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le

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
BOARD OF REGENTS OF

THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION

SHOWING THE

OPERATIONS, EXPENDITURES, AND
CONDITION OF THE INSTITUTION
FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30

LYS?

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WASHINGTON

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
BOARD OF REGENTS OF

THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION

SHOWING THE

OPERATIONS, EXPENDITURES, AND
CONDITION OF THE INSTITUTION
FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30

Lo.

(Publication 3451)

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1938

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. - - - - - - Price $1.00 (paper cover)

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
Washington, December 2, 1937.

To the Congress of the United States:

In accordance with section 5593 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States, I have the honor, in behalf of the Board of Regents,
to submit to Congress the annual report of the operations, expendi-
tures, and condition of the Smithsonian Institution for the year
ended June 30, 1937. J have the honor to be,

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
C. G. Assot, Secretary.

Tit

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CONTENTS

Page
LOSES THACL EEN 11 CHI | li nee tide ee cx. on ya ad ps gi aia nf en v
TUS EN 3 Waa Vag 92 2a 0 eg ail Sy 2 a a a lige ea a ae 1
: Summary of the year’s activities of the branches of the Institution____--- 2
Sire esi TORINO ee is eee le a ee eee ee 5
rer horretnr Werenths oso. ts 5 = eee ee ea ee ee ee 5
VETERE St eld eal AP ll a aan > kl ale Ra ee gen eh Dulane ict ke pie rs
miViatlersromeeneraleimbenests sa eee ee ee en iG
Andrew W..Melion’s art pift to the Nation... = =~ == Se if
Proposca emitusonan (Gallery OfvArt_ 2. ° = 22-2 ii
SIMPSON A METAL OM IN OD Rea ere ee ay ees a se ek = ee re te 18
Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Scholarship_-____-__--_----------- 21
rit ae URE OIOU NEO Sa fas a ee is a, 2 See ee Acute 22
Peper oun ane: HEIG WOLK— 5. So 2 = ek ee ecb ee eek 22
Lory SUG in oS i ee ee ee ere meee F 23
PRU pee eee toe ee ee let Ae ot Ch oh eon 24
Appendix 1. Report on the United States National Museum_-_-_--------- 25
2. Report on the National Collection of Fine Arts_____-.------ 35
a. heportion tne wtrecs-Gallery of Art... 22-203. 0225462 Lec 43
4. Report on the Bureau of American Ethnology_--_---------- 49
5. Report on the International Exchange Service___-_-_------- 59
6. Report on the National Zoological Park_____------------- 69
7. Report on the Astrophysical Observatory_-_--------------- 99
8. Report on the Division of Radiation and Organisms____--_- 103
Cerne variON the IMOEAT Yee. 60 a an ons oe eee Se 107
Oy eon Ol PUNGRIONA 522 9. 862 sea o ee eens eee 113
Report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents_____-_------- 119
GENERAL APPENDIX
Constitution of the stars, by Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington_________--_-- 131
Discoveries from solar eclipse expeditions, by 8. A. Mitchell___________- 145
Changes in the length of the day, by Ernest W. Brown___-_______-_------ 169
The thunderstorm, by E. A. Evans and K. B. McEachron_____________-_ 177
The electron: Its intellectual and social significance, by Karl T. Compton_-. 205
Photography by polarized light, by J.W. McFarlane__._.__________--_-_- 225
Measuring geologic time: Its difficulties, by A. C. Lane___________-_--- 235
- The earth’s interior, its nature and composition, by Leason H. Adams_... 255
Origin of the Great Lakes basins, by Francis P. Shepard___---_--_------- 269
The biography of an ancient American lake, by Wilmot H. Bradley_-_-__-_- 279
Wur-water supply, by Oscar B. Meinzer)=.225-.-2+ 2 291
The first crossing of Antarctica, by Lincoln Ellsworth_______________-_- 307
Moving photomicrography, by W. N. Kazeeff__________--------------- 323
Fresh-water fishes and West,Indian zoogeography, by George S. Myers... 339
The breeding habits of salmon and trout, by Leonard P. Schultz___-_-____- 365
What is entomology: by Lee A. Strong_..2-..-2.4 22-2 Se eee 377
Maize—our heritage from the Indian, by J. H. Kempton____._.-____--- 385

vr CONTENTS

Page
The emergence of modern medicine from ancient folkways, by Walter C. .
BIVGOTEG 2 oa Ot ot a ee Cee eee ee 409
National and international standards for medicines, by E. Fullerton Cook. 431
The healing properties of allantoin and urea discovered through the use of
maggots in human wounds, by William Robinson_---_.-...---------- 451
The aims of the Public Health Service, by Thomas Parran_____-_____--- 463
Excavations at Chanhu-daro by the American School of Indic and Iranian
Studies and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Season 1935-36, by

Mrnes MAGkay | iia5 acme do ceteces Holt hee ie eee 469
Ras Shamra: Canaanite civilization and language, by Zellig 8. Harris.__. 479
Hlood-groups and race, by J." Mot... «3 - eden cn ose ~ yee elie 503
Early Chinese cultures and their development: A new working-hypothesis,

by Wolfram Tierharg sn nae ctcks occas e += teens lee 513
Origin and early diffusion of the traction plow, by Carl Whiting Bishop. 531
Historical notes on the cotton gin, by F. L. Lewton_____.--------_----- 549

The world’s longest bridge span, by Clifford E. Paine___--_-_---_------ 565

LIST OF PLATES

Secretary’s Report:
Tate lan oe net ese Beet Se 2S. AN ee ee ee ee ee
era estss =O meer Ur den Me) SU eee Pes eee Ae

Eclipse expeditions (Mitchell):

TEREST TE es oh a Poel Sa 8g Or PO gle cane tome renee Oe Np
The thunderstorm (Evans and McEachron):

2 TRE IT ee RIN A a ESS BRE oe CPOE RE RAR SED RNCE rho reo pe Oe Seed
Photography by polarized light (McFarlane):

lates pl Gee ee oe reese Deke ee Pepe ee) ng 2s Tks So Be
Measuring geologic time (Lane):

Team iee a eae! Ae ays Rite kta ate octet Be ee At ee
Earth’s interior (Adams):

Li) BU ETT eset ite PRD af ad OT cA a iat nee Soyer CR NT pees oo
Ancient American lake (Bradley):

Pintedele-dies 2 nce Bee Re ee et as Be ae a Be eee BRS a
First crossing of Antarctica (Ellsworth):

EUS eia he Or ts St OM cll rhe ee etn gt bel icy taal igs eae
Moving photomicrography (Kazeeff):

EYES PSSPa A At thal aaa Ill nn i ia pees Pe edhe Gee wa
Fresh-water fishes (Myers):

Salmon and trout (Schultz):

ECS ah — pees en ed Se nO oe eee Pe ee ee ee aS
Entomology (Strong):

Per geeret eal Gere ene ih hye ie ee es es PL Ce eS ee
Maize (Kempton):

IDiatesht- Um ek teen INE! 206 ee I a ea ee eh
Modern medicine (Alvarez):

Chanhu-daro (Mackay):

Pe epese Oe ete ea a a Sento erst 8 he fae ee
Ras Shamra (Harris):

[Plates sameeren 0. 25° 37 Bn 2 geen ee cert. Seek Pe eater
Traction plow (Bishop):

Plategel eae meh a Fey te eee ee Se EC ele a
Cotton gin (Lewton):

1 Be nye Pt Rel a Daa ee ty VERT RR Res et gn pe ee ee
World’s longest bridge (Paine):

HOt 4 tee gee ee eee 2 ed a se et te Soe ee ee

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Antes

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS
OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR
THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1937

SUBJECTS

1. Annual report of the Secretary, giving an account of the op-
erations and condition of the Institution for the year ending June 30,
1937, with statistics of exchanges, etc., including the proceedings of
the meetings of the Board of Regents.

2. Report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents,
exhibiting the financial affairs of the Institution, including a state-
ment of the Smithsonian fund, and receipts and expenditures for
the year ending June 30, 1937.

3. General appendix comprising a selection of miscellaneous
memoirs of interest to collaborators and correspondents of the Insti-
tution, teachers, and others engaged in the promotion of knowledge.
These memoirs relate chiefly to the calendar year 1937.

