3 i6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



honor and credit. It is a work which despite certain shortcomings, 

 inevitable on the part of any writer at that date, has been declared a 

 successful attempt to portray the universe. Perhaps more than all 

 else it displays the grand and comprehensive intelligence of a great 

 man even at the age of eighty years and beyond. Goethe was eighty- 

 three when he died. At past sixty he finished his ' Theory of Colors/ 

 and he laid out for himself a completely new field of literary activities 

 after he had reached sixty-five. He finished ' Faust ' at eighty, and care- 

 ful criticism has long ago declared that the second part of ' Faust ' is 

 the most important part of the poet's life work. Richard Wagner died 

 at seventy. Wagner did not reach the zenith of his powers until he 

 was fifty. The entire ' Nibelungen Ring ' was produced after he was 

 sixty years old : ' Parsifal ' was written at sixty-four. Haydn died at 

 seventy-seven ; his oratorio, ' The Creation/ was written at sixty-seven 

 years, and i The Seasons ' some years later. Handel died at seventy- 

 four. He composed ' Saul ' at fifty-three ; his greatest work, ' The 

 Messiah ' at fifty-six ; ' Belshazzar ' at fifty-nine, and other works until 

 he had passed seventy years. Gerome the artist died at eighty. He 

 did not reach his greatest power until after he was forty, and much of 

 his splendid work was done after sixty years. Verestchagin was sixty- 

 three when he was cut off in what might be called the vigor and prime 

 of his work by the blowing up of Admiral Makaroff's flagship a year 

 ago. W. W. Story, the sculptor, died at seventy-six; he was a lawyer 

 and writer of law books in early life, and did not take up sculpture 

 until forty. In this he was eminently successful, as well as in the 

 literary field which he continued almost to the end of his years. Lord 

 Kelvin (Sir William Thomson) is now eighty-one. He was at the 

 head of the department of natural philosophy at the Glasgow Univer- 

 sity until sevent} r -two years of age, and his work in the departments 

 of physics and mathematics has continued to the present. After he 

 had passed forty years he originated the mirror galvanometer, and the 

 siphon recorder which solved one of the greatest problems in submarine 

 telegraphy. His works upon navigation, matter, physics and geology, 

 executed after he had passed sixty years, are among his strongest and 

 best. Faraday died at the age of seventy-six. His discoveries of the 

 effect of magnetism upon the polarization of light, and diamagnetism 

 were between the years of fifty and sixty, and many important dis- 

 coveries in chemistry and electro-magnetism continued until late in 

 life. Dr. 0. W. Holmes entertained and delighted the world with 

 his writings until he was eighty, and died at the age of eighty-three. 

 John Fiske did all of his historical work after he reached forty, and 

 the most important of his productions, both historical and philosoph- 

 ical, were after he passed fifty. Commodore Vanderbilt made eighty 



