REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1918. 15 



to an Atlantic home port by way of the Panama Canal, as cir- 

 cumstances might require. In the meantime, Commander J. P. 

 Ault, who had traversed 63,401 miles of cruise IV, as originally 

 planned, had been called home and assigned to other duties. He 

 was succeeded by Dr. H. M. W. Edmonds, who had long served as 

 surgeon and as a member of the navigating staff of the vessel. 

 Rounding Cape Horn again, she reached Talcahuano, Chile, a dis- 

 tance of 3,863 miles, in 38 days, or on January 11, 1918. Leav- 

 ing Talcahuano January 23, she made a loop to the westward of the 

 Juan Fernandez Islands and returned to Callao, Peru, February 

 22, 1918. Thence she sailed March 29, making a detour south of 

 the Galapagos Islands, arriving at the Pacific port of Balboa on 

 April 24, and passing through the Panama Canal on May 2. 

 Since there appeared at that time to be no dangers in the way of 

 a return to an Atlantic port, she proceeded from Cristobal on 

 May 11 by the shortest route to Newport News, arriving there 

 June 4, having eluded the submarine then off the Virginia Capes 

 by a margin of about 20 miles. Six days later she was laid up 

 at a wharf at the port of Washington, D. C, and is now out of 

 commission, awaiting a return of conditions which will permit a 

 resumption of her international mission in aid of navigation and 

 in extension of our knowledge of the magnetic properties of the 

 earth. Since this vessel was launched, in June 1909, she has 

 traversed in her surveys an aggregate of 189,176 nautical miles, 

 or somewhat more than eight times the circumference of the 

 earth. Of this aggregate, 102,429 miles were traversed under 

 the command of W. J. Peters, 72,961 under J. P. Ault, and 13,786 

 under H. M. W. Edmonds. 



The following historical statement is taken from the printed 

 but unpublished minutes of the Executive Com- 

 Rlcof(foffiS" mittee of the Institution, for the meeting of 

 January 11, 1918. Upon motion, this memo- 

 randum and the accompanying resolutions were approved and 

 ordered to be spread upon the minutes of the meeting: 



"Definite recognition of the science of life, now designated by the 

 term biology, dates essentially from the publication of Darwin's Origin 



