REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION 



In compliance with the provisions of Article IV of the By-Laws of the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington, I have the honor to submit the follow- 

 ing report on the work of the Institution for the fiscal year 

 Explanatory State- ending October 31, 1908, along with recommendations of 

 appropriations for the ensuing year and with sundry sug- 

 gestions and recommendations concerning other questions which have been 

 under consideration during the past year. 



This report is the seventh annual report of the Institution and is pre- 

 sented under the following heads : 



1. Work of administration. 



2. Resume of work of year. 



3. Publications. 



4. Recommendation of budget for the year 1909."^' 



5. New projects.* 



During the preparation of this report the world of learning has been 

 apprized of the death, on October 13, at Norwich, Connecticut, of Dr. Daniel 

 Coit Oilman, first President of the Institution and a member of the Execu- 

 tive Committee since its organization, in 1902. Dr. Oilman had attained 

 the age of seventy-seven years, and he was apparently in full possession 

 of mental and bodily vigor when death came suddenly and painlessly. His 

 remarkable career as President of the University of California, of Johns 

 Hopkins University, and of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and 

 as a trustee of many educational and philanthropic corporations, is too well 

 known to be recounted here. His rare achievement in the development of 

 Johns Hopkins University, as an educational organization devoted mainly 

 to research, paved the way undoubtedly to the successful development of 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington as an organization devoted exclu- 

 sively to research. He was deeply interested in all efforts for the advance- 

 ment of knowledge and for the improvement of educational and social 

 conditions. He was especially interested in the progress of the work of 

 the Institution, while his confident optimism and his kindly counsel have 



*It has been deemed unnecessary to print these sections of the President's report in 

 the Year Book. 



2 — YB ^7 



