326 



NATURE 



[February 6, 1902 



be obtained when the photographic light curve is better known, 

 and also by correcting for aberration. 



93 (1901) Sagitta;. — R. A. = I9h. 14m. 26s. ; Decl. = +19° 

 25' -4 (1900). 



The variability of this star was announced by Dr. .Schwab, 

 and subsequent inspection of the Harvard plates showed that there 

 were 155 records of nearly normal brightness, the magnitude at 

 this stage being 6'50, and 13 where the star was near minimum. 

 A photograph obtained on 1S95 August 22 shows a sudden 

 change during the exposure from 9th to Sth magnitude. The 

 range in light appears to be greater than that of any other Algol 

 star. The suggested period of seventeen days does not appear 

 to .satisfy the observations, and observers in other situations are 

 asked to forward any determinations as soon as possible. 



United States Naval Odservatory Rei-ort. — The 

 report of work accomplished at this observatory during the year 

 ending June 30, 1901, has recently been distributed, and is 

 here summarised. 



2(i-inih Equatorial. — This instrument has been in charge of 

 Prof See, who has been engaged in determinations of the 

 diameters of the planets and satellites of the solar system, ob- 

 servations of Eros for parallax, double star observations, &c. 

 These, so far as reduced, have been published from time to 

 time in the Aslronoinische Nadnichteii. 



l2-i)ich Equalorial. — During the greater part of the year this 

 has been dismounted for repairs. Since its readjustment it has 

 been used for the observation of zone stars, double stars, &c. , 

 and also for the entertainment of visitors to the observatory, 

 765 admission cards having been issued during the year. 



()-i>uh Transit Circle;. — The regular sun, moon and planet 

 work has been continued, and in addition a revision of the 

 Astronomische Gesellschaft zones and the zone of zodiacal stars 

 undertaken for the Paris Astronomical Conference of 1S96. 

 The instrument is in need of thorough repair, as an examina- 

 tion of the pivots reveals considerable inequalities, and the 

 present method of oblique illumination is to be replaced by an 

 axial arrangement. 



6-iiii/i Transit Circle. — Observations have been continued 

 on comparison stars for planets, special stars for Eros reductions, 

 and determinations of personal equation A serious difficulty, 

 however, has been the persistence o( the large diurnal change 

 of azimuth with temperature. Numerous experiments have 

 been made, but the error is only partially remedied. 



Clock Vault. — A considerable amount of time has been spent 

 in an attempt to bring the timekeepers under more constant con- 

 ditions. A vault eight feet square and seven feet high has been 

 made in the basement of the observer's room near the 6-inch 

 transit circle. In this a 9-inch brick wall encloses a wooden 

 hut, with an intervening air space of one foot containing hot 

 water pipes. The roof is covered over with boards enclosing a 

 6-inch layer of asbestos wool. The room is entered by triple 

 doors, and it is hoped that by these precautions constant tem- 

 perature conditions will be attained. The whole is on the 

 summit of a hill to avoid drainage difficulties. 



Prime Vertical Transit and <^inch Altazimuth. — These in- 

 struments have been used in conjunction for the determination 

 of latitude variation, the two distinct types of observation con- 

 stituting a valuable check on the accuracy of results obtained. 



40-foot Photo/ieliograpli. — 'Dutmg the year photographs of the 

 sun were obtained on 116 days. Of these, sunspols were 

 recorded on 24 days. The photographs show many faculx and 

 fine detail in the granulation of the solar surface. 



Nautical Almanac. — This is now under the direction of Prof. 

 W. S. Harshman. Special effort is to be made to ensure 

 the publication three years in advance. Investigations are 

 being made to provide tables for Jupiter's satellites and the 

 inner satellite of Uranus, and a new catalogue of zodiacal stars 

 for computing occultalions will be used in the preparation of the 

 volume for 1905. 



For a considerable time an important section of the stafl' was 

 absent on the eclipse expedition to Sumatra. Although most 

 of the parties were unfortunate in having bad weather, the 

 observers at Fort dc Kock obtained excellent photographs of 

 the phenomenon. 



