venturer who called himself Baron von Hoffman made
quite a stir in New York about 1823, where he had been
courted and caressed in fashionable circles until detected
as an imposter. "A fish can as veil live out of de vater
as I can live out of de ladies," was a favorite remark of
the bogus baron, who came very near winning the hand
of a noted New York belle and heiress. After his dis¬
appearance the Evening Post noted that he was living at
Morrison's Hotel, Dublin, "quietly luxuriating in the blaze
of his fame," and in one of his poems Halleck includes
this verse:

Yet, long upon Harlem's gray rocks and green highlands,
Shall Burnham and Cato remember the name,

Of him who away in the far British Islands
Now lights his cigar at the blaze of his fame.

The Columbia War Hospital

The Columbia War Hospital is a unique institution.
It is designed to care for the sick and wounded soldiers
returning from the trenches or those invalided to New
York from camps. The hospital is organized on mili¬
tary lines both as regards the administrative and medical
organization. Physicians and surgeons who propose to
enter the military service of the United States during the
World War can receive their training and education at
this hospital.

The hospital was made possible by an act of impulsive
generosity on the part of Mr. Daniel G. Reid. Dr. Alex¬
ander Lambert, president of the Medical Society of the
State of New York and brother of Dr. Samuel W.
Lambert, dean of the College of Physicians and Sur¬
geons, who worked out the plans of the hospital and
was also seeking the necessary funds, laid the facts
before Mr. Reid and he immediately contributed the
amount required to complete and equip the plant, $175,-
000, making the laconic remark, "Now, get busy." The
hospital was finished in record time. Dr. Adrian V. S.
Lambert, who was also active with his brothers in the
project, is the medical head of the hospital.

It is built on Old Columbia Oval in the Bronx, the
Trustees of the University giving the use of the ground.

[173]