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

", L
began my work. Theefirst work, however,
was to provide the Indispensable apparatus
for the observatory, which, except for the
single telescope, wasI one lonly-in name. l
found, however, total lack of money"
He Organizes tie fme Service.
The secretary continued: my proposed
Investigations could mot tbs made without
books and Instruments, and these could not
be got without funds. 1 then began to look
around for something which I could do
which would be commercially profitable to
the observatory, and; the result was the
Inauguration of the time service, which
has since spread all Over The country, and
by which the clocks of our railroads and
our cities are now regulated from an OBJ
servatory at some central point. 1t is ia
miliar enough now, but I had the hard
work of first introducing 1t and persuading
people of it's utility. l had to interest the
city councils and the railroads in it, but I
finally got an electric clock established at
the observatory, and soon had the time Of
the city regulated by it. Before this each
jeweler had his own time. Each of the
railroads ran by different times, and there
was no certainty as to the arrivals or de-
partureS of trains. Soon after l started 1t
it was extended along the lines of the rail-
ways until we were regulating clocks as
far as Chicago and Philadelphia from
Pittsburg. To do this we had to have the
electric wires to ourselves, and it was so
arranged that we were allowed to use
them for five minutes at o'clock in the
morning and at in the afternoon of every
day. The system soon spread to other
cities, and it is now in use all over the
world. 1 did all this to me ungrateful
work in order to get means for my expert
ments; and as 1 look back on it, l think I
may claim that-1 did tolerabiy well in a
business way, for a man chiefly versed in
scientific affairs, for first and last l thus
got for my little observatory over $50, 900
This / made out of nothing. as it WERE and
this all went into books and into the means
for scientific research.
The Sun Often Behind Time.
1.-The observatory clock was regulated by
the sun, was 1t not?'
yes" replied Mr.. Langley. "By the sun
and the fixed stars You cannot work by
the sun alone. 1t is by no means regular
body, as many people suppose. You would
not give anything for a watch which
should be as irregular as the sun. The sun
is sometimes fifteen minutes out of the way
at noon, sometimes ahead and sometimes
behind time. and it is only by averaging
its Irregularities that We know where to
find it,"
Your studies have been largely devoted
to the sun, Mr. Langley. What is the
sun, anyhow"
THAT question is good deal easier to
ask than to answer" was the reply. Il
have spent years in watching 1t and trying
to learn something about it. / have dis
covered some things, but 1 should have
to know a great deal more before l could
adequately answer that question. 1 spent
three years in the study of the spots on the
sun before 1 was ready to make any an
nouncements concerning them, and during
the waking hours of those three years the
suns face was almost constantly before
me. Have you ever looked at it in tele-
scope? Do you appreciate what watching
the sun is? In the first place, the face
of the sun in a telescope is almost always
Quivering. Our atmosphere makes 1t seem
to move to and fro in waves, and looking
at it is like looking at a Pickering candle,
so that if it's surface were ever so near it
would be hard to make out the details.
t then 1t is. of course, really an enor-
nous way off, so that these details are also
lost from its remoteness''
Can you give me an Idea how far off it
is?" j.
Il have tried in one of my popular writ
ings to do that by borrowed illustration"
replied Mr.. Langley. For instance, you
touch your finger to candle. and in a
fraction of a second your brain announces
the pain. The sensation has travelled
along the nerve to the brain almost in
simultaneously, but the speed has been