Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-03


lE III 81 8l bequest of a half-million
q dollars for the founding of
IA a % an institution for the in
lAsassssas4Assg crease and diffusion lof
knowledge among men, he
builded better than he knew He had
become disgusted with his titles, which
proftted him nothing, and declared that
he would make his name remembered
when all his relatives We're forgotten.
Perhaps never in history has a half
million dollars yielded such splendid
returns as that with which Smithson
endowed the institution that bears his
name. From the time that it was es-
tablshed this organization has led the
scientific thought of the new world. 1t
has been Americas lookout upon the
watch towers of science.
When American science was in its
swaddling clothes the Smithsonian in
stitution was its wet nurse. In the
early days of the country men were so
intent upon forest conquering and en-
pire building that they had little in
clination and less opportunity for
scientific thought or original research,
But the Smithsonian took the neg
lected infant into it's care and nour-
ished it until today American science
is respected throughout the world The
institution also assisted materially in
TIC eltlN dllCtlIGIll VI lllC al tSs 10 ~
secretary, Joseph Henry. constructed
the earliest electro magnetic telegraph
and laid the foundations OF the art OF
electrical transmission through which
Morse gave to civilization the telegraph
and Bell the telephone:
The science of meteorology. had its
beginnings at the institution and the
worlds first weather map was pub
lirha Saqnn1 cppTptHTN,
Spencer L. Baird, practically estab-
lished the science of fish culture and
organized the United States fish COM
mission It's third secretary, Professor
Langley gathered the data upon which
is based the budding science of aero
nautics. These are only examples or
the many things the institution has
done in carrying out its founders pur-.
pose-"the increase and diffusion OF
knowledge among men,
The work of the astrophyscal OBJ
seryatory constitutes one of the most
interesting phases of the activities OF
the institution. While its labors are
highly technical and the world may
wonder how such a thing as the study
of "solar constants" can affect It's
everyday life, it is likely that discoV-
cries affecting the welfare of every
human being may yet grow out of its
able to predict eclipses, moon changes
and other celestial phenomena, with
minute accuracy, it has never been
able to forecast the weather for more
than few days, and it cannot tell
whether the sky will be cloudless or
overcast even a few hours in advance
It was a favorite theory of the late
Professor Langley that the sun does
not throw out uniform heat and that
the variations in it's production of heat
have an intimate relation to changes
in the weather. He believed that he
could prove his theory that the sun
sometimes loafs on its job. Having
proved his inference that there are
fluctuations in the heat of the sun, ne
set about to determine the laws or thls
variation, believing that with tHese
causes discovered he could make long
range forecast OF the weather as ac-
crratelv as the astronomer forecasts
the changes of the moon. PROFESSOR
Langley died in the midst of TINS work,
but it has been taken up by ms as
sistant. Director Abbot. Through MS
bolometers and pyrheliometers' lle4s-
uring the hundredth- millonth or ae-
gree of temperature and doing oliiet
things no less remarkable, Mr. Appot "
has obtained a fair understanding OF
the habits of Old Sol and hopes 10
reach the point where he can estapllsh
the laws of these changes. -
Think what benefits would result II
Director Abbot should be able to estap-
iish the Langley theory The farmer
could know in advance what the season
was going to be. If wet season were
assured ha could plant crop requlr-
ing plenty of moisture, and If dry
season were indicated he could plant
a crop unaffected by dry weather. Ihe
ocean yoyager could time his colnlhss
and goings so as to escape the storms
of the sea. The big fairs and other
oDen-air meetings could plan thelr pro :
grams so as to escape lnclelnent
Weather. A thousand advantages
N,ould come to man through accurate
long range weather forecastlng. Ol
course Director Abbot is making no
nositiye promise that he will be, apie
to accomplish these things, but ne IS
assured that there will be results I'M
portant only in, less. degree
Various other original Investigations
are being made under the direct super
vision of the Smithsonian instltutlon'
The researches of the bureau OF ethnol-