May i, 1913] 



NATURE 



23 1 



with individuals. But while these requests are in 

 general gratifying and often praiseworthy, they pre- 

 sent some obvious hazards. There is need, therefore, 

 of constant caution against the dangers of undue 

 expansion and affiliation which lead to dissipation of 

 effort and resources. It should be kept in mind that 

 concentration on definitely limited programmes, con- 

 tinuity of effort, and energetic assiduity are the factors 

 most 'essential to progress in the domain of research. 

 The o- e ographical range of the work of the depart- 

 ment of botanical research, which centres in the Desert 

 Laboratory at Tucson, Arizona, has been extended 

 durino- the past year to include certain portions of the 

 deserts of northern Africa. Studies have been con- 

 tinued at the Desert Laboratory, at the Carmel Labo- 

 ratory on the California coast, at Salton Sea, and at 

 various substations where observations are made on 

 the phenomena presented by plants under strikingly 

 varving conditions. One of the most important in- 

 vestigations undertaken during the past year is that 

 of a comprehensive study of the large and highly 

 diversified family of cactus plants. 



The advances made by the department of experi- 

 mental evolution during the past year have been 

 chiefly along the lines of studies in cytology, in the 

 chemistry of pigmentation, in the factors of mutation, 

 and in the problems of human heredity. These studies 

 have been carried on bv aid of experiments with 

 piants and animals and by aid of rapidly accumulat- 

 ing statistical data concerning human traits and then- 

 transmission through successive generations. _ The 

 director has been able to give much of his time to 

 studies in human hereditv bv reason of his connection 

 with the Eugenics Record Office. Very interesting 

 chemical studies have been carried on by Dr. Gortner 

 a member of the staff, in respect to the chemical 

 nature of pigments which determine colour character- 

 istics, especiallv of the plumage in birds, of the wool 

 in sheep, and' of the skin in men. Dr. Shull has 

 continued his fertile studies into the heredity of 

 plants including further investigations into the con- 

 nection between hereditv and environment in the case 

 of corn. These further studies confirm his earlier 

 conclusions and show also that the hereditary 

 traits of different strains are maintained irrespective 

 of environmental influences. 



Two specially noteworthy publications of the geo- 

 physical laboratory have been issued during the year 

 iv the institution, namelv No. 157, "High Tempera- 

 ture Gas Thermometry," and No. 158, "The Methods 

 of Petrographic-Microscopic Research." The purpose 

 of the first of these was to give an account of the 

 apparatus and methods for accurate measurement of 

 the critical temperatures incident to mineral combina- 

 tions ; and the object of the second is to place, so 

 far as practicable, microscopic study of minerals upon 

 a quantitative basis. . 



Special attention is directed in the director s report 

 to extended studies on quartz and other forms of silica, 

 which is the most widely diffused ingredient in rock 

 masses- to further experiments on the conditions of 

 association of the three oxides, lime, alumina, and 

 silica, which in addition to being the commonest 

 components of igneous rocks, are also incidentally 

 the three principal ingredients of the so-called Portland 

 cement; to mineral sulphides, which are often of 

 great economic importance; and to mineral and rock 

 densities. 



Perhaps the most interesting of the more recent 

 investigations of the laboratory are those of the 

 physics and chemistry of active volcanoes undertaken 

 tentatively a year ago and pursued with very gratify- 

 ing success during the past summer. It has proved 

 practicable for members of the staff to descend into 

 NO. 22/0, VOL. 9ll 



the crater of Kilauea and to collect considerable quan- 

 tities of gas as it emerged from the liquid lavas of the 

 crater. Specimens of gases were collected in glass 

 tubes without contamination from the air, and these 

 have been brought to the laboratory at Washington 

 for detailed study. There seems little reason to 

 doubt that the phenomena of vulcanism will be ulti- 

 mately revealed by the methods, apparatus, and tech- 

 nique" developed by the staff of the laboratory. 



The independent transportation facilities furnished 

 by the new vessel, Anton Dohrn, and the repairs 

 and improvements to the laboratory completed a year 

 ao-o have proved highly advantageous to the depart- 

 ment of marine biology. By means of the Anton 

 Dohrn the entire Gulf and West Indian region be- 

 comes open to investigation by the department. The 

 director records with appreciation a gift to his fleet 

 by Hon Tohn B. Henderson, of Washington, D.C., 

 of a 23-ft. 6-h.p. launch, which has already proved a 

 very useful adjunct in the diversified work of the 

 department, since many different investigations are 

 carried on simultaneously by different individuals at 

 the laboratory headquarters. During February and 

 Much of the" current year the director established a 

 temporary laboratory at Montego Bay, Jamaica, a 

 region which sustains important biological relations 

 to the vicinity of the Tortugas group of islands. 

 The director ' of the department has issued, as 

 No 162 of the publications of the institution, an addi- 

 tional volume of his series on the jelly-fishes of the 

 world, the title of this volume being " Ctenophores 

 of the Atlantic Coast of North America." 



Special attention has been given in the department 

 of meridian astrometry to the reduction of the meri- 

 dian observations made at San Luis, Argentina, the 

 determination of the two coordinates of stars from this 

 work, namely right ascension and declination, have 

 proceeded simultaneously. The assignment of stellar 

 magnitudes, however, must await the photometric 

 determinations which have been made at San Luis 

 since the meridian measurements were completed. 

 Late advices announce that it will be completed by 

 the end of the present calendar year. The great 

 quantity of priceless observational and derived data 

 accumulated bv the department rendered it imperative 

 that special provision should be made lor their sate 

 storage. Accordingly the executive committee author- 

 ised the construction of a fireproof vault within the 

 walls of the Dudley Observatory. This vault is now 

 ready for occupation and the records will be placed 

 therein as soon as practicable. 



One of the most interesting of the many investiga- 

 tions under way in the nutrition laboratory during 

 the vear is that of the metabolism of a subject who 

 underwent a prolonged fast, extending to thirty-one 

 days without food, and drank only distilled water 

 during this time. This investigation required the 

 cooperation of a number of chemical, pathological, and 

 psychological experts. A detailed report on this 

 elaborately observed experiment is at present in pre- 

 paration. Another noteworthy investigation of the 

 vear is that on metabolism during severe muscular 

 work, undertaken by Dr. E. P. Cathcart, of the I ni- 

 versity of Glasgow, who was a research associate of 

 the institution during the winter of 1911-12. Amongst 

 other important results of the latter research is the 

 measure it affords of the mechanical efficiency of man. 

 An account of this investigation is likewise in pre- 

 paration for publication. 



Hio-hly effective progress has been made by the de- 

 partment of terrestrial magnetism during the past year 

 in its magnetic survey of the globe. By means of 

 the non-magnetic ship Came tie it is now easier to 

 make a magnetic survey of the ocean areas than of 



