440 
as important in aggregate usefulness abroad 
as at home. It is hoped that the institu- 
tion may be thus enabled to render ade- 
quate acknowledgment for numerous cour- 
tesies extended to the department by offi- 
cials of governments, archives, libraries, 
and other establishments. 
GEOPHYSICAL LABORATORY 
The signal success already attained by 
this laboratory leaves no reason for doubt 
as to the practicability of continued ad- 
vances toward solution of that large and 
difficult group of chemical and physical 
problems presented by the materials of the 
earth’s crust. The current report of the 
director reviews twenty-six papers which 
have been issued by members of the staff of 
the laboratory during the year. Among 
these papers is a noteworthy contribution 
to general physics, in which the scale of 
precise thermometry is extended by 1250° C. 
This extension was an essential incident to 
the studies of mineral fusion, erystalliza- 
tion, ete., carried on in the laboratory, but 
it is of equal importance to other branches 
of physical research. Another noteworthy 
paper is a preliminary contribution to the 
long-standing question of the constitution 
of Portland cement. The complexity of 
this substance proves to be far greater than 
hitherto supposed; but its general charac- 
teristics have been determined and the re- 
sources of the laboratory are adequate to 
complete the remaining quantitative details 
of the investigation. 
International appreciation of the work 
of the institution is now shown in many 
ways. The merits of the researches of the 
geophysical laboratory have been more 
promptly recognized, indeed, than its pro- 
jectors anticipated. Thus nearly all of 
the preliminary papers issued by members 
of the staff of the laboratory have been 
published in German as well as in Enelish, 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 899 
and arrangements have been made during 
the past year to have all such papers appear 
contemporaneously in both of these lan- 
guages. 
Of numerous investigations under way 
at the laboratory, attention may be ealled 
here to some preliminary studies of an 
active voleano, which indicate that the 
phenomena of vuleanism are within range 
of practicable determination and that prog- 
ress in this direction is only a question of 
time and adequate effort. 
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY 
In addition to the research work proper 
carried on by the director of this depart- 
ment during the year, much of his time and 
attention have been devoted to the con- 
struction of a new vessel and to the recon- 
struction of the laboratory at Dry Tortu- 
gas. Reference to this vessel, named the 
Anton Dohrn, has been made in a previous 
section of this report, and a description of 
her characteristics and equipment will be 
found in the current report of the director. 
It may suffice here, therefore, to state that 
this adjunct gives the department indepen- 
dent and adequate transportation facilities 
and greatly enlarged opportunities for 
marine research. 
Mention was made in my report of a 
year ago of the probable damage done to 
the Tortugas laboratory by the destructive 
hurricane which swept the Florida Keys 
October 17, 1910. An inventory of the 
wreckage was made as soon as practicable, 
and it was found that an expenditure of 
$4,000 would be essential to renew the 
establishment in a safe and effective 
manner. Accordingly, an allotment of this 
amount from the insurance fund of the 
institution was made by the executive com- 
mittee at its meeting of November 17, 1910, 
and the wrecked buildings have been re- 
placed during the past summer by struc- 
