Author Institution: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 10small but important group of early (1899) students of biology formed a club called the Ohio Botanic Journal Club. Some of these persons became well known in later years. Their early work and aspirations are noted in this pape

Waller, Adolph E.

The Ohio Journal of Science

KnowledgeBank at OSU

154 M. S. REHINS, JERRY M. MANN AND JAMES F. CLEMENTS Vol. 65THE BOTANIC JOURNAL CLUB OF THE OHIOSTATE UNIVERSITY1-2ADOLPH WALLERDepartment of Botany and Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 10ABSTRACTA small but important group of early (1899) students of biology formed a club calledthe Ohio Botanic Journal Club. Some of these persons became well known in later years.Their early work and aspirations are noted in this paper.When Dr. Lois Lampe became secretary of the Biology Club she found herselfcustodian, among other items, of a hardbound blank book. The label on thecover reads; "Composition Book belonging to", and is scratched with ink. Thistransformed it into common non-individual property belonging to a group. Alsoin ink on the label in a well-rounded familiar hand appearing on numerous herba-rium labels are the words "Botanic Journal Club." Most of the pages inside areblank still. The blank book was eventually put with uncataloged parcels in theBotany and Zoology Library. According to the librarian's decision, it is not to becataloged. Its scientific information is not vast. Yet, as it lies before me, it isa small treasure worthy of a hail and farewell before definite consignment todust or to the limbo of suspension in unrecognitory storage. Its records showonly six meetings of the Club. The first of these was held in November, 1899.The establishing of the Botany Department as a major scientific group on thecampus extended only 6 or 7 years previously. Earlier in the history of TheOhio State University, botany, along with horticulture and forestry, existed ascombination subjects in the study of plants and all three were offered under thedirection of Professor Wm. R. Lazenby. With the arrival of Wm. AshbrookKellerman, a Department of Botany was founded in January, 1892. Classes anda curriculum attracting qualified students soon followed. A building was dedi-cated to its study.*Paper #690 from the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.2Manuscript received August 13, 1963.THE OHIO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 65(3): 154, May, 1965.No. 3 THE BOTANIC JOURNAL CLUB 155The old Botany Building, on a site occupied at present by the Faculty Club,stood above the center of Campus Hollow overlooking Mirror Lake. The buildingitself was a strange little architectural mischance somewhat between UniversityHall with its towers and a small 3-room brick residence to which had been addeda small greenhouse. The roof leaked. Storage space was inadequate for thegrowing herbarium. Classroom facilities were meagre. The building was even-tully torn down.Today there is a living record marking the site of the building. On the eastside of the Faculty Club, there is a good sized persimmon tree carrying only themale sex, which was planted as a young seedling. At the foot of the slope to thesouth are a huge Mississippi hackberry and a rare and uncertainly identifiedChinese pear. Across South Oval Drive at the head of a walk leading down tothe famous Spring are an Ohio Buckeye tree and a Horse-chestnut tree. Theyare planted side by side, where their differences may be readily contrasted by theunitiated. To the west of the Club are a large mossy cup oak and an English elm,the largest one on the campus. All of these once young, now mature trees markan eager teacher expounding his subject. The proximity of these trees to the thencenter of botanic intelligence advertises good will and pride in the service to beoffered to the entire campus community. The Hollow, the Spring, the Lake,the specimen trees of local and around-the-world-interest, all silently proclaimedthe extent and variability of the laboratory studies going on within the building.To the east, in Orton Hall, a similar silent proclamation is visible in the layeringof building stones in proper stratigraphic sequence as the walls rise. Inside,Dr. Edward Orton, Sr. had been carrying the struggle to study the evolutionaryfacts of the earth's development. Scientists clashed with narrow dogmatism,mistakenly called religion. Scientists and religionists skirmished for truth as theysaw it. Evolution became the battle ground involving the professors as nothingsince the middle ages had done. Biologists and geologists were the chief