Thomas Corwin Mendenhall

“ It is better for the laboratory to contain a few instruments of real precision than a large number of inferior performance and accuracy. It is not a matter of great importance upon which particular department of physics a student shall spend his time and strength. The underlying principles of this method of study are common to all, and it is a matter of experience that when a student has successfully accomplished a tolerably exhaustive investigation of one topic, involving, it may be, but a single instrument with its accessories, he is upon his feet for the remainder of the course. ”

“ Some of us maintain that experiment alone is the key, by the use of which Nature's mysteries are to be explored, and we fortify our belief by pointing to Faraday, the greatest experimental philosopher the world has yet produced. We forget that Faraday was ignorant only of the outward, conventional symbols of mathematical reasoning, and that one of the greatest works on mathematical physics, by one of the greatest mathematical physicists of modern times, is confessedly but little more than his interpretation. ”

“ A few keen-sighted men, combining in themselves, happily, the student and the teacher, recognized the fact that thorough instruction in physics implied and demanded the use of laboratory methods, such as had been utilized for some years in chemistry, and were rapidly coming into prominence in every other department of natural science. ”

“ Dazzled by the success of the leaders and representatives of another school, we proclaim that true success will depend on mathematical attainment, and that mathematical physics is the only physics worthy of the name. Here, again, the exceptionally brilliant few, who have succeeded under this training, stand as its exponents, and we fail to consider that, if adopted to the exclusion of the first, its results may be disastrous in the extreme. ”

“ To this end it is desirable and necessary to bring about a more general diffusion of accurate knowledge concerning the elementary principles and propositions of the science of physics, as well as some degree of familiarity with the methods of physical investigation. I do not refer, of course, to the demands or the necessities of those who expect to undergo a course of training for the purpose of becoming themselves physicists, but rather to the diffusion of this knowledge among the masses of educated people in general. ”

“ In America a few only are privileged to devote themselves to original research. Here instruction and investigation, to a great extent, go hand in hand, and it is generally admitted that it is better so. The teacher does not reach his greatest efficiency, indeed he must fail completely, unless he continues a student, not of the works of men alone, but of Nature herself. ”

“ By many we were advised that the proper course to pursue was to put into the hands of the student who, in many instances, had little or no previous knowledge of the subject, a few pieces of simple apparatus and expect him to rediscover for himself principles of physical science which, although now commonplace, were at one time as completely surrounded by difficulties to the human mind as are now, for instance, the principles of the dissipation of energy and the vortex theory of atoms. ”

“ From this curve it will be seen that, so far as the wind is concerned, up to about 11 p. m., there were no indications of the coming storm. At that time a breeze sprang up, which continued at less than twenty miles per hour until about 1 a. m. when it suddenly increased in velocity, and at 2 a. m. the record shows a speed of sixty miles per hour. Unfortunately, shortly after two o'clock, the clock-work which keeps the registering portion of the apparatus in motion was stopped, the motion of the pendulum being undoubtedly arrested by a sudden blast of great violence. ”

“ That which he gets which is of most worth in his course in a physical laboratory is not a familiarity with the principles of the science, but a training in the methods of investigation in use among physicists, including a knowledge of the use and abuse of experiment and the necessary limits of our knowledge derived therefrom. ”

“ In referring to higher or collegiate instruction, it will be remembered that I do not include that of the post-graduate course in the university, properly so called, for which laboratories for research are equipped and maintained, and to which students are admitted only when thoroughly prepared by previous training. Fortunately for American students, a few such courses in physics are now open in this country, and it goes without saying that those who are conducting them do not need advice from us. ”

“ In chemistry, however, laboratory instruction is to be found in at least one hundred and fifty institutions, the opportunities for instruction in this subject thus outnumbering those offered for similar instruction in physics in about the ratio of five to one. But it will be remembered that in this contest chemistry has many things in its favor, and that physics is handicapped by the great cost, relatively, of the first establishment, as well as by the lack of well-defined and systematic courses of instruction. ”

“ The unpleasant frequency, in this part of the world, of storms of the same character, renders their careful investigation by competent meteorologists a matter of the utmost importance. What is chiefly demanded, therefore, is the collection of such meteorological records and observations as may, perhaps, render it possible to trace completely the rise, progress, and varying intensity of the storm. ”

