that it would give health and strength during the summer season. The problem of mountain surveying will well repay study, as there is at present no satisfactory solution. The best mountain contour maps are far from representing the actual surface of the ground. Under Mathematics should also be included Mensuration in its various branches and many portions of Engineering. The latter would be so closely allied to the work in Physics, in the subjects of Mechanics and Heat, that it would be difficult to draw the line between them. Every branch of Physics would be easily treated by this method, as in Mechanics, Sound, Light, Heat and Electricity, numerous problems are awaiting an experimental solution. The excellent results attained by students in many of our physical laboratories proves conclusively that assistants could be obtained capable of undertaking work of the greatest precision. Chemistry, besides its ordinary branches, should include the laws of molecular action, thermo-chemistry and the more difficult problems of animal and vegetable chemistry.

The working corps of an institution established for making researches in the subjects named above should be somewhat as follows:

First, a President, who need not necessarily be an investigator, or even possess great scientific ability. He must have good executive ability, be a judge of men, and understand thoroughly the engineering principles of construction.

Secondly, a corps of investigators, men of acknowledged scientific ability, and selected for the originality of their ideas, even if they have not shown special skill in carrying them into practice. Three men to represent the subjects of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, would be capable of carrying on an immense amount of research. Each should have one or two deputies or Assistant Professors, capable of taking their places during temporary absence. Their duties would be mainly planning details, superintending the construction of apparatus, and answering the questions of their subordinates.

Third, a large corps of assistants, whose duty it should be to carry out the work laid out for them, but who would not necessarily be able to plan it. They form the hands, while the preceding class correspond to the head of our organization. Each investigator should be able to provide work for at least ten such assistants. They would generally work in pairs, one observing, the

other recording, and would change places at intervals. Their work would be mainly routine, and would require care and mechanical, rather than intellectual, skill. Many young men would be glad to secure such work temporarily, though it would be permanent for few, as the salary would be low.

Fourth, workmen, such as a mechanician, carpenter, tinman, etc., capable of constructing in wood or metal the apparatus devised. One person should also be employed whose duty it would be to see that the apparatus was always ready for use. This would be especially important for the chronograph, telegraph wires, electric light and other appliances liable to be used by several persons.

The subjects for investigation in each department would in general originate with the Professors in charge. They should also encourage their assistants to suggest subjects, and aid in planning them. Many other scientific men would, doubtless, avail themselves of an opportunity to have their theories tested when unable themselves to perform the necessary experimental work. The plan would in all cases be submitted to the President in writing, with an estimate of its cost, of the apparatus needed and of the probable time required to complete it. If found practicable and approved, the apparatus would be constructed or purchased, and tested under the direction of the Professor by his more skilful assistants. When they were able to obtain accordant results, they would show one or two of the younger assistants precisely how the measurement should be made and carefully supervise their first trials. A long series of results could now be obtained at small expense, with slight supervision and direction as to the most important variations to be tried. The results would finally be reduced and prepared for publication.

Let me now invite you to accompany me on a visit to this supposed Institution, that we may examine its structure more in detail. We shall find it where land is not too valuable, but near enough to some large city that workmen of all kinds may be obtained at short notice. It is set back from the road so as to be free from dust and the jar of heavy vehicles, and commands a distant view in at least one direction. This may be needed for experiments on atmospheric refraction or opacity, on the velocity of light or for many other purposes. A distant lighthouse forms an excellent object for such observations at night. Association with, or at least proximity to, some large college is much to be desired

to avoid duplication of the collections of books and apparatus. Many college professors have under their charge a dozen instruments, each of which could profitably occupy the entire time of one person. These instruments are now simply exhibited to their classes once a year.

The building itself is large but low, and resembles one or more blocks of two-story dwelling houses. No more common mistake is made than in wasting the money which should be used for equipment, on architectural effect. This although greatly desirable in itself, is often out of place in a building devoted to science, and in fact is not unfrequently the cause of serious inconvenience. The windows should be small, that they may be easily darkened by shutters, and the walls should not be too thick, or carry heavy mouldings or cornices, on account of the light. It is useless to hope for architectural beauty in this building, as the effect would be spoiled by attachments which might be made to the exterior. The rooms are numerous but most of them small, as only one or two persons would in general engage in the same research and one experiment would often disturb another. The President and Professors should all live under the same roof with their work, since it may often be necessary that they should be present at any hour of the day or night. Where an observation must be repeated at short intervals, inconvenient working hours must sometimes be maintained for a considerable time.

