ACADEMY Or SCIENCES] BIOGRAPHY 13 



on one side of the barrier gave sound of 88 times minimum audibility on the other side. The 

 sound used in this test was that of violin C, 512 vibrations per second. 



Sabine makes the interesting observation that, for a thickness of 5 or 6 inches, the combi- 

 nation above described is far superior in absorptive effect to an equal thickness of felt; but 

 felt of 10.4 inches thickness "would entirely extinguish a sound of the intensity of ordinary 

 speech," whereas 10.4 inches of the combination described would not "accomplish this ideal 

 result." 



Notable as are these evidences of progress with the problem of sound insulation, it is plain 

 that Sabine regarded his work in this field as only well begun. His chapter on the "Insulation 

 of sound" ends thus: 



At this point the apparatus was improved, the method recast, and the investigation begun anew, thence- 

 forward to deal only with standard forms of construction, and for sounds, not of one pitch only, but for the 

 whole range of the musical scale. 



These words, published in 1915, were doubtless written in anticipation of opportunities 

 soon to be afforded him by the liberality of a friend. Colonel Fabyan, an energetic and suc- 

 cessful merchant of Chicago, a man of various avocations and enthusiasms, had somehow be- 

 come acquainted with and deeply interested in Sabine's acoustic investigations. He offered to 

 build, and during the war he did build, at Geneva, 111., a research laboratory to suit exactly 

 Sabine's purposes. It was planned for the prosecution of work under Sabine's direction, and 

 no expense necessary to the success of this work was to be spared. In fact, this research labo- 

 ratory was intended by Colonel Fabyan to be also a kind of shrine or temple in celebration of 

 Sabine himself, and to this end there were inscribed on its outer walls four words, names of 

 virtues found in Sabine, and so chosen that the initials of these words were his initials. Sabine 

 smiled appreciatingly and went on with his plans, taking such opportunities as came to him 

 during the stress of war days. Seldom have two so unlike men worked together so happily for 

 a beneficent purpose. 



Sabine was not much given to putting his ideas on paper until they were in final shape. 

 So after his death, in 1919, no elaborated scheme of the work he had proposed to do in the 

 new laboratory could be found. Colonel Fabyan, resolved to do all he could to carry out the 

 enterprise in which he and Sabine had engaged with such high hopes, enlisted Dr. Paul E. 

 Sabine, who is a cousin of Wallace, to assume charge of the new laboratory and undertake the 

 work it was intended to accomplish. 



In 1900 Sabine married Miss Jane Downs Kelly, originally of New Bedford, Mass. She 

 was a physician of established reputation in Boston before her marriage, and she continued to 

 practice after marriage, especially in connection with the Children's Hospital. The fact that 

 she found time and energy for this professional occupation, while performing with rare com- 

 petence the duties of a housekeeper and mother of a family, is sufficient evidence of her unusual 

 combination of qualities. 



Two daughters, 13 children such as one might hope to see from such parents, were the issue 

 of this marriage — Janet, born in 1903, and Ruth in 1905. In them Sabine's fervently affection- 

 ate nature and his fatherly pride rejoiced. 



For many years after he became a member of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences 

 Sabine took no prominent part in its meetings. His colleagues were therefore somewhat sur- 

 prised when, late in 1905 or early in 1906, he proposed a radical change in the organization of 

 the Lawrence Scientific School, which was under the control of this faculty. Discussion of 

 the affairs of this school was active at this time, because proceeds from the great McKay be- 

 quest, intended for the promotion of science teaching at Harvard, were about to come in, and 

 one of the periodical agitations regarding relations between the Lawrence Scientific School and 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had recently occurred. 



Sabine's proposition, or the plan growing out of his proposition, was to establish a graduate 

 school of applied science, Harvard College taking over from the scientific school the instruction 

 leading to the degree of bachelor of science. This proposal was approved by the Faculty of 



'* The younger, not thoroughly strong and sorely afflicted by the loss of her father, died suddenly in 1922. 



