Tebeuaby 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



195 



GEOPHYSICAL LABORATORY 



An instructive example of tiie favorable 

 progress, which may be confidently expected 

 in any field of research when entered by an 

 adequately manned and equipped department 

 devoted solely thereto, is afforded by the ex- 

 perience of the geophysical laboratory. In 

 less than a decade this establishment has not 

 only accomplished the formidable task of con- • 

 structing the necessary apparatus and of pre- 

 paring many of the pure minerals concerned, 

 but has already begun the processes of analysis 

 and synthesis which are leading to extensive 

 additions to our knowledge of rock and mineral 

 formations found in the earth's crust. In il- 

 lustration of these processes the director's re- 

 port cites the mineral system dependent on 

 the elements lime, alumina and silica, which 

 elements include in their multifarious pos- 

 sible combinations the well-known but hitherto 

 little understood compound called Portland 

 cement, whose properties have been determined 

 as an incident to the general problem presented 

 by this system. 



Among the numerous problems under in- 

 vestigation at the laboratory, one of immedi- 

 ate economic as well as of great theoretical 

 interest may be cited here by reason especially 

 of the fact that funds for its execution have 

 been supplied by industrial sources; this is 

 the problem of the " secondary enrichment of 

 copper ores," and the success attained in its 

 treatment demonstrates the practicability of 

 advantageous cooperation between the labora- 

 tory and industrial organizations without re- 

 striction to scientific procedure and pub- 

 licity. The section of the director's report 

 devoted to this subject should be of special in- 

 terest to geologists and to mining engineers 

 as well as to copper-mining industries. A 

 more comprehensive idea of the productive 

 activities of the laboratory may be gained by 

 a glance at the section of the director's report 

 in which he gives brief abstracts of the pub- 

 lications which have emanated from members 

 of the staff during the year. These publica- 

 tions embrace forty-nine titles of papers which 

 have appeared in current journals or are in 



press, many of them having been published in 

 German as well as in English. 



DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH 



The investigations of the department of his- 

 torical research have proceeded efl'ectively in 

 accordance with the plans outlined by the di- 

 rector in his reports published in previous 

 year books. In addition to the members of 

 the permanent staff, several collaborators have 

 taken part in these investigations, which have 

 required explorations of historical archives in 

 England, Scotland, France, Spain, Holland, 

 Eussia and Switzerland. Departmental plans 

 for pursuit of peaceful studies in foreign 

 archives, however, have suffered a serious 

 check in the onset of the European war, and 

 much work well started, or approaching com- 

 pletion, must now await developments from 

 the pending conflict. 



Two bulky volumes of guides to the sources 

 of American history have issued from the de- 

 partment during the year as Publications 90a 

 and 90b of the institution. These are, re- 

 spectively, " Guide to the Materials for Amer- 

 ican History to 1783, in the Public Eecord 

 Office of Great Britain," and " Guide to the 

 Materials in London Archives for the History 

 of the United States since 1Y83." It had been 

 anticipated that a similar guide to the data 

 on American history in the archives and li- 

 braries of Paris, in preparation under the 

 charge of Mr. Leland of the departmental staff, 

 would be completed before the end of the 

 present calendar year; but the exigencies of 

 the war have required the suspension of this 

 work at Paris and the return of Mr. Leland 

 to the departmental office in Washington. 

 Similarly, work undertaken for the depart- 

 ment in Holland by Professor William I. Hull 

 and in Spain by Mr. Prancis S. Philbrick had 

 to be suspended. On the other hand, re- 

 searches under way in Great Britain and in 

 Eussia have suffered little interruption. 

 Work at the home office has proceeded without 

 discontinuity. The director calls attention 

 particularly to progress made in work on the 

 projected " Atlas of the Historical Geography 

 of the United States." Two divisions of this 



