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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which for ten years has been chiefly devoted to the enlargement of 

 Newton's work on the spectrum, and the National Zoological Park. 

 The establishment of the latter was intended primarily to preserve the- 

 vanishing races of mammals on the North American continent; but it 

 has also assumed the general features of a zoological park, affording 

 the naturalist the opportunity to study the habits of animals at close 

 range, the painter the possibility of delineating them, and giving pleas- 

 ure and instruction to hundreds of thousands of the American people. 



SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY. 

 THIRD SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, ELECTED IN 1887. 



These two latter establishments are due to the initiative of the present 

 secretary, Mr. S. P. Langley, elected in 1887; a physicist and astron- 

 omer, known for his researches on the sun, and more recently for 

 his work in aerodynamics. While the fund has been increased of 

 later years by a number of gifts and bequests, the most notable being 

 that of Mr. Thomas G. Hodgkins of a sum somewhat over $200,000, its 



