of his fame, however, to occasional discourses on literature, history, and philosophy. Oratory On nationalism Following France's declaration of war on Prussia on 3 August 1870, du Bois-Reymond proclaimed that "the University of Berlin, quartered opposite the King's palace, is, by the deed of its foundation, the intellectual bodyguard (geistige Leibregiment) of the House of Hohenzollern." But by the time of France's surrender on 26 January 1871 du Bois-Reymond had come to regret his words, lamenting the "national hatred of two embittered peoples." His 1878 lecture "On National Feeling" expanded on this topic, offering one of the earliest analyses of nationalism after those of Lord Acton and Fustel de Coulanges. On Darwinism Du Bois-Reymond was the first German professor to convert to Darwinism. He expounded the theory in popular classes at the University of Berlin, in itinerant lectures in the Ruhr and the Rhineland, and in formal addresses translated and reprinted across Europe and North America. Unlike his rival Ernst Haeckel, du Bois-Reymond espoused a mechanistic interpretation of natural selection that anticipated modern views. Few in Germany took offense at his teachings until 1883, when his obituary to Darwin outraged conservatives and Catholics. On epistemology In 1880 du Bois-Reymond delivered a speech to the Berlin Academy of Sciences enumerating seven "world riddles" or "shortcomings" of science: the ultimate nature of matter and force; the origin of motion; the origin of life; the "apparently teleological arrangements of nature" (not an "absolutely transcendent riddle"); the origin of simple sensations ("a quite transcendent" question); the origin of intelligent thought and language (which might be known if the origin of sensations could be known); and the question of free will. Concerning numbers 1, 2 and 5 he proclaimed "Ignorabimus" ("we will never know"). Concerning number 7 he proclaimed "Dubitemus" ("we doubt it'). References Sources Cranefield, Paul F. (1 October 1957). "The Organic Physics of 1847 and the Biophysics of Today". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. XII (10): 407–423. doi:10.1093/jhmas/XII.10.407. ISSN 0022-5045. Lenoir, Timothy (1 January 1986). "Models and Instruments in the Development of Electrophysiology, 1845–1912". Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences. 17 (1): 1–54. doi:10.2307/27757574. ISSN 0890-9997. Naturwissen und Erkenntnis im 19. Jahrhundert : Emil Du Bois-Reymond. Mann, Gunter, ed. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Kommission für Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1981. . OCLC 8307620. External links Short biography, bibliography, and links on