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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 766 



quasi inheritance, remembered the accident, and 

 naturally attributed the deformity to this cause. 

 It has been probably a case of " post hoc " and 

 not " propter hoc." I grieve that you should have 

 expended so much time, trouble and great kindness 

 in vain. As for myself I am well accustomed in 

 my experimental work to get definite results but 

 once in three or four times, and thus alone can 

 science prosper. With my renewed thanks, I re- 

 main. Dear Sir, 



Yours faithfully, 



Chables Dabwin 



The above publication did not give the dates 

 of the letters; however, the first was in 1877 

 and the last in 1878. 



F. A. Sampson 



Columbia, Mo. 



LVDWIG RUDOLPH S0PHU8 BERGS 

 LuDwiG Rudolph Sophus Bergh was born 

 in Copenhagen, October 15, 1824. His father 

 was a military surgeon. Since his family was 

 in moderate circumstances, he undertook at 

 eighteen years of age to support himself dur- 

 ing his student life, taking the medical course 

 with zoology and general anatomy under the 

 anatomist Ibsen and the distinguished mala- 

 cologist Beck. His first paper, published in 

 1853, was a contribution toward a monograph 

 of the Marseniidffi. In the same year, during 

 the cholera epidemic at Copenhagen, he acted 

 as one of the medical staff formed to combat 

 the ravages of this disease. In 1860 he re- 

 ceived his degree of doctor of medicine at the 

 University of Copenhagen, and was appointed 

 three years later head surgeon for dermatology 

 and venerology in the General Hospital; in 

 1881 professor of these branches in the uni- 

 versity, and in 1885 head surgeon in charge 

 of the newly built Vestre Hospital, erected and 

 fitted after his own plans. This responsible 

 position he retained until 1903, when he re- 

 tired for age; two years later he ceased his 

 private practise, and soon after, by the failure 

 of eyesight, was obliged to relinquish his 

 microscopical researches. He died at Copen- 

 hagen, June 20, 1909, leaving a widow and 

 one son, his namesake. 



Dr. Bergh for many years stood at the head 

 of the small group of malacological anatomists. 



devoting himself especially to the Opistho- 

 branchiata and particularly to the group of 

 Nudibranchiata. His published works on 

 these animals form a small library and a mine 

 of detailed information. The chief results of 

 this unremitting labor are summed up in a 

 large quarto in which he gives a complete 

 systematic arrangement for these animals. 

 Beside this contribution to the knowledge of 

 moUuscan anatomy he published several val- 

 uable memoirs on other groups of moUusks, 

 an especially notable instance being a fine 

 memoir on the anatomy of the genus Conus. 

 He was largely concerned with the publication 

 of the great posthumous series of quartos de- 

 tailing the results of the researches in eastern 

 seas by Carl Semper, who was his intimate 

 friend. In medicine also, his publications, 

 based on the treatment of thousands of hos- 

 pital patients, took a high rank. He was 

 naturally a member of most European so- 

 cieties and academies concerned in medicine 

 or zoology, and was elected Huxley's successor 

 in the corresponding membership of the Insti- 

 tute of France. 



Personally, Dr. Bergh was most genial and 

 agreeable in manner, ever ready to help 

 younger students, or serve as cicerone to for- 

 eign colleagues visiting his beloved Copen- 

 hagen. Hospitable and unpretentious, a 

 staunch friend and untiring student, his 

 death leaves a gap in the ranks of the veterans 

 which we may hardly hope to see filled, and a 

 memory which those who knew him will cher- 

 ish long. 



Wm. H. Dall 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 The American Astronomical and Astro- 

 physical Society held its tenth annual meeting 

 at the Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, 

 Wisconsin, on August 19-21. Fifty members 

 were present and forty-one papers were pre- 

 sented. The following are the officers for the 

 ensuing year: President, E. C. Pickering; 

 First Vice-president, George C. Comstock; 

 Second Vice-president, W. W. Campbell; 

 Secretary, W. J. Hussey; Treasurer, C. L. 

 Doolittle; Members of the Council, W. J. 



