HENRY AUGUSTUS ROWLAND 419 



led to the discovery of the Hall "effect." The student who did 

 this work is now Professor Hall of Harvard. He did not follow up 

 his students and they did not therefore acquire the bad habit 

 of relying upon him for daily advice. On the contrary, he 

 would give them just enough suggestion to get them started 

 and then, to use his own words, "neglected them" so that they 

 were obliged to cultivate self-reliance or fail. The treatment 

 was not adapted to the weak but was admirably suited to the 

 strong. One of his most distinguished students writes: 



"Even of the more advanced students only those who were able 

 to brook severe and searching criticism reaped the full benefit of 

 being under him; but he contributed that which, in a university, 

 is above all teaching of routine, the spectacle of scientific work 

 thoroughly done and the example of a lofty ideal." 



His lectures were not eloquent. Words did not come freely to 

 him. There was a lack of finish and elegance in his talks, but, on 

 the other hand, he could say forcibly and clearly what he wanted 

 to say. There could be no doubt as to his meaning. Whatever 

 subject he happened to be lecturing upon the subject that was 

 uppermost in his mind at the time would be sure to come to the 

 front. For example, he once undertook to build a sail-boat and 

 became much interested in water-waves, and the part they play 

 in determining the speed of a boat. It is said that during this 

 period there were daily references to water-waves in his lectures, 

 and, occasionally, as he told me, when, for one reason or another, 

 he was not well prepared on his subject proper he would take up 

 the hour by discussing the subject of sail-boats in a scientific way 

 no doubt to the advantage of his hearers. In some of his few ad- 

 dresses of a semi-public character there are passages that deserve 

 to be remembered. Generally speaking these addresses made an 

 unusually strong impression. Let me quote from one. He says: 



"But for myself, I value in a scientific mind most of all that love 

 of truth, that care in its pursuit, and that humility of mind which 

 makes the possibility of error always present more than any other 

 quality. This is the mind which has built up modern science to 

 its present perfection, which has laid one stone upon the other with 