On entering the building we find that it is arranged like a hotel, with long entries running from one end to the other, and rooms leading off on each side. Two iron rails are laid on the lower entry and continued through a rear door in a straight line to some distance behind the building. By placing a car on them with one wheel graduated, as proposed by the Coast Survey, considerable distances may be measured with the greatest accuracy. These entries will have various other uses, as in photometry, in studying wave-motion, elasticity, resistance of pipes, etc. The cellars should be dry, properly finished and lighted. They would prove most useful for accurate measurements or other work requiring a uniform temperature. They would also contain furnaces, and a small engine for furnishing power throughout the building. Stone piers disconnected with the floors would pass through the building for the support of delicate instruments. Many of these might be attached to a single pier. Numerous pipes are laid under the floors

for carrying water, gas, oxygen, hydrogen, steam, compressed air, etc., to any desired point. Wires are also provided for transmitting electric currents. Batteries would be replaced by a magnetoelectric machine driven by the engine which would thus enable the electric light to be supplied at a few minutes notice. Various auxillary small motors as turbines or gas engines, might also be desirable. Time would be transmitted electrically throughout the building, and a chronograph with several barrels would register observations in any portion of the building.

These examples serve to show the system of coöperation by which various appliances, which any investigator may need, might be rendered available for many. Any one who has engaged in such work will realize how much would be saved by having such means of measurement always ready for immediate use. Often nine-tenths of the time is spent in getting instruments ready which have not been used for months, or of which portions are used for other purposes.

I think no one will deny that the scheme here proposed would, if carried out successfully, greatly increase the original research of the country. It would act not only directly, but by stimulating those connected with other institutions. Doubtless, too, many amateurs would be ready to avail themselves of the facilities here collected, and contribute to its support, the money that would thus be saved. Were it desirable to let it conform to the demands of applied science much useful work might be done by offering opportunities for testing new inventions or products. For example, the power and economy of new motors, the strength of new brands of steel or other metals could here be determined with accuracy and economy. The advantages of a corps of unprejudiced observers whose position would place them above the suspicion of partiality, would prove of great value in many cases. As experts in a legal case they would have the advantage of having at hand every appliance for proving the correctness of their statements. But apart from these practical applications, in the realm of pure science no one can deny the value of the results likely to accrue. Not only could the more difficult problems be studied to better advantage, but those more formidable from their extent and now rarely undertaken by a single individual might easily be solved by coöperation. Now their only solution depends on an occasional Government appropriation where large portions

are often lost wilfully, or spent ignorantly by the many hands through which the money passes, before it is brought to bear on the scientific conditions of the problem.

Let us now return for a moment to the question of endowment. It is well known that there is no country in the world where so much money is given by private individuals to the encouragement of education and science. Such persons, not unnaturally wishing to be associated with their gifts, have in many cases established colleges bearing their names. Let no man think that he will now benefit the cause of higher education by so doing. The demand is more than supplied. We have too many colleges with far too little endowment. Each new college seriously injures its neighbors by drawing pupils from them, and if insufficiently endowed no one can be expected to contribute to the glory of another man's name. The consequence is a struggle for existence on the part of what should be active literary institutions, extending, as well as disseminating, human knowledge. The same remarks apply to other literary or scientific institutions, as libraries, observatories, or museums of natural history. No benefit accrues to science from an observatory without a telescope, or from a telescope without an observer. The true patron of science will select an object proportionate to his gift. If he will abundantly endow any one subject, no matter how limited, he will confer a real boon on his fellow men.

Finally, the advantages of establishing the institution which I have described are that it opens a new and unoccupied field. It does not encroach on existing institutions, or in any way injure them. On the contrary, if associated with a college it would prove a great benefit by the increased facilities which would thus be collected together, as furnishing instructive employment for a time to some of the graduates, and as increasing the scientific atmosphere of the place. It would benefit science by a constant extension of its boundaries, and if properly managed should become the headquarters of experimental science in the country. That the details given above are defective and open to criticism I do not doubt, but that the object is laudable I presume no one will deny. Whoever will supply this want will leave the name of one who extended human knowledge and benefited his fellow

men.