382 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



Harpers, North American Review, Forum, and other similar 

 journals were many and valuable. 



In book form he should be credited with the following works, 

 many of which have passed through several editions and at least 

 one, his Popular Astronomy, was republished in England and 

 translated into the German, Russian, and Norwegian languages. 

 The list includes Popular Astronomy (New York, 1878); School 

 Astronomy, with Edward S. Holden (1879) ; Briefer Course (1883) ; 

 Elements of Astronomy (1900); Stars; A Study of the Universe, 

 translated into Dutch, Bohemian, and Japanese (1901) ; Astronomy 

 for Everybody (1902); Compendium of Spherical Astronomy 

 (1905) and Side Lights on Astronomy (1906); also a series of text- 

 books comprising Algebra (1881); Geometry (1881); Trigonome- 

 try and Logarithms (1882); School Algebra (1882); Analytic 

 Geometry (1884); Essentials of Trigonometry (1884); and Cal- 

 culus (1887). 



Of the text-books the following story is told concerning their 

 origin: "One evening Professor Newcomb found his daughter 

 Anita, now Mrs. McGee, poring over an algebra which he thought 

 too abstruse for a beginner. 'Put it aside,' he said, 'I will write 

 you something to study.' He began at once and wrote a lesson 

 for her, and after this, wrote every evening her lesson for the 

 next day. A complete algebra was the result. This was finally 

 published, and a whole series of mathematical books followed." 



Very early in life Professor Newcomb developed an interest in 

 political economy and it was his habit to refer to astronomy as 

 his "profession" and to political economy as his "recreation." 

 A wise man knows the value of diverting his thoughts from his 

 "profession" to his "recreation." At first the application of 

 mathematics to public questions seems to have appealed to him 

 most and he wrote on finance. Many of his earlier articles were 

 published in such prominent reviews as the North American and 

 the old International; some of these papers were anonymous. 

 As years came to him, however, he broadened his views until 

 he became an accepted authority in many branches of political 

 economy. His opinions were highly valued and eagerly sought 



