JOURNAL OF PKOCKHUINGS. XLV 



even higher houors than those awaiting him as director of this Insti- 

 tution. 



Now however that the qnestioii of the succession in the oflflce of the 

 Secretary had been precipitated at an earlier date than we all had ex- 

 i>ected when he was chosen an assistant secretary, Professor Langley 

 held that it was due to the Board and due to himself that he should 

 frankly state the understanding with which he had tlnally brought him- 

 self to the belief that it was his duty to accept the oflice of Secretary if 

 it should be conferred upon him by the Board. This understanding was 

 lliat while, if called to such a responsible trust, he must needs give with 

 till tidelity and with all conscientiousness the full measure of time, 

 thought, and care which shall seem to be re(piired by the Institution 

 and by its adjuncts, he did not construe this obligation as precluding 

 the possibility of sometimes giving to himself that physical rest and 

 mental diversion which should come to every man who is burdened 

 with the discharge of an exacting oflice. Professor Langley had 

 doubtless observed that the first Secretary of the Institution, Professor 

 Henry, had sought such rest and such diversion in the change of labor 

 brought to him by the chairmanship of the LightHouse Board, and in 

 the performance of this function we all knew that Professor Henry had 

 done good work for the cause of science (as witness his researches in 

 sound and in the economies of light-house illuminants), and therefore a 

 work which had redounded to the honor of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Professor Langley had also observed, we may presume, that the late 

 Secretary, with the approval of this Board, had engaged in great and 

 useful labors connected with the Fish Commission, and that hence in 

 our judgment there was no incompatibility in the pursuit b^' our Secre- 

 tary of certain labors extraneous to the immediate precincts of the In- 

 stitution, if they could be pursued without detriment to its best efficiency 

 and to the full development of its capacity for usefulness. It was in 

 this view that Professor Langley begged leave to represent that he, too, 

 might sometimes wish to find rest and refreshment in a change of labor 

 from the ordinary routine of official administration in connection with 

 the Institution, and he would naturally look for such rest and refresh- 

 ment in the further pursuit of his favorite scientific researches, so far, 

 and only so far, as that pursuit could be made consistent with his para- 

 mount duty to the Smithsonian Institution. 



Dr. Welling then added that, speaking for himself as a member of the 

 Board, he felt free to express the conviction that these " leisure labors" 

 would serve to enhance the title of Professor Langley to the Director- 

 ship of an Institution which had for its object '' the increase and difi:\i- 

 sion of knowledge among men ; " and while the statement thus made 

 at the instance of Professor Langley might have seemed to be required 

 by an honorable frankness on his part, the Board would be likely to 

 find in this frankness a further ground of confidence in the high sense 

 of honor and duty which he would bring to the discharge of his respou- 



