126 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 57S. 



port for this year will be found in the 

 'Year Book,' and attention is invited to 

 the summary he gives of the work of the 

 department up to date. Professor Mc- 

 Laughlin has been succeeded by Professor 

 J. Franklin Jameson, formerly professor 

 of history in the University of Chicago. 



Geophysical Research. 



Work in geophysics' has been carried 

 on independently by three investigators, 

 namely, by Professor Frank D. Adams, at 

 McGill University, Montreal, and by Dr. 

 George F. Becker and Dr. Arthur L. Day, 

 of the U. S. Geological Survey. ■ Briefly 

 characterized, their researches aim to de- 

 termine the modes of formation and the 

 physical properties of the rocks of the 

 earth's crust. We may confidently expect 

 that the results of these researches will be 

 of great economic as well as of great the- 

 oretic importance. The conditions of oc- 

 currence of rock constituents and materials, 

 including the precious metals, appear now 

 essentially discoverable by means attain- 

 able in the laboratory. 



Certain kinds of rocks have already been 

 made artificially, and the making of others 

 is only a question of time and the applica- 

 tion of available resources. Publications 

 already issued and in press from this de- 

 partment of work are furnishing remark- 

 able contributions to our knowledge of the 

 properties of matter, alike of interest and 

 value to the theoretical physicist and to the 

 practical engineer. 



Investigations on Nutrition. 

 Some degree of novelty, it may be said, 

 attaches to the investigations into the phys- 

 ics and chemistry of human nutrition car- 

 ried on by Professor F. G. Benedict at 

 Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.; 

 by Professors R. M. Chittenden and L. B. 

 Mendel, at Yale University, New Haven, 

 Conn., and by Dr. T. B. Osborne, of the 

 Coim&cticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- 



tion, at New Haven, Conn. The details of 

 these investigations are far too numerous 

 and technical to permit adequate descrip- 

 tion here. Summarily, however, it may 

 suffice to state that Professor Benedict is 

 making experiments on men similar to the 

 experiments made by mechanical engineers 

 on steam-engines and power plants to de- 

 termine their physical properties and effi- 

 ciencies. An apparatus has been devised 

 whereby man as an engine, or power plant, 

 may be studied as carefully and as conclu- 

 sively as any other mechanical plant. An 

 account of this apparatus and of the results 

 to be expected from its use will soon appear 

 as No. 42 of the publications of the insti- 

 tution. Professoi-s Chittenden and Mendel, 

 on the other hand, are studying the chem- 

 ical and physiological processes and effects 

 in man arising from the qualities and quan- 

 tities of foods he consumes; while Dr. 

 Osborne is engaged in an exhaustive de- 

 termination of the chemical properties of 

 that large group of foodstuffs known as 

 proteids. The prospective value of these 

 researches admits of no doubt ; and in addi- 

 tion to their direct bearing on the human 

 economy, in health and disease, they possess 

 a peculiar interest arising from the fact 

 that the instruments of investigation are 

 also the objects of research. 



The Solar Observatory. 

 Of the larger projects undertaken by the 

 institution the solar observatory ranks first 

 in order of cost for initial construction and 

 equipment. This cost, however, is no more 

 than commensurate with the magnitude of 

 the problem attacked, namely, that of the 

 physical constitution of the sun and his 

 role in the solar and stellar systems of the 

 visible universe. The work of construction 

 and equipment of the observatory has been 

 pushed forward with great energy and effi- 

 ciency during the year, so that the estab- 

 lishment may be expected to be nearly if 



