DR. ROBERT LIM (林可胜), A SCIENTIST

Dr. Lim is perhaps better known abroad than in China. Among Chinese who write in learned foreign journals, Dr. Lim easily tops the list. His contributions to physiology, since his eighteenth year, when he was a medical student in Edinburgh University, must be reckoned by the hundreds, but they are purely technical, and are such that only specialists would care to read them. They do not deal with physiological questions from the broad, philosophic point of view, like the way Verworm writes on The Cell, Pavlov on Reflex Action, or Sherrington on The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. This fact makes Dr. Lim a physiologist's physiologist, and not a layman's physiologist.

As with his writings, so with his mind: it is that of a scientific specialist, to whom nothing exists but what can be scientifically stated, and no truth valuable but what can be experimentally proved. It is not so much that he is not interested in things outside his line, as that he finds them irrelevant—superstitions, as he calls them. Literature, political science, philosophy—to him, they are just the playthings of the mind, but nothing to be serious about. Indeed, a certain bemused arrogance is evident in him towards studies, other than scientific. In this respect, he differs markedly from other Chinese scientists, such as Dr. V. K. Ting, Dr. Li Chi, and Dr. Chao Yuan-jen, who so often blaze such brilliant trails behind them in fields, outside their own. With Dr. V. K. Ting, for instance, it wouldn't surprise us in the least, if, getting up one fine morning, we were to find him famous as the author of (say) the History of Political Prostitution. As for Dr. Chao Yuan-jen, all things are possible with him, be they ingenious, original, and out of the way. In other words, Dr. V. K. Ting & Company are more to be described as savants than scientists. A scientist, pure and simple, is a very rare bird in China. We believe Dr. Lim is the only genuine instance of one.

Dr. Lim is at present Head of the Department of Physiology in Peking Union Medical College. Besides this, he is also Managing Editor of the Chinese Journal of Physiology.

So much in love is Dr. Lim with his work, that he is hardly out of his laboratory, morning, noon and night. There is scarcely one idle moment. His fingers are either dissecting animals for his experiments, or busy writing out the results of his researches on the endocrine glands, on metabolism, or on the hundred and one problems connected with digestion. He has his lunch in his office, and sometimes he even sleeps there. In every sense of the word, his office is his home. We see a profusion of papers there, numberless charts and stacks of physiological journals: no place, apparently, for small talk, and idle curiosity.

In appearance, Dr. Lim looks very much like an army officer. Solidly built, somewhat below the average height, with a face which means business and shows bull-dog determination, Dr. Lim is yet the most pleasant of companions, outside his office. He is game for any lark. He can drink like a fish, and dance like an angel. He has a passion for golf, and loves to take a hand at mahjong. And he is one of those very rare persons, who are not only good losers, but—what is more difficult—good winners.

[No. 14; Apr. 5, 1934]

林可胜博士¹，一位科学家

林可胜博士在国外比在国内更为人熟知。在为外国知识性刊物撰稿的华人作者中，林博士名列前茅。从他18岁在爱丁堡大学学医的那一年算起，有关生理学的文稿，已写了好几百篇，而且纯粹是专业性质的，只有专科医生才愿意去读。他写那些文章并不是从哲学的观点泛论生理问题，就像维尔沃姆²写《细胞》、巴甫洛夫³论《反射作用》、谢灵顿⁴阐述《神经系统的整合作用》。这就使他成了一名生理学家中的生理学家，而不是门外汉的生理学家。

他的头脑也像他的文章一样。在这位科学专家看来，不能加以科学说明的事物就不存在，不能以实验证明的真理就没有价值。对专业以外的事物与其说他不感兴趣，还不如说他认为那些东西都无关紧要——如他所说，都是些迷信。文学、政治学、哲学，在他看来，只不过是思想上的玩物，都不值得认真。事实上，在对待其他学科的态度上，他确实显示出一种难以解释的傲慢，而不是科学的态度。在这一方面，他迥然不同于另一些中国科学家，如丁文江博士、李济博士⁵和赵元任博士，他们常常能在本专业以外的领域做开路先锋。以丁文江博士为例，如果某天清晨起床，我们发现他是（比如说）《政治卖淫史》的作者而名声大噪，我们是丝毫也不会感到惊讶的。而对于赵元任博士，什么样的事情全都可能，只要是巧妙、独创而且出人意表。换言之，丁文江博士之流，更适合于被称为博学之士，而不能算是科学家。纯粹的、单纯的科学家，在中国是稀有品种。我们相信，林可胜博士是货真价实的仅有一例。

林博士现在是北京协和医学院生理系的主任，同时也是《中国生理学杂志》的总编辑。

林博士深爱他的工作，几乎从不离开他的实验室，无论是清晨、中午还是夜晚，难得有一分钟清闲。他的手不是在为各种实验解剖各种动物，就是忙着撰写内分泌腺、新陈代谢或是有关于消化的101个问题的研究报告。他常在办公室里吃午餐，有时还在那里睡觉。从任何一种意义上说，他的办公室就是他的家。我们在那里能看到大量的文件、数不清的图表、一叠叠堆放着的生理学杂志：显而易见，完全没有闲谈聊天和放置无用摆饰的空间。

从外表看来，林博士非常像一名军官——身体结实，略矮于常人身高，有一副公事公办的面孔和斗牛犬般果断的表情。然而在办公室外，林博士又是一个和蔼可亲的伙伴，开得起任何玩笑。他能像鱼一样豪饮，像天使一般善舞。他爱打高尔夫球，也喜欢搓搓麻将。他属于那种极其难得的一类人：不仅输得起——更可贵的是——也赢得起。

［第14期，1934年4月5日］