Febeuaet 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



197 



of stellar positions by reason of the extraordi- 

 nary recent progress in sidereal astronomy, to 

 wliicli the department has contributed in 

 large degree. Thus, along with the formid- 

 able computations required by the large mass 

 of observations made by the department at 

 San Luis, Argentina, researches are simul- 

 taneously continued on the problems of the 

 star-drift, including the speed and direction 

 of motion of our solar system. In the mean- 

 time, the catalogue is progressing favorably 

 and some portions of the observatory list of 

 miscellaneous stars are approaching comple- 

 tion, although cloudiness during the past two 

 winters has interfered with this part of the 

 departmental program. In the meantime, 

 also, the manuscript of the zone catalogue of 

 stars whose positions were measured at the 

 observatory during the years 1896 to 1900 is 

 undergoing the final process of comparison 

 and checking preparatory to publication. 



THE NUTEITION LABORATORY 



The anticipations of a specially favorable 

 environment, which were entertained when 

 the nutrition laboratory was located in Bos- 

 ton near the Harvard Medical School and near 

 several existing and projected hospitals, are 

 now fully realized; and it would appear that 

 the laboratory is reciprocally advantageous to 

 the several establishments with which it is 

 in immediate contact. Indeed, with this, as 

 with all other departments of research 

 founded by the institution, the only fears to 

 be seriously entertained are those due to in- 

 creasing capacity for usefulness and scientific 

 progress, since such capacity tends quite prop- 

 erly to grow faster than the institution's in- 

 come warrants. 



The completion of adjacent buildings and 

 streets has permitted bringing the grounds 

 of the laboratory into harmony with its phys- 

 ical surroundings. Improvements have been 

 made in the laboratory itself and several addi- 

 tions to equipment have been installed. These 

 latter include new respiration apparatus for 

 studies of metabolism in muscular work of 

 naen and of small animals, a reconstruction of 

 an earlier form of bed calorimeter, and addi- 



tional apparatus for photo-electric registra- 

 tion of physiological action in subjects under 

 observation, whether near by or at a distance. 

 As indicated in previous reports, the labora- 

 tory and its work are subjects of interna- 

 tional as well as national interest and many 

 cooperative efforts are arising therefrom. 

 Thus, Dr. Hans Murschhauser, of the Kind- 

 erklinik in Diisseldorf, and Dr. Carl Tiger- 

 stedt, of Helsingfors, have each spent several 

 months at the laboratory during the year as 

 research associates; while M. Lucien Bull, as- 

 sistant director of ^he Institut Marey, in 

 Paris, spent several weeks at the laboratory 

 studying its apparatus and methods. The re- 

 searches in progress by the laboratory staii 

 are briefly summarized by the director under 

 twenty different heads in his annual report, 

 to which reference must be made for personal 

 and technical details. Abstracts are given also 

 in his report of tlie publications issued dur- 

 ing the year or now in press. Of these, at- 

 tention may be called particularly to " The 

 Gaseous Metabolism of Infants with Special 

 Eeference to its Eolation to Pulse-rate and 

 Muscular Activity," by Francis G. Benedict 

 and Fritz B. Talbot (Publication No. 201) 

 and to " A Study of Prolonged Fasting," by 

 Francis G. Benedict (in press as Publication 

 No. 203). 



DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM 



The extensive operations of the department 

 of terrestrial magnetism on the oceans and 

 in foreign countries have been adequately 

 supplemented during the year by the new de- 

 partmental laboratory, whose completion and 

 occupation took place nearly simultaneously 

 with the beginning of the second decade of the 

 department's existence. This laboratory and 

 its site provide greatly enlarged facilities for 

 research as well as unsurpassed quarters for 

 the resident departmental staff. This site 

 (of 7.4 acres) is well protected on all sides 

 from possible objectionable elements, while 

 the laboratory is an exceptionally well-lighted, 

 fire-proof building with 44 rooms and many 

 specially designed adjuncts. Attention may 

 be invited particularly to the relatively low 



