Marcu 22, 1912] 
F. Weeks, of the New Jersey State Village 
of Epileptics, and secured a large quantity 
of accurate statistical data bearing directly 
on this disorder. From these data it ap- 
pears not improbable that important prac- 
tical deductions may be presently, if not 
already, drawn. Another investigation 
continued during the year, which involves 
prime utilitarian application, is that of Dr. 
Shull on the effects of self-fertilization in 
maize, or Indian corn. His earlier conclu- 
sions, published in 1908, have been con- 
firmed by the later studies. A striking 
result from the latter is that, other condi- 
tions being the same, the yield of cross- 
fertilized plants proved fifty per cent. 
ereater than that of the self-fertilized 
plants. Observational and experimental 
work has been carried on also along many 
other lines. The total number of zoological 
individuals under study exceeded 2,000, 
while the range of plants observed included 
nearly 500 species and upwards of 40,000 
individuals. 
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND 
SOCIOLOGY 
The diversified work of this department 
has proceeded during the year in accord- 
ance with the plan approved by the execu- 
tive committee in May, 1910, which con- 
templated completing the researches then 
under way as well as might prove practica- 
ble under the limitations of the balance of 
appropriations previously made to the de- 
partment. A full statement of these appro- 
priations, of the expenditures under them 
to date, and of the present available bal- 
ance, will be found in the section of this 
report devoted to the proposed budget for 
the ensuing year. 
As explained at length by the chairman 
of the department in his report, to be found 
in the current year book, progress in the 
work under way is necessarily slow, since 
SCIENCE 
439 
the heads of the divisions of research and 
most of their collaborators are primarily 
engaged in other occupations. But in spite 
of this handicap, inherent in the organiza- 
tion, much work has been accomplished, and 
the chairman reports that several of the 
heads of divisions are now engaged on their 
final reports. 
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH 
The eighth annual report of this depart- 
ment, and the sixth of the present director, 
is an instructive record of effective prog- 
ress along all lines of work thus far under- 
taken to discover and to render ayailable 
the sources of American history. Members 
of the department have been engaged dur- 
ing the year searching the archives of Great 
Britain, France, Spain, and Mexico, as 
well as those of the United States, for all 
accessible data, and these are being rapidly 
put in form for publication in convenient 
manuals. Three such works have been pub- 
lished .by the institution during the past 
year, namely, ‘‘Guide to the Materials for 
American History in Roman and other 
Italian Archives’’; ‘‘Inventory of Unpub- 
lished Material for American Religious His- 
tory in Protestant Church Archives and 
other Repositories’’; and ‘‘Calendar of 
Papers in Washington Archives relating to 
the Territories of the United States.’’ The 
following are now in press: ‘‘Guide to the 
Manuscript Material relating to American 
History in the German State Archives’’ 
and ‘‘Guide to Materials for the History 
of the United States in the Principal Ar- 
chives of Mexico.”’ 
It is worthy of remark that the results 
of this department’s activities have received 
very general commendation from profes- 
sional historians in Europe as well as in 
America. The ten manuals thus far issued 
are already much in demand in foreign 
countries, and they seem destined to become 
