73 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Should the proposed laboratory, if established, be independent, or 

 connected with some other institution ? That would depend upon a 

 variety of circumstances. If endowed by the United States Govern- 

 ment, it surely ought to be connected with and controlled by the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Even an endowment contributed from pri- 

 vate sources might well be placed under that management. For the 

 Smithsonian Institution is really a magnificent example of a great 

 trust splendidly administered. Both financially and as regards the 

 interests of science the managers of this institution have done admi- 

 rably. Money placed in their hands would certainly be well spent. 

 Every dollar would be so handled as to produce the maximum good 

 effect. A laboratory under this control, whether publicly or privately 

 endowed, would assume a national character, and might serve as a 

 centre of cooperation for investigators in all parts of our country. 



Leading Washington out of account, a laboratory for research 

 might perhaps be best established in connection with some good uni- 

 versity like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Michigan, or Cornell. It 

 would then be already provided with a library and a building-lot, 

 some apparatus at least would be ready to hand, and a strong social 

 element would aid in the attraction of scientific men. Moreover, with 

 such affiliations, the laboratory would often be able to secure good 

 volunteer work from advanced or post-graduate students ; an advan- 

 tage by no means to be despised. 



But it is hardly worth while to multiply suggestions. Enough has 

 been said to show distinctly the main points in favor of a laboratory 

 specially endowed for research, and some of the chief considerations 

 which must arise in its establishment. Such a laboratory as is here 

 indicated, a laboratory in which many specialists could combine forces 

 in the more difficult fundamental investigations of physical science, 

 surely ought not to remain long a mere fabric of the imagination, a 

 misty dream of the future. It should be founded whether by an in- 

 dividual or by the nation it matters little. Let us hope that, before 

 many years pass by, the dream may become a reality. 



-*- 



THE ORIGIN" AND CURIOSITIES OF THE ARABIC NU- 

 MERALS. 



By D. V. T. QUA. 



N an article on the " Origin of the Numerals," published in The 

 -L Popular Science Monthly for January, 1876, the writer re- 

 marks : " Having never met with any explanation of the origin of 

 (he numerals, or rather of the figures symbolizing them, perhaps I 

 am right in supposing that nothing satisfactory is known of it." 



