REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1917. 13 



mendation; but its existence must ultimately depend on the 

 contributions it makes toward a solution of the problem of cosmic 

 magnetism in which the earth, by reason of our residence thereon, 

 would seem to play a dominant if not determining role. 



At their meeting in December 1908, the Board of Trustees of 

 the Institution approved a plan for publication of the more 



Transfer of the important classics of international law. This 

 Classics of Inter- project was proposed by Professor James Brown 



national Law. g^^^^ ^^ December 1907, and the plan as worked 

 out by him in collaboration with the Division of Publications 

 of the Institution contemplated reproduction of the classics in 

 question by photographic methods from the best extant original 

 or early editions and supplying for each volume of them a corre- 

 sponding volume in English translation, thus giving the reader, 

 or the investigator, the benefit simultaneously of the original texts 

 (which are mostly in Latin) and authoritative English versions. 



In accordance with this plan Professor Scott, who was at that 

 time Solicitor of the Department of State, assumed the duties of 

 supervising editor of the series. When the Carnegie Endowment 

 for International Peace was established, in December 1910, 

 Professor Scott became its Secretary and he has since served the 

 Endowment in that capacity. In the meantime, as the issue and 

 distribution of these classics proceeded, it became more and more 

 evident that they fall appropriately and advantageously rather 

 in the province of the Peace Endowment than in the province 

 of the Institution. This fact was recognized by both organiza- 

 tions, and by mutual approval the Board of Trustees of the 

 Institution, at their meeting of December 1916, authorized the 

 transfer of the entire project, including the published volumes of 

 the series on hand, to the Carnegie Endowment for International 

 Peace. Bj^ the terms of the transfer the Endowment paid the 

 Institution the pro rata costs of the volumes on hand and assumed 

 liability for the costs of the volumes in press. The transfer has 

 been completed during the year. The number of volumes issued 

 under the auspices of the Institution and thus transferred is 14, 

 with a total of 5,396 pages. They include, in the order of issue, 

 the works of Zouche, Ayala, Vattel, Rachel, Textor, Victoria, and 

 Legnano. A photographic reproduction of the work of Grotius, 

 ''De Jure Belli ac Pacis," has also been made but not issued. 



