The highest temperature will be attained at a density for which the departures from the gas laws are already considerable, but probably long before the density becomes as great as that of water. The density of the stars of classes B and A (which all lines of evidence show to be the hottest) is actually found to average about one fifth that of water, that is, of just the order of magnitude predicted by this theory. It appears therefore to be a good working hypothesis that the giant and dwarf stars represent different stages in stellar evolution, the former, of great brightness and low density, being stars effectively young, growing hotter and whiter; while the latter, of small brightness and high density, are relatively old stars, past their prime, and growing colder and redder. The stars of class B, and probably many of those of class A as well, are in the prime of life, and form the connecting link between the two kinds of red stars. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORY, May 25, 1912. SOME FORMER MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS WILLING BALCH. The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society on this side of the Atlantic, and one of the most ancient in the world, was fortunate in its founder in a double sense. Franklin was not only a man of much learning and active in his advancement of "useful knowledge," but also he embodied in his own career the three classes of men from which most of our membership has been recruited since the founding of this society, whether we take it to begin with the founding of the Junto in 1727, as Du Ponceau so ably maintains,1 or whether we place it as late as 1743. Franklin was a statesman, as his activites at Paris and London and here in Philadelphia sufficiently attest. He was a scientist, as his numerous scientific discoveries prove, and he was a man of letters, as his papers abundantly show. In the treaty negotiated in 1785 by Franklin for America with the then small kingdom of Prussia, two members of the 1 Joseph G. Rosengarten, "The American Philosophical Society," Philadelphia, 1909, pp. 13-14. In 1780, before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States and when Pennsylvania was still an independent State at war with Great Britain, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania granted a most liberal charter to the Society which contains the following unique provision: "That it shall and may be lawful for the said Society by their proper officers, at all times, whether in peace or war, to correspond with learned Societies as well as individual learned men, of any nation or country, upon matters merely belonging to the business of the said Society, such as the mutual communication of their discoveries and proceedings in Philosophy and Science; the procuring books, apparatus, natural curiosities, and such other articles of intelligence as are usually exchanged between learned bodies for furthering their common pursuits; Provided always, that such correspondence of the said Society be at all times open to the inspection of the Supreme Executive Council of this Commonwealth." The society possesses seventy-eight per cent. of Franklin's known papers. brotherhood of nations agreed to abolish privateering between themselves. In that early step looking to free humanity from legalized sea pirates Franklin aided to inaugurate that aim of our American diplomacy that for a century and a quarter has pressed—and not without success, either-towards a greater and greater immunity. from capture of private property on the high seas with resulting advantages to all humanity. And of all three of these classes of men represented by the founder of the society himself, the society has upon its rolls, great and honored names. Of statesmen, George Washington was a member of the American Philosophical Society. When in the usual course of events, his death was announced, the society adopted a resolution directing its members to wear crape on their left arm for thirty days, as a mark of respect, and commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint his portrait for its hall. This portrait replica still hangs in the hall of the society, and since the society is a corporation, the picture is one of the very few still in the possession of its original owner. Thomas Jefferson, who was twice president of the Union, not only can be claimed by us as a member, but also as our president for a number of years. Not the least of the services that Jefferson rendered to mankind was the work that he did to advance the law of neutrality in a liberal and enlightened way. For, as the distinguished British international jurisconsult, Mr. Westlake-the holder for twenty years of the Whewell chair at Cambridge University, and an exjudge of The Hague International Court (1900-1906)—has pointed out in his treatise on "International Law," the position that Jefferson as secretary of state in Washington's administration took on the rules of the law of nations involved in the efforts of the young American republic to maintain its neutrality during the war then in progress between Great Britain and France, the two most powerful Henry Wheaton, edited by R. H. Dana, "International Law," Boston, 1866; Émile de Laveleye, "Du respect de la propriété privée sur mer en temps de guerre" (Revue