CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Carnegie Institution of Washington Founded by Andrew Carnegie "To encourage in the broadest and mo&t liberal manner investigation, research, and discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind." ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics at Cornell University ibson Bros., Printers anman Co., Engravers The Carnegie Institution of Washington Founded by Andrew Carnegie "To encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner investigation, research, and discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind" ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE Sixth Issue, February 28, 1917 PRESENT AND FORMER TRUSTEES. 1904-05 *Wayne MacVeagh, 1902-07 1902-13 *D. 0. Mills, 1902-09 1910- *S. Weir Mitchell, 1902-14 1903-14 Andrew J. Montague, 1907- 1916- William W. Morrow, 1902- 1903- Wm. Barclay Parsons, 1907- 1902-03 Stewart Paton, 1915- 1914- George W. Pepper, 1914- 1910-14 Henry S. Pritchett, 1906- 1902-15 Elihu Root, 1902- 1902-12 Martin A. Ryerson, 1908- 1902-08 Theobald Smith, 19 14- 1902-05 John C. Spooner, 1902-07 1915- William H. Taft, 1906-15 1902-03 Charles D. Walcott, 1902- 1902- Henry P. Walcott, 1910- 1902-09 William H. Welch, 1906- 1902 Andrew D. White, 1902-16 1903-09 Edward D. White, 1902-03 1902- Henry White, 1913- 1904-06 George W. Wickersham, 1909- 1902-09 Robert S. Woodward, 1905- 1914- *Carroll D. Wright, 1902-08 1902-16 *Deceased. *Alexander Agassiz, *John S. Billings, Robert S. Brookings, *John L. Cadwalader, John J. Carty, Cleveland H. Dodge, *William E. Dodge, Charles P. Fenner, Simon Flexner, *William N. Frew, Lyman J. Gage, *Daniel C. Gilman, *John Hay, Myron T. Herrick, *Abram S. Hewitt, Henry L. Higginson, *Ethan A. Hitchcock, *Henry Hitchcock, *William Wirt Howe, Charles L. Hutchinson, *Samuel P. Langley, *William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, *Seth Low, Besides the names enumerated above, the following were ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees under the original charter, from the date of organization until April 28, 1904: The President of the United States. The President of the Senate. The Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The President of the National Academy of Sciences. PRESENT ORGANIZATION. Robert S. Woodward, President. BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Elihu Root, Chairman. Charles D. Walcott, Vice-Chairman. Cleveland H. Dodge, Secretary. Robert S. Brookings. George W. Pepper. John J. Carty. Henry S. Pritchett. Cleveland H. Dodge. Elihu Root. Charles P. Fenner. Martin A. Ryerson. Myron T. Herrick. Theobald Smith. Henry L. Higginson. Charles D. Walcott. Charles L. Hutchinson. Henry P. Walcott. Henry Cabot Lodge. William H. Welch. Andrew J. Montague. Henry White. William W. Morrow. George W. Wickersham. Wm. Barclay Parsons. Robert S. Woodward. Stewart Paton. Executive Committee: Charles D. Walcott. Chairman; Cleveland H. Dodge,* Wm. Barclay Parsons, Stewart Paton, Henry S. Pritchett, Elihu Root,* Henry White, Robert S. Woodward.* Finance Committee: Cleveland H. Dodge, Chairman; Henry S. Pritchett, George W. Wickersham. Auditing Committee: R. S. Brookings, Chairman; Charles L. Hutchinson, George W. Wickersham. *Member ex officio of Executive Committee. ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF THE INSTITUTION. The Carnegie Institution of Washington was founded by Andrew Carnegie on January 28, 1902, when he gave to a board of trustees an endowment of registered bonds of the par value of ten million dollars; to this fund he added two million dollars on December 10, 1907, and ten million dollars on January 19, 191 1; so that the present endow- ment of the Institution has a par value of twenty-two million dollars, yielding an annual income of five per cent on this amount. The Board Room in Administration Building. Institution was originally organized under the laws of the District of Columbia and incorporated as the Carnegie Institution, but was reincorporated by an act of the Congress of the United States, ap- proved April 28, 1904, under the title of The Carnegie Institution of Washington. Organization under the new Articles of Incorporation was effected May 18, 1904, and the Institution was placed under the control of a 7 8 ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF THE INSTITUTION. board of twenty-four trustees, all of whom had been members of the original corporation. The Trustees meet annually in December to consider the affairs of the Institution in general, the progress of work already undertaken, the initiation of new projects, and to make the necessary appropriations for the ensuing year. During the intervals between the meetings of the Trustees the affairs of the Institution are A View of the Rotunda, Administration Building. conducted by an Executive Committee chosen by and from the Board of Trustees and acting through the President of the Institution as chief executive officer. The Articles of Incorporation of the Institution declare in general "that the objects of the corporation shall be to encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner investigation, research, and dis- ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF THE INSTITUTION. 9 covery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of man- kind." Three principal agencies to forward these objects have been developed. The first of these involves the formation of departments of research within the Institution itself, to attack larger problems requiring the collaboration of several investigators, special equipment, and continuous effort. The second provides means whereby indi- Another View of the Rotunda, Administration Building. viduals may undertake and carry to completion investigations not less important but requiring less collaboration and less special equip- ment. The third agency, namely, a division devoted to editing and printing books, aims to provide adequate publication of the results of research coming from the first two agencies and to a limited extent also for worthy works not likely to be published under other auspices. 