IX

f *
s

(T 40 Tr A0mH AU
<3 HOE sectal

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

June 30, 1937

Presiding officer ex officio—FRANKLIN D. ROoosEvVELT, President of the United
States.
Chancellor —CHARLES EvANS HuGHES, Chief Justice of the United States.
Members of the Institution:
FRANKLIN D. Roosevett, President of the United States.
JouHNn N. Garner, Vice President of the United States.
CHARITIES Evans Huaues, Chief Justice of the United States.
CORDELL Huu, Secretary of State.
Henry MorcentHay, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury.
Henry Hrnes Wooprine, Secretary of War.
Homer 8. Cummrinas, Attorney General.
JAMES A. FAarLEy, Postmaster General.
CLAUDE A. SWANSON, Secretary of the Navy.
Haroitp L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior.
Henry A. WALLACE, Secretary of Agriculture.
Danie C. Roprr, Secretary of Commerce.
WRANCES PERKINS, Secretary of Labor.
Regents of the Institution:
CHARLES Evans Hueues, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor.
JoHn N. Garner, Vice President of the United States.
JosEPH T. Rogstnson, Member of the Senate.
M. M. Logan, Member of the Senate.
CHARLES L. McNary, Member of the Senate.
T. ALAN GOLDSBOROUGH, Member of the House of Representatives.
CHARLES L. GirrorD, Member of the House of Representatives.
CLARENCE CANNON, Member of the House of Representatives.
Frepreric A. DELANO, citizen of Washington, D. C.
Joun C. Merriam, citizen of Washington, D. C.
R. WALTON Moore, citizen of Virginia.
Rosert W. BINGHAM, citizen of Kentucky.
Aveustus P. Lorine, citizen of Massachusetts.
Rouanp 8S. Morris, citizen of Pennsylvania.
Eeccutive committee.—FrevEeric A. DELANO, JOHN C. MerriAm, R. WALTON
Moore.
Secretary.—CHARLES G. ABBOT.
Assistant Secretary ALEXANDER WETMORE.
Administrative assistant to the Secretary.—Harry W. DorsEyY.
Treasurer.—NIcHOLAS W. DORSEY.
Editor —WEBSTER P. TRUE.
Librarian. WIti1AmM lL. CorgsBIN.
Personnel officer. —HELEN A. OLMSTED.
Property clerk.—Jamrs H. Ht.

Xi

Deni ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

Keeper ex officio —CHARLES G, ABBOT.
Assistant Secretary (in charge).—ALEXANDER WETMORE.
Associate director—JouHn E. GRAF.

SCIENTIFIC STAFF

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY :
Frank M. Setzler, acting head curator; W. H. Egberts, chief pre-
parator.

Division of Ethnology: H. W. Krieger, curator; H. B. Collins, Jr., assistant
curator; Arthur P. Rice, collaborator.

Section of Musical Instruments: Hugo Worch, custodian.
Section of Ceramics: Samuel W. Woodhouse, collaborator.

Division of Archeology: Neil M. Judd, curator; Waldo R. Wedel, assistant
curator; R. G. Paine, aid; J. Townsend Russell, honorary assistant cura-
tor of Old World archeology.

Division of Physical Anthropology: AleS Hrdlitka, curator; Thomas D.
Stewart, assistant curator.

Collaborators in anthropology: George Grant MacCurdy; D. I. Bush-
nell, Jr.
Associate in historic archeology: Cyrus Adler.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY:
Leonhard Stejneger, head curator; W. L. Brown, chief taxidermist.

Division of Mammals: Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., curator; Remington Kellogg,
assistant curator; A. J. Poole, scientific aid; A. Brazier Howell, collabo-
rator.

Division of Birds: Herbert Friedmann, curator; J. H. Riley, associate
curator; Alexander Wetmore, custodian of alcoholic and skeleton col-
lections; Casey A. Wood, collaborator; Arthur C. Bent, collaborator.

Division of Reptiles and Batrachians: Leonhard Stejneger, curator; Doris
M. Cochran, assistant curator.

Division of Fishes: Leonard P. Schultz, assistant curator; BE. D. Reid, aid.

Division of Insects: L. O. Howard, honorary curator; Edward A. Chapin,
curator; William Schaus, honorary assistant curator; B. Preston Clark,
collaborator.

Section of Hymenoptera: S. A. Rohwer, custodian; W. M. Mann, assist-
ant custodian; Robert A. Cushman, assistant custodian.

Section of Myriapoda: O. F. Cook, custodian.

Section of Diptera: Charles T. Greene, assistant custodian.

Section of Coleoptera: L. L. Buchanan, specialist for Casey collection.

Section of Lepidoptera: J. T. Barnes, collaborator.

Section of Hemiptera: W. L. McAtee, acting custodian.

Section of Forest Tree Beetles: A. D. Hopkins, custodian.

Division of Marine Invertebrates: Waldo L. Schmitt, curator; C. R. Shoe-
maker, assistant curator; James O. Maloney, aid; Mrs. Harriet Rich-
ardson Searle, collaborator; Max M. Ellis, collaborator; Maynard M.
Metcalf, collaborator; J. Percy Moore, collaborator; Joseph A. Cushman,
collaborator in Foraminifera; Charles Branch Wilson, collaborator in
Copepoda.

Division of Mollusks: Paul Barisch, curator; Harald A. Rehder, assistant
curator; Joseph P. B. Morrison, senior scientific aid; Mary Breen, col-
laborator.

Section of Helminthological Collections: Maurice C. Hall, custodian.

ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 XI

DEPARTMENT oF BioLocy—Continued.

Division of Echinoderms: Austin H. Clark, curator.

Division of Plants (National Herbariwn): W. R. Maxon, curator; Ells-
worth P. Killip, associate curator; Emery C. Leonard, assistant curator;
Conrad V. Morton, aid; Egbert H. Walker, aid; John A. Stevenson,
custodian of C. G. Lloyd mycological collection.

Section of Grasses: Agnes Chase, custodian.

Section of Cryptogamiec Collections: O. F. Cook, assistant curator.
Section of Higher Algae: W. T. Swingle, custodian.

Section of Lower Fungi: D. G. Fairchild, custodian.

Section of Diatoms: Paul S. Conger, custodian.

Associates in Zoology: C. Hart Merriam, Mary J. Rathbun, C. W. Stiles,
Theodore S. Palmer, William B. Marshall.

Associate Curator in Zoology: Hugh M. Smith.

Associate in Marine Sediments: T. Wayland Vaughan.

Collaborator in Zoology: Robert Sterling Clark.

Collaborators in Biology: A. K. Fisher, David C. Graham.

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY:
R. S. Bassler, head curator; Jessie G. Beach, aid.

Division of Physical and Chemical Geology (systematic and applied) :
W. F. Foshag, curator; Edward P. Henderson, assistant curator.

Division of Mineralogy and Petrology: W. F. Foshag, curator; Frank L.
Hess, custodian of rare metals and rare earths.

Division of Stratigraphic Paleontology: Charles E. Resser, curator; Gustav
A. Cooper, assistant curator; Margaret W. Moodey, aid for Springer
collection.

Section of Invertebrate Paleontology: T. W. Stanton, custodian of
Mesozoic collection; Paul Bartsch, curator of Cenozoic collection.

Division of Vertebrate Paleontology: Charles W. Gilmore, curator; C.
Lewis Gazin, assistant curator; Norman H. Boss, chief preparator.

Associate in Mineralogy: W. T. Schaller.

Associate in Paleontology: E. O. Ulrich.

Associate in Petrology: Whitman Cross.

DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND INDUSTRIES:
Carl W. Mitman, head curator.
Division of Engineering: Frank A. Taylor, curator.
Section of Mechanical Technology: Frank A. Taylor, in charge; Fred
C. Reed, scientific aid.
Section of Aeronautics: Paul E. Garber, assistant curator.
Section of Mineral Technology: Carl W. Mitman, in charge.
Division of Textiles: Frederick L. Lewton, curator; Mrs. EB. W. Rosson, ald.
Section of Wood Technology: William N. Watkins, assistant curator.
Section of Organic Chemistry: Aida M. Doyle, aid.

Diwision of Medicine: Charles Whitebread, assistant curator.

Division of Graphic Arts: R. P. Tolman, curator; C. Allen Sherwin, scien-
tifie aid.

Section of Photography: A. J. Olmsted, assistant curator.
Division or History: T. T. Belote, curator; Charles Carey, assistant curator;
Mrs. C. L. Manning, philatelist.
Chief of correspondence and documents.—H. S. Bryant.
Assistant chief of correspondence and docwments.—L. BE. COMMERFORD.
Superintendent of buildings and labor—R. H. TREMBLY.
Assistant superintendent of buildings and labor.—CHARLES C. SINCLAIR.

XIV ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Hditor.—Pavut H. OFHSER.

Engineer.—C. R. DENMARK.

Accountant and auditor.—N. W. Dorsey.
Photographer.—A. J. OLMSTED.

Property clerk.—LAWRENCE L. OLIVER.
Assistant librarian.—Lema F. CLARK.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Trustees:
The CuHirer Justice of the Unrrep STATES.
‘THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
The Srorerary of the TREASURY.
The Secretary of the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
Davin K. EE. Bruce.
DUNCAN PHILLIPS.
S. PARKER GILBERT.
DonaALp D. SHEPARD.
ANDREW W. MELLON.

NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS

Acting Director—Rur. P. ToLMAN.

FREER GALLERY OF ART

Curator—JouN ELLERTON LopGE.
Associate curator.—CarL WHITING BISHOP.
Assistant curator.—GRAcCE DUNHAM GUEST.
Assistant.—ARCHIBALD G. WENLEY.
Superintendent.—JoHN BuNpy.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

Ohief.—MATTHEW W. STIRLING.

ELthnologists—JoHn P. Harrincton, Jonn N. B. Hewitt, TRuMAN MICHELSON,
JOHN R. Swanton, WILLIAM D. Srrone.

Archeologist.—FRANK H. H. Roperts, Jr.

Associate anthropologist.—JuLIAN H. STEWARD.

EHditor—StTaANLey SEARLEs.