Meteorological observations have been continued as in former 

 years, but all the magnetic determinations have been discon- 

 tinued owing to the interference of currents from the various 

 electric systems in the neighbourhood. 



NO. 1684, VOL. 65] 



THE DISCOVERY OF THE FUTURE.^ 



T T will lead into my subject most conveniently to contrast and 

 ■*■ separate two divergent types of mind, types which are to 

 be distinguished chiefly by their attitude towards time and more 

 particularly by the relative importance they attach and the 

 relative amount of thought they give to the future of things. 



The first of these two types of mind, and it is, I think, the 

 predominant type, the type of the majority of living people, is 

 that which seems scarcely to think of the future at all, which 

 regards it as a sort of black non-existence upon which the 

 advancing present will presently write events. The second 

 type, which is, I think, a more modern and much less abundant 

 type of mind, thinks constantly and by preference of things to 

 come, and of present things mainly in relation to the results 

 that must arise from them. The former type of mind, when one 

 gets it in its purity, is retrospective in habit, and it interprets 

 the things of the present, and gives value to this and denies it 

 to that, entirely with relation to the past. The latter type of 

 mind is constructive in habit, it interprets the things of the 

 present and gives value to this or that, entirely in relation to 

 things designed or foreseen. While from that former point of 

 view our life is simply to reap the consequences of the past, from 

 this our life is to prepare the future. The former type one 

 might speak of as the legal or submissive type of mind, because 

 the business, the practice and the training of a lawyer dispose 

 him towards it ; he of all men must most constantly refer to the 

 law made, the right established, the precedent set, and most 

 consistently ignore or condemn the thing that is only seeking to 

 establish itself. The latter type of mind I might for contrast 

 call the legislative, creative, organising or masterful type, 

 because it is perpetually attacking and altering the established 

 order of things, perpetually falling away from respect for what 

 the past has given us. It sees the world as one great workshop, 

 and the present is no more than material for the future, for the 

 thing that is yet destined to be. It is in the active mood of 

 thought while the former is in the passive ; it is the mind of 

 youth, it is the mind more manifest among the western nations 

 while the former is the mind of age, the mind of the oriental. 



Things have been, says the legal mind, and so we are here. 

 And the creative mind says, we are here, because things have 

 yet to be. 



Now I do not wish to suggest that the great mass of people 

 belong to either of these two types. Indeed, I speak of them 

 as two distinct and distinguishable types mainly for convenience 

 and in order to accentuate their distinction. There are probably 

 very few people who brood constantly upon the past without any 

 thought of the future at all, and there are probably scarcely any 

 who live and think consistently in relation to the future. The 

 great mass of people occupy an intermediate position between 

 these extremes, they pass daily and hourly from the passive mood 

 to the active, they see this thing in relation to its associations 

 and that thing in relation to its consequences, and they do not even 

 suspect that they are using two distinct methods in their minds. 



But for all that they are distinct methods, the method of 

 reference to the past and the method of reference to the future, 

 and their mingling in many of our minds no more abolishes 

 their dift'erence than the existence of piebald horses proves that 

 white is black. 



I believe that it is not sufficiently recognised just how different 

 in their consequences these two methods are, and just where their 

 difference and where the failure to appreciate their difference 

 takes one. This present time is a period of quite extraordinary 

 uncertainty and indecision upon endless questions — moral ques- 

 tions, asthetic questions, religious and political questions — upon 

 which we should all of us be happier to feel assured and 

 settled, and a very large amount of this floating uncertainty about 

 these important matters is due to the fact that with most of us 

 these two insufliciently distinguished ways of looking at things 

 are not only present together, but in actual conflict in our minds, 

 in unsuspected conflict ; we pass from one to the other heed- 

 lessly without any clear recognition of the fundamental difference 

 in conclusions that exists between the two, and we do this with 

 disastrous results to our confidence and to our consistency in 

 dealing with all sorts of things. 



But before pointing out how divergent these two types or 

 habits of mind really are, it is necessary to meet a possible ob- 

 jection to what has been said. I may put that objection in this 



1 .A discouise delivered at the Rjyal Inslilutic 

 by Mr. H. G. Welti 



t'riday, January 24, 



