PROCEEDINGS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE XXXV 



Letter to the Heads of American Institutions and to Others Interested 



in the Work of Investigation. 



The Carnegie Institution sends to you herewith a copy of Mr. 

 Carnegie's deed of gift and other information in respect to the 

 organization of the new foundation. 



Some of the ablest thinkers and investigators in the country have 

 already called attention to important lines of inquiry. Their com- 

 munications will be referred to special committees in different 

 departments of knowledge — astronomical, physical, chemical, bio- 

 logical, geological, archaeological, philological, historical, biblio- 

 graphical, economical, etc. — and the referees will be requested to 

 add their own suggestions and to report to the Carnegie Institution 

 such methods of procedure and the names of such investigators as 

 they deem likely to advance with wisdom the great purpose of the 

 foundation. 



No large appropriations can be made at present, as there will be 

 no income from the fund before August. The summer will be 

 chiefly devoted to a careful study of the problems of scientific 

 investigation, at home and abroad, and in the autumn definite 

 plans of procedure will be formulated. 



Any member of the Executive Committee will be glad to receive 

 from you at any time suggestions, opinions, and advice as to fields 

 that the Carnegie Institution ought to occupy and the best methods 

 for carrying forward its work in those fields ; but in order that 

 important papers designed for official consideration may be properly 

 recorded and filed, they should be addressed to the President of the 

 Carnegie Institution, 1439 K street, Washington, D. C. 



Daniel C. Oilman, Chairma?i, 

 Charles D. Walcott, Secretary, 

 John S. Billings, 

 Abram S. Hewitt, 

 S. Weir Mitchell, 

 Elihu Root, 

 Carroll D. Wright, 

 March, 1902. Executive Committee. 



For its guidance, the Committee has formulated and adopted the 

 following statements as to its Purposes, Principles, Organization, and 

 Policy : 



Purposes. — In connection with the determination of the policy of 

 the Institution, it is necessar}' to clearly define its purposes and to 

 adopt some general plan for organization and administration. The 

 purposes, are declared by the Founder to be 



" To found in the city of Washington an institution which, with 

 the cooperation of institutions now or hereafter established, there or 



