March 24, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



445 



director hopes that with some minor addi- 

 tions quarters may be found for fifteen or 

 more investigators every summer. During 

 the past season twelve associates, one col- 

 lector and one artist illustrator, in addi- 

 tion to the director, carried on work at the 

 laboratory. Of the investigators, nine re- 

 turned to continue work begun in pre- 

 vious years, while two of the other three 

 expect to return in 1911. Many re- 

 searches are in progress, therefore, as may 

 be seen by reference to the full reports of 

 the director and his associates in the cur- 

 rent "Year Book." 



Of the publications of the department 

 during the year, special attention should 

 be called to the comprehensive monograph 

 in three quarto volumes by Dr. Mayer, on 

 "The Medusae of the "World," issued as 

 Publication No. 109 of the institution. 

 Two other volumes, Publications Nos. 132 

 and 133, containing short papers from the 

 director and associates of the laboratory, 

 are now passing through the press. 



Capital progress has been made during 

 the year in the large and exacting under- 

 taking which this department has so suc- 

 cessfully started. Work at the observatory 

 in Argentina has gone forward at an un- 

 precedented rate and with such a degree of 

 thoroughness and completeness as to give 

 assurances that this part of the enterprise 

 will be completed within the next year. 

 Great credit is properly assigned by the 

 director to the zeal and the industry shown 

 by the resident staff of the observatory in 

 thus completing, within so short a time and 

 without lowering the highest standards of 

 precision, an unparalleled amount of ob- 

 servational work. The general success of 

 this enterprise affords a forcible illustra- 

 tion of the superior effectiveness of a de- 

 partment of research which may proceed 

 with its work intensively in accordance 



with carefully prearranged plans and 

 organization of effort. 



While the supplementary observations of 

 the positions of the stars are going forward 

 in the southern hemisphere, arrangements 

 for the final computations of these posi- 

 tions are proceeding at the Dudley Observ- 

 atory; for the formidable task of observa- 

 tion must be followed by a still more 

 formidable task of computation. Prelim- 

 inary to the grand catalogue of stellar 

 positions projected by the department, 

 there has been issued by the institution 

 during the past year, as Publication No. 

 115, a catalogue of 6,188 stars for the epoch 

 1900. This has already assumed first rank 

 among catalogues of precision and the de- 

 mand for it indicates that a second edition 

 may be called for before the larger cata- 

 logue is completed. In response to a de- 

 mand from other astronomers and in view 

 of the needs of his own work, the director 

 has published also, through the Dudley 

 Observatory, a "List of 1059 standard 

 stars for 1910." 



Although this laboratory has been occu- 

 pied less than two years and is not yet 

 fully equipped, it has already produced 

 contributions of fundamental importance 

 to our knowledge of the chemistry, phys- 

 ics, physiology and pathology of nutrition. 

 Its experience, like that of all the labora- 

 tories of the institution, affords an im- 

 pressive demonstration of the productivity 

 attainable by concentrated effort along 

 determinate lines of research. Construc- 

 tion and installation of additional equip- 

 ment, the prosecution of investigations, 

 and the publication of results have gone 

 forward simultaneously during the year. 



One new calorimeter has been completed, 

 another partly constructed, and various 

 auxiliary apparatus for use with these and 

 the earlier equipments have been supplied. 

 Similarly, respiration apparatus for men, 



