jANtTABT 1, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



13 



whole history of the Academy: Ruther- 

 furd's first successful diffraction gratings 

 and large-scale photographs of the solar 

 spectrum; Draper's spectra of stars and 

 planets, the first to show the lines; Young's 

 pioneer observations of the spectra of sun- 

 spots and the chromosphere; Langley's 

 bolometric investigations in the invisible 

 region of the infra-red, and his measures of 

 the solar constant of radiation; Pickering's 

 extensive discoveries and classification of 

 stellar spectra photographed with the objec- 

 tive prism ; Rowland 's invention of the con- 

 cave grating, and his fundamental studies 

 of solar and laboratory spectra ; Michel- 

 son's ingenious and varied contributions to 

 the instruments of spectroscopy, compris- 

 ing the interferometer, echelon and large 

 grating, and his researches with them; 

 Keeler's studies of celestial spectra, in- 

 augurating the era of accurate radial 

 velocity measurements; Campbell's per- 

 fection of the stellar spectrograph and the 

 far-reaching results of his years of observa- 

 tion. Each of these American investiga- 

 tors marked a distinct epoch in astrophys- 

 ical research, and their labors form a con- 

 tinuous chain covering the entire life of 

 their subject. It is still possible to obtain 

 many of their original instruments and 

 earliest photographs, and to exhibit them in 

 an attractive manner. Who would not like 

 to see an actual spectrum formed by Row- 

 land's earliest grating? A touch of a 

 button operating an arc light mounted be- 

 fore the spectroscope slit, is all that would 

 be necessary. And if this can be done in 

 one field of research, there is no reason why 

 similar stimulus can not be given in others, 

 though of course in varying degree. If 

 many subjects can show any such series of 

 advances as we have seen in astronomical 

 spectroscopy, the pessimism shown by some 

 writers regarding American research must 

 surely give way to optimism. And no 



method of bringing the true state of affairs 

 to easy comprehension, both to men of 

 science and to the public, could equal that 

 of the proposed exhibit. It goes without 

 saying that the ingenious and attractive 

 devices of modern museums should be em- 

 ployed, instead of the dry and forbidding 

 exhibition methods of former times.] 



The committee on historical apparatus 

 might also have charge of instruments be- 

 longing to the various trust funds and no 

 longer in use by the persons to whom the 

 original grants for their purchase were 

 made. In the course of time such a col- 

 lection would naturally grow to consider- 

 able proportions, and the Academy would 

 be enabled to assist its members by the loan 

 of these instruments, as the Royal Society 

 has done so effectively. The objection 

 which is sometimes made to the purchase 

 of standard instruments by the recipients 

 of grants would thus be removed, as such 

 instruments might prove of great service in 

 a collection for genei-al use. 



TENTATIVE DESIGN OP AN ACADEMY BUILDING 



[The design of an Academy building 

 here reproduced^" is intended merely as a 



19 [From preliminary sketches by the firm oi 

 Shepley, Eutan and Coolidge. Some of the desig- 

 nations of rooms here employed should be modi- 

 fied. The name ' ' conversazione room ' ' for the 

 large public hall comes from the annual conver- 

 saziones of the Eoyal Society, where many instru- 

 ments and experimental exhibits are shown. The 

 photographic room (not needed on this floor) 

 should be used for council meetings, setting free 

 the room allotted in the plan to the council for 

 a members' ante-room, adjoining the meeting 

 room. The meeting, lecture and exhibition halls 

 are shown in Fig. 2 as extending up through the 

 second floor, but the laboratories and other parts 

 of the building would be divided into several 

 stories of ordinary height. The laboratories may 

 of course be devoted to any desired field of re- 

 search, and the designations are merely intended 

 to suggest that one of these be in the physical and 

 the other in the biological sciences.] 



