The recent dedication of Snow Hall, at Lawrence, Kansas, is an event in the
history of the State, both historic and prophetic. Since the incorporation
of the University of Kansas, and before that event, there has been a steady
growth of science in the State, which has culminated in Snow Hall, a
building set apart for the increase and diffusion of the knowledge of
natural science, as long as its massive walls shall stand. It is named in
honor of the man who has been the inspiration and guiding spirit of the
whole enterprise, and some incidents in his life may be of interest to the
public.
Twenty years ago Professor Frank H. Snow, a recent graduate of Williams
College, came to Kansas, to become a member of the faculty of the State
University. His election to the chair of natural science was unexpected, as
he first taught mathematics in the university, and expected in due time to
become professor of Greek. As professor of the mellifluous and most plastic
of all the ancient tongues, he would undoubtedly have been proficient, as
his college classics still remain fresh in his warm and retentive memory,
and his literary taste is so severe and chaste as to make some of his
scientific papers read like a psalm. But nature designed him for another,
and some think a better, field, and endowed him with powers as a naturalist
that have won for him recognition among the highest living authorities of
his profession.
Upon being elected to the chair of natural history, Prof. Snow entered upon
his life work with an enthusiasm that charmed his associates and inspired
his pupils. The true naturalist must possess large and accurate powers of
observation and a love for his chosen profession that carries him over all
obstacles and renders him oblivious to everything else except the specimen
upon which he has set his heart. Years ago the writer was walking in the
hall of the new university building in company with General Fraser and
Professor Snow, when the latter suddenly darted forward up the stairs and
captured an insect in its flight, that had evidently just dug its way out
of the pine of the new building. In a few moments he returned with such a
glow on his countenance and such a satisfied air at having captured a rare
but familiar specimen, whose name was on his lips, that we both felt
"Surely here is a genuine naturalist."
Some years ago an incident occurred in connection with his scientific
excursions in Colorado that is quite characteristic, showing his
obliviousness to self and everything else save the object of his scientific
pursuit, and a fertility in overcoming danger when it meets him face to
face. He was descending alone from one of the highest peaks of the Rockies,
when he thought he could leave the path and reach the foot of the mountain
by passing directly down its side over an immense glacier of snow and ice,
and thus save time and a journey of several miles. After a while his way
down the glacier grew steeper and more difficult, until he reached a point
where he could not advance any further, and found, to his consternation,
that he could not return by the way he had come. There he clung to the side
of the immense glacier, ready, should he miss his hold, to be plunged
hundreds of feet into a deep chasm. The situation flashed over him, and he
knew now it was, indeed, a struggle for dear life. With a precarious
foothold, he clung to the glacier with one hand, while with his pocket
knife he cut a safer foothold with the other. Resting a little, he cut
another foothold lower down in the hard snow, and so worked his way after a
severe struggle of several hours amid constant danger to the foot of the
mountain in safety. "But," continued the professor, speaking of this
incident to some of his friends, "I was richly repaid for all my trouble
and peril, for when I reached the foot of the mountain I captured a new and
very rare species of butterfly." Multitudes of practical men cannot
appreciate such devotion to pure science, but it is this absorbing passion
and pure grit that enable the devotees of science to enlarge its boundaries
year by year.
Once, while on a scientific excursion on the great plains, with the
lamented Prof. Mudge, he nearly lost his life. He had captured a
rattlesnake, and, in trying to introduce it into a jar filled with alcohol,
the snake managed to bite him on the hand. The arm was immediately bound
tightly with a handkerchief, and the wound enlarged with a pocket knife,
and both professors took turns in sucking it as clean as possible, and
ejecting the poison from their mouths. This and a heavy dose of spirits
brought the professor through in safety, although the poison remaining in
the wound caused considerable swelling and pain in the hand and arm. When
this incident was mentioned in the Kansas Academy of Science that year,
some one said, "Now we know the effect of the bite of the prairie
rattlesnake on the human system. Let some one, in the interests of pure
science, try the effect of the timber rattlesnake on the human system." But
like the mice in the fable, no one was found who cared to put the bell on
the cat.
Professors Mudge and Snow, because scientists were so few in the State at
that early day, divided the field of natural science between themselves,
the former taking geology and the latter living forms. Professor Mudge
built up at the agricultural college a royal cabinet, easily worth $10,000,
and Professor Snow has made a collection at the State University whose
value cannot be readily estimated until it is catalogued and placed in
cases in Snow Hall.
As a scientist, Professor Snow is an indefatigable worker, conscientious
and painstaking to the last degree, never neglecting anything that can be
discovered by the microscope, and when he describes and names a new
species, he gives the absolute facts, without regard to theories or
philosophies. For accuracy his descriptions of animal and vegetable life
resemble photographs, and are received by scientists with unquestioned
authority. He possesses another quality, which may be called honesty. Some
scientists, whose reputation has reached other continents, cannot be
trusted alone in the cabinet with the keys, for they are liable to borrow
valuable specimens, and forget afterward to return them.
It is possible only to glance at the immense amount of work performed by
Professor Snow during the last twenty years. Neglecting the small fry that
can only be taken in nets with very fine meshes, he ascertained that there
are twenty-seven species of fish in the Kansas River at Lawrence. Work on
this paper occupied the leisure time of two summers, as much time in such
investigations only produces negative results. For several years he worked
on a catalogue of the birds of Kansas, inspiring several persons in
different parts of the State to assist him. Later this work was turned over
to Colonel N.S. Gross, of Topeka, an enthusiast in ornithology. Colonel
Goss has a very fine collection of mounted birds in the capitol building at
Topeka, and he has recently published a catalogue of the "Birds of Kansas,"
which contains 335 species. Professor Snow has worked faithfully on the
plants of Kansas, but as other botanists came into the State, he turned the
work over to their hands. For several years he has given a large share of
his time and strength to entomology. Nearly every year he has led
scientific excursions to different points in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,
etc., where he might reap the best results.
Once, during a meeting of the Kansas Academy of Science, at Lawrence,
Professor Snow was advertised to read a paper on some rare species of
butterflies. As the hour approached, the hall in the university building
was thronged, principally by ladies from the city, when Professor Snow
brought out piles of his trays of butterflies, and without a note gave such
an exhibit and description of his specimens as charmed the whole audience.
In meteorology, Professor Snow is an acknowledged authority, wherever this
science is studied, and he has, probably, all things considered, the best
meteorological record in the State.
Personally, Professor Snow possesses qualities that are worth more,
perhaps, to his pupils, in forming character, than the knowledge derived
from him as an instructor. His life is pure and ennobling, his presence
inspiring, and many young men have gone from his lecture room to hold good
positions in the scientific world. When one sees him in his own home,
surrounded by his family, with books and specimens and instruments all
around, he feels that the ideal home has not lost everything in the fall.
Snow Hall is the natural resultant of twenty years of earnest and faithful
labor on the part of this eminent scientist. The regents displayed the rare
good sense of committing everything regarding the plans of the building,
and the form and arrangement of the cases, to Professor Snow, which has
resulted in giving to Kansas the model building of its kind in the West, if
not in this country. Very large collections have accumulated at the State
University, under the labors of Professor Snow and his assistants, which
need to be classified, arranged, and labeled; and when the legislature
appropriates the money to furnish cases to display this collection in
almost every department of natural science, Kansas will possess a hall of
natural science whose influence will be felt throughout the State, and be
an attraction to scientists everywhere.--_Chaplain J.D. Parker, in Kansas
City Journal_.
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