IO CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



During the afternoons of a week beginning December 13, 1909, the Ad- 

 ministration Building was opend to the public, and between 3,000 and 4,000 

 visitors inspected the building and the exhibits instald therein. This was the 

 first opportunity the Institution has had of indicating in a concrete way the 

 plan, scope, and results of its work, and the comprehension and appreciation 

 of this work by the public have been very gratifying. As an aid to the dis- 

 semination of semi-popular information concerning the Institution and its 

 activities an illustrated pamflet of 32 octavo pages was printed for this occa- 

 sion and distributed to guests present at the dedication and to visitors who 

 came later to inspect the building and the departmental exhibits. Probably 

 nothing hitherto done by the Institution has helpt so much to give correct 

 popular information and to remov false popular impressions concerning the 

 objects of the Institution as the publication of this pamflet. 



The opportunities thus afforded for a summary view of the development, 

 the progress, and the history of the Institution during the first eight years of 

 its existence provd alike advantageous to the Trustees, to the investigators, 

 and to the public. The directors of the principal departments of research 

 were enabld for the first time to become acquainted with one another and to 

 confer as a body with the President concerning matters of common interest 

 in departmental researches and in departmental administration. The confer- 

 ences held on this occasion with these directors were so fruitful that it ap- 

 pears desirable to hold them annually during the week of the annual meeting 

 of the Board of Trustees. 



In proportion as the work of the Institution is novel, advanced, or funda- 

 mental it will be difficult to understand and slow to receiv popular apprecia- 

 tion. Some of it, indeed, must be expected to meet initially with disapproval 

 because misunderstood. Hence, to counteract false impressions, to keep the 

 investigator in touch with his contemporaries in other occupations, and to 

 maintain an intelligent public interest in the work of the Institution, it seems 

 essential to hold exhibitions, at intervals of three to five years, similar to 

 that which provd so instructiv a year ago. 



A detaild account of the remarkable success of the non-magnetic ship 

 Carnegie will be found in the annual report of the Director of the Depart- 

 ment of Terrestrial Magnetism. It may suffice here to state that her first 

 cruise in the Atlantic Ocean (of about 8,000 miles) not only demonstrated 

 her fulfilment of all expectations as a floating magnetic observatory, but also 

 brought to light important errors in the magnetic elements shown on the best 

 sailing charts of the Atlantic. The perfection of observation on this ship is 

 fitly supplemented by a promptness of computation which enables her scien- 

 tific staff to furnish the results redy for publication as fast as the observa- 

 tions are made. Thus the results of her first cruise were soon in print and 

 are alredy in use by mariners. After returning to Brooklyn in February, 

 1910, she had her copper sheathing attacht, and was thoroly overhauld and 

 refitted for a three years' cruise, on which she set sail June 29, 1910. At 



