Entered in the Post Office in Lancaster, Pa., as second-class matter. CONTENTS OF MAY NUMBER The Type of the Panama Canal. C. E. GRUNSKY. From the Manufacturer's Standpoint. A. B. FAR- From the Importer's Standpoint. FRANCIS E. HAM ILTON. From the Consumer's Standpoint. JESSE E. ORTON. On a Very Prevalent Abuse of Abstraction. Professor The Closing of a Famous Astronomical Problem. Pro- The Harpswell Laboratory. MAX MORSE. The Research Work of the Carnegie Institution; CONTENTS OF JUNE NUMBER The Tides and their Causes. ROLLIN ARTHUR HARRIS. Josiah Willard, Gibbs and his relation to Modern Science. Suggestions from Two Cases of Cerebral Surgery with- Hysteria as an Asset. DR. PEARCE BAILEY, Notes on Certain Philosophies of the Day. Professor Formative Influences. Professor G. J. PEARCE, Scientific and Educational Meetings; Justus von Index to Volume LXXIV. The MONTHLY will be sent to new subscribers for six months for One Dollar SUBSCRIPTION ORDER To THE SCIENCE PRESS, Publishers of THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, Sub-Station 84, New York City. Please find enclosed check or money order for three dollars, subscription to THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY for one year, beginning July, 1909. Please find enclosed from a new subscriber one dollar (sent at your risk), subscription for six months to THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, beginning July, 1909. Name... Single Numbers 30 Cents Address Yearly Subscription, $3.00 THE SCIENCE PRESS GARRISON-ON-HUDSON, N. Y. 41 NORTH QUEEN ST., LANCASTER, PA. SUB-STATION 84: NEW YORK PRESS OF THE SEW ERA PRINTING COMPARY BOOKS OF PERMANENT, ALL-THE-YEAR-ROUND VALUE SEVEN GREAT WORKS OF REFERENCE NOW READY Cyclopedia of American Agriculture Edited by L. H. BAILEY. Complete in Four Royal Octave Volumes, with about 3,000 illustrations Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology Written by many hands and Edited by J. MARK BALDWIN, LL.D., with the co-operation of an International Board of Consulting Editors, and Bibliographies by DR. RAND. In three volumes: Volume I, $8; Volume II, $8; Volume III, (in two parts) $10 net. Volume III contains the " Bibliography of Philosophy, Psychology, and Cognate Subjects," by Benjamin Rand, of Harvard University, in two parts. Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers A new edition of a work which has no rival for completeness and trustworthiness. Thoroughly revised, with over 1200 new biographies and more than 4000 alterations necessitated by modern research. Five volumes, fully illustrated. Each $6.00 net. Encyclopedia Biblica Edited by The Rev. T. K. CHEYNE, D.D., and J. SUTHERLAND BLACK, LL.D., Assisted by many Cyclopedia of American Horticulture Edited by L. H. 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PICKERING HARVARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY IT is claimed by astronomers that their science is not only the oldest, but that it is the most highly developed of the sciences. Indeed it should be so, since no other science has ever received such support from royalty, from the state and from the private individual. However this may be, there is no doubt that in recent years astronomers have had granted to them greater opportunities for carrying on large pieces of work than have been entrusted to men in any other department of pure science. One might expect that the practical results of a science like physics would appeal to the man who has made a vast fortune through some of its applications. The telephone, the electric transmission of power, wireless telegraphy and the submarine cable are instances of immense financial returns derived from the most abstruse principles of physics. Yet there are scarcely any physical laboratories devoted to research, or endowed with independent funds for this object, except those supported by the government. The endowment of astronomical observatories devoted to research, and not including that given for teaching, is estimated to amount to half a million dollars annually. Several of the larger observatories have an annual income of fifty thousand dollars. I once asked the wisest man I know, what was the reason for this difference. He said that it was probably because astronomy appealed to the imagination. A practical man, who has spent all his life in his counting room or mill, is sometimes deeply impressed with the vast 1 Commencement address at Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, May 1909. 27, VOL LXXV.-8. |