pro-ponents of evolution and they became targets for the hatred of otherwise peacefulchurch members.In other parts of the campus, teachers and students in anatomy, physiology,physics, chemistry, and classical and modern languages took mild interest in thephilosophy and speculation raised by these debates. Darwinian ideas were morefor those in the natural sciences to wraggle about and to stir wrath among sec-tarian conformists. All over Europe the same discussions were going forward,provoking new questions in every branch of learning, not only in biology. Tokeep abreast of the advances, new journals in many languages were startingpublication. Dr. Kellerman's students must keep informed of work in otherparts of the world. They must be acquainted with foreign languages. Thus,the answer, in the beginning of a Botanic Journal Club which the Kellermansactively promoted.Dr. Kellerman had returned from his studies in Germany. He also hadvisited other countries while abroad and brought back ideas of some Europeanbotanists.Dr. Kellerman stands here at the head of a parade of students visiting GermanUniversities as he had, and in starting the publication of the Ohio Naturalist,the forerunner of The Ohio Journal of Science. For the Botanic Journal Club,there is not the singleness of purpose and the definite objectivity of naturalistswho needed to publish their own writings even more than to review the wholespectrum of the plant sciences. With changes in the personnel of students, theBotanic Journal Club was short lived. On that account, identifying the membersas they appear on the list becomes a puzzle not without certain elements of suspense.As it stands, there are really two lists, one for males and one for females,decently separated by clean white space. There are seven of each sex, probablygiven in declining seniority. The right hand part of the page is ruled off in col-156 ADOLPH WALLER Vol. 65umns for the dates of the meetings. Opposite each name are attendance marks.Sometimes absence is indicated by a small "a" in pencil or by a minus sign mostlyin ink. If the attendance record is taken seriously, so that a blank also denotesabsence it would then appear that Dr. Kellerman is not credited with attendanceuntil the fifth meeting. This is inconsistent with the lengthy notes of the secondmeeting in which he is the reviewer. His subject is a physiological investigationon cereal rusts compiled by M. A. Carleton from reports in the five principalcereal-producing countries. Only in Australia and the U. S. A. were such studiesprogressing. Russia, India, and Argentina had none. The paper's title is "CerealRusts of the U. S.—a physiological investigation." Since Dr. Kellerman hadbegun his studies in this mycological area while he was at Manhattan, Kansas, hisremarks embody personal investigation as well as the published work of others.Yet there is no distinction between the two sources in the notes of the reportercovering the meeting. The casualness of the Botanic Journal Club is strikinglyevident. The reporter leaves much to the imagination.The names of the members are written in the same handwriting as are thenote—-Dr. Kellerman, Prof. Schaffner, Mr. Collett, Mr. Griggs, Mr. Luke, Mr.Mockwort, Mr. Morse, Mrs. Kellerman, Mrs. Schaffner, Miss Dufour, MissArmstrong, Miss Herrick, Miss Weick and Miss Perry. These fourteen must haveincluded the official and the unofficial staff of enthusiastic botanists at the turnof the century at The Ohio State University. Both Mrs. Kellerman and Mrs.Schaffner were authors of scientific papers. Miss Perry apparently served assecretary. It may well be that "Botanic Family" instead of Botanic JournalClub could have been used for the blank book's label. It is the evidence of com-plete informality that explains the waywardness of the records as well as theirsudden termination. Word to suggest what happened is lacking. Since theserecords are more than sixty years old, a brief resume about each of the memberswho can be accounted for today, as well as the notes on the papers reviewed seemsin order.Professor Kellerman has been described as a very warm, winning personality.His enthusiasm for new subjects outran his consistent effort to stay with tasksalready begun. Along with the zoologists and geologists, he founded the BiologicalClub, the forerunner of the Ohio Academy of Science. Dr. Kellerman was afrequent contributor to discussion in this group. The first Secretary's Book ofthis club is catalogued in the Botany and Zoology Library of the University.Dr. Kellerman also founded and published the Journal of Mycology and, when thesubscriptions were insufficient to keep it