Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-14

From small beginnings the Smithsonian
Institution has grown to be one Of the
mightiest Of the worlds activities in saith
ering and disseminating beneficial knowl-
edge Established through the half mil
lion-dollar bequest Of James smithson, II
has served 20 create and now leads the
scientific thought Of the new world. 1t
has made American science respected in all
parts OF the world, Some OF the greatest
race benefiting inventions OF the age may
be traced to work done at the Smithsonian
Institution and the foundation Of many
sciences we're laid here.
Joseph Henry, the first secretary OF the
institution. constructed the worlds earliest
! electrical magnetic telegraph. Upon his
theories were evolved the Bell telephone
and the Morse telegraph. The first weather
map published was issued by the insutu-
ton and the United states weather bureau,
recognized everywhere as me worlds lead
ing organization for meteorological invesu-
cations, had its beginning in the activities
OF the Smithsonian. The ground work Of
the presence science OF fish culture was
/ laid here. Spencer f. Baird, the second
secretary Of the institute IN, began the eX-
periments and Investigations which have
made the United States the foremost fish
culturahst OF the globe.
! When Prof Langley built his celebrated
aerodrome and tried to fly It at Wide
| Water on the Potomac river, he was
greatly ridiculed. As a flyer the Langley
machine was failure, but the lessons
| learned through It's construction and opera
| ton have formed the basis of aeronautiC
! science Those who were most skepucaI
! Of the Langley airship are now foremost
| in honoring his memory as the father OF
aerial navigation.
! Prof Langley made other valuable con
trlbutions to general knowledge during his
! career as secretary of the Smithsonian IN
| stitution. He invented a little instrument
which may solve some Of the most trouble
some problems that confront the human
race This instrument is known as thu
! bulometer, and is so delicately constructed
that II will register the hundred milliontf
part of a single degree OF temperature.
spider web, the sauze of a fly's wing,
mirror as small as pinhead but a.
perfect as a $4,000 reflector, thread o
spun glass, are some OF the delicate thing
which enter into It's construction. Al
though the heat OF a star is no create
than that OF a candle at a distance o
many miles, the bolometer vibrate
markedly when such a slight amount o
heat is thrown upon It,
This instrument is used in studying tn
b constancy Of the sun. 1t long has bee
recognized that weather seems to NOV
in cycles The bolometer has disclose
the fact that the heat from the sun show
marked variations 1t was Prof. Lang
ley's theory that there might be a rels
| hat tHa ri Of q
the sun and the changes Of the weather
, He bequeathed his investigations to Pro
, Abbott, director OF the astrophysical OF
; servatory, who now is engaged in fathom
ing the mysteries Of solar radiation, 1t
thought that the lessons he learned ma
yet enable scientists to forecast the weathe
: as accurately as they forecast the ecHps
Of the sun or the coming Of a comet
The advantages which would accrue froI
, an accurate forecast of the weather al
manifold The farmer could know whethe
the season ahead of him was to be we
. one or q dry one, and could plant sue
crops as would be most advantageous
grown under such conditions. The shi
owner could know whether 1t was safe Il
his vessels to leave port, the big CONVEX
tons could be held on fair days, and
thousand ways this knowledge could
used in the advancement Of the welfal
% | of mankind.
Through the bureau Of ethnology ii
songs, customs and traditions of Il
aboriginal Americans are being preserves
Handbooks dealing with Indian language
Indian arts and Indian habits are beir
published. Through the national geologic
park there is being gathered together OF
of the finest collections of wild ANNA
In the world. From every continent ar
almost every country species that are RAJ
and interesting have come to enrich Il
collections at the national zoo. The Roos
welt African expedition gathered mar
interesting specimens Of birds and anima
for this collection.
No finer museum for scientific researC
is TO be found anywhere in the world tha
the National Museum, maintained und
the Jurisdiction of the Smithsonian instit,
ton. Here one may see men and womC
from every part of the world engaged
studying the various collections. The d
vi NJ aponOuaip RaplOgv contains mo