Librarian.— Miriam B. KercHum.

Iilustrator—Epwin G. CASSEDY.

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES
Secretary (in charge).—CHARLES G. ABBOT.
Chief clerk.—CoAtTEs W. SHOEMAKER.

NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK

Director.—WiILtIAM M. MANN.
Assistant director—Ernest P. WALKER.

ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY

Director.—CHARLES G. ABBOT.

Assistant director.—LoyauL B. ALDRICH.

Research assistant.—FREDERICK HB. Fow Le, Jr.
Associate research assistant.—WILLIAM H. Hoover.

DIVISION OF RADIATION AND ORGANISMS

Director.— CHARLES G. ABBOT.

Assistant director.—HARL §. JOHNSTON.

Associate research assistant.—Epwarp D. McALISTER.
Assistant in radiation research.—LELAND B. CLARK.
Research associate.—FLORENCE H#. MEIER.

XV

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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

C. G. ABBOT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1937

To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to submit herewith my report show-
ing the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and
the Government bureaus under its administrative charge during the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1937. The first 24 pages contain a sum-
mary account of the affairs of the Institution, and appendixes 1 to
10 give more detailed reports of the operations of the National Mu-
seum, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the Freer Gallery of
Art, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the International Ex-
changes, the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observa-
tory, the Division of Radiation and Organisms, the Smithsonian
library, and of the publications issued under the direction of the
Institution. On page 119 is the financial report of the executive com-
mittee of the Board of Regents.

OUTSTANDING EVENTS

The most notable event of the year was the establishment of the
new National Gallery of Art as a bureau of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution, the result of the munificent gift by Andrew W. Mellon of
his great art collection and funds exceeding $10,000,000 for the con-
struction of a suitable gallery building.

The equipment of the National Zoological Park was greatly im-
proved by the completion, under a P. W. A. grant, of three new
exhibition buildings, a machine shop, a garage, and new heating
and electric installations. Dr. W. M. Mann, Director of the Zoo,
headed the National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Ex-
pedition to Sumatra for the purpose of obtaining specimens of the
interesting animals of that region for the National Zoo. The ex-
pedition was still in the field at the close of the year, but reports in-
dicate a highly successful trip.

In the Division of Radiation and Organisms, notable advances
have been made in the studies of photosynthesis, phototropism, and
the reactions of ultraviolet rays on plant growth.

31508—38——2 1

2 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The Smithsonian radio program, a weekly half-hour dramatiza-
tion of the Institution’s researches and exhibits, put on the air
through the cooperation of the Office of Education and the National
Broadcasting Co., continued throughout the year with undiminished
popularity. The little magazine issued in conjunction with the
broadcasts, presenting popular articles and reading lists on the sub-
jects treated, had reached a circulation of 150,000 for the June issue.

SUMMARY OF THE YEAR’S ACTIVITIES OF THE BRANCHES OF THE
INSTITUTION

National Museum.—The total appropriation for the maintenance
of the Museum was $763,970, an actual increase of $28,228 over the
previous year. Specimens added to the collections, mainly as gifts
or through Smithsonian expeditions, numbered 361,951. It is diffi-
cult to select the outstanding accessions among this great amount of
valuable material, but the following may be mentioned as examples
of the interest of the year’s additions: In anthropology, a valuable
collection of skeletal material resulting from Dr. Hrdlitka’s archeo-
logical excavations in Alaska; in biology, welcome specimens of the
little-known fauna of Siam, including 1,100 birds, 800 fishes, as well
as mammals, insects, and other forms; in geology, specimens repre-
senting 29 distinct meteoric falls, obtained through the Roebling
fund, bringing the number of falls represented in the Museum to 635 ;
in arts and industries, the gondola of the successful stratosphere bal-
loon Explorer IT, presented by the National Geographic Society. A
number of expeditions went out during the year in the interests of the
Museum’s researches in anthropology, biology, and geology. These
were financed mainly by Smithsonian private funds or by the assist-
ance of friends of the Museum. The number of visitors to the sev-
eral Museum buildings for the first time in its history exceeded
2,000,000, the actual number for the year being 2,288,532. The Mu-
seum published an annual report, 2 bulletins, and 29 proceedings
separates.

National Collection of Fine Arts—The name of this bureau of the
Institution was changed by act of Congress on March 24, 1937, from
“National Gallery of Art” to “National Collection of Fine Arts”, in
order that the former name might be assigned to the collection of
fine arts and the building to house it given by Andrew W. Mellon
to the Nation. The sixteenth annual meeting of the National
Gallery of Art Commission was held on December 8, 1936. Dr.
George Harold Edgell was nominated as a member of the Commis-
sion to succeed Joseph H. Gest, deceased. A number of portraits
and other art works were accepted by the Commission for the Gallery,
and two paintings purchased by the council of the National Academy

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 3

of Design from the fund provided by the Henry W ard Ranger
bequest were recalled and claimed, according to the terms of the
Ranger will. Two miniatures were acquired through the Catherine
Walden Myer fund. The Gallery held two special exhibitions, as
follows: Paintings and etchings by Thomas Moran, installed in the
lobby of the Natural History Building on the one hundredth anni-
versary of the painter’s birth; and the exhibition of the Second
Annual Metropolitan State Art Contest, 1937, including 305 prints,
paintings, and pieces ef sculpture, by 148 artists.

Freer Gallery of Art—The year’s additions to the collection in-
clude a bronze Cambodian Buddha, a bronze Chinese ceremonial ves-
sel, and three early Chinese mirrors; three Armenian volumes of the
fourteenth and seventeenth centuries—the Gospel, a psalter, and a
hymnal; a thirteenth century New Testament in Aramaic; Arabic
volumes and paper and parchment leaves from several Arabic manu-
scripts of various periods from the ninth to the seventeenth cen-
turies; a sixteenth century Persian volume and 3 leaves from a Per-
sian manuscript of the same period; 1 Chinese, 4 Indian, and 11
Persian paintings; and in pottery 1 Chinese cup holder and 2 Chinese
vases, a Persian bowl, and 2 Syrian pitchers. Curatorial work was
devoted to the study of Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Aramaic, Ar-
menian, Arabic, Persian, East Indian, and Cambodian objects in the
collection and of the texts and seals associated with them. During
the year 810 objects and 286 photographs of objects were submitted
to the curator for opinion as to provenance, age, quality, or other sig-
nificance, and 31 inscriptions for translation. Visitors totaled 140,881,
and 10 groups were given docent service. Three illustrated talks
were given by members of the Gallery staff before three local
organizations.

Bureau of American Ethnology—The researches of the Bureau
covered a wide variety of archeological and ethnological studies of
the Indians of North, South, and Central America. Mr. Stirling,
Chief of the Bureau, completed his ethnological report on the Jivaro
Indians of Ecuador, and examined a number of mounds in Georgia
and Florida. Dr. Swanton, as chairman of the United States De
Soto Expedition Commission, made two field trips through that part
of the South crossed by De Soto’s route; he later completed a 600-
page report, which was submitted by the Commission to Congress.
Dr. Michelson continued his ethnological researches among the Algon-
quian tribes of James and Hudson Bays, Canada. Dr. Harrington
prepared papers on ethnological and linguistic subjects relating
to a number of tribes including the Karuk, Kiowa, Navaho, Apache,
Hopi, and Shoshonean; he also completed a report on the Siberian
origin of the American Indian. Dr. Roberts continued his archeo-

4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

logical excavations at the Lindenmeier site in Colorado, adding im-
portant material to that which he had already discovered relating
to Folsom man. In March 1937 he represented the United States
at the International Conference of Archeologists at Cairo, Egypt.
Dr. Strong devoted the year to completing the report on his archeo-
logical expedition of the previous year to Honduras. Dr. Steward
continued ethnological studies of the Shoshonean tribes of the Great
Basin and Plateau areas. Mr. Hewitt continued his researches on
the League of the Iroquois. The Bureau published its annual report
and one bulletin.

International exchanges——Since the conclusion at Brussels in 1886
of two exchange conventions between the United States and a number
of other countries, the Smithsonian Institution has been charged by
Congress with the important duty of carrying on the exchange
with other countries of governmental and scientific documents on
behalf of the United States. During the year the exchange service
handled a total of 657,346 packages weighing 651,461 pounds. The
number of full and partial sets of governmental publications for-
warded abroad is now 111, and 105 copies of the Congressional Rec-
ord and the Federal Register are sent to other countries in exchange
for their parliamentary journals. Four new depositories in Swit-
zerland were added to the interparliamentary exchange list, and
one in Germany, the Bibliothek des Preussischen Landtags, Berlin,
was discontinued, as the Lantags was abolished.

National Zoological Park.—The fiscal year 1937 was outstanding
in the history of the Zoo. The construction under the P. W. A. grant
of $892,920 of five new buildings was completed. Under this same
grant, three 250-horsepower down-draft boilers were installed in the
central heating plant, the conduit system was extended to two mam-
mal houses, and the electric supply distribution system was rear-
ranged. An expedition headed by Dr. William M. Mann, Director
of the Zoo, and financed by the National Geographic Society left
Washington in January to collect animals in the Far East for the
Zoo. They took with them 28 animals which were intended for zoos
in the regions visited. The expedition is expected to return to
Washington in October with a large collection of rare animals, ad-
vance reports indicating that the trip has been a very successful one.
Accessions of animals during the year numbered 1,067. Losses by
death and otherwise totaled 916, leaving the collection at the close of
the year at 2,342 animals, representing 701 different species. Visitors
numbered 2,435,520, including groups from 638 schools and organiza-
tions from 20 States and the District of Columbia.

