Miscellaneous Intelligence. 267 



cally that "if we had all the forms now in existence, arid that 

 have ever existed, of such genera as Rubus, Asplenium, Bryum, 

 and Plagiochila, we should be unable to define a single species — 

 the attempt to do so would only be trying to separate what Na- 

 ture never put asunder — but we should see distinctly how certain 

 peculiarities had originated and become temporarily fixed by 

 inheritance ; and we could trace the unbroken pedigree of every 

 form. " G. l. g. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Carnegie Institution of Washington. Year Book No. 7, 

 1908. Washington, 1909. — The following is an authorized state- 

 ment of the contents of the seventh Year Book of the Carnegie 

 Institute of Washington, for 1908 : It consists of reports of the 

 President and the Executive Committee, and of Directors of 

 Departments and other grantees who, with the assistance of the 

 Institution, have been carrying on investigations during the year. 



The President's report gives the following salient facts and 

 figures indicating the growth and extent of the work thus far 

 undertaken and accomplished by the Institution. Since its organ- 

 ization, in 1902, about 1,000 individuals have been engaged in 

 investigations under the auspices of the Institution and there are 

 at present nearly 500 so engaged. Ten independent departments, 

 each with its staff of investigators and assistants, have been 

 established. In addition to these larger departments of work, 

 organized by the Institution itself, numerous special researches, 

 carried on by individuals, have been subsidized. Six laboratories, 

 for as many different fields of investigation, and in widely sep- 

 arated localities, have been constructed and equipped. Work in 

 almost every field of research, from archeology and astronomy 

 to thermodynamics and zoology, has been undertaken, and the 

 geographical range of this work has extended to more than thirty 

 different countries. 



At the end of the fiscal year, October 31, 1908, 120 volumes of 

 researches in nineteen different fields of research, with an aggre- 

 gate of more than 30,000 pages, had been published, and 27 

 volumes of research were in press. In addition to these publica- 

 tions issued by the Institution, about 1,000 shorter papers have 

 been published in the current journals of -the world by depart- 

 ment investigators, by associates, and by assistants. The total 

 amount of funds appropriated for expenditure to November 1 

 was $3,683,840.00, which included $293,928.37 reverted and 

 afterward reappropriated. The total amount expended was 

 $3,359,236.17. 



During the past year the Nutrition Laboratory in Boston has 

 been equipped, and systematic investigations are already in 

 progress. 



The construction of a building in Washington, D. C, at the 

 corner of Sixteenth and P streets, N. W., was begun a year ago. 

 This building is for administrative offices and the storage of 



