Talk:Paper - The development of the human pharynx

Professor Simon Henry Gage - An Appreciation

TO SIMON HENRY GAGE

48, No. 1 MAY, 1931

Professor of Histology and Embryology, Emeritus, Cornell University

ON THE OCCASION OF HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY May 20, 1931

This volume is affectionately dedicated by the Editors of The American Journal of Anatomy and the Members of the Advisory Board of The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology

Professor Simon Henry Gage An Appreciation

The present volume of The American Journal of Anatomy is dedicated to Simon Henry Gage upon his eightieth birthday. It expresses the affectionate regard of the Editorial Board, and a heartfelt appreciation of many services to the Journal, to the advancement of anatomy in America, and his ever-ready help to The Wistar Institute, the responsible publisher.

Such a dedication is in every way appropriate. Professor Gage was one of the original members of the American Association of Anatomists when it was established in 1888, and ever since has taken an active part in its proceedings. When, in 1901, the Journal was established as an adequate vehicle for the publication of American anatomical work, Professor Gage became a member of its editorial staff. When, finally, The Wistar Institute was reorganized in 1905 and became the strong support for American biology that it now is, Professor Gage was chosen a member of its original Advisory Board, and through the intervening years has been a staunch supporter of its policies, in whose formulation he has had an active part. Thus a threefold bond has linked him with the anatomical work of the country.

The colleagues of Professor Gage at Cornell University most heartily concur in such an expression of esteem. Fifteen years ago, on the day which this volume commemorates—May 20th—a goodly company of Professor Gage’s friends and colleagues in Ithaca met at dinner in his honor. The occasion was the presentation to Cornell University of a fund for the establishment of a graduate fellowship to be known as the ‘‘Simon Henry Gage Fellowship in Animal Biology.’’? It was Professor Gage’s sixty-fifth birthday, and, as guest of honor, he was compelled to listen to many laudatory discourses upon his earlier life and activities, which doubtless caused him some embarrassment. The brief addresses of that evening were subsequently published’—a slim little pamphlet as compared with the volume now dedicated to him.

IT have ventured in this connection to refer to an earlier appreciation of his unique qualities, since both the sentiment expressed on that occasion as well as its more lasting and practical embodiment—the Fellowship—had as its pervading motif the recognition of Professor Gage’s dominant characteristic as a scientist and a man—the keen desire to promote research and the welfare of his fellow beings in any way he eould. This desire has found expression in varied forms during his life. It became apparent soon after his entrance into Cornell University as a rather serious-minded freshman in 1873, and matured as he successively passed through the phases of assistant, instructor in microscopy and practical physiology; assistant professor of physiology and lecturer on microscopic technology; associate professor; associate professor of anatomy, histology, and embryology, to the rank of professor of microscopy, histology, and embryology (1896) and, finally, professor of histology and embryology. With the founding of the New York State Veterinary College at Cornell University in 1896, he became the head of a separate department, and in 1901, three years after the establishment of the Cornell University Medical College, he removed to the newly erected Stimson Hall, where he has had his scientific home ever since. In 1908, in order that he might devote his entire time to research, he gave up active teaching. When he became really emeritus (1916), his retirement saw no appreciable difference in his status, for he has remained a ‘research professor’ ever since.

+ The Gage Memorial. Official Publications of Cornell University, vol. VII, no. F. July 15, 1916. 32 pp.

There are, of course, many ways of promoting research—intensive individual application to the problem in hand with the exclusion of all else—or in various ways helping others to carry out their programs of work. Professor Gage has done his full share of personal investigation, but I venture to say that the aid he has given others, in the way of actual help, counsel, or encouragement, far outweighs the former. Where no greater opportunity presented itself, a word of commendation or of kindly criticism was always given. Many biologists will recall his sympathetic discussion of their papers at scientific meetings. Only a worker in Stimson Hall can appreciate how constantly he has been appealed to for advice in many fields of endeavor. A chemist or a physicist will be encountered in his room almost as frequently as some devotee of biology, pure or applied. Indeed, so great have been such demands on his time and energy that it is surprising that he has had time for work of his own; nevertheless, in some way he has found it. At the time of his retirement there were some 160 books, papers, and reviews from his pen. Since then twenty-five articles have appeared, and more work is always in progress. Such an attitude of kindly helpfulness is of the heart as well as of the mind; hence it is no wonder he has a host of friends.

Professor Gage has always been a man of action, and this characterizes his scientific work. He has always preferred to work a thing out rather than simply think a thing out. Theoretic speculation has. never appealed to him. He has keenly recognized that science strides forward over the corpses of men’s ideas; that theories are ephemeral, but facts eternal, and hence for him the fact is the most important thing. Every effort should be made to insure the accuracy of their determination. Instruments of precision have always had for him a peculiar fascination, and the working out of technical devices to facilitate and simplify scientific procedures, for himself and others, has been a pleasure. Thus it is that he early gained an interest in the microscope as a scientific instrument, and an appreciation of the importance of its perfection as well as the improvement of all technical procedures in its use. This interest in all its implications has ever been dominant with him. Thirty of his scientific papers are in this field, while his book, ‘‘The Microscope,’’ which is the consummation of this interest, is now in the fourteenth edition. Sympathetic contact with the American microscope makers has always been maintained and a number of his suggestions have been embodied in their apparatus.

Nothing that has been written above concerning Professor Gage’s regard for facts should be construed as implying that he has lacked an appreciation that underlying all is an orderly arrangement into which every fact must fit in accordance with fundamental principles or laws. I believe he would say that most theories were premature. The method of work followed by Charles Darwin has his highest admiration. His appreciation of the complexity of broad biological problems and the remoteness of sound comprehensive interpretations of life has led him, very naturally, into the group of the Neovitalists. He is well satisfied, however, to leave all ‘ultimate’ interpretations to the future. In the meantime, he conceives that every fact, however trivial, must have its niche in the general scheme of things, and into this it must fit.

Any scientist may look for some degree of appreciation of his work, at least from a small coterie of his immediate associates. To few is it given to receive, combined with recognition of his work, so much love and good will. All who know Professor Gage will welcome the appreciation which this volume carries, and share a wish that he may be granted, in the future, years of happy service.

B. F. Kinessury,

Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

Talk:Paper - The development of the human pharynx

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Professor Simon Henry Gage - An Appreciation