January 31, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



173 



ences have been associated with his scien- 

 tific work ; and to indicate both the present 

 position of and the future outlook for those 

 special lines of research in which he always 

 manifested a keen interest, and in which he 

 would have taken an active part had cir- 

 cumstances permitted him to continue his 

 useful life. But inasmuch as a clear in- 

 sight into a man's scientific aptitudes, his 

 capacity for research and his influence 

 upon his chosen profession can be gained 

 only through a knowledge of his tempera- 

 ment, mental attitude and early training, 

 I may be pardoned for reference to some 

 of those personal characteristics which dis- 

 tinguished him among his associates, and 

 which were best revealed to those inti- 

 mately connected with his scientific work 

 and familiar with his thoughts and aspira- 

 tions. Through the perspective afforded 

 by time, it becomes possible to gain that 

 just appreciation, and to establish that cor- 

 rect measure of his work, which are pos- 

 sible only when a man's efforts are di- 

 vested of those less important but often 

 numerous factors which tend to minimize 

 and obscure. 



President Clark used to relate with a 

 certain element of justifiable pride, but 

 never in a spirit of boastfulness, that as a 

 boy he always made it a rule to run faster, 

 jump farther and higher, fight harder and 

 swim more strongly, than any of his com- 

 panions. The determination to excel in 

 whatever he undertook was one of the first 

 of his traits to impress itself upon the 

 stranger. Those who knew him intimately, 

 readily appreciated this side of his char- 

 acter and understood that the dogged per- 

 sistency with which he pursued any cher- 

 ished plan, or sought to gain the ascend- 

 ancy in competition, was an important fac- 

 tor in his career. It carried him through 

 the civil war and the terrible days of the 

 wilderness campaign; it placed this insti- 

 tution on a secure and enduring founda- 



tion, which, in spite of its apparent lack 

 of progress for many years, and the periods 

 of despondency which at times come to all 

 healthy organisms, will make it abundantly 

 able to sustain that splendid supei-structure 

 of usefulness which seems to lie before it. 

 It carried him to the far-off east, where his 

 memory is firmly enshrined in the hearts 

 of the Japanese, who, to this day, hold his 

 name in the highest esteem as that of one 

 who conferred great benefits upon their 

 country. Throughout his entire career, the 

 force of his living example was of ines- 

 timable benefit to his students, and of far 

 greater value than spoken words. These, 

 when uttered, were generally few but full 

 of virile force and significance, and certain 

 to leave a lasting impression. On one occa- 

 sion he wished to have a number of dia- 

 grams to illustrate his lectures on botany, 

 and for this task he selected one of his 

 graduate students to whom such work was 

 entirely new. The unfortunate student 

 was presented with a figure embodying 

 much difficult detail, and was told to re- 

 produce it upon an enlarged scale. Claims 

 of inexperience in such work were not 

 heeded, and the only response to the plea 

 of inability was contained in the very curt 

 command "Do it." Being thus driven to 

 an extremity, and having his pride touched, 

 the student did draw the diagram to the 

 satisfaction of President Clark, and after- 

 wards produced several hundreds of other 

 figures for the same purpose. The phrase 

 ' ' Can not ' ' was entirely unknown to Presi- 

 dent Clark, but his simple watchword "Do 

 it" seemed to be the slogan guiding him to 

 success in whatever he undertook, as it has 

 since then served to inspire several genera- 

 tions of students in more than one land. 

 An intense enthusiasm characterized his 

 attitude toward everything which he re- 

 garded as worthy of his attention, and this 

 spirit successfully bridged many a difficult 

 situation which might have been full of 



