12 SAMUEL JAMES MELTZER— HOWELL [Mbmoirs ( vo A l!xx^ 



in fact were so much interested in observing the reactions of the absorbed speaker when the 

 alarm broke upon him that I fear their attention was seriously diverted from the substance of 

 lus remarks. But Doctor Meltzer, whose sense of humor was not highly developed, took the 

 whole matter very solemnly and conscientiously and ran his program off on schedule time. 



In the meetings of the National Academy of Sciences Doctor Meltzer exhibited the same 

 faithfulness in attendance and the same keen desire to participate fully in all the activities of 

 the society. From the time of his election he made it a point to attend all of the spring meetings 

 in Washington and most of the fall meetings in addition. Very frequently he was down on 

 the program for a paper. Sometimes his papers were on quite technical subjects, and it is 

 probable that most of the members present were not able to follow him satisfactorily. His 

 method of presentation, as was stated before, was not well suited for a general audience; he 

 did not possess the art of lucid expression, which depends chiefly no doubt on the ability of 

 the speaker to appreciate the state of mind of his audience in relation to the subject under 

 discussion. His own interest and enthusiasm made him overlook the fact that those whose minds 

 are primarily occupied in other directions need to be led up to a new subject through an in- 

 troductory incline of explanatory statements. His method was rather to plunge at once in 

 medias res. This, together with his faulty pronunciation of English, made his papers difficult 

 to follow, especially when given, as they usually were, in the large hall of the National Museum 

 with its annoying reverberations. Meltzer himself was impressed with the dignity of this 

 gathering of eminent scientists, and he was much more impressed by the importance and dignity 

 of his subject. Whenever, therefore, he had any new results to communicate he felt it incumbent 

 upon him to bring them forward. This was his idea of what such a gathering of scientists 

 was for — to present and discuss new facts and theories. In the same sense he was an excellent 

 listener to the papers of other members; not at all from any sense of duty but because of his 

 genuine and enthusiastic interest in the advancement of scientific knowledge of all kinds. He 

 was faithful also in his attendance upon the business meetings of the academy. When it came 

 to the election of new members no one was more alert in insisting that the highest standards 

 of scholarship should be applied. Eminence of other kinds he respected, but in his opinion 

 membership in the academy should go only to those who are distinguished for their contribu- 

 tions to science; and when a candidate in his opinion did not measure up to this standard, 

 when there was no evidence of scientific productivity of a high order, he was very frank in 

 expressing his conviction that the candidate should not receive election. The directness 

 with which he expressed himself in such matters was sometimes a bit startling, but no one 

 could fail to appreciate his sincerity and to recognize that he was guided in what he said by 

 what he conceived to be the principles involved. 



Meltzer was eminent as a physician and as a scientist. Whether or not he can be called 

 a great scientist depends upon the meaning attached to the word. Properly speaking that 

 designation belongs only to those few workers who by reason of exceptional intellectual ability 

 or by good fortune have added something of such outstanding importance to scientific knowl- 

 edge that it marks a distinct advance, or constitutes an epoch-making discovery, influencing 

 in a large way the subsequent development of some line of scientific inquiry. Meltzer was not 

 so fortunate as to make a contribution of this kind, but he was a consistent, tireless, and devoted 

 worker in science, holding always to the highest ideals, which he preached and exemplified at 

 all times. He was never faint-hearted nor skeptical about the value of scientific methods and 

 scientific ideals as applied to medicine. When he first came to America medical education 

 and medical standards were at a low level, compared with what had gone before as well as 

 with what has since developed, and this unhappy state of affairs must have made a deep impres- 

 sion upon him. He seems to have set himself the task of improving these conditions. He was 

 a clinician and it was on the clinical side that conditions were the worst. In the scientific 

 branches of medicine a new spirit had arisen. Laboratories of physiology and pathology were 

 being established, and it was recognized for these subjects that special training is required and 

 that men who give themselves to such work are a class apart from the general practitioner. 

 But in clinical medicine the scientific spirit had not penetrated deeply. Meltzer believed with 



