February 13, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



231 



the apparatus and the earlier published 

 researches of the geophysical laboratory 

 should have been thus early recognized is 

 at once a source of gratification to the insti- 

 tution and an additional stimulus to funda- 

 mental work in the difficult but ever fruit- 

 ful domain of geophysics. In his annual 

 report the director gives instructive ac- 

 counts of the effects of pressure in the 

 formation of minerals, of progress in the 

 perfection of adequate appliances for 

 calorimetric measures of minerals, of the 

 factor of temperature in optical studies of 

 crystals, of the resiilts thus far obtained in 

 volcano studies, and of the important eco- 

 nomic investigations (now under way at 

 the laboratory) of the secondary enrichment 

 of copper sulphide ores. It had been hoped 

 that the signal success attending the 

 studies of Kilauea a year ago might be fol- 

 lowed up during the past year, but in this 

 the staff has met disappointment, for the 

 volcano has been inactive and gives no 

 warning of renewed opportunities. 



The activities and productivities of the 

 laboratory staff are indicated impressively 

 by the 52 papers issued during the year, or 

 now in press, reviewed in the report of the 

 director. These have been, or will be, pub- 

 lished in current journals. Several of 

 them appear as duplicates by reason of 

 translations into the French or the Ger- 

 man languages; of these, it is interesting 

 to note that a translation into French by 

 Professor P. Chappuis has been made (for 

 the Journal de Physique) of the work of 

 Day and Sosman on "High Temperature 

 Gas Thermometry," publication No. 157 

 of the Institution. 



DEPARTMENT OF HISTOBICAL RESEARCH 



The purposes to which this department 

 is devoted and the programs it proposes to 

 follow have been outlined in the director's 

 annual reports of the past seven years. He 



took occasion also, in December a year ago, 

 when he gave the annual trustees' lecture, 

 entitled ' ' The Future Uses of History, ' ' to 

 present a fuller statement of these pur- 

 poses and programs, as well as to indicate 

 the role which history may fittingly play 

 in the evolution of the social organizations 

 which must occupy the attention of our 

 successors. This instructive lecture was 

 rendered available to a wider circle of in- 

 terested students of history by publication 

 in The History Teachers' Magazine for 

 February, 1913. 



Briefly stated, the main purposes of the 

 department are two : first, to furnish aids, 

 guides and reports which may give appro- 

 priate direction to the writers of mono- 

 graphs and general histories; and, sec- 

 ondly, to furnish full textual publication 

 of important historical documents. Under 

 the first of these heads the director reports 

 very favorable progress toward completion 

 of a series of three guides to the materials 

 for American history in London archives 

 and in the libraries of Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge universities. The first volume of 

 this series was issued as No. 90 of the insti- 

 tution 's publications in 1908, and the other 

 two volumes, now nearly through the press, 

 are designated 90a and 90b, respectively. 

 As to this series the director remarks in 

 effect in his report that no similar inven- 

 tory of like extent, concerning archive 

 materials which London possesses for the 

 history of any other nation, has ever been 

 issued. Two additional volumes in this 

 first division of activities have appeared 

 during the year, namely, publication No. 

 163, "Guide to Materials for United States 

 History in Mexican Archives," by Herbert 

 E. Bolton; and publication No. 172, 

 ' ' Guide to Materials for United States His- 

 tory in Canadian Archives," by David 

 W. Parker. Under this head also progress 

 is reported in the work of Mr. Leland on 