Astrophysical Observatory.—Measurements of the solar constant of
radiation have been continued on all favorable days (amounting to
about 80 percent of all days) at the three Smithsonian observing sta-

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 5

tions at Table Mountain, Calif.; Montezuma, Chile; and Mount St.
Katherine, Egypt. A flaw was discovered in the “short method”
reduction of observations, used since 1923, making it necessary to de-
vise a new method. After this was done, the field observers remeas-
ured the photographic records of observation since that date, and
great progress has been made by an augmented computing staff at
Washington in recomputing by the new method all observations since
1923. A solar radiation steam boiler (pl. 7) was prepared under the
direction of Dr. Abbot and successfully operated in September
1936. Dr. Abbot later devised a small solar flash boiler which em-
bodies many improvements and which holds much promise of prac-
tical application in the future. Frederick E. Fowle, a member of
the staff of the Astrophysical Observatory since 1894, was retired for
disability at the close of the fiscal year.

Division of Radiation and Organisms.—The staff of the Division
obtained important results from studies on the following subjects : the
normal growth of tomatoes under laboratory conditions; photosyn-
thesis in wheat; perfection of a spectral absorption method of meas-
uring carbon dioxide concentration in air; time relations in photo-
synthesis; the efficiency of different wave lengths of light to promote
germination in light-sensitive lettuce seed; the inactivation of plant
growth substance by light; and the stimulation of multiplication in
algae by minute dosage of ultraviolet rays known to be lethal in
doses of sufficient intensity. Four papers describing the investiga-
tions of the staff were published during the year in the Smithsonian
Miscellaneous Collections, and others were in preparation.

THE ESTABLISHMENT

The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in
1846, according to the terms of the will of James Smithson, of
England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States
of America “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith-
sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion
of knowledge among men.” In receiving the property and accepting
the trust, Congress determined that the Federal Government was
without authority to administer the trust directly, and, therefore,
constituted an “establishment” whose statutory members are “the
President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the
executive departments.”

THE BOARD OF REGENTS

The law establishing the Institution specifies that the three Senator
Regents shall serve during the term for which they shall hold,
without reelection, their office as Senators, and the three Members of

6 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the Senate on the Board of Regents, Joseph T. Robinson, of Arkan-
sas; M. M. Logan, of Kentucky; and Charles L. McNary, of Oregon,
having been reelected to the Senate for a new term beginning Janu-
ary 3, 1937, the Vice President on January 6, 1937, reappointed them
to succeed themselves on the Board of Regents.

The roll of Regents at the close of the year was as follows: Charles
Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor;
John N. Garner, Vice President of the United States; members from
the Senate—Joseph T. Robinson, M. M. Logan, Charles L. McNary;
members from the House of Representatives—T. Alan Goldsborough,
Clarence Cannon, Charles L. Gifford; citizen members—Frederic A.
Delano, Washington, D. C.; John C. Merriam, Washington, D. C.;
R. Walton Moore, Virginia; Robert W. Bingham, Kentucky; Augus-
tus P. Loring, Massachusetts; Roland S. Morris, Pennsylvania.

Proceedings.—The annual meeting of the Board of Regents was
held on January 14, 1937. The Regents present were Chief Justice
Charles Evans Hughes, Chancellor; John N. Garner, Vice President
of the United States; Senators Joseph T. Robinson and M. M. Logan;
Representatives T. Alan Goldsborough, Charles L. Gifford, and
Clarence Cannon; citizen Regents Frederic A. Delano and R. Walton
Moore; and the Secretary, Dr. Charles G. Abbot.

The Secretary presented his annual report, detailing the activities
of the several Government branches and of the parent institution
during the year, and Mr. Delano presented the report of the execu-
tive committee, covering financial statistics of the Institution. The
Secretary also presented the annual report of the National Gallery
of Art Commission.

In lieu of his usual special report the Secretary presented to the
Regents a brief review of the principal achievements of the Smith-
sonian Institution during the 10 years since the death of Secretary
Walcott in 1927. In accordance with the wishes of the Regents, this
résumé has been printed in pamphlet form.

The Regents also adopted resolutions approving in principle the
proposed gift of the Hon. Andrew W. Mellon of a collection of
masterpieces of painting and sculpture, and of a gallery to house
them. This matter is treated in detail on pages 7-17 of this report.

In addition to the annual meeting, there was a special meeting of
the Board of Regents on June 24, 1937, at which the following
Regents were present: Senators Joseph T. Robinson and M. M.
Logan; Representatives T. Alan Goldsborough and Clarence Cannon;
citizen Regent Roland S. Morris; and the Secretary, Dr. Charles G.
Abbot. This meeting was called to take action on matters connected
with the above-mentioned offer by the Hon. Andrew W. Mellon, of
which full details will be found on pages 7-17.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY )
FINANCES

A statement will be found in the report of the executive committee,
page 119.
MATTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

ANDREW W. MELLON’S ART GIFT TO THE NATION

Probably the greatest impetus ever given to the development of art
in the Nation’s Capital and in the Nation itself will result from
Andrew W. Mellon’s munificent gift to the American people of his
unexcelled art collection, a $10,000,000 building to exhibit it, and
an endowment fund to pay the salaries of the directing officials and
for the acquisition of additional art works. The proposal was made
by Mr. Mellon in a letter to President Roosevelt dated December 22,
1936, which began as follows:

Over a period of many years I have been acquiring important and rare paint-
ings and sculpture with the idea that ultimately they would become the property
of the people of the United States and be made available to them in a national
art gallery to be maintained in the city of Washington for the purpose of
encouraging and developing a study of the fine arts.

* a * * * * *

In order to carry out this purpose, and with the approval of the other trus-
tees, I wish to propose a plan to give the art collection which I have brought
together to the Smithsonian Institution or to the United States Government for
the benefit of the people of this country, and also to erect or cause to be erected
on public land a suitable building for a national gallery of art, the design and
materials of which shall be subject to the approval of the Fine Arts Commission.

Following an exchange of correspondence with the President, Mr.
Mellon made his formal offer in a letter dated December 31, 1936. In
consultation with representatives of the Department of Justice and
the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution a bill was prepared by
representatives of Mr. Mellon as House Joint Resolution 217 covering
the matter. After hearings, the resolution was agreed to by Congress
and approved by the President on March 24, 1937. The full text of
the resolution follows:

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That the area bounded by Seventh Street, Con-
stitution Avenue, Fourth Street, and North Mall Drive, Northwest, in the Dis-
trict of Columbia, is hereby appropriated to the Smithsonian Institution as a
site for a National Gallery of Art. The Smithsonian Institution is authorized
to permit the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust (hereinafter re-
ferred to as the donor) to construct on said site for the Smithsonian Institution
a building to be designated the National Gallery of Art, and to remove any exist-
ing structure and landscape the grounds within said area. The adjoining area
bounded by Fourth Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Third Street, and North Mall
Drive. Northwest, in the District of Columbia, is hereby reserved as a site for

8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

future additions to the National Gallery of Art. The project shall be in ac-
cordance with plans and specifications approved by the Commission of Fine Arts.

Sec. 2. (a) There is hereby established in the Smithsonian Institution a bu-
reau, which shall be directed by a board to be known as the Trustees of the
National Gallery of Art, whose duty it shall be to maintain and administer the
National Gallery of Art and site thereof and to execute such other functions as
are vested in the board by this Act. The board shall be composed as follows:
The Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of
the Treasury, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, ex officio; and
five general trustees who shall be citizens of the United States, to be chosen as
hereinafter provided. No officer or employee of the Federal Government shall
be eligible to be chosen as a general trustee.

(b) The general trustees first taking office shall be chosen by the Board of
Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, subject to the approval of the donor,
and shall have terms expiring one each on July 1 of 1939, 1941, 1943, 1945, and
1947, as designated by the Board of Regents. A successor shall be chosen by
a majority vote of the general trustees and shall have a term expiring ten years
from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor Was
chosen, except that a successor chosen to fill a vacancy occurring pricr to the
expiration of such term shall be chosen only for the remainder of such term.

Sec. 3. Upon completion of the National Gallery of Art, the board shall accept
for the Smithsonian Institution as a gift from the donor a collection of works
of art which shall be housed and exhibited in the National Gallery of Art.

Sec. 4. (a) The faith of the United States is pledged that, on completion of
the National Gallery of Art by the donor in accordance with the ternis of this
Act and the acquisition from the donor of the collection of works of art, the
United States will provide such funds as may be necessary for the upkeep of
the National Gallery of Art and the administrative expenses and costs of opera-
tion thereof, including the protection and care of works of art acquired by the
board, so that the National Gallery of Art shall be at all times properly main-
tained and the works of art contained therein shall be exhibited regularly to the
general public free of charge. For these purposes there are hereby authorized to
be appropriated such sums as may be necessary.

