Career's End

In 1879 there was graduated from Edinburgh University a young man named William Abbott Herdman. He devoted his life to Science and made Ichthyology his specialty. His rise was steady. In 1881 he became Professor of Zoology at Liverpool University. He devoted not only his talents but his very considerable fortune to Science. In 1904 he was President of the Lennean Society. In 1907 he was President of the Zoology Section of the British Association. He founded the Marine Biological Station at Port Erin, Isle of Man, and also the Sea-Fish Hatchery at Piel. In 1909 Harvard made him a Doctor of Science. In 1910 Edinburgh, his alma mater, made him Doctor of Laws. He gave largely to the scientific departments of several Universities--to Liverpool and to the University of London. At the latter institution he and his wife endowed a chair in Geology in memory of their son who was killed in the War. His several publications include such treatises as Invertebrate Fauna of the Firth of Forth and other studies which he made while diverting himself aboard his yacht, the Runa. His hobby was the destruction of prejudice against seafood. He was wont to say: "The sooner all classes of the population learn to appreciate the value of fish as a highly nutritious food, the better it will be for the welfare of the community!"

Thus did he carry on through a long and honorable career of public service. Last week his death was reported under dramatic circumstances.

He was 65 and in good health except that he had suffered from heart trouble. His daughter Winifred was to be married to a London physician. He went to London to attend the wedding. The wedding took place as scheduled except that no guests were present but members of the immediate families. The reason was that the night before Dr. Herdman had died of heart trouble in a London hotel.

In the U. S., the Hearst press described the manner of his death as follows:

"After dinner he took a stroll, meeting a woman who accompanied him to a back street hotel.

" 'A gentleman came in with a lady and asked for a room about ten thirty last night,' said the manager. 'A few minutes after 11 o'clock the woman rushed downstairs and announced that her companion had collapsed. We found his partly dressed body, lifeless.'"

Concerning the dead there is no libel.