waters. The technique of maintaining living organisms in aquaria 

 was benefited by his recomnnendation to de -aerate sea water, which 

 sometimes becomes oversaturated with oxygen during pumping. 



Sumner was deeply interested in the philosophy of science, 

 particularly the relationship between religion and science and in 

 the social responsibility of scientists (Sumner, 1937, 193 9, 1940), 

 One of his last papers entitled "A biologist reflects upon old age 

 and death" (Sumner, 1945b) written when he reached "the biblical 

 milestone of three-score years and ten", shows that the years did 

 not diminish his reasoning power or his ability to present his ideas 

 in a lucid and emphatic manner. 



One of Sumner's remarks about the scientific method is of 

 particular significance to those biologists who fail to recognize the 

 true meaning of the so-called statistical probability. He states 

 that'ktatistically speaking 'certainty of some differences' and a 

 'statistical significance too high to attribute to chance' creates 

 no presumption in favor of the particular interpretation which the 

 author gives to that difference". This pertinent remark by Sumner 

 refers to his own experiments with white mice, made at the time 

 when the application of statistical analyses to experimental data 

 was at the early stages of development. 



In 1913, H. M. Smith (fig. 29) was appointed Commis- 

 sioner of the Bureau of Fisheries. During his administration, 

 which terminated with his resignation in 1922, he retained his 

 interest in the Woods Hole Laboratory. He spent many summers 

 at the Laboratory, escaping from administrative burdens of the 

 Washington office and continuing to work on fishes. He never 

 ceased to be active in ichthyological and fisheries research, and 

 his personal contact with the field employees frequently was help- 

 ful to them. In many respects Smith was a remarkable person. 

 He began his work in the fishery service in 1886 under Spencer 

 F. Baird, whom he always held in highest respect as a man and 

 scientist. Upon graduation from medical school in 1888 he was 

 appointed to the staff of the Medical School of Georgetown Univer- 

 sity, teaching anatomy, histology, pathology, and medicine. In- 

 creasing interest in ichthyology and fisheries work compelled 

 him to stay in the fishery service. His medical training, how- 

 ever, remained very useful, especially after his resignation 

 from the Government service in 1922, At that time he began a 

 12-year residence in Siam as Expert Advisor in Fisheries to the 

 King of Siam, In his many trips to the interior of the country he 

 came in close contact with the people in the dense jungles, and 

 treated many of them suffering from various tropical diseases, A 

 born naturalist, with a deep love for study of animal life, Sm.ith 

 loved to come to Woods Hole where he enjoyed informal meetings 

 with many biologists, saw many old friends, and was visited by 

 many zoologists coming to see him from Europe, Siam, Japan, 

 and India. 



66 



