The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-14

been prepared to the archives of num-
Der or those countries whose history
| bears close relation to the earlier
colonial days of the United States. The
most important of these IL the prepa
ration of the history of the American
colonies. as taken from the records of
being prosecuted in the gathering to-
gethcr of tho proceedings OF the Privy
Council of England that relate to tho
colonies. This line of research Will be
Iof Invaluable service to the historians
| of the future in dealing with the ear
Her history of America. The guides to
the Cuban and Spanish archives and
| a revised edition OF tho archives at
! Washington have been issued.
The department of meridian astro-
metry Is now engaged In cataioguins
the positions of all stars from the
brightest to those of the seventh mag
nitude. The geophyscai laboratory
has been finished. The solar observe
tory on Mount Wilson. Cal, is being
completed as rapidly as possible. The
new sfNty-lnch rejecting telescope s
being mounted, labor troubles having
interfered with the construction OF the
dome. The onehundred-inch reflector
cast at ST. Goblin. France. and weigh
| ing four and half tons. will soon be
ready to be put into place.
| A line of work that comes close 10
the people Is that done in the nutrition
laboratory at Boston. Exhaustive eX-
poriments are being made to show the
relative nutritive value OF foods espe-
cial consideration being given 10 the!r-
value in time of sickness and conva.
!escence.
The department. OF marine biology
has laboratory at Dry TortuRas Fla.
and is doing a wonderful work In ex-
iploring the mysteries OF the life be-
meath the seas. There are many scien
fists 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 $4,000 miles through the Pa
lcihc 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 COM
plete ever made. AM is first step to-
ward an exhaustive survey OF the
world on both land and sea.
The institution makes grants to In
diIdual 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 horticulturist. The
| institution is anxious to get a scien-
ltfic 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 u
statement attributed to him. that II
/
| 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 neighbor-
hood of s100.O0O,Ooo. The possibilities
| OF this line of experimentation is shown
| by the fact that by cross breeding
they have produced an orange tree
whose northerly limit Is 200 miles
higher than the old limit.
thousand interesting things might
be written about what the institution
| is doing. In every department 1t SIS
pushing back the bounds of knowledge
further and; further, the while adding
to it's own work the results of the slim
illus it has given to other workers in
the same fields The better understand
| ing of the mysteries of the forces OF
nature, which it is bringing about.
promises to be of direct practical BEN
eft to every member of the human
This Will allow 1t to transmit its eff
| forts 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 S26S3,000 1t is now pre-
pairing to construct home of its own
In the northwest section of Washing
ton. This building will be an edifce
commensurate with the dignity and
scope Of the work 1t Is doing. So inn
the institution was Mr.. Carnegie that
he has recently added 100000 to the
fund: The light of the work, so far
az the public is concerned, has been
hidden under a bnshel. But nothing
except the work of the government it.
self has as much significance to the
| individual as that of the Carnegie In.
stitution of Washington.
To-morrow, Organs in America