Mathematics 567 



astronomy, physical geodesy, and mechanical meteorology, 

 some of the most important papers of the century on these 

 subjects being directly due to his suggestions and encourage- 

 ment. Throughout his career as Secretary he was in close 

 contact with the most profound mathematical thought of the 

 day, and although not a professed mathematician, few men 

 of his time could have been more fertile in suggesting sub- 

 jects for mathematical research. Science knows no nation- 

 ality, but the pride of Americans may be excused for enter- 

 taining a regret that Henry did not have his mathematician 

 as Faraday had his Maxwell. 



Of the various mathematical, geographical, magnetic, me- 

 teorological, and physical tables giving numerical data and 

 rules for their application, published by the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, little need be written here. Suffice it to remark 

 that these tables have been widely used, and are of great 

 utility; while their educational value has doubtless been of 

 equal importance with their practical usefulness. Intimately 

 related to these tables, and in many cases incorporated with 

 them, is the information which the Institution has dissem- 

 inated with regard to the simplicity and advantages of the 

 metric system, whose adoption by our country seems now 

 near realization. Since the legalization of the use of the 

 metric system in the United States by act of Congress in 

 1866, the Institution has published many tables facilitating 

 the interconversion of English and metric weights and mea- 

 sures. The most elaborate of these were prepared by Pro- 

 fessor H. A. Newton in 1866. The importance of this in- 

 formation, freely disseminated by the Institution, can hardly 

 be overestimated by one who looks beyond his own day and 

 generation. 



As an indirect means for promoting the cultivation of 

 mathematics, the numerous memoirs on mathematico-physical 



