HENRY
HENRY
bons in coils, producing sparks from the elbow
which could be heard in the next room. He
found that a secondary current could produce a
third, this a fourth, and so on. He made a
" quantity " induced current produce an " inten-
sity," and vice versa. He discovered the oscilla-
tory character of the electrical discharge; and
anticipating the wireless telegraphy of 1900,
induced currents at a distance: — in a plate in the
cellar of the Philosophical Hall while the primary
current was in the upper story, and between two
wires stretched across the college grounds, a
quarter of a mile apart, with a college building
intervening. He turned the tin roof of his house
into an induction plate, and by means of an
electrical cm-rent induced in this by a thunder-
storm twenty-five miles away, telegraphed from
his residence to his laboratory. He began with
this subject in 1834 and 1835, and the same year
discovered electrical screening. He made numer-
ous experiments on the various parts of a con-
ducting wire; on atmospheric electricity, by fly-
ing kites on the college grounds; on the tenacity
of water in soap bubbles; on light, heat, phos-
phoretic emanations; and thousands of other
experiments, many of which he never published.
His lectures to his students at Princeton included
geology, mineralogy and architecture. In 1827-
83 he aided Dr. Beck in developing his state
system of meteorological observations. In 1836-
37 lie visited Europe, where he made the ac-
quaintance of leading scientists, and in 1839
proposed to the U.S. government to carry on
simultaneous magnetic and meteorological ob-
servations at appointed stations. When congress
organized the Smithsonian Institution in August,
1846, under the provisions of the will of James Smith- son, by which $515,169 was set apart for the purpose, Joseph Henry was appointed first secretary and director, and he equipped and developed the establisliment. In order to continue his work in Washington, be declined the chair of natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, and the presi- dency of the College of New Jei'sey in 1853, and again in 1867, although the salary of either place would have been double that received from the government. He made many experiments in acoustics for government buildings and also on the tenacity of building stones, aiid in many other matters for which his aid was required. All these services to the government were given without charge. He originated the system of
SA^.lTHSO/VIAAl l/MSTlTUTrON
investigations which resulted in the govern-
ment weather reporting system; he helped to
organize the U.S. light-house board in 1852,
and was made chairman of the board in 1871.
He also advised the formation of the national
liglit-house system, and investigations in its be-
half were among the last that occupied his atten-
tion. During his connection with the light-house
board he made an interesting series of experi-
ments on sound in connection with the waves
and on the echo from the waves; and also ex-
perimented on the burning of oils, devising lamps
which, by the introduction of cheaper oils, saved
the government millions of dollars. He was
elected president of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science in 1849; was a
charter member of the National Academy of
Science, and its president, 1868-78; a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and a
member of the AmericaTi Philosophical society
and of numerous other learned societies. He was
knighted by the King of Norway and Sweden
and was made master of St. Olof. He received
the honorary degree of A.M. from Union college
in 1829, and that of LL.D from the College of
South Carolina in 1838, from the University of
the State of New York in 1850, and from Harvard
in 1851. His papers printed in scientific publica-
tions include over 150 subjects; his official papers
include a series on meteorology in its connection
with agriculture, contributed to the Agricultural
Reports (1855-59), and Scientific Writings of
Joseph Henry, published by the Smithsonian In-
stitution in two volumes (1886). He edited the
annual volumes of
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the Smithsonian Re-
ports (1846-77) and
published Syllabus
of Lectures on Phys-
ics {18U). After his
death a memorial
meeting was held in
his honor in the
house of represen-
tatives, attended bj
the Pi'esident and
all the heads of de-
partments, represen-
tatives of learned
societies and a large
concourse drawn by
affection as well as
respect. The gov-
ernment erected on
the grounds of the
Smitlisonian Institu-
tion a bronze statueof Professor Henry, executed
by William W. Story, at the cost of $15,000. which
was unveiled April 19, 1883, with appropriate
STATUE OF JOSEPH HE.NRY,
AT WASH I NC TO/M .
