June 2, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



847 



investigation in medicine worthy of the name 

 in New York city at that time. What was true 

 of New York was essentially true of the coun- 

 try at large. Here then was one who com- 

 bined the practice of medicine with the science 

 of medicine as few men of his generation in 

 this country had done. Failing strength in his 

 later years caused him to relinquish entirely 

 private practice and devote himself to his 

 laboratory as the center of his intellectual 

 activity. It was interesting to note the atti- 

 tude of an audience when Herter spoke. To 

 many, he was one of them, a practitioner of 

 medicine, and yet to all he was one who had 

 carried medical science to a higher plane, had 

 enveloped medical doctrines with new author- 

 ity, and the clear, incisive words as they flowed 

 from his lips were followed by his listeners 

 with attentive and almost reverent regard. 



Dr. Herter found the study of the nervous 

 system so abounding in confusions that he 

 soon turned his attention to chemical problems, 

 especially those connected with pathological 

 conditions. Among those intimately associated 

 with him in this work have been E. E. Smith, 

 A. J. Wakeman and of late H. D. Dakin. Dr. 

 Herter's work included researches concerning 

 uric acid, autointoxication, the toxic properties 

 of indol, uremic intoxications, the production 

 of serous atrophy of fat, nitrifying bacteria, 

 acidosis, adrenalin glycosuria, gall-stones, bac- 

 terial infections of the digestive tract, intesti- 

 nal infantilism, the influence of dietary altera- 

 tions on the types of intestinal flora, and the 

 action of sodium benzoate on the human body. 

 The last-named piece of work was part of an 

 investigation conducted by a commission ap- 

 pointed by President Roosevelt, and con- 

 clusively demonstrated, so far as physiological 

 investigation can demonstrate, that sodium 

 benzoate if given in the quantities in which it 

 is used as a food preservative, is harmless. 



Between 1897 and 1902 Dr. Herter was 

 professor of pathological chemistry at the Uni- 

 versity and Bellevue Hospital Medical College. 

 Although the lectures were optional, the room 

 was always crowded and his hearers carried 

 away with them breaths of real inspiration. 

 The lectures were published in book form and 



were translated into Italian. In 1903, he was 

 called to the chair of pharmacology and thera- 

 peutics at the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons, a position he held till his death. 



He was trustee of the Rockefeller Institute 

 and a moving spirit in the creation of the 

 Rockefeller Hospital. Only in the last days of 

 his life was he permitted to see this wonderful 

 hospital accomplished, the dream of many 

 years realized, and almost daily as his strength 

 permitted he would be taken thither to rejoice 

 in its work and its future. 



He founded the Journal of Biological Chem- 

 istry, the first of its kind in the English lan- 

 guage, and his friends have united in the 

 endowment of this journal as the most fitting 

 memorial to his life's work. 



Two Herter lectureships, one at the Uni- 

 versity and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 

 the other at the Johns Hopkins Medical 

 School, were founded by Dr. and Mrs. Herter, 

 and have served to bring to this country many 

 of the greatest scientists in Europe. This has 

 been the public service of a far-seeing mind. 



Herter had a wide-spread acquaintance 

 among the scholars of his time both in Europe 

 and at home, and his work and worth were 

 universally respected and admired. He de- 

 lighted in the friendship of those who could 

 inform him, he was a true councillor of those 

 who went to him for advice, and he encouraged 

 young men. The blood of the true artist was 

 his. Music and painting contributed to the 

 pleasures of his life. His friends loved him 

 and he loved his friends. Graham Lusk 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 At its annual meeting on May 10, the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences 

 voted to award the Eumford premium to 

 Professor James Mason Crafts " for his inves- 

 tigations in high temperature thermometry 

 and the exact determination of new fixed ref- 

 ferenee points on the thermometric scale." 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia has elected as correspondents the fol- 

 lowing : David Starr Jordan, Edmund Beecher 

 Wilson, Jacques Loeb, William Bullock Clark 

 and Thomas Wayland Vaughan. 



