October 27, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



481 



can State Geological and Natural History Sui'- 

 veys" but those of us ■wiho were so fortunate 

 as to be students under Newberry can never 

 forget the time when, owing to the changes in 

 political administration in Ohio, he found him- 

 self displaced by one of his subordinates. New- 

 berry had chosen from his pupils promising 

 young men such as Hooker, Irving, Newton 

 and others who worked up the results of their 

 tield work at Columbia under Newberry's im- 

 mediate supervision. That the work was not 

 done in Ohio was urged against it and he was 

 forced out of his office as state geologist. It 

 was the beginning of the end, and dear "old 

 Uncle John" never recovered from the blow. 



Perhaps in connection with these statements 

 about Newberry it may be worth while to re- 

 call the first time I ever saw Hall. The Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences held its fall meet- 

 ing in 1877 at Columbia University, and it was 

 the last meeting over whioh the distinguished 

 and venerable Henry presided. It was the only 

 time that I ever saw that great outstanding 

 figure in American science and I shall never 

 forget the dignified manner with which he held 

 the chair. I also recall the dapper appearance 

 of T. Sterry Hunt, who never missed an op- 

 portunity of saying something about every 

 paper presented. 



In the afternoon a meeting had been ar- 

 ranged for the geologists in Newberry's lecture 

 room in the old School of Mines building on 

 Fourth Avenue, at which Hall was to present a 

 paper. As I recall the experience, he spoke 

 without notes and undertook to explain the re- 

 lation between certain strata in New York 

 State and how they extended into the neighbor- 

 ing State of Ohio. When he had finished, 

 New'berry promptly contradicted his assertions, 

 contending that while Hall might know all 

 about the geology of the State of New York, 

 yet the conditions in Ohio were not as he repre- 

 sented them to be. Then followed a scene 

 somewhat similar to the one described by Dr. 

 Clarke, in which Hall agreed to eat his hat, 

 for in this outburst he expressed a willingness 

 to wager any amount on the correctness of 

 his assumptions. To which Newberry retorted 

 that it was not a question of a wager or money 

 but simply a question of facts, and that in 



this ease the facts in Ohio failed to substan- 

 tiate Hall's point of view. 



Of course our sympathies were all with New- 

 berry, for we felt that as state geologist of 

 Ohio he ought to know what the conditions 

 were in Ohio better than any one else. I won- 

 der who was right? 



IIakcus Benjamin 



AN OPPORTUNITY 



Professor W. N. Boldteepf, M.D., for ten 

 years chief assistant to the famous Russian 

 physiologist, Pavlov, in Petrograd; from 1912 

 to 1918 professor of pharmacology in Kazan 

 University and for two years lecturer in physi- 

 ology in the universities of Tokyo, Kyoto and 

 Osaka ; recipient of several Russian and Gennan 

 prizes and honors for scientific work; author 

 of about fifty scientific papers mostly on the 

 physiology of digestion, some of which have 

 been translated into English, French, German, 

 Swedish, Spanish, Czech and Japanese, and as- 

 sociate editor of several Russian, German and 

 English medical and pharmacological journals, 

 is now in this country, without a position, and 

 in real distress. He is most anxious to find a 

 place in some American university or medical 

 school. His special lines of work are physiol- 

 ogy, biochemistry and pharmacology. He has 

 also worked in therapeutics and surgery and 

 analyses of water, foods and medicines. He 

 has an offer of a position in a European uni- 

 versity, but is unable to find means to go to 

 Europe. He would be glad to receive even a 

 temporary position as professor, lecturer or 

 laboratory worker. 



I have written to the heads of several Amer- 

 ican universities on behalf of Dr. Boldyreff, 

 but his need is so urgent that there is no longer 

 time for me to continue, by correspondence, 

 the rounds of our institutions. Hence I take 

 this means of calling the attention of vmiver- 

 sity and medical school authorities to what 

 seems to me an admirable opportunity rot only 

 to obtain the services of an unusiif^ly com- 

 petent physiologist and pharmacolog;*;, but to 

 save a scientific man of merit from utter 

 depair and whatever its consequences may be. 



Vernon Kellogg 

 National Eesearch Council, 

 Washington, D. C. 



