EDITOR'S TABLE. 



125 



These are not times when inventors 

 or manufacturers wait for an exhibition 

 to give the world its first view of their 

 work; hence, in the Electricity Build- 

 ing, for example, there is little of nov- 

 elty, and yet in its mass and variety the 

 contents of the great hall and galleries 

 are most impressive. Here are shown 

 how, in the seventeen years since the 

 Centennial Exhibition, electricity has 

 passed from the experimental labora- 

 tory to become the most versatile and 

 powerful servant that industry and do- 

 mestic economy know. 



Within the past two decades Pho- 

 tography has stridden along almost as 

 fast as her sister Electricity. In an in- 

 conspicuous booth in the gallery of Lib- 

 eral Arts is an exhibit without an at- 

 tendant, lacking adequate labels, and yet 

 withal marking an epoch in the applica- 

 tion ot scientific research to this art and 

 industry. The display presents photog- 

 raphy in colors, an achievement due to 

 Dr. H. Vogel, of Berlin. In observing 

 the fugitiveness of some aniline dyes, it 

 struck him that the very sensitiveness 

 to certain rays of the spectrum which 

 rendered the dyes as such worthless, 

 meant a photographic quality of the first 

 importance. Experiment proved the 

 soundness of his surmise, and ortho- 

 chromatic and color photography were 

 born. In pure and applied chemistry 

 Germany, as her show-cases at Chicago 

 amply attest, is far in the lead. In 

 Germany practice and theory have long 

 ceased to look askance at each other, 

 and the lesson should not be lost on 

 America, for theory and practice have 

 at last arched toward each other until 

 at many points they touch, with the 

 effect that both are vastly the stronger. 

 To-day the observer can pass to predic- 

 tion, the experimenter can build to 

 order a molecule, a flower, a cereal, or 

 a beeve. The convincing word of Ger- 

 many to America is that to begrudge 

 the means for original research is sim- 

 ply to withliold the seed-corn of prog- 

 ress. But America, too, has something 



to teach. In science her most woi'thy 

 and characteristic display is that of in- 

 struments of precision. The dividing 

 engine of Prof. W. A. Ptogers, the dif- 

 fraction gratings of Prof. H. A. Row- 

 land, the parallel planes in glass of Mr. 

 J. A. Brashear with a limiting error 

 of one millionth the lenses with per- 

 fect color correction of Prof. C. S. Hast- 

 ings, mark a distinctively American field 

 of attainment and make clear why this 

 country divides with France the leader- 

 ship in modern astronomy, and in appa- 

 ratus for the most refined measurement 

 has no rival. It is gratifying to see at 

 the Fair the magnificent new telescope 

 for the University of Chicago, the re- 

 fractor for which, forty inches in diame- 

 ter, is the largest in existence. 



In education the exhibits at the Fair, 

 repetitious though they are and often 

 poor in quality, show progress. The 

 large spaces given up to manual train- 

 ing, to instruction in sewing and cook- 

 ing, to the all-round development of the 

 senses, abundantly prove that the old 

 and wasteful clerkly instruction has its 

 hat in its hand and is moving toward 

 the door. In the Children's Building 

 the kindergarten and kitchen- garden 

 classes are giving admirable lessons not 

 only to many little people but to un- 

 counted thousands of interested parents. 

 At many other places in Jackson Park 

 how sound education brings out an in- 

 telligent interest in every-day work and 

 duty is attractively demonstrated. Take 

 for example the Rumford Kitchen, where 

 with the minimum of toil and offense a 

 meal both palatable and nourishing is 

 cooked at a cost of less than five cents. 

 Mr. Edward Atkinson, who leads in 

 this branch of household economy, is 

 desirous that the State experimental 

 stations should add courses in cooking 

 to their instruction. "Why, he argues, 

 should we be anxious that food stuffs 

 be produced with the utmost saving of 

 labor, and then in the cooking waste 

 them one half? For education con- 

 ceived in its broadest reach one of the 