10 ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF THE INSTITUTION. Summarily, the work of the Institution may be classified under the heads of a Division of Administration, a Division of Publications, Departments of Research, and a Division of Research Associates. The Division of Administration consists of ten persons and is charged with the executive, financial, and correspondence duties of the Insti- tution. The Division of Publications consists of four members and has charge of the work of editing and printing books; temporary assistance in connection with illustrations, proof-reading, etc., is also employed by this division as needed. The staffs of these two divisions are given on page n. The Institution has thus far established eleven of the larger departments of research; their designations, the names and addresses of their Directors, the investigatory staffs, and brief indications of their origin, development, and present status are given in the following pages. Many grants have been made in aid of minor projects for investigation, and many Research Associates and col- laborators, connected mostly with colleges and universities, have been and are carrying on work also under the auspices of the Institution. A condensed history of the origin, development, and growth of the Institution during the first decade of its existence will be found in the President's Report contained in the Year Book for 191 1, which also gives lists of all persons who had been engaged up to that time in the work of the Institution from the time of its organization. Fur- ther considerations, involving the development of the Institution, are discussed in the report of the President printed in the Year Book for 1915. A more comprehensive view of this history and development, however, may be gained from the contents of the Year Books and from the other more formal publications issued by the Institution. General and classified lists of these publications may be had on appli- cation, and the publications themselves may be found in nearly all of the greater libraries of the world. Over three hundred volumes have been issued up to date. The executive offices of the Institution are in its Administration Building, on the southeast corner of Sixteenth and P streets, north- west, Washington, D. C. This building is constructed of Bedford limestone, is three stories in height, and has an available floor space of about 21,000 square feet. The basement is devoted chiefly to file rooms and to rooms for the receipt, shipment, and storage of the pub- ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF THE INSTITUTION. II lications of the Institution, with fireproof vaults and shelving provided for such storage. The second floor is supplied with board and com- mittee rooms for the use of the Trustees and the Executive Committee, and with an Assembly Room having a seating capacity for about two hundred persons. The third floor has twelve rooms, furnishing ade- quate quarters for the Division of Administration and the Division of Publications. DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATION. Robert S. Woodward, President. OFFICE STAFF. Walter M. Gilbert, Assistant Secretary. Clarence Reeder, President's Secretary. John L. Wirt, Bursar. Edmund A. Varela, Assistant Bursar. Claude F. King, Custodian of Files. Irving M. Grey, Shipping Clerk. Henrietta R. Draper, Stenographer. Charlotte S. Stevens, Clerk. Edward B. Fristoe, Clerk. DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. William Barnum, Editor. Florence F. Stiles, Proof-reader. Charles J. Stoddard, Clerk. Gisela M. Gloetzner, Clerk. DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION. Director, Charles B. Davenport. Address, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. Arthur M. Banta. Charles W. Metz. J. Arthur Harris. Oscar Riddle. E. C. MacDowell. Albert F. Blakeslee. Research in biology was one of the first subjects to receive con- sideration from the Institution, and in December 1903 a plan for a station devoted to experimental evolution, submitted by Professor View in garden at Station for Experimental Evolution. Indian Corn, showing I ears and collecting pollen from the tassel. for guarding Davenport, was approved. Early in 1904 a tract of land, of about ten acres, at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, was leased from the Wawepex Society for a term of fifty years; the erection of a main laboratory was soon begun, and the station was formally opened June 11, 1904, with Professor Davenport as Director. In January 1906, the official designation of Department of Experimental Evolu- tion was adopted. 13 14 DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION. The buildings used by the Department comprise the main labora- ^ tory and office building, the animal house, Director's residence, green- houses, pigeon houses, cat house, and a house on Goose Island, together with some minor buildings. For use in marine collecting a naphtha launch is provided. In studies in the theories of heredity, use has been made of sheep, goats, cats, rats, poultry, canaries, pigeons, and various insects! (beetles of several species, flies, and crickets), beans, Bursa, Oenothera,;* sunflowers, maize, poppies, Lychnis, Fraxinus, yellow daisies, jimson ;j weeds, birches, poplars, willows, mulberries, bread molds and similar \ ■ , { ',.',■■.'■■' ' '■ ,■*"-. •■*■-•: , m - '■ , '.- - .1 ' ■ - d!r- ■ ■ '. -. ■ ■'.:■■ **||ta: snS^H Buildings at Station for Experimental Evolution: From left to right, Animal House, Pigeon Houses, Greenhouses, and Laboratory in the background. View looking southeast. fungi, etc. ; while such topics as dominance, factorial composition of characters, the presence of biotypes in species, the consequences of continued breeding in any direction without hybridization upon a "character," the relation between somatic structure and chromo-| somes, the association of various other characters with sex, the control of secondary sex-characters, the analysis of mixed and inter- mediate sexes, and the direct influence of alcohol and other agents? on the germ plasm have received special consideration. Investigations! have been made upon the effects of altering the conditions of tempera- DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION. IS ture and light (in cave studies) under which animals develop. Cyto- logical studies on the evolution of the chromosomes ("the bearers of hereditary determiners") are being carried out. The study of heredity in man is proceeding in association with the Eugenics Record Office, which was founded by Mrs. E. H. Harriman, and was located near by to supply adequate cooperation between the abstract studies on heredity in plants and animals, and the more obviously practical studies on human inheritance. On April 5, 1909, the Institution purchased for the Department of Experimental Evolution a small island in Long Island Sound, known as Goose Island, for conducting investigations on plants and Front View of Animal House at Cold Spring Harbor. animals in a state of isolation. In 1910, through the generosity of Cleveland H. Dodge, there were built on this island a wharf 70 feet long and a rubble house of one room, 9 by 14 feet. Besides the tract that is leased, the Institution owns a tract of 21 acres, purchased February 1910, lying within a mile of the Station; about 14 acres are wooded and the rest is used as an experimental garden. About 8 acres additional are leased near the Station for gardens and for sheep experiments. DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH. Director, D. T. MacDougal. Address, Desert Laboratory, Tucson, Arizona. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. William A. Cannon. H. A. Spoehr. Forrest Shreve. G. Sykes. This Department was formally established December 12, 1905. Three years previously, however, the Board of Trustees of the Insti- tution authorized the construction of a laboratory at Tucson, for the special needs of botanical research in desert areas. This laboratory was completed during the year 1903, in accordance with plans drawn up by Mr. F. V. Coville and Dr. D. T. MacDougal, who served as an advisory committee on the conduct of work at the laboratory until the present organization was effected. At Tucson the Department has the following buildings: Main laboratory, phyto-chemical laboratory, office, shop, and three water reservoirs. On experimental grounds in the valley of the Santa Cruz River are situated an office and laboratory of adobe and brick. At Carmel, California, operations are conducted in a frame office and frame laboratory, on a part of an experimental tract, the latter being a gift from the Carmel Development Company. i The situation of Carmel on the Pacific Coast is especially favor- able for the extension of the investigations of the Department upon the reactions of organisms to environmental agencies, and for experi- mentation under equable conditions of temperature and moisture. The laboratories at Tucson are located in a land reservation of about 863 acres, bearing characteristic desert vegetation. In addi- tion, the Department has reservations for plantations in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona at elevations of 5,000 to 8,000 feet. The chief researches of the Department have been concerned with a group of connected problems in growth, respiration, photosynthesis, parasitism, water-relations, environic reactions of plants, and physical factors of importance in geobotany. Contributions have been made to the measurement of the factors which condition the composition of the vegetation of differentiated areas such as deserts, mountain ranges, etc., origination and fate of 17 DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH. plant populations, evaluation of the parts played by various agencies in fashioning root-systems, soil moisture in all its relations, the vary- ing composition and concentration of the sap of plants as controlled by environment, the physical basis of parasitism, the results of desic- cation and respiration, as illustrated by the morphology and physi- ological behavior of succulents isolated from water for a few years, and the acidity of sap as a result of one type of respiration. Improvements of apparatus for measurement of changes of vol- ume have made it possible to record the entire growth of stems, and Phytochemical Laboratory, April 1916. the measurements obtained have influenced conceptions as to the nature and physical basis of growth. A series of glass screens suitable for testing the effects of various wave-lengths in the visible spectrum has been developed. The com- plex relations of temperature, light, transpiration, and movements of desert plants have been analyzed advantageously and both methods and apparatus for research upon these subjects have been greatly improved. The intensive study of chemical changes induced by light is leading to an understanding of the photosynthetic formation of sugars DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH. ig in the chlorophyllous cell, as well as to a comprehension of the physi- ological effects of sunlight in regard to the nutrition, the respiration, and the growth of plants. The specialized conditions offered by desert conditions have justi- fied some attention to genetic problems and to parallel experimenta- tion with beetles and plants. The studies of the role of the factors in a desert complex prove that the more divergent part of a population is eliminated by environic agencies, but this eliminating action is subject to various modifications. Mutating stocks of beetles have been studied for a series of years, one mutant being an additional or BP * _ J .^.-.-■rr^-~T- J - :.f\ „.-..-.*>*'**• ~ r ~""~. .. '"■'' Experimental Shelter and Santa Catalina Mountains. second departure from the original. Another type of modification, consisting in alterations of the stripes on the elytra of beetles, which was first apparent as a small variation or departure, shows an ortho- genetic progression, the new characters being genetically stable. Aberrant strains of plants originating in ovaries subjected to the action of various reagents have been secured and propagated and the physical effects of the reagents have been studied. The desert rubber plant (Parthenium argentatum) under domes- tication has been found to show over ioo strains separable by habit, structure, form, and rubber content. Special attention has been given to the phenomena of aridity in desert basins occupied by intermittent or fluctuating lakes, the inter- 20 DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH. est centering in Salton Sea, formed in 1905 and now receding at a rate of 50 inches in depth yearly. Travertine formation, initial changes in woods in fossilization, the accommodation of organisms to concen- trating brines, the changes in lacustrine deposits incident to aridity, and the mechanics of successions or revegetation of emerged areas are subjects to which contributions have been made. Preliminary examination of the playas, bajadas, streamways, lake beds, faults, and terraces of the Mohave Desert region has dis- closed evidences of climatic variation and of movements of the surface which it is hoped may be interpreted to account for the origination, phylogeny, and successions of the vegetation which now characterize the region. The climatic factors of the continent have received exhaustive treatment by an associate, while distinct progress has been made in meteorological subjects of special interest in plant-geography. The principles underlying plant successions and formations are being for- mulated on the basis of results obtained. The Cactaceae, a family of succulents characteristic of the deserts of North and South America, have received much attention. One type of specialized propagation, by which fruits give rise to new shoots or flowers, has been studied morphologically and experimentally. The geography, habits, and relationships of the cacti have been the subject! of an exhaustive field examination by two collaborators, and the results of their studies are being arranged for publication. DEPARTMENT OF EMBRYOLOGY. Director, Franklin P. Mall. Address, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, Maryland. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. G. L. Streeter. Margaret Lewis. M. Reicher. J. Duesberg. Franz Keibel. A grant in aid of embryological research was made in the spring of 191 3 to Professor Franklin P. Mall, who took immediate steps toward the organization of a program of work on a much more com- prehensive plan than had previously been possible. In December 1914 the establishment of a Department of Embryology was author- ized by the Board of Trustees and Professor Mall was appointed Director and with him was associated a permanent staff of investi- gators. The work of the staff has been supplemented by adequate support from scientific assistants, specially trained technicians, artists, and modelers. The researches at present are being carried on in a suite of rooms in the Anatomical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, where the facilities are particularly advantageous for embryological investigation. Provision also has been made for additional quarters in a fire-proof building which is being erected adjacent to the present location. One floor of this building, consisting of 4,400 square feet, has been especially designed for the purposes of this Department. The chief researches of the Department are concerned with human embryology and they center about the large collection of human embryos that now belongs to the Carnegie Institution of Washington. This collection is the result of the unceasing efforts of Dr. Mall during the past twenty-five years, and consists of nearly 2,000 specimens. The collection is already unique in both magnitude and importance, but a vigorous effort is being made to increase it still further through the cooperation of the medical profession. It is now safely housed in fire-proof rooms, together with the original data, drawings, photographs, and clinical records, which are second in importance only to the specimens themselves. Convenient classified lists and a card catalogue have been prepared in order to render all of the material easily available. 22 DEPARTMENT OF EMBRYOLOGY. A preliminary report has been published upon the external form of embryos under 25 millimeters long, together with a division of this period into stages, with a view to the establishment of a norm/ Physico-anthropologic measurements are being made to extend this work to older fetuses. This will add greater precision to the deter-; mination of the age of embryos and will throw light on anatomical variations and the variations in racial anatomy of which we are at present almost wholly ignorant. Considerable attention is being directed to the pathological aspects of embryology and their bearing on fertilization, teratology, and the causes of abortion and sterility. A study has been published concerning the fate of the ovum in 146 specimens of tubal pregnancy. s The structural anatomy of the embryo at different stages is being j studied. Models and drawings have been finished of embryos \ between 2 and 4 millimeters. A study of the development of the,/ muscles and skeleton of the head is nearly completed. A monograph on the structure of the medulla oblongata has been published. Papers have been published on the development of the veins which constitute | important links in the series of investigations on the formation of the vascular system which have been under way during the past few years. In addition to the work on human embryology, numerous studies on related subjects are in progress. A number of cytological studies have been published and others are in progress which will form a ground-work for a better understanding of the histology of the embryo. In these investigations advantage has been taken of other embryological forms whenever possible to use experimental methods and whenever possible to make observations on living tissues. NUTRITION LABORATORY. Director, Francis G. Benedict. Address, Nutrition Laboratory, Boston, Massachusetts. E. B. Babcock. K. H. Brown. T. M. Carpenter. E. M. Clifford. W. E. Collins. M. A. Corson. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. A. N. Darling. L. E. Emmes. E. L. Fox. E. P. Joslin. A. Johnson. F. E. Kallen. A. Krappe. W. H. Leslie. C. Mason. W. R. Miles. E. S. Mills. I. B. Simon. H. M. Smith. G. Snyder. F. B. Talbot. E. H. Tompkins. J. I. Waldron. E. A. Wilson. The Nutrition Laboratory, Boston. The investigations in nutrition, to which this laboratory is devoted, originated with the late Professor W. 0. Atwater, of Wes- leyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. During the years 1903 to 1907 grants were made to him and to Professor Benedict to aid in building a respiration calorimeter and to carry on experiments with 23 24 NUTRITION LABORATORY. this apparatus. The erection of a laboratory at Boston, Massachu- setts, especially designed for this purpose, was authorized in December 1906, and early in 1907 Professor Benedict was appointed Director. The construction of the laboratory was begun in July 1907 and com- pleted in February 1908. The equipment consists of a variety of apparatus for observations on metabolism and related investigations. It includes four respira- tion calorimeters, one of which is especially designed for studying Psycho-Physical Laboratory. the influence of muscular work; a number of forms of respiration apparatus of the unit type developed in this laboratory, together with other types of apparatus used by leading investigators for studying respiratory exchange; several respiration chambers for study of patho- ; logical cases, infants, small animals, and groups of individuals or large animals; supplementary apparatus for recording muscular activity, respiration, and pulse-rate; two bicycle ergometers, and two treadmills for studying muscular work; various types of apparatus NUTRITION LABORATORY. ^5 for photographic registration of pulse rate, respiration, electrical action of the heart, and other delicate physiological activities; an adiabatic bomb calorimeter; and a complete equipment for chemical analysis of foods and urine. A psychological laboratory has been fitted up for observations in physiological psychology, particularly with regard to the influence of various foods and drugs. Much of the scientific equipment has been developed in the Nutrition Laboratory and constructed in its own machine shop. Interior showing Calorimeters and Accessory Apparatus. The researches during the past eight years have included studies of the metabolism of normal individuals (both men and women), of infants, and of diabetics. Observations have also been made on the influence of various factors upon metabolism, as the ingestion of food and of special diets; the breathing of oxygen-rich atmospheres; tem- perature environment; muscular activity, particularly bicycle riding, walking, and running; pregnancy, fasting, obesity; therapeutic agents; and moderate doses of alcohol. Researches have been carried out with dogs to determine the influence on the metabolism of the removal of the hypophysis and of the effect of feeding meat to dogs having no pancreas, and with cats to study the influence of thyroid stimulation 26 NUTRITION LABORATORY. upon metabolism. A comparison has been made of direct and indirect calorimetry, the various methods for determining the