Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-10

a mas FnleI2S" lf"'u ANIME
4 4 ycar-Well advanced in many
lines of research, better
equipped by past experience to attack
others with brighter prospects Of sue
cess. still far from it's cherished goal.
Yet already tUekking resolutely ahead
"u the next lap Of its eternal journey
toward the ultimate solution of life $
varied mysteries.
When the hihIioGraphies are written,
bound and labeled. 1928 Will he Tor
ever recorded as Il year of rHtTaordl-
nary achievement, period during
which contributions of striking value
/" culture progress and human wei
fare and happiness We're profuSely
made But the scientist can spare no
time To reVol in the glOrieS of the past,
the necessities of the future call MIN
And thus il is left TO layman to
chronicle for public consumption some
o. The wonders science has worked.
Probably nowhere in America is
better opportunity afforded for sclen-
life study than in Washington. Here
are some Of the great research or
CARNATIONS of the world The Smith
s"nan Institution and The National
Museum offer both Il written and pic
t"UirI story of science surh HS II" uni
N'rtitN could hope to impart. and the
= hives of tn" Government are fairly
lulnuG with cuticiuc facts.
ne works Of The Smit hSuniau lnSti-
tu'jun already are well known. and
few tourists have stopped of at Wash
iT@tun without seeing the wonders
ti..i are to he viewed in the National
Museum. The learned documents
clustered in the GaT-SCattered archives
o. the Government are altogether too
inaccessible at present. 1t is there
fore OF the wonders of scientific re-
$crch accomplished by the Carnegie
Institution of Washington in the past
year that this story will deal.
Favored with a perpetual endOw
mont that has recently been increased
t" something in excess of S27 ,000 900,
tn" Carnegie Institution covers q field
Of research that possibly no other
1 or-lniZation in the world can now ap-
yrroaCh from the standpoint of
breadth of subjects. And being dedi-
cated to the advancement of science
and knowledge for the Improvement
q mankind, it takes second place to
no other research institution in the
world
When does the living heart first
begin to beat and where and how?
How is the heart first formed in the
living embryo and what are its cycles
To full development? Has the uni
verse an end. or is space limitless?
Is life limited to this planet alone
among all those that may he seen
floating in space? What of the habits
Of the fishes? Whence came and
whittier has gone the astonishing
civilization of the Maya race?
THESE are just a few of the ques-
tions the Carnegie Institution of
Washington is endeavoring to answer
through its many departments and
associate departments. Its ma jor de-
partmentS alone comprise II sciences
plant physiology. embryology. eco-
oEN. physics, EenetiCS, marine biology,
meridian astronomy. archaeology, nu-
triton. astronomy and terrestrial mag
netism. In addition to these the insti-
tuition is conducting extensive re-
search in history and a number of as
soCiate subjects.
TO carry out Investigations in these
lines, members of its staff have gone
down to the oceans floor: through the
all-seeing eyes of gigantic telescopes
that have looked far out into the uni
verse and studied from comparatively
close range its starry mysteries: they
have wandered through trackleSs jun
giles and dwelt for long and solitary
4 months in desert lands. They have
\spent late hours in white laboratories
and laborcd hard in great shops.
Now. the story is told. in cold. scien-
tific terms. in the Carnegie Institu-
TONS Year Book" in which are
chronicled all of the activities and re-
searches Of it's staff each year. In the
Year Book of 1925. there are recorded
many studies of definite Importance
to progress, and at least one which
is ranked with the outstanding Scien-
titic achievements of modern times
and pOSSibiV of a II time
That one is the observations and
measurements made by DR.. Edwin T..
Hubble, at the Mount Wilson Obser
VatOry, in California. which are ac-
cepted as having proved that the
spiral nebulae are in reality island
uniVerseS, entirely apart from our
own great @alaCtic system. Although
many astronomers had suspected such
condition some years ago, it remain
ed FOR DR.. Hubble to supply what is
apparently the proof of the hypothesis
during the past year.
Under this reasoning. the known
limits of the universes are pushed at
least = million miles further into
space and evidence has been found
To indicate that many of these island
universeS are at least as large as our
own. The Andromeda nebula. for in
stance. has been measured and found
to have Il diameter Of $4,000 light
years, which means that a beam of
light, travelling At the unima ginahle
speed of 1SG. 900 miles Il second. would
require 10000 years to cross the
nehula. And this same nebula is said
to lie 100000 light years from the
Garth
These are figures that the human
brain can scarcely comprehend. But
if YOU wish to be exact and figure out
Just how many miles away andre
media is. multiply the number of sec
ends there are in year by $4,000,
and then multiply that result by 900,
600 and you will have the number of
miles between the earth and that par
tIcular nebula. There are many, it is
said considerably farther away than
that.
Since sun spots are suspected of
having Il very definite and importa mt
influence upon living conditions on
the earth, observations of the in
creased number of spots by DR..
George +. Hale, at the same observa-
tory, command especial public inter
est. 1t causes one to stop and ponder
to learn that DR.. Hale has found that
rs per cent of the hydrogen worthless
of sun spots whirl in the same direc-
tionS as Magnetic stars on the earth.
some of which have recently played
havoc with electrical apparatus.
x x !: X
TWO other investigators have sue
ceeded in measuring the tempera-
lures of Mercury. Venus and the
much discussed Mars. In the case of
Mars. drift curves taken across the
image of the planet indicate an at
moSphere which can absorb but very
little planetary radiation. These agree
With the discovery by two additional
memhers of the Mount Wilson staff