Henry Augustus Rowland. 461 



knowledge, and valued an experiment or research in propor- 

 tion to the amount of light it threw on theory, and to the 

 extent that it connected and unified other phenomena. I 

 believe it was Maxwell's beautiful electromagnetic theory of 

 light that so strongly attracted him to that subject, by showing 

 a relation between phenomena apparently so independent as 

 light and electricity. It is a fact that when he began his 

 lectures on light in 1884 he developed the electromagnetic 

 and elastic-solid theories side by side, pointing out their simi- 

 larities and differences and noting the difficulties inherent in 

 each. 



He was not an experimentalist who experimented for its 

 own sake, but he was a natural philosopher, seeking to solve 

 the great problems of physical science, and he made use of all 

 the means he could command to accomplish his purpose — 

 experiment or pure reasoning, or more commonly the combi- 

 nation of the two. His absorption in research did not allow 

 him to give very much time to his students ; but the steadiness 

 of his work, and the brilliant suggestions which he made from 

 time to time, were more stimulating than greater personal 

 attention would have been from a man of less genius. 



As we look back over the last twenty -five years and see the 

 change in the character of physical science in America, and 

 consider the great influence Professor Rowland has had in 

 effecting this change, we appreciate something of the work he 

 has done and realize the great loss his death means to physical 

 science in America and in the world. 



Professor Rowland's work has received the recognition it 

 deserved and he has been the recipient of many honors ; lie 

 received the honorary degrees — Ph.D., Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, 1880 ; LL.D., Yale University, 1895, Princeton Uni- 

 versity, 1896. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor of 

 France ; Rumford Medallist of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences ; Draper Medallist of the National Academy 

 of Sciences ; Matteucci Medallist (Italian), and he received the 

 prize of the Venetian Institute for his work on the " Mechani- 

 cal Equivalent of Heat." Among the many learned bodies in 

 which he was elected a member we will only mention the 

 Royal Society of London ; the Physical Society of London ; 



