106 



JL 



100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



E. E. Just in Old Main, 1923. 

 Photograph by Alfred F. 

 Huettner, MBL Archives. 



"Sister Scott," since that was her last name, she retaliated by calling him 

 "Great Scott." She had a fine sense of humor and told wonderful and not 

 always proper stories. She and Sister Elizabeth helped to break down any 

 prejudices that nuns could not do science. 



Sister Elizabeth was also admired. Early one morning she went to the 

 MBL floating dock behind the supply building to check on her organisms. 

 When she stepped on a plank, it somehow rolled and she fell into the water. 

 Nobody was around, so she calmly grabbed onto a nearby piling and hung 

 on until someone came to rescue her. The collecting crew solicitously 

 insisted that she be taken home in a truck, though she did not want to get 

 it all wet. When she arrived at the house where she was staying, Mrs. Smith 

 kindly helped her into a hot bath and took care of her. Sister Elizabeth 

 explained that she appreciated all the attention, but said "You know what I 

 really would like to have had would have been a drink of whiskey!" 



Black students and researchers have also found a place at the MBL, 

 though not perhaps in the numbers or quite as early as they might have. 

 Kenneth Manning's study of Howai'd University embryologist Ernest Everett 

 Just and early twentieth-century times at the MBL indicates how uncom- 

 fortable Woods Hole could be for blacks in the teens and twenties. It was, 

 of course, a reflection of racism in the society as a whole, carried over to the 

 MBL community as well. It is clear that many scientists held the highest 

 respect for Just's biological work on fertilization and the cell surface. As 

 Paul Reznikoff" recalled, Just was 'one of the most remarkable men " he had 

 met, a meticulous researcher who was always ready to give up his owoi 