“ It is generally assumed that the pressure is proportional to the square of the velocity. Upon a scale adopted by the Smithsonian Institution and by the United States Signal Service, the velocity of twenty-five miles per hour corresponds to a pressure of three pounds per square foot. Assuming the correctness of this, and also of the law given above, the pressure per square foot in the Tay storm must have been nearly thirty pounds, and in the recent typhoon here it must have been nearly fifty pounds. ”

“ I am aware that this is not an association of educators, and that pedagogics is not, as yet, one of the sciences specifically indicated as worthy of advancement at our hands; but, if the growth of a tree is to be made healthy and permanent, it is not safe to neglect the soil into which its roots penetrate. ”

“ We may import them from Europe, it is true, as we must also our more advanced text-books, but, although in the main vastly superior to our own, they are still not entirely suited to the wants of American schools and American pupils. These books, in the hands of teachers who know little or nothing outside of the books they use, and often falling far short of that, serve to put the instruction in elementary physics in this country in a condition over which no one can grow very enthusiastic ”

“ As a rule, quantitative work alone, and that the best possible under the circumstances, should occupy the time of the student. I would relegate to the lecture-table of the instructor all illustrative experiments and qualitative work necessary to a good understanding of the underlying principles of the subject, which every student should possess when he enters the laboratory. ”

“ Train it and prune it as you will, to grow into vigor and strength it must spring from a rich and generous earth which, though beneath it and below it, must be in harmony with it in order to supply the proper and necessary materials for its sustenance. It seems, therefore, not improper to raise the question, What can this Association do, or, more specifically, what can this section do, to increase the efficiency of instruction in physics? ”

“ Although all have had practically the same end in view, each individual has, in the main, worked out his own solution of the problem in accordance with his own views, modified and often largely controlled by the conditions and restrictions to which he was subjected. ”

“ That this diffusion is not taking place to any great extent, and will not, according to natural laws alone, is patent to any observing physicist, who can not fail to have come in contact with prevailing and pernicious errors, which often carry the weight of repetition, and now and then of recognized authority. ”

“ Unsound doctrines and absurd theories are promulgated because of an inability to distinguish the ring of genuine metal. These become so deeply rooted that it is difficult and often impossible in after-years to clear them away. ”

“ In fact, there are reasons for believing that the storm reached its greatest violence somewhat before three o'clock.
It seems quite certain, then, that at times during the storm the velocity
Chart showing the Velocity of the Wind from 7 a. m. on the 3d to 2 p. m. on the 4th of October, 1880.
Note.—The break between 2 a. m. and 3 a. m. In the curve representing the velocity of the wind is due to the tact that, between those hours, the registering apparatus connected with the anemograph was not in motion.
of the wind exceeded one hundred miles per hour ”

“ It is greatly to be regretted that this report can not have found its way into the hands of those whom it would most benefit. A wide distribution ought to have been secured, and I am convinced that it is not yet too late to remedy this error. ”

“ Darwin also strongly recommends such a change in the style of questions as that half intelligence may be more stringently treated, and men induced to read less and master more, and to gain a comprehension of physical principles. ”

“ No such difficulty is in the way of securing an improvement in the teaching of physics in colleges and universities, for those most interested are, in the main, a part of this Association and of this section. ”

“ The French and many English engineers have adopted fifty-five pounds per square foot as a standard, and about the same number is used in America, but it seems doubtful if even that furnishes a sufficient "factor of safety." ”

“ In conclusion, the affirmation may be made, supported as it is by the constantly accumulating evidence of the damage done to buildings, shipping, etc., that this was one of the most violent storms experienced here for many years. From facts already known concerning other points along the coast of Japan, it would seem that, had an efficient system of observations, telegrams, and signals existed, timely warning might have been given of its approach, and possibly much property and many lives saved. ”

“ These indicate a steady decline in the barometer, and it is not likely that any extraordinary fluctuations occurred during this time. After 1 a. m., the observations were made hourly, and during a considerable portion of the time they were half-hourly. It will be seen, however, that a very important portion of the curve, from 10 p. m. to 1 a. m., is doubtful, and it is not at all unlikely that, had intermediate observations been recorded, the fall of the barometer would have appeared much more sudden than it does. The minimum observed height was 28·735 inches at 2 a. m. ”

“ At three o'clock the instrument was put in motion again, and, for about fifteen or twenty minutes after that hour, the record shows the extraordinary velocity of ninety-five miles per hour. From this time the violence diminished rapidly, a velocity of fifty miles per hour being registered at 4 a. ”