REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, I907. 29 



by the Executive Committee, the matter was referred to its subcommittee on 

 nutrition, and the latter committee in turn requested the President and Pro- 

 fessor Benedict to examine and to report upon the relative advantages of 

 various available sites in the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and 

 Baltimore. A week's time was devoted to this task, and, after further con- 

 sideration by the subcommittee, it was decided to locate the proposed labo- 

 ratory in the city of Boston, on Vila street, near the power-house of the 

 Harvard Medical School. 



The site selected was purchased from the Corporation of "The President 

 and Fellows of Harvard College" on March 13, 1907. The area of this site 

 is 14,312 square feet, and the price paid is $10,466.70. 



On the date just mentioned Messrs. Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, archi- 

 tects, of Boston, were engaged to prepare plans and specifications and to 

 superintend the construction. Preliminary plans were presented by them to 

 the Executive Committee at its meeting of April 8, 1907, and were approved, 

 and the President was authorized to make the contracts and attend to other 

 necessary details. Bids from four independent firms of contractors were sub- 

 mitted early in Alay, and on May 14, 1907, a contract was entered into with 

 Messrs. Horton and Hemenway to do the work of construction for $68,334, 

 and a similar contract was made with Messrs. Buerkel and Company, of 

 Boston, to supply the heating and ventilating apparatus at a cost of $14,825. 

 These contracts required that the building be completed by February i, 1908. 

 The construction was begun early in July and the building is now rapidly 

 approaching completion. 



Thru the courtesy of the authorities of the Harvard Corporation, the labo- 

 ratory will be able to secure heat, light, power, and refrigeration, at the cost 

 of production, from the near-by power-house of the Harvard Medical School. 

 The site of the laboratory is also near to existing and contemplated hospitals, 

 and the location appears to be in every way extremely favorable for the pros- 

 ecution of the arduous researches required to im.prove our knowledge of the 

 physics, chemistry, and pathology of nutrition. 



The work of this department is still largely in the preparatory stage, and 

 is thus as much a work of engineering as of astronomy. The novelties of 

 construction, equipment, and program of research for 

 Oh ^ t ^^^^ observatory, along with the initial difficulties pre- 



sented by a mountain site, conspire to make the under- 

 taking a formidable one. In spite of many obstacles, due chiefly to unprece- 

 dented precipitation during the past winter and to labor troubles on the 

 Pacific Coast, the work of construction has gone rapidly forward. 



