Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/382

378 That the scientific world is indebted to Mr. Langley for the invention of important apparatus and instruments of precis-ion, for numerous additions to knowledge, more especially for his epoch-making investigations in solar physics, and for his efforts in placing the important subject of aerial navigation upon a scientific basis.

That all who sought the truth and cultivated science, letters and the fine arts, have lost through his death a co-worker and a sympathizer.

That the executive committee be requested to arrange for a memorial meeting to be held in Washington.

That Dr. Andrew D. White be invited to prepare a suitable memorial which shall form a part of the records of this board.

in its history the Carnegie Institution of Washington showed marked interest in the encouragement of astronomical research. In 1902 Secretary S. P. Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, recommended the establishment of a lofty solar observatory, for the special purpose of measuring the amount of the solar radiation. In regard to the practical value of such studies Mr. Langley's own words may be quoted: "All the nebulæ in the sky might be blotted out without affecting the price of a laborer's dinner, or the material comfort of a human being. What shall we say of a similar contingency to the sun? While a slight variation in the radiation of the sun may conceivably cause the death of millions of men by famine, it certainly seems worth while to look at it from its utilitarian as well as from its purely scientific interest. It is the possible immense utility of the solar observatory that I dwell upon, and concerning which I may borrow the weighty words of Professor Newcomb in a similar connection, and state that astronomical research may bring to light not merely interesting cosmical processes but 'cosmical processes pregnant with the destiny of our race.'" And in another place he says: "Though we may never hope to affect the original source of solar radiation by any human effort, there is every hope that we may learn to forecast its effects upon the earth and provide for them."

A special committee was appointed to investigate the plan, and, as a result of extended investigations, Mount Wilson, in California, was chosen for a