He is said to have been a dynamo of energy. He was a persistent smoker, and not always careful about his personal appearance, for which he was sometimes criticised, as we have seen. With reference to his use of tobacco this anecdote[1] is presented: In 1866, on the boat from Salem to Portland, the weather was so disagreeable that all the male passengers crowded into the men's cabin, and all, including Wythe, who was a passenger, smoked persistently, to the discomfort of the narrator of this experience, who was a non-smoker. It appeared to him that they were all trying to drive him, the only nonsmoker, out of the cabin, and that Wythe was the most persistent in his efforts. No doubt this love of the weed had something to do with the disagreements in which he was involved in some of his church connections. Because of his short stature he is said to have frequently stood on a stool to preach.
Wythe was a man of great energy, versatile in his activities, and a prolific writer. His non-medical writings were strongly tinctured with the religious motive, from the viewpoint of the non-evolutionary biologist, as the quotation above cited will show. He was an excellent surgeon, teacher, and preacher, and while he missed the outstanding prominence as a scientific man which his young manhood seemed to promise, nevertheless his name deserves, honorable mention among the pioneers of the Pacific Coast in science, and especially medical science and medical education. There was greater demand for his versatility under the pioneer conditions of sixty years ago, in Oregon and California, than there was for his powers of scientific observation. When recognition of this demand was coupled with the altruistic motive of a religious nature, he could but choose to supply the immediate need. Like the farmer of pioneer days who must turn his hand to all forms of manual labor, perforce, to
- ↑ By Mr. George H. Himes.