(b) The board is authorized to accept for the Smithsonian Institution ane to
hold and administer gifts, bequests, or devises of money, securities, or other
property of whatsoever character for the benefit of the National Gallery of Art.
Unless otherwise restricted by the terms of the gift, bequest, or devise, the board
is authorized to sell or exchange and to invest or reinvest in such investments
as it may determine from time to time the moneys, securities, or other property
composing trust funds given, bequeathed, or devised to or for the benefit of the
National Gallery of Art. The income as and when collected shall be placed in
such depositaries as the board shall determine and shall be subject to expendi-
ture by the board.

(c) The board shall appoint and fix the compensation and duties of a director,
an assistant director, a secretary, and a chief curator of the National Gallery of
Art, and of such other officers and employees of the National Gallery of Art as
may be necessary for the efficient administration of the functions of the board.
Such director, assistant director, secretary, and chief curator shall be compen-
sated from trust funds available to the board for the purpose, and their appoint-
ment and salaries shall not be subject to the civil-service laws or the Classifica-
tion Act of 1923, as amended. The director, assistant director, secretary, and
chief curator shall be well qualified by experience and training to perform the

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 9

duties of their office and the original appointment to each such office shall be
subject to the approval of the donor.

(d) The actions of the board, including any payment made or directed to be
made by it from any trust funds, shall not be subject to review by any officer or
agency other than a court of law.

Sec. 5. (a) The board is authorized to adopt an official seal which shall be
judicially noticed and to make such bylaws, rules, and regulations, as it deems
necessary for the administration of its functions under this Act, including,
among other matters, bylaws, rules, and regulations relating to the acquisition,
exhibition, and loan of works of art, the administration of its trust funds, and
the organization and procedure of the board. The board may function notwith-
standing vacancies, and three members of the board shall constitute a quorum
for the transaction of business.

(b) In order that the collection of the National Gallery of Art shall always
be maintained at a high standard and in order to prevent the introduction therein
of inferior works of art, no work of art shall be included in the permanent col-
lection of the National Gallery of Art unless it be of similar high standard of
quality to those in the collection acquired from the donor.

(ec) The board shall have all the usual powers and obligations of a trustee in
respect of all trust funds administered by it and all works of art acquired by it.

(d) The board shall submit to the Smithsonian Institution an annual report of
its operations under this Act, including a detailed statement of all acquisitions
and loans of works of art and of all public and private moneys received and
disbursed.

Sro. 6. (a) The Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby author-
ized and directed to close Sixth Street, Northwest, within the boundaries of the
site for the National Gallery of Art. The National Capital Park and Planning
Commission shall determine the building lines and approve the plan of ap-
proaches for said gallery, and shall also make recommendations for the widen-
ing and adjustment of Third, Seventh, Ninth, and such other streets in the
vicinity as may be necessary and desirable to provide for the traffic which
would otherwise use Sixth Street.

(b) Section 10 of the Public Building Act, approved March 4, 1913 (37 Stat.
L., p. 881), relating to the George Washington Memorial Building, and all pro-
visions of law amendatory thereof, are hereby repealed.

(c) The existing bureau of the Smithsonian Institution now designated as a
national gallery of art shall hereafter be known as the National Collection of
Fine Arts.

(d) The fifth paragraph under the heading “Smithsonian Institution” in the
Independent Offices Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1924, approved Feb-
ruary 18, 1923 (42 Stat. L. 1235), relating to the erection of a national gallery
of art, is hereby repealed.

Approved, March 24, 1937.

At a special meeting of the Board of Regents of the Institution held
on June 24, 1937, there were submitted copies of a trust indenture
between the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, the
Smithsonian Institution, and the trustees of the National Gallery
of Art. After consideration, the following resolution was adopted:

Resolved: That the trust indenture between the A. W. Mellon Educational

and Charitable Trust, the Smithsonian Institution and the trustees of the
National Gallery of Art, a draft whereof has been presented at this meeting,

10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

and hereby is directed to be inserted in the minute book of the Regents im-
mediately following the minutes of this meeting, be, and hereby it is, approved,
and the Secretary of the Institution be, and hereby he is, authorized and di-
rected to execute such indenture, in triplicate, in the name and under the corpo-
rate seal of this Institution, and upon its due execution and by the other
parties thereto to make proper delivery thereof.

The full text of the trust indenture is as follows:
TRUST INDENTURE

Dated the 24th day of June 1987, and intended to be effective upon that date,
although executed by the parties hereto on various other dates, by, between, and
among

Andrew W. Mellon, Paul Mellon, Donald D. Shepard and David K. EB. Bruce,
as trustees of the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, established
under and by virtue of a deed of trust of Andrew W. Mellon to said trustees,
dated December 30, 1930, parties of the first part, and hereinafter sometimes
referred to as the “Donor”;

Smithsonian Institution, an establishment created and existing under and by
virtue of an act of the Congress of the United States of America, approved
August 10, 1846, party of the second part, and hereinafter referred to as the
“Institution”; and

The trustees of the National Gallery of Art, constituted under and by virtue
of a Joint Resolution of the Congress of the United States, entitled “Joint
Resolution providing for the Construction and Maintenance of a National Gal-
lery of Art,” approved March 24, 1937, parties of the third part, and hereinafter
sometimes referred to as the “Trustees.”

Whereas in December 1936, by correspondence between the President of the
United States of America and Andrew W. Mellon, the donor proposed to give a
collection of works of art for the benefit of the people of the United States of
America and to cause to be erected on public land a suitable building in which
to house and exhibit such collection, copies of such correspondence being here-
unto attached and made part hereof; and

Whereas by said joint resolution of the Congress, there was established a
bureau in the Institution to be directed by the trustees, and provision was made
for the construction of said building, the acceptance of a collection of works of
art as a gift from the donor and the exhibition thereof and of other appropriate
works of art in said building, and the administration by the trustees of said
building, the site and contents thereof, and all matters and affairs that pertain
to the use thereof for the public benefit; and

Whereas it is now desired to consummate the gift of said building and said
collection of works of art and to specify more particularly the terms and con-
ditions upon which said gift is made by the donor and accepted by the
Institution and the trustees, and

Whereas by said correspondence, one of the conditions of the gift was that
the upkeep of the gallery building and other administrative expenses and costs
of operation and functioning of the gallery would be provided for annually in
appropriations to be made by Congress; and by said joint resolution, the faith of
the United States was pledged that it would provide such funds as would be
necessary for the upkeep of the gallery and the administrative expenses and
costs of operation thereof, including the protection and care of works of art
acquired by the trustees;

Now, THEREFORE, THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH ;}

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 11

I
ERECTION OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

In accordance with the provisions of said joint resolution of the Congress,
the Institution hereby permits the donor to construct, and the donor hereby
agrees to construct for the Institution, a building to be designated and herein-
after referred to as the “National Gallery of Art’ upon the area bounded by
Seventh Street, Constitution Avenue, Fourth Street, and North Mall Drive,
N. W., in the District of Columbia (being the site appropriated to the Institu-
tion by said joint resolution), and to remove any existing structure and to land-
scape the grounds within said area, all in accordance with plans and specifica-
tions approved by the Commission of Fine Arts. The building line and plans of
approaches for said building shall be approved by the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission. The donor, in its uncontrolled discretion but at its
sole expense, shall engage such architects, contractors, builders, and others, and
shall take or cause to be taken any and every other action necessary or ad-
visable in connection with the construction, completion, equipment, and furnish-
ing of said building, and the landscaping of said area upon which it is erected.
The donor shall pay all costs and expenses in connection with, or incident to,
said project. In no event and under no circumstances shall the Institution or
the trustees be responsible or liable for any part of such cost or expense, and
the donor shall indemnify and save harmless the Institution and the trustees
from any and every liability whatsoever with reference to anything done or
omitted to be done in connection with the carrying out of said project or any
part thereof. The Institution and the trustees are expressly relieved of any
responsibility or duty pertaining to said project, and the entire and exclusive
jurisdiction and responsibility thereover and with regard thereto are imposed
upon and vested in the donor. Said project shall be commenced as soon after
the execution and delivery hereof as, in the judgment of the donor, the necessary
plans, specifications, and arrangements can be made and effected, and will be
proceeded with as expeditiously as, in the judgment of the donor, the execution
of the work can properly be effected, but as the building is of monumental char-
acter and is intended to have outstanding architectural merit, it is agreed that
undue haste is not desirable, and no time for the final completion of the project
ean be fixed. As and when said project shall be finally completed by the con-
struction, equipment, and furnishing of said building and the landscaping of
said area in accordance with said plans and specifications, the donor will give
written notice thereof to the Institution and the trustees and thereupon, with-
out further action by any of the parties hereto, the legal title to said building
shall be deemed to be vested in the Institution, but the maintenance and ad-
ministration of said building and of the site shall be vested exclusively in, and
shall be the sole obligation and duty of, the trustees as a separate bureau of
the Institution, and distinct from the other activities of the Institution, which
are under the management of its Board of Regents.

II

NAME OF GALLERY

Said gallery shall be known and designated perpetually as the ‘National
Gallery of Art”, to which the entire public shall forever have access, subject
only to reasonable regulations from time to time established by the trustees.

