Pebbuabt 28, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



323 



Professor Kapteyn, of Groningen, and Pro- 

 fessor Stormer, of Christiania, have taken 

 part in the work of the observatory during 

 the year. Professor Kapteyn, who has 

 served in this capacity for several years 

 previously, has been of great service to the 

 department, especially in the planning of 

 a program of work with the 60-inch re- 

 flector, so that it may yield a maximum 

 return alike for problems of stellar distri- 

 bution and stellar development. Professor 

 Stormer, who is one of the highest authori- 

 ties concerning auroras, has sought to de- 

 termine especially the connection of these 

 phenomena with the sun. Of their con- 

 nection with the sun and with the earth's 

 magnetism there is little doubt, and the 

 recent demonstration of the atomicity of 

 matter in general and the atomic nature of 

 electricity in particular may be confidently 

 expected to lead to distinct advances in our 

 knowledge of these phenomena in the near 

 future. 



The laborious task of shaping and test- 

 ing the glass disk for the proposed 100- 

 inch telescope has proved a disappointment 

 in showing that this disk, which was ac- 

 cepted provisionally from the makers sev- 

 eral years ago, will not answer the require- 

 ments. At this writing it appears possible 

 that some expedients may be adopted to 

 overcome the instability of this disk; but 

 the probability that it may be made to 

 work satisfactorily is small. In the mean- 

 time the makers of such large disks have 

 not succeeded in making one of sufficient 

 uniformity in density. In view of these 

 difficulties the director is disposed to try a 

 thinner disk if one can be found possessing 

 the requisite degree of homogeneity. Thus 

 this project must suffer further delay, al- 

 though it is practically certain that the 

 difficulties presented may be ultimately 

 overcome. 



Investigations of Research Associates and 

 Collaborators 

 The relations of research associates and 

 collaborators of the institution are so di- 

 versified and complex that they are diffi- 

 cult to specify at any given epoch. Indi- 

 viduals who have received direct aid dur- 

 ing the year to their investigations through 

 grants are mentioned in the preceding 

 financial section of this report. Those who 

 have received indirect aid through grants 

 made for the publication of their researches 

 are also mentioned in the section just re- 

 ferred to. Many collaborators and assist- 

 ants have received compensation directly 

 from research associates in charge of in- 

 vestigations, while some research associates 

 and many collaborators have received no 

 direct compensation. It appears to be 

 neither desirable nor practicable at present 

 to seek any higher degree of correlation of 

 this work, since it is carried on by many 

 individuals in many different parts of the 

 world. The best evidences of the quantity 

 and quality of the results accomplished are 

 to be found in the publications listed in 

 part in a subsequent section of this report 

 and more at length in the general bibliog- 

 raphy of the year published in the current 

 year book. The work of the year has ex- 

 tended to an aggregate of more than twenty 

 different fields of research and has occu- 

 pied the attention of more than a hundred 

 investigators. Many of these have ren- 

 dered special reports to be published in the 

 year book, while reference is made to the 

 work of many others in the reports of the 

 larger departments of research. 



FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR FISCAL TEAR 



1911-12 

 The sources of funds available for ex- 

 penditure during the past fiscal year, the 

 allotments for the year, the revertments 

 made during the year, and the balances 



