18 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 



the discovery of argon, a new element in the atmosphere. Another 

 jH-ize of $1,000 for the best popuhir treatise on atmospheric air was 

 awarded to Dr. Henry de Varigny, of Paris, from among 229 com- 

 petitors in the United States, France, Germany, England, Scotland, 

 Ireland, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Norway, Denmark, Fin- 

 land, Bohemia, Bavaria, Servia, Switzerland, Spain, India, Canada, 

 Mexico, and Argentina, Numerous investigations on the " composi- 

 tion of expired air and its effects upon animal life," in " atmospheric 

 actinometry," the " air of towns," " animal resistance to disease," 

 "experiments with ionized air," "the ratio of specific heats," and 

 kindred topics have been carried on with the aid of grants from the 

 Hodgkins fund. Researches have likewise been aided in connection 

 with the temperature, pressure, radiation, and other features of the 

 atmosphere at very high altitudes, extending during the past year 

 to more than 45,000 feet, and many other lines of investigation 

 have been carried on, through all of which it is believed that valuable 

 knowledge has been acquired by which the welfare of man has been 

 advanced. 



Under a grant from the Hodgkins fund Mr. A. K. Angstrom car- 

 ried on some observations in California during the past year for the 

 purpose of measuring nocturnal radiations at different altitudes rang- 

 ing from below sea level to the summit of Mount Whitney, 4,420 

 meters (14,502 feet). Some of the results attained by Mr. Angstrom 

 and work in connection therewith are discussed by Dr. C. G. Abbot 

 in his report as director of the Astrophysical Observatory. 



A grant was also made to Mr. Angstrom to enable him to measure 

 the " nocturnal radiation " — that is, loss of heat to space during the 

 total eclipse of the sun August 21, 1914, in the north of Sweden. 



In connection with the International Congress on Tuberculosis 

 held in the National Museum in 1908 the Institution offered a Hodg- 

 kins fund prize of $1,500 for the best treatise on "the relation of 

 atmospheric air to tuberculosis." About a hundred papers were 

 submitted, and after an exhaustive examination by the advisory 

 committee the award has now been made and the prize divided 

 equally between Dr. Guy Hinsdale, of Hot Springs, Va., and Dr. S. 

 Adolphus Knopf, of New York, for their essays on the topic stated. 



Dr. Hinsdale's essay was recently published at the expense of the 

 Hodgkins fund, the public demand for the work requiring the print- 

 ing of a second edition. In discussing the general treatment of the 

 disease, the essayist has special reference to the effect of the atmos- 

 pheric air and the value of various climates in relation to tubercu- 

 losis. In conclusion the author says : 



We believe that climate may be utilized as an adjuvant of great value for 

 carrying out the hygienic, dietetic treatment of all forms of tuberculosis and 

 many other diseases. * * * The first place must be assigned to an abundance 



