July 20, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



71 



who would get their training, if possible, 

 from experienced specialists in this class of 

 work. Computers of orbits would be aided 

 in the same way, and their work might thus 

 be greatly improved in quality and in- 

 creased in quantity. Directors of observa- 

 tories could get most valuable advice and 

 help from the committee, and when a new 

 observatory was established its plan for 

 work could thus be greatly improved. The 

 Harvard Observatory would gladly wel- 

 come and profit by such advice. 



The committee should not stop with ex- 

 isting problems. When a new line of re- 

 search, like measuring the heat of the stars, 

 is proposed, they should at once investigate 

 it and, if the results are promising, test it. 

 If it prove successful, they should carry it 

 as far as present means permit. In this, 

 as in securing the cooperation of existing 

 observatories for any of the great problems 

 now before us, there seems to be no limit 

 to the results obtainable by a wise adminis- 

 tration. 



The donor, as well as the astronomer, 

 must be asked to consider first the interests 

 of science. His name would necessarily 

 always be associated with his gift, and 

 would he not prefer a world-wide, to a 

 local, immortality? There must now be 

 many wealthy men trying to find some good 

 use for the money they can not take with 

 them out of this life. The hardest problem 

 will be to find an active committee with no 

 taint of selfish dross. This taint exists 

 even among astronomers. There is no more 

 permanent, economical and efficient trustee 

 than a great university with long continued 

 and honorable traditions. As with any 

 other wish of the donor, it could secure and 

 enforce unselfish management, as well as 

 efficiency. 



Industrial enterprises half a century ago 

 were in nearly the same condition that 

 science is in to-day. May we not expect 

 in astronomy the same advance by coopera- 



tion and organization ? If donors, trustees 

 and astronomers can thus be led to work 

 for scientific results alone, regardless of 

 country or personal considerations, it will 

 be the best return I can make for the great 

 privilege of addressing the Harvard Chap- 

 ter of Phi Beta Kappa. 



Edward C. Pickering. 

 Harvard College Observatory. 



SOME ASPECTS OF THE PANAMA CANALS 



After approximately six years of in- 

 vestigation, the selection of both route and 

 type for a ship canal across the Isthmus of 

 Panama is nearly completed. Although the 

 report of the board of consulting engineers 

 already made public is not final, it leads 

 to the final consideration of the question in 

 congress so that on the conclusion of con- 

 gressional' consideration work can be 

 promptly begun under the adopted plan. 

 Whether the final plan be that of a lock 

 or a sea-level canal, the route will be the 

 same, practically that of the Panama Rail- 

 road running between Colon on the Carib- 

 bean side of the isthmus and a point called 

 La Boca on the Pacific side, a mile and a 

 half west of the city of Panama. 



The length of the Panama Canal is about 

 49 miles between 40-foot contours at low 

 water at its termini, but the length be- 

 tween shore lines will be not more than 42 

 miles. 



The topography of the Isthmus at the 

 Panama crossing is well adapted to the 

 construction of this ship canal, the original 

 summit of the divide on the line of the 

 canal being but about 330 feet above sea 

 level. This has now been reduced to about 

 170 feet above mean sea level by the French 

 excavation at Culebra. About one half of 

 the length of the canal lies along low 

 marshy ground on either side of the 



^ Read at the Ithaca, N. Y., meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, June 30, 1906, before Section D, Mechan- 

 ical Science and Engineering. 



