 
 a few congenial friends, he was yet the life of 
 every company which he entered, equally at 
 home in the society of scholars and scientists 
 and with the poor laboring man. A German 
 workman said of him that "their festivities 
 were never complete unless they could get Dr. 
 Horsch to join in them, and when he left none 
 cared to remain." Visiting with him his 
 little native village of Eythra, it was pleasant 
 to witness the hearty, cordial greetings and 
 the unchanged relations between him and his 
 former mates and playfellows of the village 
 school, many of whom were still occupying 
 very humble positions in life. 
 
 Dr. Horsch was brought up in the Lutheran 
 church ; as he grew older he began to ques- 
 tion and doubt, and could no longer accept its 
 narrow and irrational theology. Naturally he 
 swung to Materialism, but his strong mind 
 could not long rest satisfied there ; as his rea- 
 son developed he grew into broader, higher,
 
 22 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 nobler conceptions of God and religion than 
 those of his boyhood. Patients belonging to 
 the so-called Evangelical sects were sometimes 
 concerned about his spiritual welfare, know- 
 ing he believed in no church. An elderly 
 lady, a strict Baptist, whom he was attending 
 during her last illness, expressed her anxiety 
 about his salvation. He held many conver- 
 sations with her upon religious subjects, and 
 shortly before her death she said to him : 
 "Doctor, you have no idea how much com- 
 fort your views have given me." Mrs. Tal- 
 bot, a Quaker lady, a well-known revivalist, 
 having occasion, when in Dover, to place her- 
 self under his care, made a strong effort to 
 convert him. When he explained to her his 
 belief she recognized the loftiness and beauty 
 of his religious sentiments, and at the close of 
 the interview said, " Thee and I are not so 
 far apart as I thought we were." On one of 
 his visits to his native place, while conversing 
 on his religious views with his old Lutheran 
 pastor, to whose teachings he had listened in 
 his boyhood, the aged man said, " Where did 
 you get those ideas, Hermann? They are 
 beautiful ! " 
 
 Dr. Horsch's religion was not confined to
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 23 
 
 sentiment or belief only, but carried into 
 every act of his daily life. His nobility of 
 soul was recognized by all with whom he 
 came in contact, but those on whom he be- 
 stowed the inestimable privilege of his inner- 
 most friendship best know the full strength 
 and beauty of his spiritual nature. The life- 
 motive of this brave, noble-hearted, aspiring 
 soul is fittingly expressed in the inscription on 
 his memorial-stone, written by Dr. F. E. Ab- 
 bot, a friend of many years : 
 
 " His worship of the All-Good was faithful 
 and loving service of his brother man." 
 
 J. W. B.
 
 IN MEMORIAM 
 
 DR. CARL HERMANN HORSCH has passed 
 from our midst. He needs no eulogy from 
 any one, but I desire to give him this last 
 tribute. His was one of the noblest of souls, 
 he always gave himself for others. His only 
 question was, what is my duty to my fellow- 
 man ? and at whatever cost of suffering 
 to himself he faithfully performed it. He 
 lived among us thirty-six years, openly, fear- 
 lessly, acting himself before the world. He 
 never concealed his convictions on any sub- 
 ject. Having thoughtfully come to his con- 
 clusions, he held them firmly and openly. 
 Whatever he thought right to do, he did, 
 whether others praised or blamed. 
 
 The world is better for his having lived in 
 it. His whole influence was for good ; no one 
 ever came in contact with him but went away 
 the better for the intercourse. His mind never 
 occupied itself with trivial subjects; his 
 thought was always, What can I do to bene-
 
 IN MEMORIAM 25 
 
 fit Humanity? It was my privilege, as an 
 intimate friend, to be much with him, and to 
 share his innermost life. Never did we meet 
 but that his mind turned to the higher, ho- 
 lier questions of life. When parted by dis- 
 tance, his letters always breathed the same 
 high aspirations. He never allowed any one 
 to speak harshly of another in his presence. 
 He always imputed the best motives to every 
 one, and if deceived was ready to forgive and 
 trust again. Truth with him was sacred, the 
 least deception was hateful, and his word 
 given or implied was" never broken. 
 
 Dr. Horsch's religious views were of the 
 loftiest character. He did not believe in 
 churches or creeds, considering them simply 
 as the primary schools for the childhood of 
 Humanity, which must at some future time be 
 done away. He gave up the name of Chris- 
 tian, and refused to be so called. To him 
 that name meant a limitation which he could 
 not endure. He did not believe in Christian- 
 ity as the all-good, the one true religion. To 
 him religion itself was above and beyond 
 Christianity. His great heart could not rest 
 satisfied with anything less than one wide, all- 
 embracing religion, in which all believers in
 
 26 IN MEMORIAM 
 
 every faith could equally share. He could 
 accept nothing on the authority of Bible or 
 Church. To him, religion was the natural 
 outgrowth of human life. He believed that 
 the spiritual nature of man is as much a God- 
 given part of him as his natural body, and 
 that every noble deed is as much inspired of 
 God to-day as ever in the past. I quote his 
 own words : 
 
 " I cannot accept the idea that Christianity, 
 or any other form of religion, contains all 
 which that beautiful, all-embracing word 
 means." 
 
 " True religion must provide equal shares 
 for all. " 
 
 " I find in religion the concentration of the 
 best thoughts and actions of the human soul 
 and body." 
 
 " I sincerely believe in an impartial Creator 
 and Ruler of all, who has given all He has for 
 each and all, for the existence and subsistence 
 of his creation." 
 
 He did not believe in prayer. In frequent 
 conversations on this subject he said, " I be- 
 lieve in an all- wise, all-just Creator, one who 
 knows my needs, and will supply them better 
 than I can ask. My endeavor is to do my
 
 IN MEMORIAM 27 
 
 duty at all times, and doing that duty is my 
 prayer." 
 
 To show his deep spiritual nature I give a 
 few extracts from his writings : 
 
 " * Nearer, my God, to Thee' ought to be 
 applied to this life, by believing that under all 
 circumstances of life God is always near us, 
 and that we can come nearer to Him, by 
 rightly using our reason received from Him, 
 and obeying his laws, and believing firmly 
 that He is our Father who loves us." 
 
 " It is futile to say that God favors or pun- 
 ishes us. He has given his creation the best 
 He possesses ; otherwise He could not be our 
 Creator, endowed with wisdom and love." 
 
 Our dear friend has gone from our sight 
 to a happier home, to a world, as he always 
 hoped, of renewed activity and progress ; but 
 the influence of his pure, noble life will al- 
 ways remain a power for good in the hearts of 
 the many who love him. I can say of him, 
 what he once wrote me of R. W. Emerson : 
 tl He has left so much in this sphere that it 
 appears as if the greater part of him remains 
 with us." 
 
 J, W. B. 
 
 DOVER, N. H., September 30, 1891.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-50m-4,'61(B899484)444
 
 R 
 
 Bartlett - 
 H7B2 Short biographi- 
 
 cal sketch and 
 
 in memoriam of Dr. 
 Carl Hermann Horsch, 
 ~ 
 
 R 
 
 1 
 
 H7B2