May 25, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



825 



and this fortunate circumstance made it pos- 

 sible to save most of them. Writing of the 

 herbarium she says : 



I do not feel the loss to be mine, but it is a 

 great loss to the scientific world and an irrepar- 

 able loss to California. My own destroyed work 

 I do not lament, for it was a joy to me while I 

 did it, and I can still have the same joy in start- 

 ing it again. The botanists of the University of 

 California have given me the use of their library 

 and collections and even a room which for the 

 present I can call mine. The kindness of my 

 friends has been great. I did not know that I 

 had so many or that their affection for me was 

 so warm and sincere. I feel how very fortunate 

 I am; not at all like an unfortunate who has 

 lost all her personal possessions and home. 



To me came the chance to care for what was 

 saved from the ruin of the academy, and with the 

 help of my devoted friends I was able to do it. 

 Nobody knew where the safe place was to be; for 

 it seemed as if the whole city must go. * » » 



The earthquake did not frighten me as it was 

 felt less where I lived than in other parts of the 

 city. * * * After getting breakfast, I went down 

 to the academy. I could not get in. The store 

 next door was open and they were taking things 

 out, and I knew there was a door of communica- 

 tion with the front building. It was still as 

 death. I had to climb over the demolished marble 

 staircase at the entrance of the museum, but 

 found the stairs going up the front building all 

 right. When I reached the top a yawning chasm 

 stretched between the two buildings as the bridge 

 had been thrown down. I tried several doors but 

 every one seemed to have deserted the place. I 

 got out again and walked up and down Market St. 

 * * * Everywhere buildings were in ruins. 

 Presently Robert Porter came along, and when I 

 told him my trouble he went back with me, but 

 the door was still locked. We went to the back 

 and saw that the fire was on Mission Street, and 

 the police were driving the people from their 

 homes. We again entered by the store next door 

 and when we came to the front hall found Mr. 

 Loomis, Mr. von Geldren, General Foote, Mrs. 

 Newell and John Carlton. Miss Hyde was in the 

 library getting out the records, etc. Porter 

 pulled me up the ruins of the marble staircase and 

 we entered the museum, the door of which was 

 now open. The marble staircase leading up to 

 the top was in ruins and we went up chiefly by 

 holding on to the iron railing and putting our 

 feet between the rungs. Porter helped me to tie 



up the plant types, and we lowered them to the 

 floor of the museum by ropes and strings tied 

 together. Not a book was I able to save, nor 

 a single thing of my own, except my favorite lens, 

 without which I should feel helpless. We got 

 all the things to the street and then it seemed 

 as if we might have to leave them. The building 

 next door was on fire, the military was in com- 

 mand, and nobody was allowed on the street. I 

 rushed across to the safe deposit opposite, where 

 I have a box, to implore them to take the things. 

 There was a line of men there a block long and 

 my place would be at the end, so with the per- 

 mission of the oSicer in charge I dashed back. 

 Porter then went and came back with word that 

 an expressman on the corner of Stockton and Ellis 

 would take them, but we had to carry them over 

 as no vehicles were allowed on Market Street. I 

 asked the man how much it would be and he said 

 ' A high price.' I possessed $14.00 and feared it 

 might not be enough. When he said ' Three dol- 

 lars ' I almost fell off the seat. I paid him four 

 and took all the things except a few to my place 

 of residence, thinking it as safe as any. In the 

 afternoon I went down to reconnoitre and see what 

 the academy looked like. The back building 

 stood, the staircase was still there, or rather the 

 banisters, but everything within seemed burned 

 up. » » * xhe fire was threatening from two 

 directions and I decided to move the ' academy ' 

 to Russian Hill that evening. With the help of 

 friends this was done, though everything had to 

 be carried. The plants were the heaviest and 

 largest bundles. There were some boxes of in- 

 sects, some bottles of reptiles which Dr. Van Ben- 

 burg had saved, the heavy record books of the 

 academy, and several things I did not know about. 

 It was hard work. I packed my own things when 

 I returned to my home and laid down to rest, but 

 not to sleep. It was bright enough to read by the 

 red glow in the sky, and it might be necessary 

 to leave at a minute's notice. Only what one 

 could carry could be saved, for there was either 

 no chance to hire any kind of a conveyance or the 

 charges were extortionate. Nobody seemed to 

 be complaining or sorrowful. The sound of the 

 trunks being dragged along I can never forget. 

 This seemed the only groan the ruined city made. 

 I took my things up to Russian Hill the next 

 morning, and in the afternoon was able to have 

 ' The Academy ' removed to Port Mason, where 

 it was put in the care of Mrs. Hahn, whose hus- 

 band is a captain there. I felt easy at last, for it 

 seemed the safest place in the city, and returned 



