HENRY AUGUSTUS ROWLAND 421 



older son, named Henry, seems to have inherited his father's 

 tastes. Whether he has inherited the mental power and the 

 strength that are necessary to make another Rowland, no one can 

 tell. 



Outside of the laboratory he had many interests. He was 

 devoted to his family, and was very happy in the home circle. 

 The depth of his affection was evident to those who knew 

 him well, and it was evident to many who did not know him well 

 and who considered him cold and austere. His conduct seemed 

 incongruous. The matter becomes clear, however, if we take the 

 only correct view of it. He was undoubtedly capable of all the 

 finer feelings. His affection was true and deep, but he was ex- 

 tremely critical and he could, of course, easily find something to 

 criticise. Having found it he expressed his opinion vigorously 

 and with little regard for the feeling of his victim. As has been 

 said before in this article he was apt to put his worst foot forward, 

 and many did not wait or did not have the opportunity to see the 

 other and better one. He had many friends, but few intimates. 

 A friend, Professor Mendenhall, who has written an admirable 

 account of Rowland says: 



"His criticisms of the work of others were keen and merciless, 

 and sometimes there remained a sting of which he himself had 

 not the slightest suspicion. 'I would not have done it for the 

 world,' he once said to me after being told that his pitiless criticism 

 of a scientific paper had wounded the feelings of its author. As 

 a matter of fact he was warm-hearted and generous, and his 

 occasionally seeming otherwise was due to the complete separation, 

 in his own mind, of the product and the personality of the author. 

 He possessed that rare power, habit in his case, of seeing himself, 

 not as others see him, but as he saw others. He looked at him- 

 self and his own work exactly as if he had been another person, 

 and this gave rise to a frankness of expression regarding his own 

 performance which sometimes impressed strangers unpleasantly, 

 but which, to his friends, was one of his most charming qualities." 



He read a good deal. In early life history interested him very 

 much. He was fond of poetry in some forms, but he confined his 

 attention to a few authors. In his later years, however, he became 



