Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-16
OF WORLD WILDE INTEREST
THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION
BY FREDERIC J. HAsklN

Island. The work is one that requires
the utmost patience. since with the ex-
ception of the smaller things endowed
with life, nature takes but one step a
year. In the case of flies they have
already produced twenty generations
or more and are making much progress
in delving into the mysterious laws of
reproduction.
One of the most important works be-
ing carried on by the institution comes
under the control of the department. of
historical research. This department
may be said to be q sort of clearing
house for the dissemination of histori-
cal data and the promotion of historical
investigation. Guides have been pre-
pared to the archives of a number of
those countries whose history bears a
close relation to the earlier colonial
days of the United States. The most
important of these is the preparation
OF the history of the American colonies,
as taken from the records of the Eng
lish parliament. Work is also being
prosecuted In the gathering together of
the proceedings of the privy council of
England that relate to the colonies.
This line of research will be OF in
valuable service to the historians of the
future in dealing with the earliest his
tory OF America. The guides to the
Cuban and Spanish archives and re-
vised edition of the archives at wash
ington have been issued.
The department of meridian astrome-
try is now engaged In catalogueing the
positions of all stars from the brightest
to those of the seventh magnitude. The
geophysical laboratory has been fin
ished. The solar observatory on Mount
wilson (NQIffnFntn q k..1
as rapidly as possible. The new 60
inch rejecting telescope is being
mounted, labor troubles having inter-
fered with the construction of the
dome. The 100-inch reflector cast at st.
Goblin, France. and weighing four and
a half tons will soon be ready to be
put into place.
A line of work that comes close to
the people is that done in the nutrition
laboratory at Boston. Exhaustive ex~
periments are being made to show the
relative nutritive value of foods, 'espe-
cially consideration being given to their
value In time of sickness and con-
valescence.
The department of marine biology
has a laboratory at Dry Tortugas
Fla, and is doing a wonderful work in
exploring the mysteries of the life be-
lists not connected with the institution
who visit this laboratory to pursue
lines of inquiry. In the department of
terrestrial magnetism the ship Galilee
has sailed $1,000 miles through the Pa
cific ocean along courses where few
magnetic observations have been made.
Complete measurements of the declina-
ton, dip and intensity were taken at
intervals of from 200 to $50 miles. This
magnetic survey is the most complete
ever made, and Is first step toward
an exhaustive survey of the world on
both land and sea.
The institution makes grants to. in
dividual Investigators to help them
along with their work and to get the
benefit of their experience. Among
these grants is one of $4,000 to Luther
Burbank, the great h rticulturist. The
institution is anxious to get scien-
tific account of his methods and of the
things he accomplishes. and to this end
has sent one of its own scientists to
California to follow up his work. Mr..
Burbank Is left free to pursue his own
methods. Some idea of what he hopes
to accomplish may be inferred from a
statement attributed to him, that if
each head of wheat that grows could
be made to bear one more grain, each
ear of corn one more kernel. and so on
with each of the five principal crops in
the United States the added crop
value would be in the neighborhood of
S10O, 100000. The possibilities of this
line of experimentation are shown by the
fact that by cross-breeding they have
produced an orange tree whose north
erly limit Is 200 miles higher than the
old limit.
A thousand interesting things might
be written about what the institution
is doing. In every department 1t is
pushing back the bounds of knowledge
further and further, the while adding to
it's own work the results of the stimu-
lus it has given to other workers In the
same fields. The better understanding
of the mysteries of the forces of nature.
which 1t is bringing about. promises to
be of direct practical benefit to every
member OF the human race today. Its
work is cumulative. This will allow IT
to transmit it's efforts to generations
yet unborn, and it's full fruition cannot
be known or estimated until time shall
be no more.
Up to last November the institution
had spent 50, $500 1t is now prepar-
ing to construct home of its own in
the northwest section of Washington.
This building will be an edifice COM
mensurate with the dignity and scope
of the work 1t Is doing. So impressed
with the splendid showing of the insti-
tuition was Mr.. Carnegie that he has
recently added $2,000,000 to the fund.
The light of the work, SO far as the
public is concerned, has been hidden
under a bushel. But nothing except
the work of the government itself has
as much significance to the individual
as that of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington.