COMMEMORATION OF PROF. HFNRY A. ROWLAND.^ 



By Dr. Thomas C. Mkndenhall. 



[The colleagues, pupils, and friends of the late Professor Rowland 

 assembled Saturday, October 26, 1901, at 12 noon, in the lecture room 

 of the physical laV)oratory, to commemorate the life and services of 

 the distinguished physicist. An address, which is printed below, was 

 delivered by Dr. Thomas C. Mendenhall, recently president of the 

 Worcester Polytechnic Institute.] 



ADDRESS OF TROFESSOK MENDENHALL. 



In reviewing- the scientific work of Professor Rowland one is most 

 impressed by its originality. In quantity, as measured by printed 

 page or catalogue of titles, it has been exceeded })y many of his con- 

 temporaries; in quality it is equaled by that of only a ver}^, very 

 small group. The entire collection of his important papers does not 

 exceed 30 or 40 in number, and his unimportant papers were few. 

 When, at the unprecedentedly early age of 33 years, he was elected 

 to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the list of his 

 published contri})utions to science did not contain over a dozen titles, 

 but any one of not less than a half-dozen of these, including what may 

 properly be called his very tirst original investigation, was of such 

 qualit}' as to fully entitle him to the distinction then conferred. 



Fortunately- for him, and for science as well, he lived during a 

 period of almost unparalleled intellectual activity, and bis work was 

 done during the last quarter of that century to which we shall long turn 

 with admiration and wonder. During these twenty-live years tlie 

 number of industrious cultivators of his own favorite held increased 

 enormously, due in large measure to the stimulating- effect of his own 

 enthusiasm, and while there was only here and there one possessed 

 of the divine afflatus of true genius, there were many ready to labor 

 most assiduously in fostering the growth, development, and final 

 fruition of germs which genius stopped only to plant. A proper 

 estimate of the magnitude and extent of Rowland's work would 

 require, therefore, a careful examination, analytical and historical, 



* Reprinted, by permission, from Johns Hopkins University Circulars, Vol. XXI, 

 No. 154, Baltimore, December, 1901i 



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