12 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



tion shown in the healing; wiiile among the diseases shown on the bones there 

 are some that find no, or but little, parallel among the white man or even the 

 Indian of to-day. In addition this room contains a series of 60 skulls with 

 pre-Columbian operations (trepanation). 



ISLAND OF TIMOR EXPEDITION. 



Among the projected expeditions interrupted by the European 

 war was one to the Island of Timor, in the East Indies. This island 

 has been a rich collecting ground for scientific study, though little 

 has been done by the paleontologist. An opportunity was offered for 

 making collections at Timor through the courtesy and interest of 

 Mr. N. E. Crane, a retired engineer, of Pittsburgh, who had planned 

 to visit the island. The fund for this enterprise was contributed by 

 Mr. Crane, Mrs. E. H. Harriman, and Mr. Frank Springer, but the 

 expedition has been postponed for the present. 



CLEARING OF FOG BY ELECTRICAL PRECIPITATION. 



The fact was long ago scientifically established that all dust and 

 fog particles in the open atmosphere are electrified and subject to 

 dispersion or precipitation, but how to clear fog from a street, along 

 a railway, or from the neighborhood of a ship at sea, and to do it 

 in a manner commercially feasible has been a matter of serious study 

 for many years. The question having recently aroused fresh atten- 

 tion, particularly in the neighborhood of San Francisco, through re- 

 searches planned by the University of California in cooperation with 

 the United States Lighthouse Service, it was decided by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution during the past year to make an appropriation to 

 further this investigation, Avhich is under the general direction of 

 Dr. F. G. Cottrell, who has done so much toward the practical pre- 

 cipitation of dust, smoke, and chemical fumes at large industrial 

 plants. The American Institute of Electrical Engineers has also 

 appointed a committee to cooperate in this great work, and reports 

 on the results of the study are awaited with much interest. The 

 essential element to success in scattering fog seems to be some form 

 of electrical apparatus of very high direct voltage, with facilities for 

 its control and ready application. 



RESEARCH CORPORATION. 



In previous reports I have called attention to the Research Cor- 

 poration formed primarily to undertake the development of certain 

 precipitation patents generously offered to the Institution by Dr. 

 F. G. Cottrell. Although it was impracticable for the Smithsonian 

 institution to administer this work directly, yet there was no objec- 

 tion to the Secretary becoming a member of a distinct organization 



