Personal Reminiscenxes of Dr. Meltzer. 21 



Meltzer and Chittenden, and my father sat opposite. After the 

 dinner my father took my seat and explained to them that he 

 considered the success of his book on obstetrics was due to the 

 fact that he had begun his life as a trained physiologist. It was 

 the kind of a beginning that appealed to Meltzer. 



Meltzer was a great believer in associations of scientific men. 

 In the many societies to which he belonged he was the most 

 active member, continually discussing the work presented, and 

 often pointing out similar work which had been accomplished 

 twenty, thirty or fifty years before. His knowledge was phe- 

 nomenal. 



He became dissatisfied with the quality of the men in many of 

 our scientific societies, criticizing them for their lack of activity, 

 and out of this dissatisfaction sprang in 1903 the Society for 

 Experimental Biology and Medicine, sometimes affectionately 

 called the "Meltzer Verein," a name which, when he first heard, 

 he indignantly opposed. Meltzer's original idea was that the 

 society should consist entirely of workers, and that those who did 

 not produce should be automatically dropped. But once the 

 society was formed, the exigencies of warm personal friendships 

 did not allow of the execution of the proposed penalty. How- 

 ever, it represented the central idea of his mind as to what a 

 scientific worker should be. 



At one. of the meetings of the American Physiological Society, 

 when it was suggested that the number of papers read by any one 

 man be restricted, Meltzer opposed the resolution and offered a 

 substitute to make it obligatory for every member to present a 

 paper. 



Once I spoke to him of retiring from active work at some in- 

 definite future date, to which he replied, "No, you will never 

 do it. You cannot. You will go on doing the little things you 

 are able to do until the end, just as I shall. There are only two 

 things which would stop me from working. If anyone said to 

 me, 'Meltzer, your work is no longer good' then I would stop, or 

 if anyone said to me 'Meltzer, you can no longer understand a 

 young man' then I would stop also." 



I remember that one evening Meltzer came to talk with me 

 regarding the establishment of the Harvey Society which was 