19 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
III
GIFT OF COLLECTIONS OF WORKS OF ART

The donor hereby gives to the Institution and the trustees, and they hereby
accept from the donor, in trust, however, for the uses and purposes and subject
to the provisions and conditions hereinafter expressed, the collection of works
of art listed in the schedule hereto attached, made part hereof and marked
“BHxhibit 1.”

IV
OUSTODY OF COLLECTION PENDING COMPLETION OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Pending the completion of the National Gallery of Art, said collection of works
of art shall remain in the custody of the donor. During such period of custody,
the donor will care for all said works of art, and will keep the same insured in
favor of the Institution and the trustees, as their respective interests may appear,
against loss or damage by fire, theft, or burglary, in such amounts and with
such parties as the donor, in its discretion, may determine, if and to the extent
that such insurance may be obtainable. The donor shall pay all costs, premiums,
and other charges incident to such care and insurance. Upon the completion of
the National Gallery of Art, said collection shall be delivered to the trustees and
thereafter shall remain under their exclusive control.

y
PASSAGE OF TITLE AND RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS OF INSTITUTION AND OF TRUSTEES

Forthwith upon the execution and delivery hereof, the title to said collection
of works of art shall pass to and be vested in the Institution. While it is the
intention that the title to said works of art shall be forever vested in the Insti-
tution, yet it is also the intention of the parties hereto, and this gift is made
upon the express understanding, agreement, and trust, that from and after the
completion of the National Gallery of Art, the actual custody, control, manage-
ment, and exhibition of said works of art, as well as of such other works of art
as, in accordance with the provisions of said joint resolution, from time to time
may be housed or exhibited in said National Gallery of Art, and all the details
pertaining thereto, shall be, and hereby are, delegated to and vested solely,
exclusively and forever in the trustees.

VI
DISPLAY OF COLLECTION

Subject to the subsequent provisions of this section VI, the said collection of
works of art shall always be kept in the National Gallery of Art, and none
thereof shall be removed from said building or from their settings therein except
for most cogent reasons therefor, such as repairs to said building or said works
of art, or temporary exhibition of some of such works of art elsewhere, and
then only with the prior approval of a majority of the entire membership of the
trustees. The works of art constituting said collection shall receive such care
and attention from time to time as shall be necessary for their preservation and
exhibition, shall always be exhibited in said National Gallery of Art in spacious

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 13

arrangement so that overcrowding will be avoided, and shall always be displayed
with dignity, in appropriate units, with suitable settings and with due regard
to their importance and quality.

While the parties hereto presently recognize that all the works of art con-
stituting said collection are of such high standard of quality that it is essen-
tial that such collection perpetually remain intact and be a part of the per-
manent collection on exhibition in the National Gallery of Art, and such is
the purport of this indenture, the donor at the same time recognizes the inad-
visability of perpetually foreclosing any discretion in the trustees in regard
to the disposition of any of the works of art constituting such collection and,
consequently, the donor authorizes and empowers the trustees, but only upon
the prior approval of not less than three-fourths of the entire membership of
the trustees, to exchange or otherwise dispose of any particular work of art
then a part of said collection, if in such exchange or by reason of such other
disposition the trustees are enabled to obtain for the Institution, to be and
become a part of the collection under this Indenture, some other work of art
which, in the judgment of the trustees, would be a highly desirable acquisition
to such collection. Furthermore, the donor recognizes that with the passing
of time it may come to be thought by at least three-fourths of the entire mem-
bership of the trustees that some particular work of art, then constituting a
part of said collection, has become unsuitable longer to remain as a part of
said collection, and therefore the donor provides that in the event that, in the
opinion of at least three-fourths of the entire membership of the trustees, any
particular work of art then a part of said collection is not in keeping with
said collection as a whole, the trustees are authorized and empowered to make
such disposition thereof as they, in their uncontrolled discretion, shall deem
advisable by sale, exchange, gift, loan, or otherwise.

VII
MAINTENANCE OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

The National Gallery of Art shall be the permanent home of the said collec-
tion of works of art hereby given by the donor. It shall be used exclusively for
the storage and exhibition of works of art and the administration of the affairs
of the trustees. In order that the collection of the National Gallery of Art
shall always be maintained at a high standard and to prevent the introduction
therein of inferior works of art, no work of art shall be included in the per-
manent collection of the National Gallery of Art unless it be of similar high
standard of quality to those in the collection hereby given by the donor. The
building and the contents and operations thereof shall at all times remain in
the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the trustees in accordance with such
by-laws, rules, and regulations as they from time to time shall prescribe.

It is an express condition of the trust of said collection of works of art,
hereby created, that the faith of the United States is pledged that, on comple-
tion of the National Gallery of Art by the donor in accordance with the terms
of said joint resolution and the acquisition from the donor of the collection of
works of art, the United States will provide such funds as may be necessary
for the upkeep of the National Gallery of Art and the administrative expenses
and costs of operation thereof, including the protection and care of works of art
acquired by the Board, so that the National Gallery of Art shall be at all times
properly maintained and the works of art contained therein shall be exhibited
regularly to the general public free of charge.

14 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
Vill
THE TRUSTEES

The trustees shall always be not less than nine persons, of whom a minority,
to be known as ex-officio trustees, shall be officers of the United States or of
the Institution, ex-officio, and of whom a majority to be known as general
trustees, shall be citizens of the United States, none of whom at the time of
his or her election to the office of general trustee shall be an officer or employee
of the United States of America. Any vacancy in the office of general trustee
by reason of the expiration of the term, death, or resignation of the incumbent,
or otherwise howsoever, shall be filled by the election of a competent a
by a majority of the remaining general trustees.

IX
ALTERATION OR MODIFICATION OF THIS INDENTURE

(a) During the existence of the donor

At any time and from time to time hereafter, with the consent of the Insti-
tution, the trustees, and the donor, this trust indenture may be altered, modified,
cr supplemented in any respect whatever, as the parties hereto may deem
advisable or necessary, which shall not be inconsistent with the general pur-
pose and scope of this trust indenture and of the said joint resolution.

(b) After the termination of the donor

While this trust indenture is entered into by the parties hereto with the
intention, and it is the purport hereof, that the trust hereby created shall
be administered strictly in accordance with the terms, provisions, and con-
ditions of this indenture and of said joint resolution, the parties hereto recognize
that with the passing of time and changed conditions, some of such terms,
provisions, or conditions may become inconvenient or impossible of observance
or the observance thereof may become detrimental to the primary purpose of
the donor that the National Gallery of Art and the contents thereof, including
the donor’s collection of works of art, shall at all times be available for the
benefit and enjoyment of the public, or situations or conditions, not now thought
of or inadequately provided for in this indenture, may arise and the -proper
administration of this trust may require such conditions or situations to be
properly and practically dealt with, and consequently, the parties hereto agree
and expressly provide that if at any time and from time to time, but only'
after the termination of the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust by
the terms of the deed of trust creating such trust or otherwise, three-fourths
of the entire membership of the trustees and three-fourths of the entire num-
ber of the regents or other duly constituted governing body of the Institu-
tion shall be of the opinion that in order properly to administer the National
Gallery of Art and the site and contents thereof in the interest and for the
benefit of the public, this indenture of trust should be altered, modified, or
amended as respects any of its terms, provisions, or conditions, or should be
supplemented so as adequately to provide for new conditions or situations,
then and in every such event the trustees, with the approval of at least three-
fourths of the entire membership of the trustees, and the Institution, pursuant
to approval of at least three-fourths of its Board of Regents or other duly con-
stituted authority, shall have the right, power, and authority, by supplemental
indenture, to effect any such alteration, modification, or amendment hereof, or
supplement hereto, provided however, that no alteration, modification, or amend-

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 15

ment of this trust indenture, or any supplement thereof, shall be made which
shall be in violation of the provisions of said joint resolution or of any future
act of Congress relating to the National Gallery of Art; and provided further,
that in no event and under no circumstance shall this trust indenture be
altered, modified, amended, or supplemented as respects the provisions of article
VIII hereof, it being the intention and one of the express conditions of the
gift hereby made by the donor that the trust hereby created shall perpetually
be administered by trustees constituted in accordance with the provisions of
article VIII hereof.

For the purpose of this section IX, the A. W. Mellon Edutational and Char-
itable Trust shall be conclusively deemed to have been terminated if three-
fourths of the entire membership of the trustees, after such careful inquiry
as they shall deem to be sufficient, shall be of the opinion that such trust no
longer continues to exist.

In witness whereof, the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust has
caused this indenture of trust to be executed by the hands and seals of the
trustees thereof; the Smithsonian Institution, pursuant to a resolution duly
adopted by its Board of Regents, has caused this indenture of trust to be
signed and its official seal to be hereunto affixed by its secretary; and the
trustees of the National Gallery of Art have caused this indenture of trust to be
executed by the hands and seals of the trustees, all as of the day and year
first above written.

