REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1923. 7 



Following recent completion of an extended survey of the sea made 

 possible by the non-magnetic ship Carnegie, the Department of 

 Terrestrial Magnetism has placed special emphasis during the past year 

 on the extension of its land observations, with a view to securing 

 adequate data for generalizations on problems concerning the earth's 

 magnetism. On occasion of the eclipse of the sun in September, 

 the Department made a group of important observations at Point 

 Loma and at other stations. 



The work of the Department in bringing together all available 

 knowledge on magnetic variation and in adding enormously to the 

 world's stock of observational data through its own expeditions is 

 a contribution of exceptional significance. Not only will it furnish 

 much of the information needed for local and special studies, but it 

 gives as well a large part of the basic material required for those 

 fundamental researches on the earth's physical phenomena which 

 will unquestionably characterize the next stage in study of the earth 

 as a physical unit. 



In development of the researches of this Department during the 

 next cycle of its growth, the combined burden of observation and 

 interpretation may be so adjusted as to permit us to carry the 

 relatively large share of observational work borne up to this time. 

 On the other hand, it may prove desirable to enter into such cooper- 

 ative relations with other active agencies in various parts of the world 

 as will facilitate the distribution of this work, thus affording the 

 largest opportunity for accumulation of data and for translation of 

 these materials into interpretations of the laws or modes of action of 

 the forces represented. 



In the departments of the Institution concerned with biological 

 studies, effort has been made in the past year to bring about such an 

 interrelation of the various activities as would make 

 possible a more effective attack through mutual sup- 

 port in related activities and a more rapid advance. The endeavor has 

 also been made to relate the work of the departments to that of other 

 research agencies in such a manner as to permit fullest cooperation. 



An interesting development in the work of the Institution 

 relating to study of human behavior appears in a cooperative 

 arrangement between our Department of Embryology and Dr. Lewis 

 H. Weed, Professor of Anatomy and Dean of the Medical School 

 of the Johns Hopkins University. In the program for human- 

 behavior studies outlined by the special committee cooperating 

 with the Institution, emphasis has been placed on the necessity for 

 investigation of fundamental physiological reactions of the individual 



