28 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



RESUME OF INVESTIGATIONS OF YEAR. 



g r For convenience of reference the designations of the ten 



Departmental larger departments of research now maintaind by the Institu- 

 Affairs. |-Jqj^ ^j^^j |-|-jg names of their directors may be here cited : 



1. Botanical Research: D. T. MacDougal, Director. 



2. Economics and Sociology : Henry W. Farnam, Chairman. 



3. Experimental Evolution : Charles B. Davenport, Director. 



4. Geophysical Research : Arthur L. Day, Director. 



5. Historical Research : J. F. Jameson, Director. 



6. Marine Biology: Alfred G. Mayer, Director. 



7. Meridian Astrometry: Lewis Boss, Director. 



8. Research in Nutrition: Francis G. Benedict, Director. 



9. Solar Research : George E. Hale, Director. 



10. Terrestrial Magnetism: L. A. Bauer, Director. 



As indicated in the report of a year ago, the expanding needs of these 

 departments in the face of adverse economic conditions must soon press 

 closely upon the income of the Institution. Prices of commodities and the 

 cost of living have risen continuously during the past decade and there seems 

 to be adequate reason to anticipate that both will go still higher in the im- 

 mediate future. This is a world-wide phenomenon, affecting adversely all 

 institutions sustaind by fixt incomes. Its effect on the departments is offset 

 to some extent by their increast efficiency derivd from the experience pre- 

 liminary to novel enterprises. But this efficiency is in turn counterbalanced 

 temporarily by the further cost entaild by perfected methods and equipments 

 whose adoption is justified by their greater productivity. Hence, while prac- 

 ticing the strictest economy, the departments must be prepard, if necessary, 

 to curtail the quantity of research in order to maintain the highest standards 

 in the quality of the work undertaken. 



It may be noted with approval that several of the younger men of markt 

 abilities in the staffs of the departments have resignd during the year to take 

 up work in academic institutions. This early recognition of the merits of 

 men traind in the departments is perhaps the best indication of the relation 

 the Institution should sustain to colleges and universities. 



The departments generally are proving increasingly productiv in work ac- 

 complisht and increasingly fertile in resources essential to the researches they 

 have under way. Thus their efficiency, whether it be measured by results 

 already publisht or by results anticipated, conforms with the standards of 

 scientific investigation. 



Altho most of the departments are still to some extent in the formativ 

 stages, the trend of development is in every case now evident. Each occu- 

 pies a distinct field and each has attackt problems whose solution is not likely 

 to be undertaken by other organizations. Their ultimate success will depend 



