266 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



MAJOR ALBERT VEEDER, M. D. 

 (Read before the Academy December 9, 1918.) 



During the years 1889 to 1899 Dr. M. A. Veeder was the Acad- 

 emy's mentor in matters of meteorology and solar physics. Living 

 at Lyons and doing the work of a country physician and local 

 health officer he took the time to attend our meetings and brought 

 the results of his intensive studies in a subject foreign to his medi- 

 cal work. He was a remarkable man in his capacity for patient 

 collection and tabulation of numerical data, his grasp of their sig- 

 nificance, his prevision of the elusive relation between terrestrial 

 phenomena and solar conditions, and his fearless persistency and 

 confidence in urging his own conclusions. For in his study of 

 electro-magnetic phenomena he was in advance of his day and his 

 work was not appreciated. His appeals to the government bureaus 

 were politely waived, and his writings neglected. How could a 

 doctor in a country village discover any worth-while new truth in 

 the difficult subject of solar influence? 



But Dr. Veeder's work is coming into recognition. The eminent 

 geographer and meteorologist, Professor Ellsworth Huntington, 

 has published an appreciation of Veeder's work and writings in the 

 Geographical Review of April, 1917 (Vol. 3, pages 188-211; 303- 

 316). He says (page 188), "Lean say with confidence, however, 

 that in the study of meteorology I have come upon no writings 

 which have stimulated me more than those of Dr. M. A. Veeder. 

 His hypotheses may prove wrong, but that will not destroy the 

 stimulating character of his broad and original ideas." 



When Dr. Veeder joined the reorganized Academy, in 1889, he 

 had published a 4-page article on the Aurora in the Siderial Mes- 

 senger, and had privately printed an 8-page pamphlet. The writer 

 of this memoir urged him to prepare fuller statements of his studies 

 and theories for publication in the Proceedings of the Academy ; 

 with the result that six papers of his were printed in the first two 

 volumes. These articles were on the Aurora, Storms, Zodiacal 

 Light, and Solar Electrical Energy. No one in the Academy nor 

 in Rochester was able to judge and correctly value these writings. 

 They were technical, advanced physics, and objections were made 