respiratory- exchange have been compared, and the body-temperature has been topographically studied. Unit Respiration Apparatus, Nutrition Laboratory. Aside from the regular chemical work connected with the inves- tigations, special studies have been made on the composition of out- door air, on the nutritive value of different servings of food, and on the exact determination of sugar in diabetic urine. The heats of combustion of a number of organic compounds have been determined* and analyses have been made of various diabetic foods. The following investigations are in progress: A research on the metabolism in diabetes under different methods of treatment. The new clinical respiration chamber, recently developed in this laboratory, is being used for these investigations. Studies of the respiratory exchange during muscular work, more par- ticularly during the work of walking on a treadmill at varying speeds and grades. These experiments, which include photographic records of the pulse rate, are preliminary to a calorimetric study of the metabolism during muscular work which will be carried out later. Observations on normal infants between the ages of one month and two years. A study of the psychological effects of alcohol, the initial investigation carried out in accordance with the program proposed by the Nutrition NUTRITION LABORATORY. 27 Laboratory for an exhaustive study of the physiological effects of the inges- tion of moderate doses of ethyl alcohol by man. Sufficient data have already been accumulated to justify the publication of a large monograph dealing with the effects of moderate doses of alcohol on a related group of neuro-muscular processes in man, responses from various levels of the nervous system being investigated by carefully selected techniques. The investigation is now being continued with an elaborate series of typewriting tests, sense threshold tests, etc. Correlated researches on alcohol: (a) A study of the respiratory exchange and the rapidity of the absorption of alcohol by normal individuals under varying conditions; (b) a study of the influence upon metabolism of the rectal feeding of alcohol, with special reference to the time relation and the intensity of the metabolism, the plan being to extend this study to include the combination of alcohol with protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Observations on geese during prolonged fasting and surfeit feeding, made with the clinical respiration chamber and the bed calorimeter, to study the question of the conversion of carbohydrates to fat in the animal body. A study of the gaseous metabolism of the lower animals: In connection with the researches on human nutrition carried out by the Nutrition Labora- tory the necessity for a study of the fundamental laws governing heat production in the living organism led to the inception of this research, which is now in progress in the New York Zoological Park. An elaborate and delicately tested respiration apparatus with numerous chambers for varying sizes of reptiles has been constructed, and the python, boa, rattlesnake, tortoise, and alligator have already been studied. It is believed that such a study will not only throw light upon abstract questions such as heat regu- lation, but will have a not inconsiderable influence upon the feeding of animals in captivity. Considerable Russian, Scandinavian, and Bohemian literature bearing on subjects studied in this laboratory has also been translated, thus making available to investigators the results of experimental work which would otherwise be difficult of access. A number of scientists, both American and European, have cooperated in the investigations of the laboratory. The Laboratory at Tortugas. Interior View of the Laboratory. DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. Director, Alfred G. Mayer. Address, Princeton, New Jersey. This Department was formally authorized in December 1903. Its aim is to afford the best possible facilities for the prosecution of researches upon the marine animals of the tropical oceans, especially in the fields of physiology, ecology, embryology, and other studies which demand that the animals experimented upon be maintained alive. Problems of oceanography, the geology and biology of marine limestones, the growth-rate of corals, the reactions of tropical sea The Anton Dohrn. gulls, and the mutations of island mollusks fall within the scope of the Department, and within the past eleven years a large part of the work upon the biology of the West Indian region has been carried on under its auspices or with its cooperation. During this period 58 investi- gators have made 129 visits to the laboratory and many discoveries in biology and in geology have resulted from their studies. Men who have already achieved distinction through their original work are selected to pursue these studies, for, without at all disparaging the efforts of other agencies, it is the purpose of this laboratory to give especial aid to productive investigators. In studying the problems of marine biology in the broadest sense it has been necessary to make expeditions to the Bahamas, Jamaica, 29 3° DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. the West Indies, Tobago, Porto Rico, Newfoundland, and Torres Straits, and these journeys have yielded and will produce many valuable results. The principal laboratory of the Department is situated upon Loggerhead Key, Tortugas, Florida, on the northern side of the Gulf Stream, 68 miles west of Key West, in the Gulf of Mexico. It is thus \ surrounded by the purest ocean water, so clear that one may observe the tropical fishes and the minute details of the coral reefs many feet beneath the surface. Moreover, there are no local fisheries or other industries to interfere with the activities of the laboratory. The A Glimpse of Bird Life in the Tortugas Islands. richest coral reefs of Florida lie within a few yards of its dock and the moat at Fort Jefferson, the loose stones of Bush Key Reef, and the remarkable tern colony on Bird Key from May until September afford opportunities for fruitful studies. The main buildings at Tortugas are 53 and 87 feet long respec- tively, together with an aquarium, machine shop, pumping station, and dock. The principal vessel of the Department is the Anton Dohrn, a 70-foot, twin-screw yacht of 100 horsepower. Three launches, the Sea Horse, Vellela, and Henderson, are also employed, and a glass- bottomed boat, the Darwin, has recently been added for observing the relations between the colors and habits of coral-reef fishes. DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 31 The ever-increasing expense of research and the growing com- plexity of apparatus make it almost impossible for extensive investi- gations in science to be maintained by ordinary private means; hence this well-equipped laboratory in a tropical region meets many of the needs of research in marine biology. The Laboratory at Tobago, British West Indies, April 1916. Temporary branch laboratories have also been, from time to time, established at Nassau and at Andros Island (in the Bahamas), in Jamaica, and upon Murray Island, Torres Straits, Australia. Exclusive of preliminary papers and reports in Year Books, the Carnegie Institution of Washington has published 72 contributions, aggregating 2,940 pages and 300 plates, giving results of researches from the Department of Marine Biology; in addition, many papers have been published in current journals and elsewhere. DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. Director, L. A. Bauer. Address, 36th Street and Broad Branch Road, Washington, D. C. J. P. Ault. F. Brown. C. R. Duvall. H. M. W. Edmonds. C. K. Edmunds. C. C. Ennis. