REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1920. 7 



degree of doctor of philosophy at the University of Gottingen in 

 1875, and joined the staff of the department of chemistry in 

 Johns Hopkins University soon after its estabhshment in 1876. 

 He continued in this capacity until the end of his life, although 

 he retired from active ser\dce in the University in 1916. During 

 all this time he was known chiefly as an investigator rather than 

 as a teacher. His connection with the Institution as a Research 

 Associate began in 1902. 



The life work of Professor ]\Iorse illustrates in a striking 

 degree how intricate, if not stubborn, are the properties of 

 matter; how painfuUy slowly progress may be expected, in 

 general, to proceed; and, hence, how important it is to maintain 

 agencies which may insure continuity of support for patient and 

 persistent efforts. The principal research which Professor 

 Morse set for himself, and in which he achieved marked success, 

 lies in the domain of molecular physics. The doctrine of the 

 atomicity of matter is as old as the philosopher Democritus 

 and the poet Lucretius. But little advance toward quantitative 

 knowledge in this domain was made before the advent of the 

 fruitful hypotheses and experiments of Dalton, Avogadro, 

 Ampere, and Gay-Lussac, who were active during the first half 

 of the nineteenth century. The restricted field of this extensive 

 domain cultiA'ated by Professor ]\Iorse is that known as osmotic 

 pressure, which is developed bj^ the flow or migration of the 

 molecular elements of solutions through a membrane separating 

 them. Precise measurements of tliis pressure in any case require 

 elaborate apparatus and great care in all details of manipulation; 

 but the thing most essential is a membrane, or sieve, of the 

 requisite fineness and uniformity. This adjunct proved to be a 

 porous earthenware cup, but its successful development consumed 

 about a decade of time and baffling effort. Comparatively few 

 men would have persisted in such a task. All obstacles were 

 overcome, however, and the results of the researches were ready 

 for pubHcation in time for submission to the Turin Academy of 

 Sciences, which offered an award on the occasion of the celebra- 

 tion of the hundredth anniversary of Avogadro's promulgation 

 of his hypothesis, namely, that equal volumes of different gases, 

 subject to the same pressures and same temperatures, contain 



