Evening star., 1924-08-10
SC|ENT|STSLURED
AF|ELD BY SUMMER
Noted Smithsonian Institu-
tion. Members Scatter for
Work on Subjects.

Summer is the open season for
scientists, and several of the most
noted members of the Smithsonian
Institution here are taking advantage
of it. Their expeditions into the field
of science cover a variety of subjects
and are conducted, for the most part,
by men bearing the degree of doctor
of philosophy.
DIR. Charles D. Walcott, secretary
of the institution, and his wife have
recently left for a tour of geological
field work in the Canadian Rocky
Mountains Investigation into the
complicated geological formations of
that region and the collection of fos-
sils for laboratory study during the
winter are DR. Walcott'S quarry. Mrs.
Walcott specialiZeS in sketching in
water colors the species of wild now
ers of the northland. This work Will
extend into the Fall.
Will Measure Star Heat.
The measurement of the heat of the
Spectra of the stars. with an eStima-
ton of their temperature and deter
mining their diameter, is the goal OF
DR. c. G.. Abbot, assistant secretary
of the institution. solar cooker,
which he is trying to perfect, in
fuel in cooking. is part of his equip
ment. Mount Wilson in California
will he the scene of DR.. Abbots
labors He has paid a visit to the
Smithsonian Institutions solar OBJ
serving station at Mount Harqua
Hala. Arizona. This is one of the most
cloudless regions in the world, and
observations of the radiation from
the sun are made there every day in
the year.
DR.. Paul Bartsch came back early in
July from Cuba and the Florida
Keys, where he conducted expert
ments in heredity with land shells,
known as cerions, and observed the
effect of various environments on
them. He works in cooperation with
the Carnegie Institute. DR.. Bartsch
recently shot" 1900 feet of moving
pictures of marine life, with his un-
darwater camera. making an inter-
csting record of fish and coral life.
Collecting Fossils.
The mapping of geology and the
collecting of fossils in the Cumber-
land River area of Tennessee is the
special work of DR.. r. S. Bassler,
curator of the division of paleontol-
ogy, this season. in conjunction with
the State geological survey of Ten
nessee. DIR. ]. NJ. Aldrich, curator of
the division of insects, is on trip
through the West, collecting insects.
Neil NJ. Judd, a Smithsonian man. tenn
porarily director of the National Geo
graphic Society's Pueblo Bonito ex-
pedition in New Mexico. is overseeing
excavation of one of the largest pre-
historic communal Indian dwellings
in the United States.
John Il Baer, representing the
Smithsonian Institution on the Marsh
expedition into the Darien region of
Panama of white Indian" fame, died
in the Isthmus. without making a
formal report, before the expedition
came back to this country.
DR.. J. Walter Fewkes, chief of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, will
soon leave for Calsbad, y. Mex, to
explore Il number of caves. 1t is re-
ported that remains of Indian habita-
tion have been found there. DR.. John
r. Swanton is in Oklahoma, studying
the language of the ChickaSaw and
Creeks, Indian tribes.
]. y. 3. Hewitt, ethnologist, has
just returned from New York State
and Canada, after studying the league
of the Iroquois Indians. DR.. Truman
Nicholson has recently compile ed
studies at Tama. Iowa. in the Ian
guage of the Sauk and Fox Indians.