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. H. W. FlSK. J. A. Fleming. H. F. Johnston. Bradley Jones. F. C. Loring. I. A. Luke. S. J. ]\1auchly. W. C. Parkinson. W. J. Peters. A. D. Power. H. E. Sawyer. H. R. Schmitt. W. F. G. Swann. W. F. Wallis. J. A. WlDMER. D. M. Wise. Observing on board the Carnegie; observers making declination observations in the after observatory and inclination observations in the forward observatory. In 1902 Dr. L. A. Bauer submitted to the Institution a plan for a general magnetic survey of the earth, which was published in the Year Book for 1902. Work on this survey was begun tentatively in April 1904, Dr. Bauer being appointed Director of the Department. In December 1904 more extensive operations were authorized and prepa- rations were made to fit out a vessel for a survey of the Pacific Ocean. For this purpose the brigantine Galilee, oi San Francisco, was chartered, and it continued in the service from August 1905 until May 1908. The success of the Galilee in securing observations of magnetic elements at sea led to the designing and to the construction of the non-magnetic ship Carnegie. She was launched June 12, 1909, and 33 34 DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. set sail August 21, 1909, on her first voyage. Her length over all is 155! feet; length on load water-line, 128^ feet; beam, 33 feet; draft 13J feet; displacement, 568 tons; sail area, 12,900 square feet. She is built of wood and of non-magnetic metals and, while primarily a sailing craft, brigantine-rigged, is provided with auxiliary propulsion: by means of an internal-combustion engine, for which gas is supplied! from a producer. Her novel equipment and her freedom from magnetism permit making precise magnetic observations at sea, for navigational and scientific purposes, almost as readily as on land. The Carnegie. Another view of this vessel may be seen on page 52. The work already accomplished by the Department may be summarized as follows : Ocean observations embracing the three mag- netic elements (declination, dip, and intensity) on cruises in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, aggregating about 200,000 miles, and covering all the oceans; similar observations on land at about 3,500 stations, distributed over 115 different countries and various island groups, and located especially in regions where no magnetic results, or but an insufficient number, had been obtained previously. Deter- DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 35 minations are made also, in the land and ocean work, of the changes occurring in the magnetic elements, so that it will be possible to refer all the existing values of these elements to the same date. By Jan- uary i, 1916, a general magnetic survey of the globe was about three-fourths completed. Besides work in terrestrial magnetism, this Department carries on researches in atmospheric electricity and allied subjects; also, in its laboratory at Washington, special experimental investigations are conducted on magnetism in general and kindred topics. Standardizing Magnetic Observatory. The necessity for permanent quarters for observational and laboratory facilities having become apparent, a site was purchased in the District of Columbia, near the National Rock Creek Park, and sufficiently removed from industrial disturbing influences. Here was erected a commodious fireproof building containing the Director's headquarters and rooms for the staff, library and archives, physical laboratory, instrument shop, etc. At a proper distance from the main building is located a one-story standardizing magnetic observa- tory. These buildings were completed in 1914. GEOPHYSICAL LABORATORY. Director, Arthur L. Day. Address, Geophysical Laboratory, Upton Street, Washington, D. C. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. L. H. Adams. Eugene T. Allen. Olaf Andersen. N. L. Bowen. C. N. Fenner. J. B. Ferguson. J. C. Hostetter. John Johnston. R. H. Lombard. H. E. Merwin. G. W. Morey. EUGEN POSNJAK. E. S. Shepherd. Robert B. Sosman. H. S. Washington. Walter P. White. E. D. Williamson. Fred. E. Wright. E. G. Zies. Investigations to determine the modes of formation and the physical properties of the rocks of the earth's crust were begun under the auspices of the Institution in 1904, when grants were made for Laboratory equipped for Study of the Oxides of Iron. special researches carried on in Washington at the office of the United States Geological Survey. In December 1905, estimates for the erection and equipment of a special laboratory for the experimental work previously carried on by Dr. Day were formally approved. A site of five acres on an iso- 37 38 GEOPHYSICAL LABORATORY. lated hill, east of Connecticut Avenue, in the subdivision known as Azadia, District of Columbia, was purchased, and a contract for con- struction of the laboratory was let July 6, 1906. Dr. Day was appointed Director of the laboratory and he with his staff took pos- session of the completed building July 1, 1907. This laboratory has many novel features of construction and equipment. It is especially well provided with apparatus for chemi- Laboratory equipped for the Study of High Pressures and Temperatures. cal, physical, and optical work in mineralogy, and with apparatus for the study of materials subject to such high temperatures and high pressures as obtain in the formation of rocks and minerals in the earth's crust. In May 1916, the publications of the Geophysical Laboratory numbered 240, contained mostly in representative American and foreign journals. DEPARTMENT OF MERIDIAN ASTROMETRY. Director, Benjamin Boss. Address, Dudley Observatory, Albany, New York. