Evening star., 1923-12-09
BY HAROLD X. PHILIPS.

that truth is stranger than fiction"
1t is the Carnegie Institution of
Washington. an everlasting monu-
ment to the founder whose name it
bears, Andrew Carnegie. Its field is
as limitless as the universe, and it's
avowed purpose is: ITO encourage in
the broadest and most liberal manner
Investigation, research and discovery,
and the application of knowledge to
the Improvement of mankind
To attain this end, the many bu-
reaus and laboratories that .consti-
tute the institution are dresting from
nature the long-buried secrets of her
creation-from the heavens the un-
told wonders of its strange other
worlds-from antiquity the enthrall-
ing story of its history and its eX-
tinct inhabitants.
In short, wherever the Carnegie
Institution finds a problem whose So
luton might help mankind in his
slow progression, il sets out to dis
cover the answer. And the COM
bined story of It's researches is one
of intriguing romance, and of mar
relous facts about our own selves
that only a short span of years back
science itself only suspected might
really exist.
The Carnegie Institution of Wash
ington was founded by Andrew Car
negie on January 2s, 1902, when he
gave to a board of trustees an en-
dowment of registered bonds of the
par value of ten million dollars. To
this he added two million dollars
on December 10, 1907. and ten mill
lion dollars on January 19, 1911. The
present endowment of the institution
has a par value of twenty-five mill
lion dollars, yielding an annual in
come of per cent. In addition,
the income of a reserve fund of about
three million dollars, accumulated in
accordance with the founders speci-
fcations in 1911, is now available for
general use.
PACKED by this rich endowment
the Carnegie institution has
reached out in the scant twenty-one
years of it's existence and now is con-
ducting exhaustive Investigations and
researches into many fields of scien
tific and historical endeavor, includ-
Ing American history, genetics, evo-
luton, eugenics, plant physiology,
embryology. nutrition, marine biol
ogy, terrestrial magnetism, physics,
chemistry. seismology. the structure
of the universe. astronomy and the
evolution Of celestial bodies.
1t will thus be seen that it reaches
out not only into the fartheSt realms
of the universe In it's eeaseless
search for knowledge, deep into the
darkest recesses of the earth and
down to the seas bottom, but that il
has undertaken in addition to know
something more about man himself
than medical science has learned up
to the present time. For one phase
of it's studies in that direction the
institution has established a nutri-
tion laboratory.
There q scientific study is being
made Of tho fundamental laws gov.
erning vital actlvity--what causes
the loss of body heat, the influence
of digestion and of muscular exer-
else in chemical and physiological
functions Apparatus has been de-
reloped which records just how much
heat man produces when he walks,
the calorific values of foods and even
the measurement of the perspirat ton
Of human beings.
One of the most important re-
searches at the nutrition laboratory
concerns metabolism, or the building
up of life tissues. At present much
thought is being devoted to the ques-
tion of just what reaction mental
effort has on metabolism and the
chemical analysis of foods. Already
the work Of the laboratory has been
OF tremendous value to medical
science and some of it's measuring in
struments have been adopted by large
hospitals throughout the country
In the years to come, as a result of
such researches, the doctor will be
able to determine exactly how much
energy man uses in different kinds
of work, ~the foods that will restore
that energy most efficiently and why
certain phenomena occur In the hu-
man body that are still a mystery to
the specialist. That a more thorough
knowledge of such matters will re-
suit in the lengthening of mans life
is not doubted by doctors.
X y X X
MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY
of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington. located about fourteen
miles from Pasadena, Calf, is one of
the most complete and successful
observatories in the world. More
than 5000 feet above sea level, 1t
was selected because of it's advan-
ot cpt ,arin
a careful test of promising sites in
other parts OF California, Arizona
and Australia There, some of the.
worlds best known astronomers peer
out into the universe through power
full instruments and study its struc-
ture and the evolution of celestial
bodies. The sun, being the only star
near enough to the earth to be ,ex-
amined in detail, Is being intensively
studied. Old Sol, however. still spins
many, many miles away and is too
strong for the human eye to look
upon. So the scientists have learned
to bring him down to EARTH" SO to
speak. when they wish to look him
over.
Three telescopes on Mount Wilson
accomplish this task. One is known
as the Snow horizontal telescope, an.
other is virtually a. vertical tower
sixty feet high, and the third g. 150-
foot tower. The largest telescope re-
eefves and reflects sunlight verti.
oally downward from a clock driven
mirror at its summit to an object
glass. The latter focuses this light
down into laboratory, where it
forms an image of the sun more than