THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



denly. It happened in the Dresden Opera House, and I think it 

 was in 1905 (I was then forty-eight years old). The opera was 

 "Tannhauser," and I Hstened to the overture with all of the old 

 thrills and a deep appreciation of the deep silence on the part 

 of the audience. But after the beginning of the first act I found 

 that I could not stand it, and went out into the open air. From 

 that time for ten years I could not listen to music. This was 

 not physiological as far as I could tell. My health was perfect, 

 and I was conscious of no change until ten years later when I 

 happened to hear an orchestra playing something by Brahms. 

 And then the old love came back. Let the psychologists explain 

 this. 



In spite of the fact that Professor Riley was constandy throw- 

 ing more and more responsibility upon my shoulders, I had a 

 distinct feeling that I did not satisfy him. In fact, I learned later 

 that he told Professor S. W. WiUiston, then of Yale and after- 

 wards of Kansas and Chicago, that I was by no means an ideal 

 assistant, and, in fact, Williston said that Riley offered him my 

 job. Williston declined with thanks, and I am not sure whether I 

 was lucky or not. At that time, Williston was possibly more 

 interested in the Diptera than he was in his paleontological 

 studies, in which he afterwards became famous and which 

 brought him his election to the National Academy. 



At all events, I stayed on, although other positions were occa- 

 sionally offered to me. I remember that J. A. Holmes, much later 

 Director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, wanted me to go to the 

 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I remember also 

 that Morris K. Jesup, then President of the American Museum 

 of Natural History in New York, spoke to me about taking 

 a post there, and would have given it to me had the Museum 

 been able to meet my modest financial demands. But they were 



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