The Three Secretaries 201 



SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY 



i. 



OAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY was born in Rox- 

 O bury, Massachusetts, August 22, 1834. At the age of 

 eleven he entered the Boston Latin School, and afterward 

 the Boston High School, from which he was graduated in 

 1851. He was not sent to college, since his tastes tended 

 at that time entirely toward mathematical and mechanical 

 pursuits. Astronomy, the study which attracted him most, 

 could scarcely in those days be expected to offer a career. 

 He decided to become a civil engineer, since in that profes- 

 sion he would find employment for his mathematical taste, 

 for his natural manual dexterity, and his aptness in the use 

 of mechanical methods. 



From engineering to architecture is not a distant remove, 

 and he presently entered the office of a Boston architect, as 

 student. In 1857 he began the practice of his profession in 

 the West, but the panic of that year interfered seriously with 

 his prospects. The next few years were passed in Chicago 

 and St. Louis, leading to little profit at the time, though the 

 business discipline and the skill as a draughtsman which he 

 then acquired were to be fruitful of results in later years. 



In 1864 he returned to Boston, having decided to abandon 

 architecture, but with no other plans for the future. His 

 brother, John Williams Langley, also at this time returned to 

 his old home in Roxbury, having just finished three years of 

 active service as surgeon in the navy. The two brothers 

 devoted some months to the building of a telescope, and then 



