MEMOIRS OF DECEASED FELLOWS 267 



to giving so much space to abstruse solar physics, and perhaps 

 erroneous theories. But the money of the Academy was well spent 

 in giving him a hearing and placing his work on record. That 

 kind of mental activity deserves cultivation ; and the correctness 

 of the conclusions are of less importance. Mental geniuses are the 

 hope of the race ; and we may entertain angels unawares. Profes- 

 sor Huntington expresses this thought in the first paragraph of 

 his article. 



"To-day the poets and reformers seem to make their voices heard in 

 almost every village. The careful, unostentatious scientist is the man most 

 apt to do his vi^ork unheralded and unrewarded. There is perhaps no greater 

 economic waste than that which condemns a man of great originality to 

 spend his time in the ordinary round of common duties rather than in carry- 

 ing on the so-called impractical investigations which are the essential 

 foundation of all the so-called practical advances." 



Dr. Veeder was born at Ashtabula, Ohio, November 2, 1848. 

 He graduated at Union College in 1870. From 1875 he was Prin- 

 cipal of Ives Seminary, at Antwerp, N. Y. In 1878-1879 he studied 

 at Leipzig, Germany. He graduated in medicine at the University 

 of Buffalo in 1883. To his death, November 16, 1915, he lived in 

 Lyons. His devotion to thought beyond the common range and his 

 interest in many things outside his medical practice were the cause 

 of suspicion and criticism from people who could not understand 

 and appreciate the unusual man. But he was a skillful physician 

 and alert in medical science. On October 25, 1898, he read a paper 

 before the Adacemy on "The spread of typhoid fever and kin- 

 dred diseases by flies." His paper on that subjected printed in 

 the Medical Record a month previous is believed to have been the 

 first recognition of the fact. 



Dr. Veeder was interested in the geologic featufes of his district, 

 and wrote fugitive papers on this and other subjects. That his 

 views on subjects apart from his specialties were sometimes more 

 original than correct, was to be expected of a man with such active 

 mind and fearless expression. 



Professor Huntington's article discusses Dr. Veeder's work and 

 his conclusions, and includes some writings that Veeder left in 

 manuscript. A portrait is given. The following quotation is from 

 the paper : 



