REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 127 



tory space. Then there is the Chapman House, also 12 by 24 feet, with 

 a wide porch; the lower floor is screened in and serves as a splendid 

 laboratory unit. The Eastman Kodak Co. has a building for its serv- 

 ice, deterioration, and corrosion tests, the lower floor serving as 

 workshop. There is a three-room library, and another building used 

 by the Kesident Manager. The upper part of the kitchen is used as a 

 dormitory. 



There are buildings at the end of the Barbour Trail, the Drayton 

 Trail, the Pearson Trail, the Zetek Trail, and at Burrunga Point, all 

 available for the use of scientists. At least two can live comfortably 

 in these houses. 



Inquiries should be addressed either to Dr. Alexander Wetmore, Sec- 

 retary, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C, or to James 

 Zetek, Resident Manager, Drawer C, Balboa, C. Z. Accredited scien- 

 tists receive an annual card pass on the railroad, and authority to pur- 

 chase in the commissaries. Living conditions on the island are very 

 comfortable, and working conditions good. Owing to the precautions 

 taken, the malaria hazard is nil, and the water supply is safe. 



As the island force looks after the dormitories and the meals, it 

 means that the scientists are relieved of all housekeeping duties. Thus 

 their entire time is available for their research problems. Those who 

 have worked in the Tropics where such facilities are not available, 

 where drinking water must be boiled and malaria precautions taken 

 daily, know what it means to be relieved of these chores. Furthermore, 

 in many tropical localities good medical facilities are not within easy 

 reach, whereas on Barro Colorado Island the scientist is never more 

 than an hour from a Panama Canal dispensary, or an hour and a half 

 from Gorgas or Colon hospitals, where one finds the very best in medi- 

 cal or surgical services. 



With rapid air mail and air express service the island is in very close 

 touch with the United States, and being under the United States flag, 

 it is almost like being in the States. On the other hand, the isolation 

 provided by an island does away with the many distractions so common 

 on the mainland. 



THE ISLAND LITERATURE 



Since the laboratory was established in 1923 as the Barro Colorado 

 Island Biological Laboratory, there have appeared G03 individual 

 published articles and books relating to studies made on the island. 

 This is an enviable record, equaled by very few institutions of this 

 sort. The field covered is vast, even including papers on studies made 

 here on cosmic rays. Many of the papers on physiology have paved the 

 way to other studies that have solved problems relative to certain 

 human diseases. A 3- by 5-inch card record is kept of these individual 



