226 



SCIENCE 



[N. s. Vol. XXXIX. No. 998 



management of funds and for effective eon- 

 duet of research. 



On the death of Dr. Fletcher, November 

 8, 1912, editorial supervision of the Index 

 Medicus was placed in charge of Dr. Field- 

 ing H. Garrison, who had long been asso- 

 ciated as principal assistant with Dr. 

 Fletcher in the publication of this work. 

 Continuity of plan and purpose is thus 

 assured in the perpetuation of this current 

 bibliography, while the responsible editor- 

 ship falls to one whose qualifications for 

 the task have met the exacting standards 

 of his eminent predecessors. 



In accordance with the authorization 

 voted by the Board of Trustees at its meet- 

 ing of December 13, 1912, a department 

 of human embryology, under the direction 

 of Professor Franklin P. Mall, with a small 

 staff of associates and collaborators, has 

 been planned and is already engaged in 

 active research. In arranging for this de- 

 partment the institution is peculiarly for- 

 tunate not only in enlisting the director- 

 ship of Professor Mall, but in starting 

 from a foundation furnished by his re- 

 markable collection of human embryos. It 

 wiU be seen also that this enterprise is of 

 far greater import than might at first ap- 

 pear, for it has fundamental relations to 

 the science of anthropology as well as to 

 those of anatomy, physiology and pathol- 

 ogy, which latter, indeed, from some points 

 of view, may not improperly be regarded 

 as branches of the former widely inclusive 

 science. The efforts of the institution to 

 enter the domain of anthropology, to 

 which reference is again made in a later 

 section of this report, are thus in part 

 realized in a most effective way. 



Another noteworthy event of the year 

 is the construction of two new buildings, 

 a heating and lighting plant, and an addi- 

 tional laboratory, for the department of 

 experimental evolution, authorized by the 



board of trustees at their last meeting. 

 Plans in illustration of these buildings, 

 which are now nearing completion, will 

 be found in connection with the annual 

 report of the department in the current 

 year book. Two of the many uses which 

 this laboratory is designed to serve in the 

 immediate future are those of housing 

 and further experimentation upon the 

 unique collection of pedigreed pigeons, 

 studied for many years by the late Pro- 

 fessor C. 0. Whitman, whose researches 

 the institution has undertaken to complete 

 and to publish. In accordance with the 

 agreement entered into with Professor 

 Whitman's heirs this unrivaled collection 

 of biological material will become the 

 property of the institution, and arrange- 

 ments have been made for its transfer to 

 Cold Spring Harbor from Chicago before 

 the end of the calendar year. 



Similarly, two items from the current 

 history of the department of terrestrial 

 magnetism are worthy of mention here. 

 One of these is the approaching comple- 

 tion of an office and laboratory building 

 whose construction was approved by the 

 board of trustees a year ago. Floor plans 

 of this building are incorporated in the 

 annual report of the director of the de- 

 partment in the current year book. The 

 building is situated on a very favorable, 

 elevated site of a little less than seven 

 acres in the District of Columbia, near 

 Chevy Chase, and near the western bound- 

 ary of Eoek Creek Park. It will be fire- 

 proof, will furnish safe storage for the 

 extensive records already acquired by the 

 department, and will afford opportunity 

 for experimental researches in terrestrial 

 magnetism which may be confidently ex- 

 pected to give deeper insight into this ob- 

 scure but at present highly utilitarian 

 property of our planet. The other note- 

 worthy event referred to is the near com- 