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. S. Albrecht. Mabel A. Dyer. Heroy Jenkins. Harry Raymond. Mary E. Bingham. Alice M. Fuller. Bertha W. Jones. Arthur J. Roy. Grace I. Buffum. Florence L. Gale. Isabella Lange. W. B. Varnum. Livia C. Clark. S. B. Grant. Fannie L. MacNeill. A. von Flotow. An advisory committee on astronomy, of which Lewis Boss, Director of the Dudley Observatory, was chairman, recommended, in a report published in the Year Book of the Institution for 1903, the establishment of a temporary meridian observatory in the southern hemisphere, with the ultimate object of securing accurate measures of the positions of the stars visible in the southern hemisphere for use in connection with corresponding measures made at observatories in the northern hemisphere, in order to produce a complete catalogue of precision of all stars from the brightest down to those of the seventh magnitude, inclusive, for the entire celestial sphere. During 1904-05 special grants were made to Professor Boss, and in December 1905 the establishment of an observatory in the southern hemisphere was approved and the execution of the project was put in his charge. In March 1907 this branch of work was designated the Department of Meridian Astrometry, and Dr. Boss was formally appointed Director. A Southern Observatory was located on land belonging to the Escuela Regional in San Luis, Argentina, in latitude south 33 18', longitude west 4 11 25™ 25 s , on the East Andean plateau, at an altitude of about 2,500 feet. The buildings for the observatory and the quar- ters for the resident staff were erected during the winter of 1908-09; the instrumental equipment was supplied from the Dudley Observatory. The work of observing was begun in April 1909 and was completed in January 191 1, when the instrumental equipment was returned to Albany and observations were resumed on the northern stars. A sub- sequent expedition to San Luis, to determine the magnitudes of the stars observed, terminated in February 1913. The first fruits of the undertaking appeared in 1910, in the form of a " Preliminary General Catalogue of 6,188 Stars for the Epoch 1900"; this volume has served as a basis for many studies of stellar motions; a second edition has been recently issued. Dr. Lewis Boss died in 191 2 and was succeeded by Benjamin Boss. 39 MOUNT WILSON SOLAR OBSERVATORY. Director, George E. Hale. Assistant Director, Walter S. Adams. Address, Solar Observatory, Pasadena, California. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. Harold D. Babcock. Carolyn 0. Burns. Margherita O. Burns. Ada M. Brayton. Cora G. Burwell. Helen Davis. Ferdinand Ellerman. Alfred H. Joy. Mary C. Joyner. Arthur S. King. Merl M. McClees. Addie Miller. Ardis Monk. George S. Monk. Seth B. Nicholson. Francis G. Pease. Myrtle Richmond. G. W. Ritchey. Frederick H. Seares. Harlow Shapley. Bertha M. Shumway. Charles E. St. John. A. Van Maanen. Louise Ware. Coral Wolfe. The Observatory on Mount Wilson. The Solar Observatory has been developed from suggestions and recommendations made in a report from an advisory committee and published in the first Year Book of the Institution in 1902. The late Professor S. P. Langley, a member of this committee, urged especially the desirability of establishing such an observatory in some elevated, subtropical locality. Professor George E. Hale, also a member of the 41 42 MOUNT WILSON SOLAR OBSERVATORY. committee, called attention likewise to the importance of additional direct studies of the sun and to their bearings on the more general prob- lems of stellar evolution. He recommended particularly the construc- tion of special telescopic devices and the combination of an observatory with a physical laboratory. After testing the atmospheric and other conditions of various possible sites, it was determined in December 1904 to establish an observatory on Mount Wilson, near Pasadena, California, and Professor Hale was appointed Director of the enter- prise. Mount Wilson is one of the summits of the San Gabriel range. Laboratory at Pasadena. It is 5,714 feet above sea-level, in north latitude 34 13' o" and in west longitude 118 3' 35". This site and the privileges of use and improve- ment of the road leading to the mountain have been leased from the Mount Wilson Toll Road Company of Pasadena for a term of 99 years. The establishment consists of two separate but closely related , parts, namely, the observatory with its telescopic equipments and laboratory on Mount Wilson, and the office, shops, and physical laboratory in Pasadena. The office and the observatory, although MOUNT WILSON SOLAR OBSERVATORY. 43 about 16 miles apart, are in intimate connection by means of the telephone. The observatory proper is equipped with the Snow horizontal reflecting telescope, purchased from the Yerkes Observatory; a tower (vertical) telescope 60 feet high; a tcwer telescope 150 feet high; and a reflecting telescope 60 inches in diameter, mounted equatorially. The optical and other refined parts of the last three instruments were made at the shops of the observatory in Pasadena. These telescopes Sixty-inch Reflector with Cassegrain Spectrograph attached. are supplied with various spectrographic, photographic, and other devices for studying the sun and similar stellar bodies. In 1906, Mr. John D. Hooker, of Los Angeles, California, gener- ously provided funds for the construction of a mirror 100 inches in diameter for an additional telescope of the reflecting type, and work on this enterprise is now nearing completion at the observatory shops in Pasadena. 44 MOUNT WILSON SOLAR OBSERVATORY. The Mount Wilson Observatory has the following equipment in buildings, in addition to various cottages, water reservoirs, store houses, and other minor structures : At Pasadena, California. i. Office and Library building. 2. Instrument shop. 3. Hooker optical shop. 4. Physical laboratory. On Mount Wilson. 5. Steel building and dome for 60-inch reflector. 6. Steel building and dome for 100-inch reflector. 7. Snow telescope. 8. 60-foot tower telescope. 9. 150-foot tower telescope. 10. 6-inch equatorial dome. 11. 10-inch photographic telescope dome. 12. Astrophysical museum. 13. Physical laboratory. 14. "Monastery." 15. Power house. 16. Storage-battery house. Pasadena Office Building, Solar Observatory. DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. Director, J. Franklin Jameson. Address, Woodward Building, Washington, D. C. PRESENT INVESTIGATORY STAFF. Edmund C. Burnett. Waldo G. Leland. Frances G. Davenport. Charles 0. Paullin. Elizabeth P. Donnan. Leo F. Stock. In the summer of 1902, a committee of the American Historical Association submitted to the Institution a memorial suggesting methods for the promotion of historical research. This memorial was followed by a report of a special advisory committee on history appointed by the Institution, and in February 1903 a department of historical research was temporarily organized under the directorship of Professor A. C. McLaughlin. It was originally designated the Bureau of Historical Research. Professor McLaughlin continued his services as Director until October 1, 1905, when he resigned and was succeeded by Professor Jameson. At the same time the present designation of the Department was adopted. This Department is chiefly occupied with the preparation of publications intended to assist investigators in American history. It issues reports, aids, and guides with respect to historical documents hitherto unclassified and relatively inaccessible. Several reports have been published on the sources of American history available in the archives of Washington. Those in foreign archives are also being explored and catalogued. This work has already been extended to archives in Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, and the Netherlands. Besides these guides to sources, the Department is also preparing volumes of important material for American history, such as the Proceedings and Debates in Parliament relating to North America (to the year 1783), Letters of Delegates to the Continental Congress respecting its Transactions, European Treaties having a bearing on American History, and an Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States. 