^6 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



make to astrophysics. This special interest centers in the fact that 

 the experience of the observatory furnishes the details of an experi- 

 ment on a large scale in a difficult field of inquiry, for which ways and 

 means of corresponding magnitudes have been available. In general 

 the means at hand for such enterprises have been incommensurate 

 with the obstacles to be overcome, and progress has been hindered, 

 delayed, or blocked until necessity has devised some indirect way of 

 surmounting these obstacles. But, on the other hand, this necessity 

 has hitherto exerted a highly beneficial influence in stimulating dis- 

 covery and invention, and one may perhaps question whether in the 

 past ampler means for the pursuit of systematic research would 

 have been on the whole advantageous for the advancement of knowl- 

 edge. Some eminent authorities, indeed, still question the propriety 

 of the endowment of research in any but educational estabhshments. 

 Contemplative minds are therefore awaiting the results of the experi- 

 ment of the Solar Observatory with an eagerness only exceeded by 

 that of the popular mind for information concerning the latest dis- 

 coveries and advances in astronomical science. 



In the meantime, with the installation of additional equipment 

 and the application of appropriate methods of research, the obser- 

 vatory is increasingly productive. The principal results of the work 

 of the past year are summarized by the Director in his current report 

 under seventy-two heads. No further summary of these results 

 may be attempted here; attention may be given to a few only of the 

 salient items of interest suggested by the report as a whole. The 

 year has been one of minimum solar activity and noteworthy for 

 a nearly complete absence of sun-spots. This has proved advan- 

 tageous for the pursuit of studies of the sun's magnetism now defi- 

 nitely proved by work done at the observatory during the year. 

 This advance in solar physics is of the highest interest by reason of 

 its probable relations to terrestrial magnetism and to cosmic physics. 

 Stellar and laboratory work have gone forward at a highly product- 

 ive rate, and the subjects of solar, stellar, and laboratory spectra 

 and stellar velocities are among those instructively considered in 

 the Director's report. Evidence has been accumulated tending to 

 show that light is absorbed in space, and that such a phenomenon 

 will not only elucidate others hitherto obscure, but furnish means of 

 measuring the greater depths of the visible universe. Professor 

 Kapteyn has continued to act as Research Associate and adviser 

 in the program of researches undertaken. The important results 

 attained by Professor Stormer, who spent some time at the obser- 

 vatory as a Research Associate in 1912, in his investigation of solar 



