70 



that the last time I saw that piece of ground it was a 

 morass, and sand dunes, and then think of what it is to-day 

 and what it is going to be complete next October I can 

 scarcely believe that it could have been done. We 

 want money from Congress, it is a national affair, and 

 the people of the United States have invited the nations 

 of the world to come, and they must not be brought 

 here to see anything incomplete. The States have 

 nearly all made appropriations, Illinois, of course, lead- 

 ing off with $800,000, and all the way from that down 

 to forty and fifty thousand. It is impossible for us to 

 say what will happen in the next twenty years when 

 we think of the tremendous strides in the last ten years, 

 but it will probably be many, many years before such 

 another opportunity will reach the people of this 

 country. 



I had intended to say something to you about air. 

 The last talk I had the honor of making before this 

 association was on the subject of water, not any more 

 wonderful than that of air, of which we know so little, 

 though we live at the bottom of a great ocean. 

 Almost nothing does the average man and woman 

 know, except that we breathe it, and that when in 

 motion we call it wind. Air contains oxygen, nitro- 

 gen and carbonic acid in the proportions of oxygen, 

 20.96 per cent., nitrogen, 79 per cent., carbonic acid .04 

 percent., and these elements must be kept about in this 

 proportion in order that air may be fit for respiration ; 

 a comparatively slight addition of carbonic acid rend- 

 ers the air not capable of healthy respiration. Yapor 

 is also a constant constituent of water. Nature takes 

 care of this element and provides a sufficient quantity 

 of oxygen to keep it in normal condition. Those por- 

 tions of the atmosphere lying above any point upon 