running, he paid the printers personally.He was the first teacher and investigator to invite students to study in the tropics.The Trustees of The Ohio State University eventually gave official recognitionto these journeys to Guatemala with Ohio State students. There were fourexcursions between 1902 and 1907. The last journey ended sadly with Dr. Keller-man's death and burial in Zacaba, Guatemala. This concluded an active, zest-ful life and ended Ohio State's connections with tropical Central America. Rem-nants of his collections, which were numerous, were partly passed on in recentyears to the National Herbarium. Some of them are still at Ohio State. Otheruniversities, notably Harvard and Yale, followed with tropical plant explorations,and also notably the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In 1938 while in Guate-mala, I visited Zacaba. I could not find the grave of Dr. Kellerman. Dr. WilsonPopenoe, venerable botanist for the United Fruit Company, also indicated thathe had tried unsuccessfully to find the exact location of the grave. The originalwooden marker was gone.Mrs. Kellerman constantly assisted Dr. Kellerman. She was the author ofseveral papers on scientific subjects, but not much more is known of her.Professor Schaffner became chairman of the Department of Botany, succeedingDr. Kellerman in 1908 and remaining chairman until 1918 when he was succeededNo. 3 THE BOTANIC JOURNAL CLUB 157by Professor E. N. Transeau. Professor Schaffner's contributions have been notedin a monograph by the present author published by The Ohio Academy of Sciencein 1941. Mrs. Mabel Brockett Schaffner's work on the embryology of a seedplant is a pioneer work in its field. She also assisted her husband.Robert Fiske Griggs is the Mr. Griggs of the club's membership. He wasborn in Columbus, son of the engineer who built the Griggs Reservoir and GriggsDam so much used for recreation as well as water storage for the city; as is wellknown, it was unaffected by the 1913 Flood. Robert Griggs attended both OhioState and Harvard. He explored the Katmai region in Alaska after the volcanicexplosion. He was responsible for the government's creation of this area of morethan five times the size of Yellowstone Park as a National Monument. He gavethe name to part of the area, "Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes," which wasstudied in 1916 and reported in the National Geographic magazine. His severalexploring trips in the region were made in 1915-18, 1919, and 1930. Coming backlate from one of these trips, he incurred the displeasure of Dr. Transeau andshortly afterward resigned from Ohio State. He became chairman at GeorgeWashington University about 1921 and was a highly regarded member of theWashington Academy of Sciences, of other scientific societies, and of severalimportant committees. Later, after retirement in Washington, he became amember of the Department of Biology of the University of Pittsburgh. He diedin June, 1962, at the age of 80 years.The name given in the list as Mr. Mockwort probably refers to Mr. Marquardt.Mr. Max Morese contributed several papers to the Ohio Naturalist.Miss Herrick of the list of members is now the late Mrs. King Thompson ofUpper Arlington. Mrs. Thompson most graciously helped me with the names ofthose in the group she recalled. She suggested that the absence of Karl Keller-man's name from the roster of the Journal Club probably could be explained byhis having enrolled at Cornell about that time. Her interest in botanical matterscontinued until her death in January, 1964. She presented a paper on Equisetumaccording to the notes of the club.Miss Perry, whose name is last on the list, seems to have acted as reporter,yet she is recorded as attending only three of the meetings. This uncertainty inattendance, when the notes are so complete, is baffling. Who did do the work?Or is the attendance record one that was too insignificant to bother about ? MissPerry became Mrs. Charles W. Foulk. As the wife of the well-known Professorof Chemistry at Ohio State, both she and her husband were interested in thelater development of the Department of Botany. Professors Transeau and Foulkwere close friends for a long time. Both Miss Perry and Miss Herrick wereat one time departmental assistants.The first recorded meeting was held in November of 1899.The first paper reviewed was of cytological nature and the reviewer was J. H.Schaffner. It was on the centrosome in spermatazoa and had appeared earlyin the year in volume 17 of the Berlin Botanic Society. Belajeff (Belajeff, W.In Ber. d. Deut. Bot Gesell. 