March 8, 1906] 



NA TURE 



443 



than the present. The Perkin jubilee has been the 

 means of arousing a certain amount of interest as 

 to the cause of lost industries, and the remedies to 

 be applied if we are to secure industrial progress in 

 the future. Enlightened manufacturers are prepared 

 to give substantial support to an institution which 

 will aim at bringing scientific knowledge in close 

 relation with industries and industrial needs. Not 

 to take advantage of the present desire for action 

 would be dilatory policy; and if the scheme is held 

 up while discussion takes place upon its academic 

 aims and relationships, nothing could be more dis- 

 appointing to those who are anxious to see the estab- 

 lishment of an institute capable of rendering great 

 service to the community. 



In the proposed new college no provision is to be 

 made for biological subjects ; and Prof. Ray 

 Lankester has written a letter to Lord Rayleigh, 

 president of the Royal Society, pleading for the 

 recognition of the fact that the needs and the im- 

 portance of these sciences are as great or greater, 

 and that they are at present well-nigh destitute of 

 any endowment, or of adequate provision at the 

 public charge of laboratories and the means of 

 research. Prof. Lankester shows that there are 

 many branches of applied biology of importance to 

 the State, and though he does not propose any formal 

 action to the council of the Royal Society he trusts 

 " that means may be devised of obtaining an assurance 

 from the Government of not merely continued, but 

 increased, provision for the highest work and train- 

 ing in the various sciences of the biological group — 

 including geology." 



PROF. SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY. 

 A T the zenith of his reputation, and possessed of 

 ■'*- his full capacity for work, America and science 

 have to regret the death of Prof. Langley, who for 

 nearly twenty years directed and controlled the 

 energies of the Smithsonian Institution. The objects 

 promoted by such an establishment are so varied, the 

 interests that it has to maintain are so numerous, that 

 its direction can only be confidently entrusted to one 

 who combines the skill of the administrator with the 

 training of the man of science. The energy displayed 

 by Prof. Langley in the conduct of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and its steadily increasing influence under 

 his direction, show that he loyally appreciated 

 the intentions of the founder, and that he proved 

 himself a worthy successor to Joseph Henry and 

 Spencer Baird, names still warmly treasured in the 

 memory of the American nation. We may recall, 

 though we cannot do justice to, some of the more 

 important features that have marked his connection 

 with the institution. His supervision of the museum, 

 and his earnest endeavour to make it more valuable 

 for instructed and uninstructed alike, led to re- 

 arrangement, and especially to the foundation of the 

 children's room, a feature which may serve as a 

 model for similar institutions. The Bureau of 

 American Ethnology is a national undertaking that 

 has long been conducted on spacious, lines, but under 

 ili' late director this department has assumed mag- 

 nificent proportions, the care of which was an 

 enormous responsibility that even the assistance of 

 able colleagues could not wholly remove. The publi- 

 cations of this bureau show "only the thoroughly 

 digested scientific conclusions, and represent but a 

 fragment of the immense amount of work actually 

 accomplished. But, perhaps, in the establishment and 

 management of the zoological park we see the 

 personal influence of the director most conspicuously 

 exhibited. It was his dream to establish a park in 



NO. 1897, VOL. J3] 



which the wild animals of his native land might live 

 as nearly as possible under conditions natural to them, 

 so that they might breed and thrive in captivity as 

 in their native haunts. The difficulties in the way 

 might well have daunted one less enthusiastic. More 

 than once the question of abolishing the park has 

 been considered, and over and over again he had 

 to fight the battle in the teeth of hostile or indifferent 

 politicians, who could not be made to appreciate the 

 value of the scheme, or to recognise that the preserv- 

 ation of the native animals, threatened with extinc- 

 tion, was a trust committed to their charge. He 

 lived to see this scheme placed on a permanent foot- 

 ing, and if on a more modest scale than he could 

 have wished, he could feel that his insistence had not 

 only preserved the nation's heritage of wild animals, 

 but had opened up important regions of biological 

 research and of zoological art. 



But, notwithstanding the severe demands the care 

 of such an establishment must make, Prof. Langley 

 did not allow his activity to be wholly absorbed 

 in the interests of the Institution. He never forgot 

 that he was a physicist and an astronomer before he 

 became an administrator. As a physicist, the problem 

 of flight largely engaged his attention, a subject to 

 the consideration of which he was led by his studies 

 on the internal force of the wind. To what extent 

 his experiments advanced the problem of aviation 

 it would be premature to pronounce. The form_ of 

 aerodrome which he favoured was capable of making 

 flights of a mile, unsupported except by the mech- 

 anical effects of steam engines. But these successful 

 flights were carried out on models. The application 

 of the same principle to larger machines was, as he 

 contended, never fairly tried. The launching apparatus 

 was ineffective, and his machine never got into the 

 air at all. But if its capacity for sustained flight was 

 never tested, some of the mechanical features that he 

 tried and adopted will no doubt find their place in 

 later constructions. As an astronomer he will be 

 remembered for his direction of the Allegheny Observ- 

 atory and the important work which he accomplished 

 there on the sun and in the department of spectro- 

 scopy. His drawings of the solar surface, made 

 nearly forty years ago, remain unsurpassed for 

 delicacy and truthfulness, while his views on the 

 physical constitution of the sun are worthy of the 

 closest attention. As an experienced observer of solar 

 eclipses he was also well known, and thirty-five years 

 ago, when the spectroscopic examination of the sun's 

 surroundings had made but little advance, he rendered 

 yeoman service. The invention of the bolometer 

 constitutes a distinct claim on our gratitude. This 

 sensitive instrument affords the means of measuring 

 minute changes in heat arising from the change in the 

 electrical resistance of an extremely thin strip of metal. 

 By its use Prof. Langley showed that the correc- 

 tions for atmospheric absorption, deduced by earlier 

 observers with less perfect instruments, are all too 

 small, and consequently the generally received value of 

 the " solar constant " has been considerably increased. 

 With the same instrument our knowledge of the infra- 

 red spectrum has been greatly increased. The heat- 

 ing effects from rays unsuspected in previous investi- 

 gations have doubled the known extent of the solar 

 spectrum. Bv the aid of rock-salt lenses and prisms 

 Prof. Langlev was able to show that bands of atmo- 

 spheric absorption were found to alternate with bands 

 of solar radiation, a fact of no inconsiderable import- 

 ance in terrestrial meteorology. 



As a writer the late director of the Smithsonian 

 Institution was well known for his powers of graphic 

 description and vivacious style. His " New Astro- 

 nomy," published many years ago, attracted very 



