12 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



involves a piece of careful observation such as could be conducted 

 satisfactorily only by an agency like the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

 The several astronomical observatories of the Pacific Coast are con- 

 tributing data which will assist in the final determination of questions 

 relating to movements of the earth's crust. Lick Observatory at Mount 

 Hamilton is providing a special instrument for studies in this field. 

 The Hydrographic Office of the Navy Department of the United States 

 is cooperating through arrangement to equip two destroyers with 

 appropriate devices by which they will carry out an elaborate series 

 of soundings along the Pacific Coast. This operation is expected to 

 locate such abrupt changes in the floor of the sea as may indicate the 

 faults or breaks in the earth's crust that have extended from lines 

 of weakness on land into areas beneath the sea. The Bureau of 

 Standards of the Department of Commerce has made important con- 

 tribution through assistance of experts whose advice has been needed 

 in the construction of new instruments to be used in the detection of 

 delicate earth tremors in earthquake regions. California Institute of 

 Technology, in cooperation with Mount Wilson Observatory, has given 

 both the services of members of the staff and assistance in construction 

 of instruments. The list of contributing agencies should be extended to 

 include the universities of the Pacific Coast and many other bodies 

 desiring to give their assistance in the effort toward solution of the 

 complicated problem. 



Dr. Arthur L. Day, Chairman of the Advisory Committee, has 

 visited personally all of the cooperating agencies and has given close 

 attention to the development of this most interesting program of 

 constructive study. Dr. H. 0. Wood, Research Associate in Seismology, 

 has been in charge of the field reconnaissance for the Institution. It 

 is important to note that in this study the interests concerned are not 

 merely cooperating — they are advancing knowledge in each of the 

 subjects involved and at the same time promoting an understanding 

 of the earthquake problem. 



In every phase of research undertaken, either directly by the Insti- 

 tution or jointly with other organizations, it would be possible to 

 spend with profit considerable sums beyond those now 

 Needs. available; but just as there are certain aspects of 



knowledge which are relatively more important at one 

 time than at another, so there are various expenditures in investigation 

 which are particularly useful in each stage of the advance of science. 

 Among the varied needs of our departments at this particular moment 



