THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 969, 21 March 1911, Page 4

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE.

Few men in history have done so much good with great wealth as has Mr Andrew Carnegie, the millionaire ironworker. Following up his benefactions, he finds that the Carnegie r tv itution at Washington has snown such abundant proofs of usefulness that the founder has given it yet another 10,000,000 dollars, making in all 25,000,000 dollars out of a grand total of Carnegie gifts of all kinds, of 192,000,000 dollars, of which about 12 per cent, has gone to Europe, and the rest to the country in which the money was acquired. This institution has already in operation many independent branches of original research, and in time, says Mr Carnegie, will use probably at least 50,000,000 dollars more than it now has. Its most recent achievement has been the discovery by its yacht, Carnegie, that some —perhaps many—British Admiralty charts are sadly astray from the fact—not through any carelessness of the men who made them, but because their instruments were unavoidably affected by the iron in their vessels.

The Carnegie is built with bronze instead of iron, and bronze does not deflect the magnetic needle. On her very first voyage she has established that in the case of one famous wreck near the Azores, the British captain had followed the chart faithfully, but that the chart was two degrees wide of where the rocks stood. Year by year, for probably ten years to come, the yacht will be engaged in the same voluntary task of setting the world right, thus ‘‘paying back,” to quote Mr Carnegie, ‘‘the great debt America owes to the older continent of Europe, which has taught it so much.”

At the observatory on Mount Wilson, in California, no less than 60,000 new worlds, never before seen by man, some of them ten times larger than our sun, have been mapped mainly by means of new processes, largely photographic, devised by a young professor named Hale, whose genius has so impressed his patron that a new lens is being prepared for him, no less than 100 inches in diameter —that is, with at least thrice*the power of the largest yet made.

Another great task upon which several laboratories are now at work is to analyse geophysically the rocks so as to produce formulae for making cements and concretes of' any quality desired. The one indispensable ingredient of all cements has. it is believed, already been discovered, and, if this prove true, this material can be produced in any part of the world, as needed, and consumers will be forever freed from monopoly prices. Already much, perhaps in many sections, most —of new American building is in cement; and at least once a year the great newspapers publish a long story —usually headed “The Age of Cement’’—bringing its history up to the very latest date. Substitutes for other staple necessities which tend steadily to higher prices are also being diligently sought after, and many of these experiments will sure to be successful.

Of course the Carnegie Institute is not the only friend of beneficial innovation, tor Geimaay uas already, especially in the byproducts of mineral oils, done noble service. By treating nut oils, too, by improved machinery, she has raised the export of oil of copra from the Philippines in five years from 123 to 250 million pounds —quite an important item in the local budget.

Hitherto, that oil has been used mainly for soap making, but now it can be refined into a palatable food fat by ridding it of its objectionable sweet odour, and the Washington Government is urging upon American dealers the patriotic duty of rivalling Germany in bringing :lt into general use.