358 HAEOLD WHITING. 



obscure regions in a surprising way. It was highly interesting to see 

 him make an imperfect piece of apparatus give wonderfully good re- 

 sults ; and while he was Instructor in Physics in the Jefferson Physi- 

 cal Laboratory he was of great service to the department, acting like a 

 skirmisher in the growing subject of Laboratory teaching of Physics. 

 Those who followed him profited both by his mistakes and his suc- 

 cesses, and could afford to pardon the mistakes, which were those of a 

 courageous explorer in a new field. His fertility of mind was remark- 

 able, and he often said of himself that he was like a codfish which lays 

 a million eggs, and only one or two perchance hatches. This fertility 

 and brilliancy were such that many of those with whom he was asso- 

 ciated often remarked that they would not be surprised if Whiting 

 should hit upon something remarkable in Science. If he had dis- 

 covered, for instance, the X-rays, many of us would have said, " It was 

 just like Whiting to look through his hand at a Crookes tube." 



The physical department of Harvard University is indebted to him 

 for many valuable suggestions, and also for pecuniary contributions. 

 He did not hesitate to aid it whenever he saw its needs, and by his 

 will he gave twenty thousand dollars for Fellowships in Physics in 

 Harvard University. 



His scientific work began with an investigation of magnetic waves 

 on iron and steel rods, which was published in the Proceedings of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His thesis for the degree 

 of Doctor of Philosophy in Harvard University was on the Tlieory of 

 Cohesion. While Instructor in the University he published a Sylla- 

 bus of a Hundred Physical Measurements, for the use of the Jefferson 

 Physical Laboratory ; and also a valuable treatise on Physical IMeasure- 

 ments, consisting of three large volumes. While at the University of 

 California he also published full sets of laboratory notes. When we 

 examine his life's work we find that it gave a decided stimulus to 

 the modern laboratory method of teaching Physics by quantitative ex- 

 periments rather than by qualitative. If he had elaborated many of 

 his ingenious methods into papers for periodicals, the list of his works 

 would have been much longer. 



Many could come forward and testify to his generous hand, as well 

 as to his generous mind. With his rich qualities of scientific imagina- 

 tion, experimental skill, and mathematical ability, joined to the stead- 

 iness of middle age, much could have been expected of him. He 

 still lives in his gift to the young Physicists of the University. 



1896. John Trowbridge. 



