THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



selves. It used to be the same way with beer and other alcohoHc 

 beverages. Dr. Bell liked a glass of ale or beer, and there used 

 to be an abundance of that sort of thing at the delicious little 

 suppers that always terminated the Wednesday evening gather- 

 ings. But I noticed that as the years went on he let the others 

 drink without him. Probably that same conscienceless doctor had 

 again interfered. 



One extremely interesting and fruitful discussion took place 

 at Dr. Bell's house, although it did not occur on one of his 

 famous Wednesday evenings. During the Christmas week meet- 

 ing of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 held in Washington in 1902, Dr. Bell consulted me (as perma- 

 nent secretary of the Association) about the prominent scientific 

 men present during the meeting who should be invited to dine 

 with him. I suggested a number of names, and he added others, 

 and I think that about thirty of us sat down at the big round 

 table. I happened to be seated next to Dr. Daniel C. Oilman, 

 then President of the Oarnegie Institute of Washington. His 

 successor as President of the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Ira 

 Remsen, was, I believe, also present. As usual at Dr. Bell's din- 

 ners, it was not long before conversation with one's neighbors 

 ceased and the talk became general, one person addressing the 

 whole table. Dr. Bell, on the opposite side from Mrs. Bell, 

 silently repeating, with his lips only, for her benefit, everything 

 that was said by the man who happened to be speaking. 



At luncheon at the Cosmos Club a day or two before. Dr. 

 Oilman had asked me about Walter Reed's Yellow Fever work 

 in Cuba, and he now suggested that Dr. Bell ask me to tell the 

 whole story. Of course I knew Reed, Carroll and Lazear per- 

 sonally — they had consulted me about mosquitoes before they 

 started for Cuba, and Reed had been in correspondence with me 

 during his work down there. Reed had died just a month before 



[289] 



