REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, I905. 23 



As will be seen from the report of Dr. Wright, the Department of 

 Economics and Sociology has undertaken a comprehensive project 

 Pj , which should bring, in a few years, extensive con- 



Economics and tributions to the social and economic history of the 



Sociology. United States, and probably also equally important 



data for a forecast of American social and economic development. 

 The goal of science is capacity for prediction, and although economic 

 and social science are still sometimes regarded as somewhat ' ' dismal ' ' 

 in comparison with the older science of astronomy, for example, they 

 are plainly destined to play an increasingly important role in the 

 progress of mankind. 



The Department of Historical Research, which was one of the first 

 to be organized under the auspices of the Institution, has attained 

 an assured position of prominence and approval in 

 toricaT^Research!^' ^^^ historical world. Under the energetic direc- 

 tion of Prof. Andrew C. McLaughlin, this depart- 

 ment has stimulated historical research to a noteworthy degree. The 

 publications issued under his editorship have been widely read by 

 students and by investigators, and the demand for historical papers 

 and documents issued and discovered by the department is constantly 

 increasing. It is with regret that the Executive Committee has been 

 called upon to accept the resignation of Professor McLaughlin, to take 

 effect at the end of the current fiscal year. His report for this year 

 will be found in the Year Book, and attention is invited to the sum- 

 mary he gives of the work of the department up to date. Professor 

 McLaughlin has been succeeded by Prof. J. Franklin Jameson, for- 

 merly professor of history in the University of Chicago. 



Work in geoph5^sics has been carried on independently by three 

 investigators, namely, by Prof. Frank D. Adams, at McGill Univer- 

 sity, Montreal, and by Dr. George F. Becker and 

 Research.^ Dr. Arthur L. Day, of the U. S. Geological Survey, 



Briefly characterized, their researches aim to de- 

 termine the modes of formation and the physical properties of the 

 rocks of the earth's crust. We may confidently expect that the 

 results of these researches will be of great economic as well as of 

 great theoretic importance. The conditions of occurrence of rock 

 constituents and materials, including the precious metals, appear 

 now essentially discoverable by means attainable in the laboratory. 



Certain kinds of rocks have already been made artificially, and the 

 making of others is only a question of time and the application of 



