REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1919. 21 



repeated tests has proved efficient quite beyond the conservative 

 theoretical predictions of attainable capacities. 



As related in the report of the preceding year, it was deemed 

 expedient, in April 1917, on account of dangers to navigation, 



to suspend the cruise contemplated by the De- 

 ^^ ^ sh^^^°'"*' partment of Terrestrial Magnetism for additional 



surveys in the Atlantic Ocean by the ship 

 Carnegie. As related also in that report, this ship was brought 

 safely, by way of the Pacific Ocean and the Panama Canal, to the 

 port of Washington, District of Columbia, arriving there June 10, 

 1918. She lay here until the spring of 1919, when it was decided 

 to send her out again on her mission as soon as necessary repairs 

 and alterations could be made. Of the alterations required, the 

 most important was the adaptation of her engine for auxiUary 

 propulsion to the use of gasolene as fuel. When this ship was 

 launched, in 1909, it was easier to get anthracite coal than gaso- 

 lene or other liquid fuel in remote parts of the world. Hence 

 the engine was constructed to use gas derived from such coal by 

 the so-called producer process. In the meantime, anthracite 

 coal has become much less and gasolene much more accessible 

 at distant seaports, and this circumstance has led to the note- 

 worthy, and in these times expensive, but highly advantageous 

 change here specially referred to. After delays which serve to 

 emphasize the inefficiency of mankind under post-war condi- 

 tions, on October 19, the Carnegie, under the command of Mr. 

 J. P. Ault, put to sea from the Virginia Capes, on her sixth 

 cruise, to comprise surveys in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans 

 not yet adequately covered by previous circuits. 



Of all branches of the Institution the one least affected by the 



war is the Division of PubUcations. Although it has undergone 



some changes in staff and encountered the ob- 



^"Se YeS! °^ stacles due to a rapid rise in the costs of printing 



and illustrations, its work has gone on without 



serious interruption; and the output of books for the year, as 



may be seen by reference to the detailed Hst given in a later 



section of this report, is rather greater than the average annual 



output for the past decade. Of the entire Hst of twenty-nine 



