REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 37 



Remarks by Dr. John S. Billings, U. S. A., Chairman of 

 THE Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution 

 OF Washington. 



It gives nie great pleasure to accept, iu behalf of the Trustees of 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the offer of the Wawepex 

 Society to grant to us the use of these grounds for the establishment 

 of a Station for Experimental Evolution, and I beg to offer our sin- 

 cere thanks for, and the assurance of our high appreciation of, this 

 important and valuable grant. 



In considering the numerous applications for grants of monej- for 

 research which are made to the Carnegie Institution, we have been 

 in the habit of asking several questions : First, Is the proposed re- 

 search one that will probably give good results? Second : Is it a 

 research which any individual or institution is carrying on, or is 

 likely to undertake ? Third, Who is the man #ho proposes to under- 

 take it, and what are his qualifications? Fourth, Is it an individual 

 piece of work, or does it involve cooperation ? 



Among the first recommendations made to the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion for research in biology were several advising the establishment 

 of an institution for the study of heredity, development, and evolu- 

 tion by experimental methods. It was evident that such study, if 

 properly made, would give interesting results which might be of 

 great practical importance, but that if the work were undertaken it 

 must be with the distinct understanding that it should be continued 

 for a long period. 



We took a year to make further inquiries, from which it appeared 

 that no person or institution was likely to undertake such a work 

 as this, although there were a number of persons in this country 

 and in Europe who were engaged in research upon various points 

 connected with the general subjects of evolution and heredity. 



We also found that there was a man who was willing and anxious 

 to take charge of the work — a competent man who had demonstrated 

 his ability, an exceptional man willing to give his life to the researches 

 proposed. 



We found that these researches could not be carried out as they 

 should be carried out by any individual ; that they require coopera- 

 tion and coordination of results ; that it is desirable that many stu- 

 dents should be engaged on different sections of the problem, and 

 that these students, each working in his or her own way, should 

 be aided as far as possible by this department. 



