HENRY AUGUSTUS ROWLAND 411 



The article was rejected by the editor of the American journal 

 and again rejected after revision. The fault was not with the 

 article, for, when it was sent to Clerk Maxwell, in England, the 

 highest authority, its value was at once recognized, and it was sent 

 to The Philosophical Magazine for immediate publication. It 

 appeared in that journal in August, 1873, and through it Rowland 

 became favorably known to the scientific world. Professor Men- 

 denhall has said of it: "It has always seemed to me that when 

 consideration is given to his age, his training, and the conditions 

 under which his work was done, this early paper gives a better 

 measure of Rowland's genius than almost any performance of 

 his riper years." It was this work that led to his selection in 1875 

 to be the first professor of physics in the Johns Hopkins University. 

 The story has been well told by President Oilman in his The 

 Launching of a University. The main point is this, that after a 

 talk with General Michie, who was then professor of physics in 

 the United States Military Academy, Mr. Oilman telegraphed 

 to Rowland to meet him at West Point. Mr. Oilman says: "He 

 came at once, and we walked up and down Kosciusko's Garden, 

 talking over his plans and ours. He told me in detail of his corre- 

 spondence with Maxwell, and I think he showed me the letters 

 received from him. At any rate, it was obvious that I was in 

 confidential relations with a young man of rare intellectual powers 

 and of uncommon aptitude for experimental science. When I 

 reported the facts to the trustees in Baltimore they said at once, 

 'Engage that young man and take him with you to Europe, where 

 he may follow the leaders in his science and be ready for a profes- 

 sorship.' And so we did. His subsequent career is well known." 



Rowland decided to go to Berlin to get in contact with the 

 great physicist Helmholtz. Helmholtz was not at first inclined 

 to receive the young American into his laboratory, but Rowland 

 told him of an experiment he wanted to perform, and described 

 the method he proposed to follow, and he was admitted. The 

 object of the experiment was to learn whether any magnetic 

 effect is produced when an electrically charged body is set in 

 rapid motion. Rowland showed that there is an effect and the 



