THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



33i 



derful strides in the manufacture and 

 export of scientific apparatus principally 

 to the splendid work of the Imperial 

 Physico-Technical Institute. The recog- 

 nition of this fact on the part of Eng- 

 lish manufacturers was one of the most 

 potent influences which last year in- 

 duced Parliament to provide for the 

 establishment of a similar bureau. Rus- 

 sia, about to adopt the metric system, 

 has also established a Central Chamber 

 of Weights and Measures, with Profes- 

 sor Mendelejeff at its head. At the In- 

 ternational Congress of Physicists, held 

 at Paris last summer, Professor Pellat 

 read a paper on the National Physical 

 Laboratory as a factor in the industrial 

 development of a country, which created 

 such a strong impression that a motion 

 was unanimously passed in favor of the 

 establishment of such institutions in all 

 countries not already provided there- 

 with. The United States, far in the van 

 in so many respects, cannot afford to lag 

 behind in a matter of such vital and 

 universally recognized importance. 



That the United States is now 

 ready to take a place beside Germany 

 in the production of scientific instru- 

 ments is demonstrated by what has al- 

 ready been accomplished in the case of 

 astronomy. In proof of this statement 

 we may refer to the recently-issued cata- 

 logue from the works of Messrs. Warner 

 & Swasey, at Cleveland, Ohio. This is 

 a tangible witness that the United 

 States is, in respect of the making of 

 astronomical instruments of all sorts, 

 quite out of the leading strings of the 

 Old World. The work here exhibited is 

 strictly of the first class. The instru- 

 ments are, in the first place, designed 

 so as to fit the uses to which they are 

 to be put, not only in their general 

 form, but also in their details. The 

 execution of the mechanical work is also 

 of the very highest quality. Lastly, 

 we note the very significant fact that 

 the designs of the instruments are, in 

 a high degree, elegant and artistic. 

 It is a far cry from the stone-adze 

 of the paleolithic man to the Ferrera 



blade; and the evolution carries a les- 

 son with it. Weapons and tools must 

 first of all be fitted to their uses. Their 

 design must be appropriate to the de- 

 sired end. After the end is plainly 

 comprehended improvements are made 

 in the mechanical processes of manu- 

 facture. Last of all it is the desire 

 of the artisan to become an artist — 

 to make his work beautiful. The evolu- 

 tion of the weapon and of the tool fol- 

 lows laws which govern that of the 

 scientific instrument also. Long cen- 

 turies elapsed between the quadrants of 

 Alexandria, Samarkand and Uraniborg, 

 and the elegant designs of the instru- 

 ments of the great observatory of Pul- 

 kowa. It seemed that almost the last 

 word had been said when Struve and 

 Repsold installed their joint produc- 

 tions in the Imperial Observatory, lav- 

 ishly endowed by the Russian Emperor. 

 It is highly significant, then, to find 

 their work surpassed in a distant coun- 

 try, across the ocean — in the country 

 that hardly possessed an astronomical 

 establishment of any sort when Pul- 

 kowa was founded. And it is gratify- 

 ing and startling to note that two New 

 England mechanics without hereditary 

 training, advised by our own astrono- 

 mers, have excelled the work of the 

 famous house of Repsold, now in its 

 third generation, advised and counseled, 

 as it has been, by the most skilled 

 astronomers of Europe. 



A study of the catalogue in ques- 

 tion will show that in all respects — in 

 general design, in detail and in artistic 

 beauty — instruments now made in this 

 country are superior to any made in the 

 world. The book referred to is entirely 

 composed of plates, showing equatorial 

 mountings, micrometers, chronographs, 

 transits, zenith telescopes, alt-azimuths, 

 meridian-circles and dividing-engines 

 made at Cleveland; and of views of ob- 

 servatories in various parts of the w r orld 

 furnished with instruments or domes 

 from the same works. The observations 

 made by some of the instruments re- 

 ferred to at the United States Naval 