de Droit International), Brussells, 1875; John Westlake, "International Law," Cambridge University Press, 1907; Ernest Nys, “Le Droit International," Brussells, 1904-6; "Les États-Unis et le Droit des Gens," Brussells, 1908; J. de Louter, "Het Stellig Volkenrecht," The Hague, 1910. John Westlake, "International Law," Cambridge University Press, 1907, Volume II., pages 175–176. nations of that day in Europe, exercised a powerful influence towards shaping the law of neutrality as it is to-day. Jefferson took advanced ground, both with France and Great Britain, on many of the questions that arose at that time. And the principles for which he then contended, several of them then hardly thought of, much less universally recognized, by nations, have in the course of a century become gradually imbedded into the acknowledged law of nations. Grover Cleveland, too, who stood as immovable as Gibraltar between a nation crazed by a generation of vicious financial legislation and the disasters and burdens of a debased currency into which it wished to plunge with the blind hope of curing the ills from which it suffered, made a third of our members whose fame as a great president of the United States has reached to the uttermost parts of the earth. Many other notable political men who have helped to shape the history of our country were members, such men as John Dickinson, Albert Gallatin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Willing, Robert Morris, Charles Thomson, Francis Lightfoot Lee, DeWitt Clinton, John Quincy Adams, Alexander James Dallas, George Mifflin Dallas, Manasseh Cutler, Charles Jared Ingersoll, Nicholas Biddle, Robert C. Winthrop, Thomas Francis Bayard and Carl Schurz. And of foreigners who led active and important political lives many have been members: such men as the Count de Vergennes, the Marquis de la Fayette, George Douglas Campbell, Eighth Duke of Argyle, and William Ewart Gladstone, the latter two of whom both made their mark in the world of letters. We have had among our membership a few representatives of the Fine Arts. And in this group it is gratifying to the local pride The society is fortunate in possessing an original imprint of the Declaration of Independence as well as a draft copy of the declaration in Jefferson's own hand, and many manuscripts of Indian vocabularies, most of them collected by Jefferson. Dr. Holland possesses the diploma that the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh-which was instituted in 1771 and confirmed by royal authority in 1788-awarded at Edinburgh on April 12, 1799, to Thomas Jefferson when that society elected him an Honorary Fellow. In the diploma Jefferson is addressed as President of the United States, though he was really VicePresident. At that time the Vice-President was the man who received the second highest vote, and it was the custom abroad to address the VicePresident as President. of the home of our society that the first admitted to our ranks was a Pennsylvanian by birth, Benjamin West. He was elected on June 10, 1768. By the generosity of Colonel Joseph Shippen, himself a member of this society, who served under General Forbes in the capture of Fort du Quesne (1758), Andrew Allen, and the kind aid of other friends, West, after studying in this country, was enabled to study in Europe. Before his death, West had the pleasure of knowing that he had gained an international reputation. Another painter who was a fellow member, John Trumbull, a commissioner appointed by Washington to act under Article VII. of Jay's Treaty in the settlement of claims of American citizens against Great Britain, has left to America many a historic canvas. Charles Wilson Peale and Robert Edge Pine were both elected July 21, 1786. Peale was the founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, of which another of our members and a leading citizen of Philadelphia, George Clymer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was chosen in 1805 the first president. Robert Edge Pine, the son of John Pine, an artist of distinction, was born in London, and died in Philadelphia, November 19, 1788. He won the first prize in 1760 of £100 offered by the society for the encouragement of the arts for the best historical picture presented that year, his "Surrender of Calais," with life size figures, and two years later gaining another prize with his picture "Canute Reproving his Courtiers," Pine rose into prominence. He painted portraits of John Wilkes, David Garrick and other well-known men of the day in Great Britain. About 1782 or 1783, Pine brought his family over to America. He had letters of introduction to Francis Hopkinson, whose portrait he painted. Hopkinson wrote to Washington introducing Pine and asking the general to sit to the latter for his portrait. This brought out from Washington the famous "In for a penny, in for a pound" letter. However, Washington sat for Pine, and the resulting portrait was engraved for Irving's "Life of Washington." On July 17, 1835, Thomas Sully, another portrait painter and a Philadelphian, was elected a member. The portrait of Thomas Jefferson, which belongs to the society, who sat in yonder chair when he drafted the Declaration of Independence, we owe to Sully's PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., LI, 207 K, PRINTED JAN. 17, 1913. |