17: 199-205. pi. 15, 1899) was the author. The dis-cussions of his theory of the importance of the centrosome continued for manyyears. Professor Schaffner, having recently worked with Coulter, Chamberlain,and Land at the University of Chicago, was about to embark on his own cytokineticstudies. His position on the importance of the centrosome altered before heconcluded his work.Robert Griggs reviewed a paper on willows. His continued interest in thegenus Salix resulted in important contributions to the knowledge of Ohio willows.At this early date, before the rediscovery of Mendel's work, Griggs discussedhybrids in his review.The most detailed reports of an evening's discussion is in the paper on cerealrusts reviewed by Dr. Kellerman. It is of significance that a review of this sub-158 ADOLPH WALLER Vol. 65ject was presented. Perhaps this is to be expected. Kellerman had already spenta number of years studying the cereal rusts in Kansas. His interests in mycologyhad taken a physiological turn. This trend toward the newer aspects of plantscience is noted in a brief remark about Dr. Kellerman made by Dr. David Pair-child in his well-loved book, The World was my Garden, where Fairchild ex-presses gratefulness to Kellerman for arousing in him an appreciation of plantphysiological activity. Both M. A. Carleton and A. S. Hitchcock were associatesof Dr. Kellerman. Carleton was, by 1896, already indefatigably engaged incereal inoculation studies and laying the foundation for practical work in im-munity and crop protection. The work of Erickson of Sweden on cereal rustsmay well have been introduced to America as a result of Dr. Kellerman's studiesin Europe several years previously.In looking over the report of this meeting, the outstanding fact to reach thereader is the breadth and depth of Dr. Kellerman's insight. He apparentlyimpressed on his audience (who I hope received it joyfully) the great changesalready in progress in plant study, thus shaping our modern attitude towardresearch as an inseparable mixture of fundamental and applied knowledge.Mrs. Kellerman reviewed a paper by F. Brand on Cladophora. Again it wasphysiology that was talked about in the discussion. Apparently both Dr. Keller-man and Mrs. Kellerman read German readily and were concentrating theirattention on the more dynamic aspects of plant life. This and another paper byBelajeff which was reviewed by Mr. Collett were both from the German. Withthe family aspects of the work in progress in the Botany Department at this time,it is possible to think of conversation in several languages taking place in theOld Botany Building. The elder daughter of the Kellermans, Miss Ivy, now Mrs.Reed, was a classical language scholar. Much of her later life was devoted tothe development of an international language. Not long ago she offered TheOhio State University a grant to promote inter-lingual communication, her interestin language perhaps dating from the time of the Journal Club.Miss Dufour, about whom I know nothing more than name, reviewed a Frenchpaper dealing with the vegetation of the Island of Lesbos. Mrs. King Thompson,at that time Miss Herrick, presented a paper on Equisetum. Miss Perry, laterMrs. Charles Foulk, gave a paper on mushrooms. Mr. Luke had one on Brassicaoleracea. None of these papers is reviewed in the notes.Professor Schaffner gave two more papers, Dr. Kellerman and Mrs. Kellermanone more each. Also Dr. Kellerman's remarks on the side are sometimes added.When Mrs. Kellerman presented a paper on algae, the irrepressible Doctor addeda note on corn smut as reported to him by Hitchcock; injury to corn plants in-creased the percentage of infection in the field.Another lengthy work, that on Citrus hybridization by H. J. Webber, whosegreat work on Citrus was already under way, was presented by Mr. Morse. Notyet understood at this time was the complex development of the different embryoscapable of forming in a single citrus seed, for this was the decade when "doublefertilizations," polyembryony, xehia, and triple fusion were still to be disen-tangled and the marvelous complexity of seed structure was beginning to beunderstood and communicated to a surprised world.There were other items listed, but not treated at length in this blank book.I like to think of the empty pages of the little uncatalogued item as a challengeto our future degree-candidates in botany. It is the spirit of the task that isimportant.

The Botanic Journal Club of the Ohio State University

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/1811/5079/1/V65N03_154.pdf

The Botanic Journal Club of the Ohio State University

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

KnowledgeBank at OSU