128 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XXIII. No. o7«. 



Specially worthy of mention among the 

 minor projects are the following, by reason 

 of contributions already published or soon 

 to be ready for publication, namely : 



1. The archeological and geological re- 

 searches of Professor Raphael Pumpelly in 

 Turkestan. The first volume of a report 

 on these researches has been issued during 

 the year and a second is in preparation. 

 Professor Pumpelly had' planned to resume 

 field work in Turkestan during the past 

 summer, but the Russian government de- 

 clined to permit him to return there at this 

 time. 



2. The preparation by Professor Lewis 

 Boss of a fundamental catalogue giving the 

 precise positions of about six thousand 

 stars, embracing all stars from^ the bright- 

 est down to the sixth magnitude. This 

 will make a solid contribution to stellar 

 astronomy. 



3. The researches on the moon by Pro- 

 fessor Simon Newcomb. 



4. The precise quantitative investigations 

 of Professor A. A. Noyes and T. W. Rich- 

 ards in chemistry. 



5. The comprehensive researches in geol- 

 ogy and cosmology by Professor T. C. 

 Chamberlin, whose preliminary papers have 

 already proved full of interest and sugges- 

 tion to a wide circle ^of readers. 



6. The work of Professor Carl Barus on 

 the nucleation of dust-free atmosphere; of 

 Professor E. W. Scripture on researches in 

 phonetics; of Professor G. R. Wieland-on 

 American cycads, and the work of Mr. W. 

 L. Tower on the evolution of beetles, all of 

 which are now in press. 



Publicaiions and Their Distribution. 



One of the most pressing demands that 

 fell to the president immediately after as- 

 suming the duties of his office was that of 

 devising a mode of distribution of the 

 publications of the institution. Accord- 

 ingly, at the meeting of the executive com- 



mittee held January 9, 1905, the following 

 tentative rules were submitted and adopted : 



1. That, unless otherwise ordered by the execu- 

 tive committee, the edition of the publications of 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington be 1,000. 



2. That, unless otherwise ordered by the execu- 

 tive committee, the publications be distributed as 

 follows: (a) to the founder and trustees of the 

 institution; (6) to the leading public libraries 

 of the world; (o) to a few of the principal jour- 

 nals which give space to critical reviews of cur- 

 rent scientific progress. 



3. That, subject to approval by the president, 

 authors of publications of -the institution be per- 

 mitted to designate a list of 100 persons to whom 

 copies of said publications may be sent free of 

 charge. 



4. That authors be furnished free of charge 

 with 25 copies of their contributions published by 

 the institution. 



5. That the president have authority to distri- 

 bute not to exceed 100 copies of each publication 

 of the institution, if in his discretion it may seem 

 advantageous to do so. 



6. That copies of publications not otherwise pro- 

 vided for be offered for sale at a price sufficient to 

 cover the cost of presswork, paper and binding, 

 plus an addition of 10 per cent. 



Soon after the adoption of this basis for 

 action, a list of the principal libraries and . 

 institvitions of the world contemplated un- 

 der rule 2 was compiled, and having been 

 approved by the executive committee the 

 work of distribution rapidly followed. 



The plan thus adopted has worked with- 

 out serious embarrassment up to date, but 

 it promises to become inadequate to meet 

 the demands for gratuitous distribution to 

 the less important libraries and to the great 

 number of individuals who may be desig- 

 nated as bibliophiles rather than as users 

 of books. Concerning this matter, some 

 suggestions will be found in a later section 

 of this report. 



Great pains have been taken to secure a 

 high quality of paper and first-class press- 

 work for the publications of the institution. 

 This has proved no easy task, since it has 

 been essential to deal with many authors 

 and firms whose desires, standards and 



