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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 792 



ferent, he is the very best thing of which 

 we are sure. It behooves us, therefore, to 

 make the most of him. 



W. P. Ganong 

 Smith College 



i 



^ PRESENTATION OP THE LANOLET MEDAL 

 TO THE WRIGHT BROTHERS'^ 



Mr. Chancellor: The award of the Lang- 

 ley medal to the Brothers Wilbur and 

 Orville Wright emphasizes the fact that we 

 are living in an age of great achievements. 



The twentieth century had hardly 

 dawned when the world was startled by 

 the discovery of radium, which has opened 

 up an entirely new field to science, and 

 which has led us to modify profoundly our 

 conceptions regarding the constitution of 

 matter. 



Another new field has been revealed to 

 us through the development of wireless 

 telegraphy and telephony; and we now 

 utilize the vibrations of the ethereal me- 

 dium of space for the transmission of 

 thought. 



Then again, we may note the most revo- 

 lutionary changes going on before our eyes 

 relating to methods of transportation. 



The appearance of the hydroplane-boat 

 probably foreshadows a revolution in 

 marine architecture and propulsion. On 

 land we see motor-cycles, automobiles and 

 electric cars displacing the horse. Petro- 

 leum and electricity have become powerful 

 rivals of steam; and we seem to be on the 

 eve of a revolution in our methods of rail- 

 road transportation, through the applica- 

 tion of the gyroscope to a monorail system. 

 And now aerial transport has come, dis- 

 pensing with rails and roads altogether. 

 The air itself has become a highway; and 

 dirigible balloons and flying machines are 

 now realities. 



' Historical address by Dr. Alexander Graham 

 Bell at tlie Smithsonian Institution, February 10, 

 1910. 



How well the predictions of Langley 

 have been fulfilled. We now recognize 

 that he was right, when he said a few 

 years ago (1897) that: 



The world, indeed, will be supine if it do not 

 realize that a new possibility has come to it, and 

 that the great universal highway overhead is now 

 soon to be opened. 



It has been opened ; and who can foretell 

 the consequences to man? 



One thing is certain: that the physical 

 obstacles to travel have been overcome; 

 and that there is no place on the surface 

 of the globe that is inaccessible to civilized 

 man, through the air. 



Does this not point to the spread of 

 civilization all over the world; and the 

 bringing of light to the dark continents of 

 the earth? 



THE PIONEEES OF AERIAL FLIGHT 



Who are responsible for the great devel- 

 opments in aerodromics of the last few 

 years ? Not simply the men of the present,, 

 but also the men of the past. 



To one man especially is honor due — 

 our own Dr. S. P. Langley, late secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. When we 

 trace backwards the course of history we 

 come unfailingly to him as the great 

 pioneer of aerial flight. 



We have honored his name by the estab- 

 lishment of the Langley medal ; and it may 

 not be out of place on this, the first occasion 

 for the presentation of the medal, to say a 

 few words concerning Langley 's work. 



LANGLEY 'S WORK 



Langley devoted his attention to aero- 

 dromics at a time when the idea of a flying 

 machine was a subject for ridicule and 

 scorn. It was as much as a man's reputa- 

 tion was worth to be known to be at work 

 upon the subject. He bravely faced the 

 issue, and gave to the world his celebrated 



