Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-30
FOR AID OF SCIENCE
Work Planned by the Carne-
gle Institution.
TOLD OF. IN YEAR BOOK
WHICH WILL BE GIVEN TO PUBLIC
IN A FEW DAYS.
Great Observatories to Be Established
in Different Parts of World
Financial Condition.

and plans laid for scientific research
throughout the world In many different
branches of science are contained in the
year book of the Carnegie Institution, which
will be issued in a few days. 1t shows
that the institution has total assets of
SIG 101 500 and a balance on hand in the
treasury November last of s445.I72 Tic
administration expenses included 81 ,22I
for honorariums and $13,NU for salaries Of
officers.
The assets comprise $40 OG0Oe0 of register
&c per cent bonds of the Steel Corpora
ticn and $4,000 each in Northern Paciic
land grant general mortgage Is of 1897 and
Santa Fe railroad general Is of 1895. both
in the reserve fund; and an Office outfit at
Washington valued at $i5oo
The appropria atoms made for the coming
year are 100000 for reserve fund si0TD
for publication fund. $50. 900 for administra-
ton. 100000 for grants for larger projects
and $aO.ooO for grants for minor researches
and $4,000 for special grants. The institu-
ton declined to make any grants In hiti-
tcine or for preparing systematic treatises
or essays in logic and philosophy.
Committee on Observatories.
The report of the committee on observa-
tories advocates the establishment ofs an
active astronomical station In the southern
hemisphere for the reason that there is
needed in certain special lines greater
output of astronomical observations which
can be obtained only in the southern hem
isphere.
This. 1t is thought. may lead to import
ant discoveries. and. according to the COM
mittee. certainly will I'LL gaps in knowledge
II Is urged that the project does not enter
the field of existing organlza lions and
docs not propose to do anything which is
being well done by other agencies The
work of observation proposed probably
&C uld be concluded within ten or twelve
years.
1.-The greatest obstacle to clear view of
the stellar problem" says the report. is
the comparative lack of information about
the stars in the far southern sky that are
invisible to northern observers. When
sufficient accurately observed facts con-
corning these have been obtained. research
on the sidereal problem will have received
strong impulse forward"
The committee also recommends the
tablishment of an observing station for
solar investigation at an elevated point
where the atmospheric conditions should
be of exceptional excellence. Mount VIII
son. few miles east of Los Angeles. is
suggested as the main station for the pro-
posed solar observatory 1t has an alt-
tude of 5000 feet.
Mount Whitney, about 10 miles north of
Mount Wilson. with an altitude of about
1900 feet, Is suggested as the site of an
auxiliary station for the special observation
of heat radiations in relation to the solar
constant. 1t is stated that after occupation
for two or three seasons a rela ton with the
results obtained on Mount Wilson might be
established to render the continuance
of the auxiliary station unnecessary.
The committee says that if other agencies
could provide for proposed observing sta
tons at Cape of Good Hope and at Sydney
the Carnegie Institute would do we'll to take
the responsibility for one about thirty miles
south of Santiago de Chilli
Relate to Suns Radiation.
The Investigations proposed by the solar
observatory relate to the suns radiation.
mainly with reference to it's effect on the
earth: to the solar constitution with special
reference to the sun as typical star and to
the evolution of stars like the sun from
nebuIae C. r. Van Hse. the institutions
adviser in geophysics. recommends an ap
preparation of 100000 and an annual APP
preparation of $4,000 for a geophysical
laboratory
The year book embraces special report
of l.. A. Baur suggesting annual appro-
priation of $4,000 for an international
magnetic bureau. T. D. Seymour. who was
commissioned by the institution to make
archaeological Investigations in Greece and
Asia Minor and report on the opportunities
for research there. reports that Corinth Is
exceedingly important, that exploration of
the western end of Crete and Asia Minor
would be of real scientific value and that
the sites of Antioch on the Orontes. Laodi-
cea and Bootian Thebes seem the most
promising for great excavation.
At least $4,000 would be required for
Antioch and Laodicea and less for Thebes
Raphael Pumelly. who has been making
Investigations in the trans-CaSpian country
on commission from the institution. re-
ports that he and his associates have
found In Turkestan full confirmation of
the statements of long progressive dessi-
cation of that region. which from remote
times has converted cultivable lands into
deserts and buried cities In sands.
He reports that they have found widely
distributed. great and small, abandoned
sites of human occupation, with evidences
of great antiquity, and that archaeological
excavations will throw light on the orr
gins of western and eastern nations and
civilizations.
Grants Officially Announced
The grants made year ago are officially
announced for the first time. Among them
are: G. A. Dorsey of Field Columbian Mu-
scum. Chicago. 800 for chronological in
vestigation among the Pawnee Indians, a
work that will require four or five years
for completion 1t Is purposed to study
the religious ceremonies of the Pawnees,
with reference to the NEUROLOGICAL origin
of each ceremony.
William NJ Holmes, director of the bu-
reau of American Ethnology Of Washing
ton, 81 co., for obtaining evidence relative
to the early history of man. involving field
work extending to caves and cavernS In
which the primitives lived.
Investigations carried on under this APP
preparation IN IllI OILS. Kentucky, Tennes-
see and Alabama during the past season
developed no fact that will tend to estab-
lish theory of the great antiquity OF man
In America. The report says this work was
not failure, as the question must be
solved. IL not by the discovery of positive
evidence. by establishing the universally
of negative evidence.