n8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



measurement of the wave lengths of the spectrum lines of all the 

 elements. 



These measurements are carried on mostly by assistants, and 

 are paid for by appropriations made from the Rumford fund, the 

 Bruce fund, or the Bache fund. But, at times, money for this 

 work is very scarce. Nothing can come from Johns Hopkins 

 University, as it has lost so much of its endowment that its work 

 is greatly hampered. Thus, Prof. Rowland, in the prime of his 

 life, and at the age of greatest mental activity, finds himself com- 

 pelled to relinquish carrying out many of his best ideas. He has 

 determined, if possible, to remedy the defect himself. Whether 

 he will be able to do so remains to be seen, but he has never 

 failed to accomplish his purposes, and those who know him best 

 have found that discouragements only spur him to greater effort. 



In this connection, however, he remembers one of the most 

 disagreeable incidents of his life. Recently he worked six months 

 for the Cataract Construction Company, of New York, in develop- 

 ing the plans for the transmission of the power of Niagara, in 

 which he overthrew the plans of their engineers and substituted 

 rational ones. He consulted two friends as to the bill he should 

 render for his services. He accepted their advice, as they were 

 admitted to be the most competent judges in such matters. The 

 company sent him a check for one third of the amount, accom- 

 panied by an insulting letter ! Although abhorring petty disputes 

 about money, his sense of justice was so shocked at this treatment 

 that he immediately brought suit against them, rejecting all 

 offers of compromise. In spite of the fact that the company was 

 backed by half the money power of New York and its best lawyer, 

 a jury of twelve intelligent and impartial gentlemen unanimously 

 pronounced his bill correct and just. 



During the course of Prof. Rowland's life he has received 

 many honors, mostly from abroad, where he is probably best 

 known and most thoroughly appreciated. In 1881 he became a 

 chevalier of the Legion of Honor of Paris, and in 1896, at the cen- 

 tennial of the Institute of France, of which he is a corresponding 

 member, he was nominated officer of the Legion of Honor. At 

 the exposition at Paris, in 1890, his gratings and map of the spec- 

 trum received a grand prize and gold medal. About 1881 he re- 

 ceived the grand prize of the Venice Academy of Sciences for an 

 essay on the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat. In 1884 Prof. Row- 

 land received the Rumford medal from the American Academy 

 of Sciences in Boston for his researches in light and heat. In 

 1890 the Draper medal was awarded him for his researches in 

 spectroscopy. 



He is an associate fellow of the American Academy of Sci- 

 ences of Boston, and member of the National Academy of Sci- 



