Evening star., 1933-01-29
Recalls War Tragedy
BOTANIsT LEAVES WORK TO BELGIUM.
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.
ITHE ghost of one of the tragedies
of the World War walked
abroad last week when the will
of the late DR.. Theodor Holm,
Danish-American botanist and explorer,
was filed for probate
! In his final testament the scientist
bequeathed his unparalleled collections
and library to the Belgian government
for the University of Louvain'
So far as is known. he never visited
that CONT entail center of learning. but
sympathies aroused by news Of the
burning of the university halls by the
German armies in 1914 prompted DIR.
Holm to the rich gift which now be-
comes public.
He pledged himself to do his part to
make good the loss of the celebrated
| treasures DESTROYED at Louvain, and his
will confirms his promise.
DR.. Holm was one of the most emf
nent authorities of his branch of
science. His specially was Arctic and
Alpine flora. and for nearly so years
he was an acknowledged leader in that
field. Yet in the final decade of his
life he was unknown to even his nearest
neighbors. During that period he lived
in a woodland hermitage near Clinton,
Md, with no companion except a de-
voted dog. He died obscurely in Provi-
dence Hospital on December Is, and not
line of notice of his passing appeared
in any newspaper.
The story of his last years reads like
a romance of a medieval cloiSter. His
shelter, tumble-down farmhouse, hid
den in the forest, DR.. Holm neverthe-
less was not isolated from the world
ct ideas in which he was a citizen by
nature, training and experience. In
his house he had the fruits of his tire
less labors, thee specimens he had
gathered under the stars Of the Polar
night and in the high Rockies of Colo
rado: the. books of other scientists and
Of his own composition: the intricate
eild beautiful drawings of living things
which he had studied and whose forms
he preserved through the exercise of
his skill with pencil, pen and brush;
the medals and diplomas awarded him
by princes and academies; the portraits
OF the botanistS of old and present time
with whose Investigations he was in
tlmately acquainted; the photographs
OF his adventures in the North and in
the West, and the letters of famous
men, scholars and statesmen with whom
he was in correspondence. All these
were arranged in perfect order, ready
for use. and they kept the mind of
their owner young and active. Never
married, consistently a recluse, DR..
Holm performed the routine chores of
his retreat without assistance, and oc-
casional visitors found him an excel
lent housekeeper. OF sunny DISPOSE
tion, he was no misanthrope, and. a
cordial welcome awaited his callers.
An illness terminated his self-i
OF Catholic University persuaded him
to take lodging in one of the university
dormitories. He moved to the city
The farm was leased to tenants who
undertook the care of his dog.
But DR.. Holm was failing His hands
were crippled with arthritis. He had
a cough. On Christmas day he was
visited by his old friend. Rev. DR..
Thomas Werner Moore. DISTINGUISHED
physician and psychologist, with whom
ne had been in school, So i'll was he
that DR.. Moore ordered him removed
TO a hospital room and there the fol-
lowing morning he passed away. He
was buried from st. Anthony's Church.
u.
prant OF the funeral mass.
Had he survived until February 2
DR.. Holm would have been 70 years of
age. He was born at Copenhagen. Dem
mark, and educated at Copenhagen
University. Botany and zoology had
attracted him as boy, and graduating
at 26 he decided to make these sciences
the business of his life. His great op-
portunity came when he was admitted
to membership in the Dymphna expedi-
tion to the Arctic, led by Lieut.. A. p.
Hovgaard of the Danish navy.
Sailing in July. 1882. the ship was
caught in the ice in the Arctic ocean,
off Nova zembla, and for IA months
drifted helplessly, prey to the ele-
ments. DR.. Holm used the opportunity
to study the marine life of the frozen
seas. Employing a trawlnet, he dragged
up from the black depths fathoms be-
low the ice literally hundreds of diff
ferent species Of strange marine crea-
lures. These he studied with meticu-
louS care. minutely described and ar
ranged for preservation Then with a
genius which he believed was born in
him he drew the portrait of each of the
more important specimens. These
sketches, authentic works of scientific
art, are part of the treasure which is
to 60 to Louvain.
Rescued after the ship broke up, the
youthful scientist returned to Denmark
where his collection was placed on ex-
hibiticn and King Christian TX ex-
pressed to him the appreciation Of the
nation.
There followed three years of ex-
ploration under royal patronage in
Greenland. From these trips DR.. Holm
brought back an enormous accumula-
ton of botanical and geological speci-
mems. His reports and drawings made
him famous throughout the scientific
world
In 1886 he crossed to New York. and
in 1893 became an American citizen.
From 1896 to 1899 he was engaged in
exploration in the Rocky Mountains in
Colorado. There he found parallels to