Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-14

| praEtICJI dFIITVdIIOnS
mankind. He is in a minor degree carry
ing on observation and experiment today,
though his time and energies are neceS-
sarly almost wholly devoted to the adj
minis ration of the great institution of
which he is the head.
A Chat With Secretary Langley.
This man is now sixty-one years young.
His life has been packed with the hardest
of work, but his eye is bright, his step Is
firm, and he has today as much vitality
as any of the younger officers of the in
stituton. He is. believe, the busiest man
in Washington, for he carries on his scien-
tific experiments only in the intervals of
his administrative work, and it required
special appointment made some time in ad-
vance for me 10 secure chat with him.
1 found him a charming talker, full of
good nature and overlooking with apt quo
tations and fun. There is nothing pedantic
about him. He dropped for the time all
technical language. and in everyday
words, at my request, tried to convey to
me some idea of his wonderful work. l
asked him number of questions about
himself. He did not like to answer these.
He wanted to put himself in the back
ground. but I feel. that the people will be
Interested in his personality, and in the
story of how an ambitious boy "hitched
his wagon to the stars" and got there.
Upon my asking him when he was first
attracted to the study Of the heavens, he
rerlied:
II cannot remember when I was not in
terested in astronomy. 1 remember read
ing books upon the subject as early as at
nine and when l was quite a boy l learned
how to make little telescopes. and studied
the stars through them. Later made some
larger ones. and though they were, of
course, nothing like those use here, 1
think myself they were very good for a
boy. One of the most wonderful things to
fne was the sum- and as to how 1t heated
no orth I Sa1 fn h0l h1 nd RI
it and wonder how the rays made them
| warm, and where and how the heat came
from l asked many questions, but could
get no satisfactory replies and some of
these childish questions have occupied many
years of my later life in the answering. 1
remember for instance, of the Won
ders to me was common hotbed. I could
not how the glass kept it warm while
all around was cold, and when l asked, I
was told that of course the glass kept in
the heat; but though my elders saw no diff
ticuty about it, l could not see why, if
the heat went in through the glass; it
could not come out again. 1 now know
that the size of the rays changed after en-
tering the glass, and that they could not
come out because they grew larger, being
in much the same condition that of the
lean mouse who crept through a hole in a
barrel of grain, and filled himself so full
that he could not get out again. Since
then l have spent many years in studying
the way that that great .hotbed, the earth
itself on which we live, is, by a like prin-
ciple, made warmer by the atmosphere that
covers it the glass did the hotbed"
WAS your father astronomer Mr.
Langley" 1 asked
NO" was the reply. "My father was a
merchant, and l have records of as
tronomers in my family. My father was
rot rich enough to give me an income suf1-
cient to support myself and my hobby
Astronomy. you know, is not very profit
able science, and as l had to make living
for myself, l chose the profession of arohi-
lecture and civil engineering, but l never
heartily liked it. After some wears l went
to Europe, and On my return from thc trip
having a little money, l decided that l
would take up astronomy and devote my
Life to it. j vent to the Harvard UNIVERSE
ty at Cambridge and found position for
work and study there. That ] had been oc-
cupying myself with astronomy pretty as
Siduously already was, I think shown by.
the fact that although lacked the exper-
fence that only observatory work could sup
ply, 1 still knew enough to command a
salaried position from the outset 1 re-
manned at Harvard for some time,
and then was called to the Naval Academy
at Annapolis to take charge of the obser-
vatory there. My next position was as the
director of the Allegheny Observatory
near Pittsburg, where 1 spent a great part
of my professional life before l came to
Washington"
ut was at Pittsburg, then. that most of
your experiments were carried on, was it
not?'
Yes" replied Mr.. Langley. There was
a quite large telescope for those days at
of amateur astronomers, partially for cash,
but mostly on credit After the first en-
thusiaSm passed away the debt remained
and the club became disorganized, so that
the telescope was about to be sold at auc-
ton. when the Western University secured
t.,,t toxl