SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY. 1 5 



past errors, and the new truths become such stepping-stones in 

 turn." 



Noteworthy, also, were certain lectures, more or less popular, at 

 the Stevens Institute at Hoboken, at the Lowell Institute at Boston, 

 at the Peabody Institute at Baltimore, and before various bodies in 

 Pittsburg, and his publications in the Pittsburg Gazette, in the 

 Century Magazine, and later still in a book which has gone through 

 several editions under the title of "The New Astronomy." These 

 lectures and publications set clearly before educated people the re- 

 sults of his own labors and those of others in that astronomy which 

 deals primarily not with the existence and movements of the heavenlv 

 bodies, but with their constitution. The spirit in which it was writ- 

 ten can be gleaned from its very brief preface : 



"I have written these pages," he says, "not for the professional 

 reader, but with the hope of reaching a part of that educated public 

 on whose support he is so often dependent for the means of extend- 

 ing the boundaries of knowledge. 



"It is not generally understood that among us not only the sup- 

 port of the Government, but with scarcely an exception every new 

 private benefaction, is devoted to 'the old astronomy,' which is rela- 

 tively munificently endowed already ; while that which I have here 

 called 'the new,' so fruitful in results of interest and importance, 

 struggles almost unaided. 



"We are all glad to know that Urania, who was in the beginning 

 but a poor Chaldean shepherdess, has long since become well-to-do, 

 and dwells now in state. It is far less known than it should be that 

 she has a 3^ounger sister now among us, bearing every mark of her 

 celestial birth, but all unendowed and portionless. It is for the 

 reader's interest in the latter that this book is a plea." 



The importance of this book was due, first, to its sterling scientific 

 qualities, but also, in a marked degree, to its style and spirit. It is 

 not too much to say that its literary character is unsurpassed by the 

 work of any other American scientist, and deserves to be ranked 

 with the popular scientific expositions of Darwin, Wallace, Hux- 

 ley, and Tyndall. 



Nor were publications of this sort at all detrimental to his re- 

 search work. During this whole period, even from as far back as 

 1875, his original contributions to advanced science were recorded 

 in the most eminent foreign journals, and among these especially in 

 the transactions of the Academy of Physical Sciences of the French 

 Institute. 



Remarkable, as a tribute to his skill both in seeking and in 



