September 4, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



293 



the same buildinsr. A new buildin<r, how- 

 ever, is just completed, located on the 

 grounds of the old Naval Observatory, 

 about half a mile west of the White House 

 on the river bank. Five acres of this tract 

 were turned over from the Navy Depart- 

 ment for the establishment of this labo- 

 ratory. It will give the director of the 

 laboratory great pleasure to arrange with 

 the delegates to this conference to show 

 them this building. The laboratory has 

 an advisory board, consisting of a delegate 

 from the army, not yet named, Dr. Urie, 

 of the navy. Dr. Salmon, chief of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry; Professoi"s 

 Welch, of Johns Hopkins; Flexner, of 

 Kockefeller Institute; Sedgwick, of the 

 JIassachusetts Institute of Technology; 

 Vaughan, of the University of Michigan; 

 and Wesbrook, of the University of Min- 

 nesota. Under the law of 1902, three new 

 divisions were added to the laboratory, the 

 Division of Bacteriology already existing. 

 These three new divisions are those of zool- 

 ogj', chemistry and pharmacology. But 

 one of these new divisions has been organ- 

 ized, namel}% that of zoologv', and the good 

 results of this new organization are mani- 

 fested in the recent discoveries and pub- 

 lished report of the chief of this division, 

 Dr. Stiles, upon the 'Prevalence and Geo- 

 graphical Distribution of the Hookworm.' 

 Bulletins, embodying important results of 

 investigations, are published from time to 

 time under the supervision of the Director 

 of the Laboratory, Dr. Rosenau. It is be- 

 lieved that congress can be influenced to 

 provide for the extension of this laboratory 

 by the erection of new buildings from time 

 to time as the necessity therefor becomes 

 demonstrated. 



To this Division of Scientific Research 

 and Sanitation are referred special re- 

 quests for scientific investigation of special 

 diseases, as for example the recent investi- 



gation of the so-called spotted fever in 

 Bitter Root Valley, ilontana. The 

 initiatory steps for special investigations of 

 this character are taken in this division, 

 but any prolonged or technical work con- 

 nected therewith is turned over to the labo- 

 ratory. 



Requests for special investigations of 

 water pollution or local causes for the 

 spi-ead of typhoid fever are referred to 

 this division. 



The officer in charge of this division ex- 

 amines all current literature relating to 

 scientific medicine or sanitation and keeps 

 a card index of the same. 



MISCELI.ANEOrS DIVISION. 



The iliscellaneous Division has charge of 

 the mailing of all bureau publications, 

 and certain miscellaneous duties relating 

 to the reports of necropsies from the 

 marine-hospitals, the medical examination 

 of claims for benefits on account of in- 

 juries received by the crews of life-saving 

 stations, certain mattei-s relating to the an- 

 nual report, etc. 



Under certain bureau oi-ders the opera- 

 tions of these several divisions are coordi- 

 nated so that the work of one division, 

 when it affects the personnel or duties con- 

 nected with another division, is accom- 

 plished with the full knowledge and ac- 

 quiescence of the other. There are also 

 two regular bureau boards for the careful 

 consideration of matters referred to them 

 — namely, the Service Board and the Sani- 

 tary Board. 



YELLOW- FEVER INSTITl'TE. 



There is one other feature of the bureau, 

 assigned to no one particular division, but 

 embracing all, namely, the institute for the 

 study of yellow fever, called the Yellow 

 Fever Institute, with which most of you 

 are familiar. This institute was founded 

 about two years ago for the purpose of 



