222 

idable computations required. by the large mass of 
observations made by the department at San Luis, 
Argentina, researches are simultaneously continued on 
the problems of star-drift, including the speed and 
direction of motion of our solar system. In the mean- 
time, the catalogue is progressing favourably and 
some portions of the observatory list of miscellancous 
stars are approaching completion, although cloudi- 
ness during the past two winters has interfered with 
this part of the departmental programme. In the 
meantime, also, the manuscript of the zone catalogue 
of stars the positions of which were measured at the. 
observatory during the years 1896 to 1900, is under- 
going the final process of comparison and checking 
preparatory to publication. 
The anticipations of a specially favourable environ- 
ment, which were entertained when the Nutrition 
Laboratory was located in Boston near the Harvard 
Medical School and near several existing and pro- 
jected hospitals, are now fully realised; and it would 
appear that the laboratory is reciprocally advantageous 
to the several establishments with which it is in 
immediate contact. Indeed, with this, as with all 
other departments of research founded by the institu- 
tion, the only fears to be entertained seriously are 
those due to increasing capacity for usefulness and 
scientific progress, since such capacity tends quite 
properly to grow faster than the institution’s income 
warrants. 
Improvements have been made in the laboratory 
itself, and several additions to equipment have been 
installed. These latter include new respiration 
apparatus for studies of metabolism in muscular work 
of men and of small animals, a reconstruction of an 
earlier form of bed calorimeter, and additional appar- 
atus for photo-electric registration of physiological 
action in subjects under observation, whether near by 
or at a distance. 
As indicated in previous reports, the laboratory and 
its work are subjects of international as well as 
national interest, and many co-operative efforts are 
arising therefrom. Among the researches in progress 
by the laboratory staff, attention may be directed par- 
ticularly to ‘‘ The gaseous metabolism of infants with 
special reference to its relation to pulse-rate and 
muscular activity,’ by Francis G. Benedict and Fritz 
B. Talbot, and to “A study of prolonged fasting,’’ by 
Francis G. Benedict. 
The extensive operations of the Department of 
Terrestrial Magnetism on the oceans and in foreign 
countries have been adequately supplemented during 
the year by the new departmental laboratory, the com- 
pletion and occupation of which took place nearly 
simultaneously with the beginning of the second 
decade of the department’s existence. This laboratory 
and its site provide greatly enlarged facilities for re- 
search, as well as unsurpassed quarters for the resi- 
dent departmental staff. 
Near the end of the preceding year the non-mag- 
netic ship Carnegie returned to New York City, where 
she underwent such extensive repairs as are always 
required by wooden vessels after long cruises in 
tropical waters. After refitting, she left New York, 
June 8, 1914, for a cruise in the North Atlantic. In 
this, the third of her expeditions, she traversed about 
10,600 miles, making a_ first stop at Hammerfest, 
Norway, July 3, reaching the high latitude 79° 52’ off 
the north-west coast of Spitsbergen, touching at 
Reykjavik, Iceland, August 24, and returning to the 
base station at Greenport, Long Island, October a, 
and to Brooklyn, New York, October 21. During this 
cruise the Carnegie was in command of Mr. J. P. 
Ault. She is now being refitted for a longer cruise 
during 1915-16, in southern latitudes (so° to 75°), 
where magnetic observations require supplementing. 
NO. 2373, VOL. 95] 

NATURE 
DD. 
“=; 
[APRIL 1915 

An attempt at an ocean expedition into Hudson Bay 
was made.under the charge of Mr. W. J. Peters 
during the past summer, but on account of unusual 
obstacles from ice this proved only partly successful. 
Entrance into the. Bay with the auxiliary schooner 
George B. Cluett, chartered for this purpose from the 
Grenfell Association, was blocked until September 2, 
leaving less than a month’s time available tor surveys. 
Determinations of magnetic elements on land have 
been continued in six parts of Africa, in as many 
States of South America, and in Australia, bringing 
the surveys of all these continental areas to a well- 
advanced stage. 
With the end of the current year the Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory, like most other departments of the 
institution, will have completed a first decade of its 
history. Quite appropriately, this establishment was 
founded at an epoch of maximum sun-spots, and a’ 
marked increase in solar activity during the past year 
furnishes. similarly auspicious conditions for entrance 
into a second decade of research. But much more 
auspicious conditions are found in the extensive ex- 
perience and in the effective equipment acquired along 
with the capital progress attained during this first 
decade. The most sanguine astronomer would have 
hesitated at the earlier epoch to predict that these 
latter conditions could be realised at the present epoch. 
Herein also is found a signal illustration of the 
superior effectiveness of establishments primarily de- 
signed for and exclusively devoted to research as com- 
pared with establishments in which research is a 
matter of secondary interest. 
Progress in construction of the 100-inch telescope: 
has been made as rapidly as could be expected in so 
formidable an undertaking. The delicate optical task 
of shaping the too-inch mirror has been brought 
successfully by Mr. Ritchey to the stage of sphericity | 
which precedes the final state of parabolisation. The 
difficulties due to distortion’ of the mass of the disc, 
referred to in previous reports, have been overcome, 
and other obstacles due to temperature inequalities in 
the optical room are likewise yielding to appropriate 
precautions. In the meantime, the foundations for this: 
telescope have been completed, and the mounting and 
dome are expected to be ready for erection during the 
coming year. Several smaller parts and accessories 
for this instrument, requiring special exactness, are’ 
under construction at the shops of the observatory in 
Pasadena. Many additions and improvements in the 
apparatus already installed at the observatory have 
been made. The 60-foot tower telescope particularly, 
which was originally cheaply constructed in order to 
test the possible advantages of such a departure from’ 
earlier forms of telescopes. has been put in a state 
of efficiency comparable with that of the 150-foot tower. 
telescope, leaving the latter free for the uses to which 
it is specially devoted. In these general improvements 
much attention has been given to rendering the plant 
on Mount Wilson more nearly fireproof. The moun- 
tain road has been repaired, widened, and strengthened 
in many parts in anticipation of the heavy traffic 
essential to transportation of the 1oo-inch telescope to 
its destination. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
CampripGe.—The Adams prize for 1913-14 has been 
awarded to Mr. G. J. Taylor, Smith’s Prizeman in 
1910. The subject selected was ‘‘The phenomena of 
the disturbed motion of fluids, including the resistances 
encountered by bodies moving through them.’ The 
value of the prize-is about 250ol. : 

