484 Scientific Intelligence. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Year Book No. 13, 

 1914. Pp. xvi, 399 ; 1 pis. Washington, 1915.— Some thirteen 

 years have passed since the establishment of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion in 1902, and of the ten departments to which its funds are 

 being chiefly devoted at the present time, the larger number have 

 been active for about ten years. This fact makes it possible for 

 the President, Dr. R S. Woodward, to review the whole situa- 

 tion and to discuss the special conditions affecting scientific 

 research in general ; his conclusions (pp. 16, 1*7) will be read with 

 profit by all concerned. It is interesting to note that, as in some 

 other similar cases of specially endowed institutions, as that of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, for example, the work being done has ap- 

 pealed to the wider public, and a beginning has been made of special 

 bequests, which may be expected to increase in the future. By 

 the will of Mr. R. T. Colburn, of New York, the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science and the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion are made residuary legatees, and the bequests are to be 

 devoted " to original research in the physical or psychic demon- 

 strable sciences." The amount of money involved is not stated, 

 but the importance of the movement thus begun is at once 

 obvious. 



The past year has been an unfortunate one in the loss of two 

 gentlemen from the Board of Trustees, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and 

 Mr. John L. Cadwalader, both of whom have been actively 

 devoted to the work of the Institution since its inception. The 

 President pays a fitting tribute to them as also to the late Dr. 

 George W. Hill, an associate in the domain of celestial mechanics. 

 Of the year's funds, some 1818,000 have been devoted to the 

 large projects, $107,500 to minor projects and research, associates 

 and assistants, $45,000 to publication, $44,000 to administration, 

 with also $862,000 to investments in bonds. The last named increase 

 of the capital is considerably larger than that in any other preceding 

 year. The publications of the year include 23 volumes, aggregat- 

 ing about 5000 octavo and 2000 quarto pages, while twenty-nine 

 additional volumes are in press. A summary of the work of each 

 department is given by the President, and in addition the direc- 

 tors severally present the same subjects in considerable detail. 

 The departments most fully treated are those of Botanical 

 Research, of Experimental Evolution, of Marine Biology, of Ter- 

 restrial Magnetism, and also the Geophysical Laboratory and the 

 Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory. Abstracts of reports of recipients 

 of special grants close the volume. The whole matter presented 

 (pp. 63-383) gives an impressive summary of what the Institution 

 has accomplished in 1914. 



2. .Library of Congress. Report of the Librarian of Con- 

 gress, Herbert W. Putnam, and Report of the Superintendent 

 of the Library Building and Grounds for the Fiscal Year end- 

 ing June 30, 191Jf. Pp. 216 ; 6 illustrations. — A summary of the 



