306 
copious records, took hundreds of superb 
photographs and secured a great variety of 
interesting and useful plants, many of which 
are now growing in the United States. Previ- 
ous to these trips he had visited all parts of 
the United States and had walked across cen- 
tral Mexico, sleeping in Indian villages or on 
the mountain sides. Larlier in life he walked 
from Holland to Italy, guided only by his 
compass, and nearly lost his life in the Alps, 
overtaken by a snow storm. The first person 
he met in Italy said: “Where did you come 
from?” and then “Impossible! There are no 
roads!” when he replied “From over the 
mountains.” Before he came to the United 
States (in 1900) Meyer had been gardener to 
Hugo de Vries in Amsterdam for eight years. 
He had also lived and studied in London. 
Meyer was one of the: most friendly men I 
have ever known and one of the most interest- 
ing. He was also a just and upright man. 
His knowledge of plants was phenomenal and 
especially of conditions suited to their growth, 
but he was interested in everything pertain- 
ing to the countries he visited—climate, topog- 
raphy, fauna, flora, geology, ethnology, art 
archeology, religion. He was an entertaining 
\public speaker, as many can testify, a good 
conversationalist and a copious and fascinat- 
ing letter writter. A published volume of his 
letters would be as interesting as a novel, more 
interesting than most novels. He had also a 
gift for linguistics, being most at home in 
Dutch, German and English, but knowing also 
something of French, Spanish, Italian, Rus- 
sian and Chinese. On the whole, Meyer pre- 
ferred the United States to any other coun- 
try and had become a citizen, but the narrow- 
ing conventions of our social life irked him a 
good deal at times—“ The sky is too near” was 
his whimsical way of putting it—and after a 
few months of Washington life there was al- 
ways a longing for the free air of the wilder- 
ness. Grand mountain scenery in particu- 
lar appealed to him strongly. Early in life he 
spent a year in a Dutch social colony, a kind 
of second “Brooke Farm,” founded by the 
poet Dr. Frederik van Eeden, but the serpent 
of selfishness was there also, he told me. In 
SCIENCE 
-ligion a Buddhist. 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIIT. No. 1240 
philosophy Meyer was a follower of Schopen- 
hauer; in politics a Marxian Socialist; in re- 
It is not known how he 
met his death. He was ill at the time, it is 
said, and disappeared in the night from a 
river steamer. He was in middle age, of 
medium height, stocky, broad-shouldered, 
strong. He had blue eyes, brown hair, a big 
beard and regular features. 
O brother of all men and faithful friend, 
By riddle of the world made desolate, 
’Tis meet an Asian flood should be thy fate, 
By Welt-Schmerz, Welt-Gang driv’n to sad life’s 
end! 
Nobly to plan is life! lLife’s worth, its trend; 
Mere close of life is naught, or soon or late! 
Lonely he lived, alone he died, but great! 
His growing fame nor gods nor men forfend! 
The splendid good he did shall live and grow 
To fructify with Time and bless mankind, 
Which was his noble dream and life-long goal! 
But who that did not call him friend shall know 
The opalescent wealth that stored his mind, 
His breadth of view, his tenderness of soul! 
Erwin F. Smite 
SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
RUSSIAN WHEAT 
Tuer Bulletin of the Neuchatel Geographical 
Society (vol. 26, 1917) contains an elaborate 
paper by Léon Felde on the “ Production and 
Export of Russian Wheat.” According to an 
abstract in the Geographical Journal, the first 
part (pp. 80) discusses very fully, if not very 
deeply, the whole question of production—soil, 
climate, technical and social conditions; the 
second part does the same for the commerce, 
dealing with the internal and external trans- 
port from all points of view, but specially with 
exports to Switzerland. It is a very useful 
compilation, marred only by some rigidity, 
e. g., the fixing of germination at 6° C. and 
the accumulated temperatures being stated 
definitely as 2000°, the relation of higher ac- 
cumulated temperatures to latitude and higher 
mean temperatures being thus ignored. 
The spring-wheat area falls, typically, within 
the area of highest general culture. It lies 
parallel with the rain-bearing winds—north 
