12 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1044 



KATIONAL ACADEMIES AND THE PEOG- 

 MESS OF BESEASCE. II 



USES OP AN ACADEMY BUILDING 



In addition to experimental and illus- 

 trated lectures, the Academy might advan- 

 tageously maintain exhibits freely open to 

 the public, showing the current researches 

 of its members, the most recent European 

 advances in science, and new applications 

 of scientific methods in the industries. It 

 goes without saying that ample space and 

 the best of facilities would be required for 

 this purpose. If carefully worked out, this 

 plan should provide an additional means 

 of keeping the public informed of the 

 progress of research and its bearing on the 

 industries of the country. While emphasis 

 should always be laid in such exhibits on 

 pure science, which it is the Academy's 

 prime object to advance, some of the most 

 striking illustrations of the applications of 

 science should also be introduced. 



It is obvious that the Academy can not 

 undertake such activities unless it can ob- 

 tain a large building of its own. The ad- 

 vantages of having such a building for 

 other purposes have already been touched 

 upon. The attractiveness of the annual 

 meetings would be greatly enhanced if 

 they were held in such surroundings as 

 an Academy building could supply. 

 There is a very real diiference between the 

 atmosphere of bare halls, casually occupied, 

 and attractively furnished rooms, perma- 

 nently belonging to the Academy, and 

 charged with the stimulating traditions ac- 

 cumulated during the process of time. 

 The walls should be hung with portraits 

 of past presidents and other eminent men 

 of science, which could easily be obtained 

 if there were a place for them. More- 

 over, the example of the Royal Society in 

 preserving Newton's telescope and of the 

 Royal Institution in exhibiting the original 

 instruments of Davy, Faraday and other 



great investigators, should be followed as 

 soon as possible by the National Academy. 

 Doubtless it is still feasible to secure in- 

 struments used by Joseph Henry, the two 

 Agassizs, and others who have played a 

 similar part in the history of the Academy. 

 A permanent committee, charged with the 

 collection of portraits, manuscripts, and 

 instruments, and exercising care and dis- 

 crimination in its selections, would gradu- 

 ally bring together many objects which 

 would become more and more valuable with 

 the passage of time.^^ 



HISTORICAL EXHIBITS 



[Few writers on civilization in America 

 appreciate how largely the United States 

 has contributed to the development of cer- 

 tain fields of research. The mathematical 

 memoirs of Gibbs were of fundamental 

 importance, while in such fields as celestial 

 mechanics, practical astronomy, astrophys- 

 ics, experimental physics, geology and pale- 

 ontology, and in many of the newer phases- 

 of biology and experimental medicine. Na- 

 tional Academy members have led the way 

 in a long series of advances. An exhibit of 

 original instruments, manuscripts, and 

 photographs, arranged so as to show the 

 successive contributions of American in- 

 vestigators in various departments of re- 

 search, would prove an inspiration to many 

 a young and enthusiastic aspirant to the 

 pleasures of original discovery. I shall 

 never forget my own delight in first seeing 

 some of Henry Draper's original negatives 

 of stellar spectra. Many of these are now 

 in the possession of the Academy, ready 

 for use in an exhibit of continuous progress 

 in astronomical spectroscopy covering the 



18 [A committee of this kind, which was ap- 

 pointed in November, 1913, has already received 

 from Mrs. Henry Draper valuable instruments and 

 original negatives illustrating the pioneer re- 

 searches in astrophysics of the late Henry Draper.} 