Tur A. W. Metron EpucaTIonAL
AND CHARITABLE TRUST,
By (Signed) ANDREW W. MELLON,
(Signed) Pav MELLoN,
(Signed) Donatp D. SHEPARD,
(Signed) Day K. E. Brucs,
Trustees thereof.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
[SEAL] By (Signed) CC. G. Axspot, Secretary.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART,

By (Signed) CHARLES Evans HuGHEs,

(Signed) Corprii Hurt,

(Signed) Henry MorcentHay, Jr.,

(Signed) C. G. AxBsor,

(Signed) <A. W. MELLON,

(Signed) Davin K. E. Bruce,

(Signed) DuNcAN PHILLIPS,

(Signed) S. PARKER GILBERT,

(Signed) Donatp D. SHEPARD,

Trustees thereof.

At the same meeting of the Board of Regents the following gentle-

men were appointed as general trustees of the National Gallery of
Art:

Mr. Donald D. Shepard, for the term expiring July 1, 1939;
Mr. S. Parker Gilbert, for the term expiring July 1, 1941;
Mr. Duncan Phillips, for the term expiring July 1, 19438;
Mr. David K. E. Bruce, for the term expiring July 1, 1945;
Mr, A. W. Mellon, for the term expiring July 1, 1947.

16 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1987

Following this final step in the consummation of Mr. Mellon’s gift
to the Nation, work was started promptly on the preparation of the
site. The architect selected for the building by Mr. Mellon was John
Russell Pope, the architect for many art galleries, museums, and pub-
lic buildings here and abroad, including the National Archives Build-
ing, Constitution Hall, the Masonic Temple, and others in Washing-
ton. According to Mr. Pope, the building will follow the finest tradi-
tions of American architecture and will be carefully scaled in pro-
portion with the surrounding buildings. Constructed of marble, the
gallery will be 829 feet long, about 350 feet wide at its greatest width,
with the central dome 150 feet high. Mr. Pope has assured that the
building will incorporate all the best features of the world’s art
galleries, and in certain respects will be in advance of any existing
gallery, notably in relation to lighting and in provision to lessen the
fatigue of visitors.

Regarding the collection itself, which will be installed in the build-
ing upon its completion and which will form the nucleus and estab-
lish the standard of excellence of the National Gallery of Art, the
following brief description was given before the House Committee
on the Library by Mr. David E. Finley:

Mr. Mellon has been making this collection for more than 40 years. It is not
large as regards the number of pictures. It contains something like a hundred
paintings by old masters. But practically all are important, for Mr. Mellon
has tried to buy not only paintings by the greatest masters, but also the best
examples of their work obtainable. As a result, everyone who sees the collec-
tion—and many of the greatest experts in this country and Europe have seen
it—is impressed with the exceptional quality of the pictures.

+ * * sd a .

In range it covers all the important schools of western European painting.
The Italian school is particularly well represented by painters such as Raphael,
Perugino, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Titian, Bellini, Antonella di Messina, and by
such rare and early masters as Cimabue, Masaccio, and Andrea del Castagno.
There is a Byzantine Madonna and Child, painted in Constantinople early in
the thirteenth century, which takes the collection back to the very source of
western art, and with the other paintings gives a historical sequence to the
collection that will prove very valuable to students.

The Flemish school is represented by most of its greatest painters, beginning
with the Annunciation by Jan van Byck, and continuing through Petrus
Christus, Rogier van der Weyden, Memling, Gerard David, and ending with
two magnificent Rubens from the Hermitage Gallery and three Van Dycks,
including the exceptionally fine portrait, painted in Genoa, of the Marchesa
Balbi.

In the Dutch school there are several outstanding examples of Rembrandt
and Frans Hals and three Vermeers, as well as several Hobbemas, and works
by Terburg, Metsu, deHoogh, and so forth.

The Spanish paintings include three portraits by Velasquez, one of Pope
Innocent X from the Hermitage, being particularly important. There are also
four Goyas and two El Grecos, while the German and French paintings include
such names as Holbein, Diirer, and Chardin. The British school is quite

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY al;

largely represented by works of Gainsborough, Reynolds, Raeburn, Romney,
Lawrence, Hopner, Turner, and Constable.

In addition to these paintings, Mr. Mellon also acquired a number of por-
traits by important American painters, such as Gilbert Stuart, Copley, West,
Sully, and others. He bought also, in its entirety, the Clarke collection of
American portraits, containing some 175 paintings by practically all our edrlier
well-known American painters. This was not done with the idea that these
should go into the National Gallery of Art, but rather that such as were
suitable and of general or historic interest should form the nucleus of a
National Portrait Gallery, which should be entirely distinct from the art
gallery and would be housed, eventually at least, in its own building. A few
of the finest of these portraits, which have the greatest artistic merit, will
find their place in the art gallery and will form a fitting sequence to the
British art of the eighteenth century represented in the collection.

There is just one other matter that I must mention. Mr. Mellon’s idea had
been originally that the gallery should be for paintings only. Then an oppor-
tunity came to buy the Dreyfus collection of Renaissance sculpture—a collection
that had been in the making in Paris for many years and included outstanding
works by such great artists as Donatello, Verrocchio, Desiderio da Settignano,
Luca della Robbia, and others. Naturally, such an opportunity could not be
refused and he acquired these sculptures. He also bought two very important
large bronzes by Sansovino and a Mercury by Giovanni da Bologna, all of
which will find their place in the new gallery, either with the paintings or near
them.

This report covers only the year ending June 30, 1937, but to an-
ticipate slightly the next fiscal year, I must record here with pro-
found regret the death of Mr. Mellon on August 26, 1937, and of
Mr. Pope on August 27, 1937. It is indeed tragic that these two men
could not have lived to see the completion of this splendid project—
a remark which will be repeated by many of the millions of Ameri-
cans who in future years will enter the National Gallery of Art to
benefit from Mr. Mellon’s patriotic gift to the Nation.

PROPOSED SMITHSONIAN GALLERY OF ART

On March 15, 1937, a joint resolution was introduced in the House
of Representatives by Mr. Keller of Illinois to establish a Smith-
sonian Gallery of Art for the proper housing and display of the
national collections of fine arts. These collections have been in the
custody of the Smithsonian Institution for many years, and since
1920 have been administered by the Institution as a Government bu-
reau officially designated the National Gallery of Art. Lacking a
building for their public exhibition, these valuable art collections
have been shown in the Natural History Building of the United
States National Museum. With the creation in 1937 of the new Na-
tional Gallery of Art as a result of the munificent gift of Andrew W.
Mellon, the Smithsonian gallery was officially renamed the National
Collection of Fine Arts. It is for the proper housing of this collec-

31508—38——3

18 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

tion, now valued at approximately $10,000,000, that the present joint
resolution provides.

The resolution sets aside a tract of land on the Mall between
Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets and Constitution Avenue and North
Mall Drive; creates a Smithsonian Gallery of Art Commission to
make preliminary investigations and obtain designs for the building;
authorizes the appropriation of $4,800,000 for the building; author-
izes annual appropriations for the maintenance of the gallery; and
states the policy of the gallery as follows:

Sec. 7. It shall be the policy of the gallery to maintain a worthy standard for
the acceptance of art objects for exhibition in the Smithsonian Gallery of Art;
to foster by public exhibitions from time to time in Washington and other parts
of the United States a growing public appreciation of art both of past and con-
temporary time; and further, as funds are available, to encourage the de-
velopment of art by the purchase of worthy examples of contemporary or other
art works, and to invite the private donation of funds therefor.

Sec. 8. The Smithsonian Gallery of Art shall be under the administration of
the Regents and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

The resolution did not pass the first session of the Seventy-fifth
Congress, but it is hoped that favorable action may be taken at the
next session.

For many years the Smithsonian Institution has urged the con-
struction of a suitable building for the housing and public exhibition
of the art collections belonging to the Nation. These collections
contain many works of art of high quality, mainly gifts from private
citizens, and there is no doubt that many more such gifts would be
made were proper exhibition space available. As much of the col-
lection as possible has been exhibited to the public in the halls of
the National Museum, but the available space there was not specifi-
cally designed for the display of art works, and in spite of being
overcrowded, the space is entirely inadequate, so that many things
which should be on exhibition are forced into storage. It is the
urgent hope of the Institution that the proposed Smithsonian Gallery
of Art may become a reality in the near future.

It will in no sense be a duplication of the newly received National
Gallery, for the National Gallery is restricted to classic painting
and sculpture, leaving the fields of National collections in contem-
porary art of all kinds, portraits, jewels, glass, tapestry, and other
kinds of art unprovided for. There is already a large national
collection of such objects, and every reason to expect great increase
if a suitable gallery were available.

SMITHSONIAN RADIO PROGRAM

The Smithsonian’s newest activity, its weekly radio broadcast in
cooperation with the United States Office of Education and the

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 19

National Broadcasting Co., has now operated for a full year. The
series, known as “The World is Yours”, was initiated by the Office
of Education as part of the radio project of the Works Progress
Administration. Its purpose was to bring to the people of the United
States more of the wealth of knowledge and vitally interesting in-
formation on the earth and its inhabitants available in the labora-
tories and exhibit halls of the Smithsonian Institution. It was
further intended as a pioneering experiment in educational radio
to determine the most effective means of presenting to a Nation-wide
audience solid information in a form that would hold the listener’s
interest. Before listing the titles of the broadcasts and telling some-
thing of the success of the series, it may be of interest to describe
briefly the series itself.

