Obituary. 155 



■ with its early years were dead or retired from active work, and the 

 Club appeared to be settling down into a listless middle age. A 

 succession of weak Presidents possessing few qualifications for 

 the office had been followed by the distinguished mycologist Massee, 

 who held the Presidentship for four years. Ill health rendered 

 him a frequent absentee, and although the Club was still apparently 

 in a flourishing condition, the decreasing attendance gave warning 

 that a President was required who would devote time and energy 

 to his office. I was directed to get into touch with Spitta, who 

 had joined the Club in 1899, but who owing to the demands 

 of his large practice was unknown to the Committee at large. He 

 had, however, obtained some celebrity as a photomicrographer and 

 astronomer. 



I called on Spitta at Clapham, where he then lived, and discussed 

 the position with him. I was immediately struck with his out- 

 standing appearance and personality, and with the care with which 

 he went into the situation and its requirements. He told me 

 that he was shortly retiring from practice, and he undertook, if 

 elected, to spare neither time nor trouble to make himself a success. 

 I reported accordingly to my Committee, and in February 1904 

 he was elected President. 



Things soon began to move. Spitta had by this time gone to 

 live at Hove, but he took himself and his office very seriously, 

 travelling specially up for the meetings and doing all in his power 

 to attract members and visitors to the Club. Long before the 

 expiration of his four years' tenure of the office, the attendance had 

 increased to such an extent that the room was often uncomfortably 

 crowded. He was unquestionably a great success as President, 

 and he was just as unquestionably fully aware of it. He often told 

 me that he was proud to think that he left the Quekett Club to his 

 successor, E. A. Minchin, in a far stronger position than when he 

 assumed office. 



I think the secret of his success was the seriousness with 

 • which he took himself and his position. Essentially a man of the 

 world, he realized that an author who prepares a paper deserves 

 to have some notice taken of his work, even if only to damn it. 

 I never heard Spitta utter from the Chair those words which have 

 damped the enthusiasm of so many authors : " Well, gentlemen, 

 we have just listened to a very interesting paper. I know nothing 

 of the subject myself, but no doubt somebody will make a few 

 remarks on it." Nobody ever has the audacity to know more 

 than the President, and the author goes away feeling that he has 

 wasted his time. 



This was not Spitta's method. I never heard him claim any 

 special knowledge on a subject outside his own lines of work, but 

 whatever the paper might be he made a point of devilling up 

 the subject, and he invariably followed the author with a few 



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