73 z THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Here there is nothing speculative or doubtful. Here are certain 

 tilings to be done, which can be done only by men of the most thor- 

 ough training, equipped with the best appliances. In such a labora- 

 tory, chance would have but little place. The work would run to 

 hard routine, to the solid establishment of accurate scientific data, to 

 the systematic determination of substantial facts. Precise physical 

 measurements would precede generalization, just as the labor of the 

 quarryman goes before that of the builder. Startling and brilliant 

 discoveries might possibly be made, but incidentally rather than as 

 the result of special effort. The real value of the institution would 

 be independent of anything sensational, and would rest upon consid- 

 erations of the most severely practical kind. 



Examples of the sort of work appropriate to an endowed labora- 

 tory may easily be found. For instance, one of the greatest of all 

 scientific problems is that of the connection between the composition 

 of a substance and its physical properties. Suppose this question 

 were to be taken up systematically by a well-organized body of in- 

 vestigators. The first step in the research would manifestly be to 

 determine, carefully and with the utmost rigor, the physical proper- 

 ties of the so-called chemical elements. At the outset each one of 

 these substances would have to be isolated in quantity, and in a chemi- 

 cally pure condition a labor which of itself would involve a great 

 amount of research. Some of the elements have never yet been seen 

 in a state of absolute purity, or have been obtained only in very 

 minute portions, and accordingly new methods of treatment would 

 need to be devised. Then would come the measurement of physical 

 relations, thermal, electrical, optical, magnetic, mechanical, and so on. 

 For each element, as far as possible, should be determined the melt- 

 ing-point, the boiling- j)oint, the density, the coefficient of expansion, 

 the specific and latent heat, thermal and electrical conductivity, the 

 thermo-chemical constants, and many other data of much importance 

 and value. Furthermore, these constants should be determined under 

 widely-varied conditions, notably of pressure and temperature. For 

 example, it would be necessary to ascertain the coeificient of expan- 

 sion, and also the specific heat of a body at every degree, through a 

 wide range of temperatures, and in not merely one, but in several 

 series of observations. Thus, and thus only, could we attain to the 

 exactness which science rigidly demands. Besides the actual meas- 

 urements, this great labor would in many cases involve the compara- 

 tive testing of various methods of research, and in some instances the 

 invention of new experimental processes. 



Years could be spent upon the metals alone, and the work done 

 would add not only to our knowledge of their properties, but also 

 much to science as regards variety and precision of methods. In 

 connection with these researches would naturally arise an investiga- 

 tion of metallic alloys a subject of which true science knows as yet 



