THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



misused. By talking freely to such men at just the right times, by 

 not forcing oneself upon them, and by treating their juniors with 

 courtesy, a scientific man, especially if he be engaged in applied 

 science, soon finds himself known to the public. That happened 

 in a minor degree to me. I did not realize its dangers for a long 

 time; and I am not at all sure now that it is not far more desir- 

 able than undesirable. At any event, newspaper people have 

 always been good to me, and I am very sure that their help to 

 the Service has been great. 



The first time that I realized that newspaper notoriety might 

 be a disservice was many years ago. I had been lecturing before 

 the National Geographic Society in Washington on the subject 

 of Medical Entomology. When I came out of the building to 

 the street I found a tall, fine-looking man, apparently in his 

 fifties, awaiting me. He introduced himself as Major Louis 

 Livingston Seaman, and I at once recognized him as a medical 

 man who had written much, who had been a great traveller and 

 who was greatly interested in army medicine and hygiene. He 

 had stirred up the "canned beef" scandal in the Spanish War, 

 and had recendy published a book entided "The True Triumph 

 of Japan," which pointed out the great advance that Japan had 

 made in the Russo-Japanese War in army sanitation. Major 

 Seaman at once confessed to me that he had had the opinion 

 that I was a publicity seeker, and that, being in Washington, 

 he had come to the lecture to convince himself. He was good 

 enough to say that the lecture was strong and sound, and that 

 he had entirely changed his opinion of me. Naturally, we later 

 became very warm friends. But it was a great shock to find out 

 that so big a man should have formed so unfavorable an im- 

 pression from the fact that the newspaper men had frequently 

 quoted me. 



Intelligent people who are getting along in years have noticed 



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