NUTRITION LABORATORY. 1 83 



in diabetes. He read in manuscript the entire report on this investigation 

 which has recently been published (Publication No. 136), and offered a 

 number of suggestions for use in further investigation on the subject. 



STAFF NOTES. 



In conformity with a plan outlined at the inception of the laboratory, the 

 Director took an extended tour in Europe (during the spring and early 

 summer), visiting different laboratories and investigators who were inter- 

 ested in researches in nutrition and allied subjects. While on a previous 

 trip, three years ago, his main object was the inspection of laboratory con- 

 struction and equipment, with special reference to apparatus; on this tour 

 he was able to spend much more time in the discussion of experiments, 

 plans, and problems that might be advantageously studied, with special refer- 

 ence to clinical problems, particularly diabetes. The cordiality with which 

 he was received in all hospitals, laboratories, and clinics, and the great inter- 

 est exhibited by the different investigators in the researches being carried on 

 by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in general, and by the Nutrition 

 Laboratory in particular, make it seem all the more desirable to continue 

 these periodic European tours and thus keep in close touch with foreign 

 investigators. As many of the American scientific investigators visit the 

 laboratory, it enables the observers to keep in touch with the scientific work 

 and workers in this country. It is very gratifying to see the number of 

 foreign investigators who are now exhibiting an interest in the Nutrition 

 Laboratory, both by correspondence and by personal visit. 



During the Director's absence Mr. T. M. Carpenter had the entire charge 

 of the laboratory as acting Director, and, with the necessity for the presenta- 

 tion of results and the writing of reports of major investigations, it has 

 become more and more necessary to readjust the administration of the 

 laboratory so as to make more advantageous use of Mr. Carpenter's excel- 

 lent administrative ability. 



When the laboratory was first established, although provision was made 

 for subsequent extension of chemical research, as distinguished from the 

 calorimetric investigations, it was deemed important to first perfect the calo- 

 rimeters, which made it possible for researches on the energy transformations 

 of man to be carried out in this laboratory as nowhere else. This elaboration 

 of calorimetric apparatus was continued to the neglect of the development of 

 the chemical side, but, with the satisfactory completion of three calorimeters, 

 chemical research may now be advantageously undertaken. We have been 

 extremely fortunate in inducing Dr. A. W. Peters, who has been associated 

 with Prof. Otto Folin, of the Harvard Medical School, for the past two 

 years, to join our staff. Dr. Peters will for the most part confine himself 

 to such problems of nutrition as are of a purely chemical nature. 



The complicated electrical devices used in connection with the calorimeters 

 and in many projected investigations necessitated the presence of an electri- 



