24 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



Allusion has been made frequently in previous reports to a prime charac- 

 teristic in the progress of all of the more highly developed sciences. This 

 consists in the passage from the stage of observation and 

 Nutrition Laboratory, experiment to the stage of measurement and calculation, 

 or in the transition from the stage of qualitative to that of 

 quantitative knowledge. It is marked by the introduction of the meter, the 

 balance, the thermometer, the telescope, the microscope, etc., and the definite 

 methods of chemistry and physics. The development of the work of the 

 Nutrition Laboratory affords a capital illustration of this characteristic mode 

 of procedure, and therein we find also the best justification for confidence in 

 the enterprise. 



The staflf of the laboratory has been occupied during the year in the con- 

 struction of new apparatus, in the improvement of apparatus already in use, 

 in numerous researches on pathological and normal subjects, and in the prep- 

 aration and publication of reports on results already attained. The year has 

 shown also a remarkable increase of interest in the work of the establishment 

 coming especially from members of the medical profession at home and 

 abroad. Several of these have collaborated very effectively in the experi- 

 ments under way, and the widely general approval of the objects and methods 

 of the laboratory insures the heartiest cooperation from experts in the closely 

 allied fields of physiological and pathological research. 



The numerous investigations in progress and the publications issued dur- 

 ing the year are reviewed in interesting detail in the Director's report. Of 

 the nine publications issued, one (No. 155 of the Institution) gives the results 

 of an important study of the variations of temperature in different parts of 

 the human body. Of equal popular and technical interest also are the results, 

 recorded in another paper, of experiments on men to determine the effects of 

 breathing air rich in oxygen content. 



By reason of the absence on leave of Professor Hale, the varied work of 



this Observatory has been in general charge of Mr. Walter S. Adams, who, 



as Acting Director, has prepared the report of progress 



The Solar £qj. ^^^ g^ fiscal year as well as that for the year lOOQ- 



Ubservatory. ^ -^ j ^ ^ 



1910. Quite fortunately the affairs of the Observatory 

 have proceeded without serious delay during Professor Hale's absence, and it 

 is gratifying to announce that his health was so far restored as to permit him 

 to return to his duties October i, 191 1. 



Although the construction and equipment of the Observatory are still in- 

 complete, the members of the staff are making rapid progress with their 

 programs of solar, stellar, and physical observation and of computation and 

 deduction. Thus the attainment of tangible results proceeds along with the 

 development and installation of equipment. Attention is invited to a list of 

 such results, attained during the year, cited in interesting detail by Mr. 

 Adams in his report, but too long for an abstract in this place. It need only 



