Dr. Johnson of the Rats

Sir John Reeves Ellerman might be mistaken for a wealthy dilettante. He acts in little plays with his own theater company, in his own private theater. He is fond of odd pets, which have included several porcupines and an elephant named Charlie. He has his own private orchestra, which plays for his rare but lavish parties. But young (38) Sir John is no lighthearted dabbler; he is deadly serious about three things.

One of England's richest men, he is serious about the -L-18 million shipping fortune he inherited 15 years ago; through shrewd investment (insurance, breweries, coal, illustrated newspapers), he has run it up to some -L-37 million. One of England's shyest men, he is almost pathologically serious about his privacy. One of his country homes is surrounded by barbed wire, the servants are forbidden to discuss him with neighbors, his telephone number is unlisted, and he hides behind an assumed name in public. But he is most serious of all about rats.

For 18 years Ellerman has been gnawing away at his life's work: an exhaustive source book called The Families and Genera of Living Rodents. Last week his longtime dream was nearing realization as he put the finishing touches on the third and final volume. The completed work is intended to do for rodent zoology what Samuel Johnson's dictionary did for the English language.

Beginning in 1930, Ellerman worked for five years on the first volume. Day after day he pegged away in the Natural History and British Museums, speaking to no one but the director and technical assistants. Each night he and his wife would pore over the day's notes, and she would draw anatomical sketches for him.

When the first volume was completed, earnest young Scientist Ellerman submitted the draft of the entire proposed treatise to the British Museum. The honor of publication under museum auspices is a certain stamp of scientific recognition. With a scientist's pride, he did not consider using his own wealth to publish the book on his own. After he had chafed for four years, the museum printed it. The second volume came out in 1941.

The work, a dry, detailed classification, is not only ponderous but important. Said one expert: "This work doesn't tell you everything about rodents, but no zoologist could start work on rodents without reference to it."

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