45 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY. A Department designated by the above title was organized under the auspices of the Institution in January 1904. It consisted of a board of twelve collaborators and undertook the prep- Historical Note, aration of a series of contributions to American eco- nomic history. Each member of the board assumed charge of a division of the work. The late Dr. Carroll D. Wright, then a Trustee of the Institution, served the board in the dual capacity of director of the Department and head of one of its divisions. After Dr. Wright's death, in 1909, the collaborators elected Professor Henry W. Farnam chairman of the board, and the departmental work continued under his general supervision until December 1916, when, by mutual consent of the Board of Trustees and of the Board of Collaborators, the Department was discontinued as a branch of the activities of the Institution. At the same time the Trustees voted to discontinue the publication of the Indexes to State Documents pre- pared by Miss Adelaide R. Hasse under the joint auspices of the Institution, the Board of Collaborators, and the New York Public Library. A bibliography of the contributions to the subjects of investiga- tion of this Department, as well as a list of its more formal publica- tions issued by the Institution, may be had on application to the Office of Administration. The Tree of Life. From William Hayes Ward's "Seal Cylinders of Western Asia.'' The cut at bottom of page 49 relates to the same subject. 46 DIVISION OF RESEARCH ASSOCIATES. The relations to the Institution sustained by Research Associates are so varied and so complex as to preclude summary specification. Each case presents conditions peculiar to itself. A few Research Associates are connected directly with the depart- ments of research; many more are at work independently and by aid of sub- sidies granted annually or for a specified term of years; while others are tempo- rarily allied to the Institution through the Division of Publications. It not infrequently occurs, also, that an indi- vidual may sustain the last two of these relations simultaneously. It should be stated in addition that nearly every Research Associate brings to this branch of the Institution's work several collab- orators, so that the ramifications of the relations in question are not only very extensive, but they tend constantly towards an increasing complexity of administration. The range of activities of Research Associates is also very extensive; it is restricted only by the limited income of the Institution. Nearly all of the well-recognized fields of research, ranging alphabetically from archeology and astronomy to thermo- dynamics and zoology, have been entered by one or more investiga- tors, and their work has been carried on in many different countries. For example, archeological researches have been promoted in regions as widely separated asTurkestan,the shores of the Mediterranean, and the North American Continent. Similarly, subjects as widely different as chemistry, engineering, literature, meteorology, and paleontology have each been advanced by subsidies to one or more devotees. Of the numerous branches of this division of activities, only a few may be cited here in illustration of the variety and extent of the inves- tigations already published or now under way. A glance at the Institu- tion's list of publications shows many contributions to chemistry from Professors Morse, Noyes, Richards, H. C. Jones, and others. Astro- 47 Frontispiece (greatly reduced) of H. C. Lan- caster's "Pierre du Ryer, Dramatist," a contemporary and rival of Corneille. The reproduction is from the first edition of "Saul," 1642. 4 8 DIVISION OF RESEARCH ASSOCIATES. nomical and mathematical science are represented by the collected mathematical works in celestial mechanics of the late George William Hill, by the factor tables and tables of primes of D. N. Lehmer, and by several volumes from Burnham, Newcomb, and others, including a revision of the catalogue of stars in Ptolemy's Almagest, by E. B. Knobel and C. H. F. Peters. In the field of International Law several volumes of a series of "Classics of International Law" have been issued under the general editorship of Professor James Brown Scott, but the publication of this series has recently been transferred to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Robert Browning. Reproduced from the portrait in the "Old Yellow Book." Knowledge of the Polynesian group of languages has been extended by the publication of five volumes of researches by Mr. William Churchill. To early English and Continental literature there has been contributed an edition of the "Arthurian Romances," by Dr. H. Oskar Sommer, printed in French of about the fifteenth century. Concordances of the poets Horace and Spenser have been published and a concordance of Keats is in press. Professor Bjerknes has given a new foundation and a new superstructure to the little-understood science of the weather in his "Treatise on Dynamic Meteorology and Hydrography," published by the Institution. The unique copy of the "Old Yellow Book" (the source of Browning's "The Ring and DIVISION OF RESEARCH ASSOCIATES. 49 the Book"), from the Bodleian Library at Oxford, has been reproduced photographically and printed along with a translation, critical essay, and notes by Dr. C. W. Hodell. Among many other enterprises may be mentioned Dr. Erwin F. Smith's exhaustive studies of bacteria in relation to plant diseases; the chemico-physical studies of Professor Osborne and Professor Miniature reproduced in H. 0. Sommer's edition of the Arthurian Romances. Mendel in animal nutrition; the stereochemical studies, in relation to genera, species, etc., of Dr. Reichert; the researches of Dr. Castle in heredity; the investigations of Professor Chamberlin and his colleagues in geology and cosmogony; and the current bibliography of medical science published in the Index Medicus under the direction of Dr. F. H. Garrison.