Febeuakt 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



199 



expected in so formidable an undertaking. The 

 delicate optical task of shaping the 100-inch 

 mirror has been brought successfully by Mr. 

 Ritchey to the stage of sphericity which pre- 

 cedes the final state of parabolization. The 

 difficulties due to distortion of the mass of 

 the disk, referred to in previous reports, have 

 been overcome and other obstacles due to tem- 

 perature inequalities in the optical room are 

 likewise yielding to appropriate precautions. 

 In the meantime the foundations for this tele- 

 scope have been completed and the mounting 

 and dome are expected to be ready for erec- 

 tion during the coming year. Several smaller 

 parts and accessories for this instrument, re- 

 quiring special exactness, are under construc- 

 tion at the shops of the observatory in Pasa- 

 dena. Many additions and improvements in 

 the apparatus already installed at the obser- 

 vatory have been made. The 60-foot tower 

 telescope particularly, which was originally 

 cheaply constructed in order to test the pos- 

 sible advantages of such a departure from 

 earlier forms of telescopes, has been put in a 

 state of efficiency comparable with that of the 

 150-foot tower telescope, leaving the latter free 

 for the uses to which it is specially devoted. 

 In these general improvements much atten- 

 tion has been given to rendering the plant on 

 Mount Wilson more nearly fire-proof. The 

 mountain road has been repaired, widened and 

 strengthened in many parts in anticipation of 

 the heavy traffic essential to transportation of 

 the 100-inch telescope to its destination. 



WORK OF RESEARCH ASSOCIATES AND 

 OOLLABOEATORS 



The variety and extent of the work carried 

 on by research associates and collaborators has 

 led to the widely spread but erroneous notion 

 that the institution has entered, or is able to 

 enter, all possible fields of investigation, and 

 that an expert can be supplied offhand for 

 immediate consideration of any question which 

 the world may submit. But while such com- 

 prehensive capacity is obviously unattainable 

 by finite means, or by any single establish- 

 ment, the scope and ramifications of this work 

 are such as to defy adequate condensation and 



exposition within the limits of an administra- 

 tive report. To understand this branch of the 

 institution's activities one must at least read 

 the titles of the reports and the publications 

 which appear in the current year book and 

 know something of the contributing authors 

 and their environments. Summarily it may 

 be stated that more than a hundred individ- 

 uals have been engaged in these activities dur- 

 ing the past year and that their work embraces 

 a range of about thirty different subjects of 

 research. Although attempts to draw lines of 

 distinction between adjacent fields of advanc- 

 ing knowledge are alike futile and inimical 

 to progress, it may be of interest to note with 

 respect to these subjects that if they be classi- 

 fied under the two categories of descriptive 

 sciences and mathematico-physical sciences, 

 respectively, they will be found to be about 

 evenly divided. It may be noted also that in 

 this work the so-called " humanities " repre- 

 sent no small share, since researches have 

 been promoted during the past year in Roman 

 archeology, in Central American archeology, 

 in Roman paleography, in history, in law, in 

 linguistics and in several branches of litera- 

 ture. But in all this latter work the object has 

 been not to fix, nor to accept, categories, nor 

 to determine "shares," but to produce results 

 of permanent value. 



Referring to the individual reports and to 

 the bibliographic lists in the current year book 

 for accounts of the investigations and of the 

 publications of the year in this highly diversi- 

 fied branch of the institution's work, it must 

 suffice here to cite a few salient facts indica- 

 tive of progress. Thus, Dr. Van Deman, in 

 her stiidies of Roman archeology, has devel- 

 oped criteria for determining epochs and pe- 

 riods in the evolution of Roman construction, 

 and hence in the evolution of Roman history. 

 In the allied field of Roman paleography Dr. 

 Loew has published, through the Clarendon 

 Press, Oxford, a volume of researches under 

 the title, " The Beneventan Script ; A History 

 of the South Italian Minuscule." The exten- 

 sive researches in embryology carried on under 

 the direction of Professor Mall, with the col- 

 laboration of a number of associates, have 



