192 Scientific Intelligence. 



Palearctic region, of South and Central America, of the Antarctic, 

 and of the ichthology of the Pacific Ocean ; for the establish- 

 ment of biological experiment stations for the study of problems 

 of evolution ; and for making investigations of subterranean 

 temperatures and gradients. 



The specific recommendations made by the several advisory 

 committees are significant as indicating the particular trend of 

 scientific investigation at the present time. Among these some 

 of the more important are the following, viz : In botany, relation 

 of vegetation to environment, research in the West Indies ; in 

 geophysics, distribution of terrestrial density, upheaval and sub- 

 sidence in organic dynamics, the operative causes of vulcanism, 

 diathermacy of the atmosphere, tidal deformation, deformation 

 of rocks under stress, mass distribution and variation in density 

 of the earth, gases held in magmas, physical chemistry of natural 

 solutions and precipitates, relation of pressure to melting point ; 

 in geography and meteorology, investigation of the upper atmos- 

 phere ; in astronom}', solar observatories and the study of quan- 

 tity and nature of solar radiation, establishment of observatories 

 in the southern hemisphere, celestial photometry and photogra- 

 phy, astrophysical research as to the physical and chemical con- 

 stitution of heavenly bodies, and the tracing out and explanation 

 of the successive stages in their evolution from nebulae, determi- 

 nation of the question, does the force of gravitation vary exactly 

 as the inverse square ; in paleontolog}^ the establishment of 

 standard bench-marks for the geological time scale ; in anthro- 

 pology, establishment of laboratories for the study of develop- 

 ment of physical types of men, the archaeology of native peoples 

 of America, the systematic study of the vanishing tribes of 

 American aborigines ; in psychology, investigation in compara- 

 tive or zoological psychology, and in anthropological and social 

 psychology; in history, an institute for historical research in 

 Washington, and the conducting of research of American history 

 among European archives ; in biology, experimental forms and 

 laboratories for studying problems of evolution, especially as to 

 the effects and conditions of environment upon the development 

 and evolution of organisms, and broad explorations in various 

 parts of the earth to determine the laws of distribution and 

 migration and origin of the present faunas and floras of the 

 earth. The administration of the Carnegie Institution is placed 

 in the hands of a Board of Trustees composed of twenty-seven 

 members, who chose John S. Billings, Daniel C. Gilman, Abram 

 S. Hewitt, S. Weir Mitchell, Elihu Root, Charles D. Walcott 

 and Carroll D. Wright to be its first Executive Committee, and 

 Daniel C. Gilman, President, and Charles D. Walcott, Secretary. 



h. s. w. 



Obituary. 



Josiah Willard Gibbs, Professor of Mathematical Physics 

 in Yale University, died April 28, aged 64. (A biographical 

 notice will appear later.) 



