SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY. 523 



this astronomer and physicist, student of art and literature, phiU)so- 

 pher and dreamer, was there almost as isolated as though upon the 

 top of a lonely peak. He told me once that he attended the meet- 

 ings of the medical society of the city of Pittsburg in order that he 

 might have contact with professional aud scientific men, and that he 

 walked down and toiled uj) Observatory hill once a week to spend 

 Sunday evening in a room back of a drug store, in which four or five 

 men would assemble to discuss the great things of the mind and the 

 scientific problems of the day. It was a revelation to me, as I assume 

 it will be to others, to learn from the letter of Mr. Langley quoted 

 above, that it was principally the desire to associate with others of 

 his kind, and not ambition or opportunities for work, wdiich brought 

 him to Washington. 



On January 12, ISST, INIr. Langley was appointed assistant secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution. In August of the same year 

 Professor Baird died, aud in November Mr, Langley w^as elected 

 Secretary by the Board of Kegents. During his brief term as 

 Assistant Secretary he had given much thought to the departments 

 with Avhich he was especially charged, the exchange service, the 

 library, and the i^ublications, and in these important agencies he 

 retained a deep interest. The exchanges he regarded as one of the 

 principal means for carrying out the terms of Smithson's bequest 

 " for the dili'usion of knowledge among men,"' and to the publications 

 he gave an ever-increasing amount of thought, especially those 

 which could be, to use his term, " understanded of the people," de- 

 veloping the Smithsonian Report to such a point that to-day it 

 appeals to every man of ordinar}^ education and intelligence, and is in 

 many places, where books and libraries are inaccessible, the sole and 

 yet the entirely satisfactory means of keeping people abreast of the 

 scientific advancement of the world. 



The hope held out in the letter of Professor Baird that some oppor- 

 tunity would be afforded here for the continuance of Mr. Langley's 

 original researches was made good, first through the generosity of the 

 late Jerome H. Kidder and Alexander Graham Bell and later 

 through approjiriations by Congress for the establishment of an 

 astrophysical observatory under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. This observatory, housed in a modest frame structure 

 on the Smithsonian grounds and entailing an annual cost upon the 

 Government of a very inconsiderable sum, made it possible for JNIr. 

 Langley not only to continue his researches, but to reach new and 

 even more valuable results than had been obtained heretofore. 



It is due to his initiative and energy that the people of this country 

 have the National Zoological Park. He specialized in astronomy, 

 but his interest in nature was not confined to it. He had an eager 

 curiosity about animal life and a great love for natural scenes, and 



