Evening star., 1912-06-30

| In speaking of the growth of the or
ganization DIR. Alexander Graham Bell,
| who has been associat-
| DR., Bells ed with the movement
| o. from it's beginning.
| OoniiueHI. gives some interesting
data about the early history.
There has never been in the history OF
| the world a scientific society that has in
creased in influence and power as the Ma
tional Geographic Society," said DR.. Bell.
"At the time of its organization the So
ciety had no endowment. nothing coming
to it but the membership dues. No mil
| iionaire has since come forward to help
us out, and yet today the society has a
great endowment raised by it's own eff
J forts We have now an annual surplus.
/ over and above all the running expenses
| of the society. amounting last year to
si30Go-a surplus to be devoted to the
promotion of geographic science In the
early DAYS we had only about a thousand
members and the society was living from
hand to mouth. Like many other scientinc
societies we constituted a strictly tech
nical organization.
I'm spite of the fact that all the OH
GERS of the society. including the edltor
| of the ma gaZine served without pay: and
| in spite of the fact that our lectures, as q
rule cost us nothing except an occa-
sional honorarium to cover fraVelng eN-
penses our income. being derived exclu-
sively from membership fees, was hardlS
sufficient to pay the printers bill for the
ma gazine the rent for our lecture hall
and the ordinary running expenses OF
the society. Deficits were by no means
unknown. And then. when the use OF the
Hubbard Memorial building was onereo
us in memory of our first president. we
| did not even have the means to provide
for its lighting or to take proper care OF
| it."
| It was at this juncture that, driven by
| the spurs of dire necessity. the member
ship of the society was broadened. and
! the tone of the magazine changed. To-
| day the publication has circulation
SURPRISING those of several we'll known
magazines. and stands at the top rung as
cerned.
| In winning such nationwide popularity
the National Geographic Magazine car
point to two things as
| Grosvenor's causes. one dependent upon
! the other. The primary
value. cause is found in the pres
ent editor of the magazine. gilbert n.
/ Grosvenor, who has been connected Win
| the magazine since 1899. In speaking ol
| his work DIR. Bell said: Mr. Grosvenor
Was engaged as assistant editor In 1873
He speedily captured the society. Later
| he became editor and then director OF the
work Of the society. We have been very
fortunate in securing his services. and
with the intelligent action of an unusually
fine board of managers and the corolal
support of the members of the society,
l tAfx
cured" The second point in its favor'
| and one which is due to Mr.. Grosvenors
! work is the use of pictures. with Wnicn
| every article is so profusely Illustrated:
The National Geographic 1s the hos'
wonderfully illustrated magazine In the
! world. as can easily be realized from the
| statement that in one issue there ap-
| peared thirty pictures IN TOUR coiors;
| illustrating an article on emma anu
! Korea That number OF pictures exceeds
that used in any other magazine to IL
| Iustrate a single article. Nor is that an
exceptional case In another issue there
| appeared thirty-four pictures illustrating
| a single article. while one OF the latest Is
Sues contains sixty-five pictures fIustrat-
ing an article on the forgotten ruins OF
| Indo-China-
| There is one set Of pictures, however.
which can. perhaps. be set at the heao
| Of the list These are micro-photograpns
| of the fy which were used to illustrate
| an article that resulted in the general fly
crusades carried on throughout this coun-
| trv. The now famous picture of q
| fy's head, showing its two COMPOUND
eyes. covered with thousands of lenses;
it's three simple eyes, looking like small
| black buttons on the top of its head. and
| its "peacock- -feathered" feelers. has been
one of the most widely used photographs
ever published. And interesting as Is the
result Of this work the method Q, on-
tanning the photographs was equally as
| interesting Three years of experiment
ing was required, as we'll as the invention
| of a special camera. But even with a
special camera it was impossible to pho
tograph the fly in motion. and SO one OF
| the most difficult parts of the work was
to find some way in which the fly could
he kept still without killing it. TINS was
finally solved by singing it with clay
| taken from wasps' nests. which resulted
| in paralyzng but not killing 1T.
Each winter series of lectures is given
| by the society. These have become SO
popular that last year each lecture had to
| he given one afternoon, and then again
| in the evening. in order that all
those desiring might attend. The speak