Year: 1876

The following extracts from Professor


Draper's lecture summarizes some OF the
achievements of the United States in the
way of science We have sent out e1-
peditions of exploration both to the
Arctic and Antarctic seas. We have
submitted our own coast to a hydro
graphic and geodesic survey not ex-
celled in exactDess and extent by any
similar works elsewhere. In the &C
complishment Of this we have been COM
PEELED to solve many physical problems
OF the greatest dllicacy and highest I'M
portance, abd we have done it success
fully. The measuring rods with which
the three great base lines OF Maine,
Long Island and Georgia were de-
termined, and their beautiful mechanl-
cal appliances, have exacted the publicly
expressed admiration of some OF the
greatest European philosophers and the
conduct of that survey their unstlnted
applause. We have instituted geologl-
cal surveys of many of our States and
much of our Territories, and have been
rewarded not merely by manifold local
benefits, but also by the higher honor
of extending very greatly the boundaries
of that noble science. At an enormous
annual cost we have maintained a
meteorological signal system which l
think is not equaled, and certainly is
not surpassed, in the world. Should it be
said that selfish interests have been
mixed up with some of these under
takings, We may demand whether there
was any selfshness in the survey OF the
Dead scar. Was there any sel6shness In
that mission that q citizen of New York
sent to equatorial Africa for the finding
and relief OF Livingstone, any in the
astronomical expedition to South
America, any in that to the valley of the
Amazon9 Was there any in the send.
ing out of parties for the observation OF
the total eclipse of the sum- 1t was by
American astronomers that the true
character of his corona was first de-
termined. Was there any in the seven
expeditions that were dispatched for ob-
serving the transit OF Venus2 Was 1t
not here that the bi-partition OF Blela's
comet was first detected, here that the
eighth satellite of Saturn was discovered,
here that the dusky ring of that planet,
which had escaped the penetrating eye
Of Herschel and all The great European
astronomers, was first seena Was it not
by an American telescope that the COM
panion of Sirius, the brightest star In
the heavens, was revealed and the mathe-
matical prediction of the cause OF his
perturbations verifed2 Was it not by O
Yale College professor that the showers
of shooting stars were first scientifically
discussed, on the occasion OF that
meteoric phenomenon in 1882 Did we
not Join in the Investigations respecting
terrestrial magnetism Instituted by Euro,
pean governments at the suggestion OF
humboldt, and contribute our quota to
the results obtainedl Did not the Con
gress of the United States vote money
grant to carry into effect the invention
of the electric telegraph Does not the
published fora of the United States
show that something has been done IN
botany2 Have not very important In
yestions been made here on the lnduc'
ton of magnetism in iron, the effect OF
magnetic currents on one another, the
translation of quality into intensity and
the converse9 Was it not here that the
radiatiops of incadescence were first In
vestigated, the connection of increasing
temperature with increasing refrang!'
bility shown, the distribution OF light
heat and chemical activity in the solar
spectrum ascertained and some OF the
fundamental facts in spectrum analysis
develop d long before general attention,
was given to that subject in Europe
Here the first photograph of the moon
was taken, here the first of the diffrac


tion spectrums was produced, here the
first portraits of the human face were
made-an experiment that has given
rise to an important industrial art il!