Evening star., 1928-05-20
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Joseph Henry. secretary OF the
Smithsonian Institution. died in this
city on the l2th OF May.
Joseph 1878. The Star of the
" next day. May Is, paid the
0enEy' following tribute to him:
The great scientist of America Is
deadl He not only held that high
rank in the scientific world, but IN
uriyate life he was known as the
nurest. kindest and noblest OF men.
And those associated with him init
nately tell of the continuous examples
Of his benevolence. magnanimity ana
high sense of honor. Sympathetic ana
charitable, no appeal for aid by the
friendless and destitute was denied.
with all the means of acquiring wealth
omen to one of his scientific abilities
and mowers OF invention. he died poor
man He was one of the few men who
escaped all breath of suspicion OF pros
titutine his scientific knowledge for
money. He is known to have received
hundreds of propositions by which, Tor
the use OF his name in the tndorSe-
ment OF mining projects ana otner
projects, he could have made himself
wealthy: but they were uniformly met
with prompt and indignant rejection.
even where the schemes had sum
cent degree Of merit to make them Ialr
business operations. But he had no
taste or inclination for any otner pur-
suit than the higher walk OF pure SCI
ence, and he did not even pause 70
utilize pecuniarily any OF ms own great
inventionS--for instance, the magneuc
telegraph. As Is well eStaonSneo, ne
made experiments and pointed out tne
- Ma. - Aa faNfe AAYffnVl gfFa fAn
by these experiments to- the nStAn-
tsneous conveyance of intelligence be-
tween distant points by means OF a
magnetic telegraph, several years before
such a telegraph was brought into prae-
tical operation by Prof. Morse. And
this Is but one of the discoveries that
he announced for the good OF mankind
and allowed others 10 put into practical
use for their own Rggrandizement, IL
will be difficult to and a successor TO
prof. Henry having his broad scientific
knowledge. Among those mentioned
most prominently for the place are
Prof. Baird. the assistant secretary;
Prof. Hilgard OF the Coast Survey. and
Prof, TAYLOR. who has had charge OF
the scientific correspondence of the
Smithsonian Institution of late"
-
The capture of 20o-pound Stur-
geon in a net in the Potomac near
Alexandria the other
Potomac day created quite q
rx.L; sensation because OF the
Cishe'aes' present scarcity Of that
FISH In these waters, Fifty years agu,
however. they were comparatively COM
mon. although fear was expressed, as
in the following In The Star Of MAY
Is. 1878. lest the fish life OF this river
was being dangerously depleted;
''The Potomac River Is not the only
body OF water which teaches by its his
tory the evils OF reckless and indls-
crimlnate fishing More than one Sec
ton OF the United States has been
completely deprived Of immense food re-
sources by the cupldlty OF those who
lived along the banks Of It's rivers, The
decline Of the fisheries Of the Great
Lakes Is alarming Michigan and Wis
eonsin, While more than 5000. 600
Of white flSh have been placed IN the
lakes within the last four years and
the greater amount within the last two
years, the numbers caught have stead
lily diminished
"If in the fisheries Of the Great Lakes
the sise Of the mesh OF the nets and
the seasons and days Of the week IN
which they may he east can be unl'
formly regulated. an excellent prece-
dent viii be established by which the
Potomac fisheries might profit, Hui
the problem here IL SO much less coaae
plleAted than In the case of the lakes
that u II something at SluT en the
shrewdneSx and energy of MARYLAND
and VtrginiAnle imagine that they viii
wait for the 0ageested preeedenks