REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1921. 9 



tricity. Although the Institution is proud of its own publica- 

 tions, the same gratification in accomplishment is justified by the 

 papers, large and small, which go from the Institution to the 

 pubUc through other series. 



Distribution of volumes issued directly under the auspices of 

 the Institution has been extended this year to reach agencies 

 doing important research only in limited or special fields. With 

 the purpose of bringing the results of our work into effective use 

 as quickly as possible, the distribution to individual investigators 

 of reputation has also been increased. At the same time arrange- 

 ment has been made for material reduction in the sale price of 

 the more expensive works to be issued in the future. 



In the past year special effort has been made to handle a con- 

 siderable accumulation of publications awaiting their turn at the 

 press. During the war, and up to this year, cost of printing 

 increased very rapidly and limited the output of volumes. In 

 1920 a considerable part of the appropriation was required to 

 pay for pubHcation of books authorized prior to the great 

 increase in cost of printing, and only eight new contributions 

 were accepted. Nearly all the older manuscripts have now 

 been published and we are attempting to keep the date of issue 

 of all new papers reasonably close to the period of acceptance. 

 Such an arrangement means much gain through early use of 

 results obtained in our researches. In the past year, in addition 

 to the regular appropriation, a sum of $10,000 was added 

 to the publication fund and recommendations for the coming 

 year include a corresponding increase of $10,000. 



Although it may be diflScult to define precisely the function 

 of the Institution in general or at any particular moment, it is 

 clearly the duty of this organization to lend its aid, wherever 

 „ ^ „ possible, to advance fundamental knowledge in 



Researches on New '■ ' i i xi. 



Problems Con- fields which are not normally covered by the 

 sidered. efforts of other agencies, or in which other 

 research bodies may find diflaculty in initiation of projects. It 

 is evident that as a part of its purpose the Institution must look 

 forward to giving its support in putting into operation researches 

 upon some of these more diflScult subjects. We could be 