The character of the series and the subjects to be covered were
worked out in collaboration between the radio experts of the Office
of Education and the Smithsonian’s editorial office. The basic re-
quirement was that each subject must be presented in dramatized
form. Radio lectures and dialogues have apparently failed to hold
the listener’s interest, but dramatic incidents well written and pro-
duced appeal to listeners of all age groups. The subjects to be
dramatized covered all phases of the Institution’s activities—science
in all its branches, art, invention, and history. About half of the
year’s broadcasts were on Smithsonian research activities, the other
half being based on the exhibits in the National Museum and the art
galleries under the Institution’s direction. The various subjects were
carefully planned to come around in fairly regular rotation, so that
those listeners with decided preferences for one or another feature
could count on hearing their favorite subjects if they listened
regularly.

The subject once selected for a particular broadcast, the Office of
Education’s expert script writers conferred with the Smithsonian
authority in that field. After preliminary research, they then pre-
pared the script, which was carefully checked by the Smithsonian.
The script then went to New York, where it was produced by the
National Broadcasting Co. in their Radio City studios by a selected
cast.

Beginning on June 7, 1936, the series covered up to June 30, 1937,
the following subjects:

1936
The Smithsonian, and Famous Exhibits. 20.2222. te June 7
persue Leploraiions. 628. Le ER AS ey Satta hog)? | June 14
LAU SEN Sil loa Os Mga OR PO PI PRACT BE June 21
MUNGO PTET LCR TACT EP id al te Sk) 2 eligi tn June 28
Costumes of Ladies of the White House____________________________ July 5
Se RSINP SENT LEE eee ere ee ace ha ak Tin aha ere MRT ok Ne Tn July 12

LATE So GR. fan ie tah han I Ra) Sie hd cic 1h ail Oya 20 kD Re bad July 19

90 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

1986
Tae Eh Ride MATH... «<0 isin cn ek antes eee eee een eee July 26
NA on ei as a= Se a ae ee ee EE Aug. 2
eon a neice ts hl ene er am gg ee Aug. 9
The wooryor Matin Amevien | 2 O12). 5202 Sooo ee J eae Aug. 16
pres a hes ei et Sak « knoe ae ns eee eee aee Aug. 23
Peopinan pbamem ss i382 oi as 3 5256-4 3 se ete ee ae ae oe Aug. 30
Site Moadele seek oct ade dat, st nagestd eisai Sept. 6
PN et sas ei et ea ae a ed Sept. 13
Ci TLE os OS 8 ey Sahl A Epi Rie, Wiad Ee es he Sem rghit bye Sept. 20
moulpbure ie 2.2 2¢ Sabb so ae ee a a Sept. 27
Insecta tec ace jh 2 ier Sb ee ee ere es See eee Oct. 4
edi 6 oe fice Ae See bk. on Be eae a eee Oct. 11
CIF OTR oot Ra Pans epwin wos Ask ke Be ape e eee eee Oct. 18
Pndian PeLrop DUR! 2. So ee 2 eas Soe ee eee ee Oct. 25
ition of Tile. 55. essen We eis ne ee eee Nov. 1
eer Maas ASS. OS tb Ree eS A Ri ea eee Nov. 8
uate Chow to Belned=: sso d a owe ee ee Nov. 15
Calor and Tile feadiaton) 3 5 as¥ no 4s cain cece Stee see Nov. 22
TE SIIROINOG 50 oe BO es aires eb et aan ae Nov. 29
A ee Ei wih, wiring aie ies pienit ane nel erence Dee. 6
Lele LED QAR 42 ERS ly Se RS es LS Magee PES ey pit Ce te ee Dec. 13
Bee Gene oh os Soe See a re . SEeSE LG eee Dec. 20
Pits Biro of Geoltheaninn | oc nesiae phere se Ls sce epee lake Sa Dec. 27
19387
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NN ae aan os a asks at pe py oe nc oh my > ob so gh gees Seg ee at Jan. 10
gr dt AS Se ee Alec SC eed ee ies GAP ph pays Seed ope Pa Jan. 17
erie Sit iste Coe eile eb ee 2a ee Le eee Jan. 24
elbes Of Atieben ss nb ipa oe seeded teens peal eae ee Jan. 31
ia ai Fe ee ee oe a ee ee
CO Dr BO. DROCNTS SATOTY no ice whe om id ep ae he ee S Feb. 14
Ee ili ll I eat le ele ie Ei le tt Pa el, 4 Feb. 21
Animmis in Wreaor (molhisks) 22.2205 Des eee CS eee ee Feb. 28
PHOGMMEIEY 2... een eee oan tes ae ee Bh ne EO es) eee Mar. 7
rei 5 8 ec OE atieh ere i ee ee oe, ed 2 Mar. 14
I) DOI ona Ds nit Be Se ne eek Cte ep eden a Me Mar. 21
1S ITY rE i ce Ree an al ai eens gt Biataameapteieaie nets Be SS Pe Beats Pet Mar. 28
EER SOMEONE PRYOR 5 nn ee eee et eee ee Apr. 4
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peace wee Ta cee a te ho ee 8S wa ee Apr. 25
(RIRROR a2 2 ee eee ee! ft ee ee PL ee May 2
Cea Fe Cn oo els May 9
Carre So Ee The Meer ec oe SS a eee ee May 16
PNYOG ge teen ee hk eee ee =o ae ee May 23
Mound Builderaias seers = ee I Re eee May 30
Commiininaiione. ich. 22-2... ---.-.=.20nUees seers bee eee June 6
Mansfield Theatrical Costumes... ....-.--4-.<......- 222s ae. June 13
SGbteriancan OCawdine cs ites is io 2 cate Sept os ee eee June 20

Tridian: ‘Arrowheads: |... 22. ose. enc cn ccecd too oeda+ eee June 27

REPORT OF THE SHCRETARY oT

From the beginning the broadcasts were supplemented by brief
illustrated articles on the subjects covered, at first issued in mimeo-
graphed form, and from January on, printed as a small monthly
magazine. Copies were mailed by the Office of Education to those
who wrote in to request them, and the demand for the magazine
showed a steady increase, as follows:

1937 : 1937:
PSU Veneer 35, 000 Aygrilie oh A: i eae 100, 000
GDI Ly sa. ae eee 50, 000 Mays aes ee eee 125, 000
March: eee 75, 000 ey TG Te Frade Sa) eS 2 150, 000

The success of the series is indicated by the enthusiastic approval
of the listeners as voiced in the more than 160,000 letters received.
This almost unanimous mail approval is believed to be unique among
sustaining programs and is very gratifying to both the Institution
and the Office of Education in justifying their efforts toward better
educational radio.

I wish again to express here the appreciation of the Institution to
the Office of Education and to the National Broadcasting Co. for
making available this unsurpassed means of carrying out the Smith-
sonian’s function, “the diffusion of knowledge among men.”

WALTER RATHBONE BACON TRAVELING SCHOLARSHIP

The Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Scholarship of the Smith-
sonian Institution was awarded in June 1935 to Dr. Richard E.
Blackwelder for studies of the Staphylinidae of the West Indies.
In 1935-86 Dr. Blackwelder collected specimens on the islands of
Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Guadeloupe, Trinidad,
Tobago, Grenada, Carriacou, St. Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia, and
Dominica, as previously reported.

During the second year, to June 1937, collections were made on the
islands of Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts, and St. Croix, and return
visits were made to Puerto Rico and Jamaica. It was found to be
impracticable to revisit Hispaniola in spite of the importance of that
island in the series.

The collections obtained from the 21 months’ field work include
more than 45,000 staphylinids and 10,000 other Coleoptera. A con-
siderable part of this number were taken by the use of equipment for
mass collection which was used on St. Croix and Jamaica. (On the
latter island Dr. Blackwelder worked in conjunction with Dr. E. A.
Chapin for 5 weeks. The collections were made jointly.)

After finishing the collecting Dr. Blackwelder returned to Wash-
ington, where he prepared the staphylinid collections and sorted the
specimens to genera and species. A set containing each species found
was then prepared to be taken to England, where it will be compared

22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

with the types of West Indian and tropical American Staphylinidae
in the collections of the British Museum and Dr. Malcolm Cameron.

The extension of the award for a third year made possible the
additional 9 months of field work in 1936. Dr. Blackwelder plans
to visit Cuba for a week in the fall of 1937 to study the collection
of Staphylinidae of Alexander Bierig. The remainder of the year
will be occupied with the preparation of a revision of the 500 to 600
species collected or known from the islands.

SIXTH ARTHUR LECTURE

The sixth Arthur lecture, Discoveries from Solar Eclipse Expedi-
tions, by Samuel Alfred Mitchell, director of the Leander McCormick
Observatory, University of Virginia, was given in the auditorium of
the National Museum on the evening of February 9, 1937. Dr.
Mitchell, a leading authority on eclipses, has personally observed
nearly all the total solar eclipses of the present century. In his lec-
ture he touched upon the frequency of eclipses and their prediction,
facts learned from a study of the gorgeous corona which accompanies
a total eclipse, the use of eclipses in the verification of the relativity
theory, and many other interesting aspects of this grandest of natural
phenomena—an eclipse of the sun. The lecture will be published in
full with illustrations in the 1937 Smithsonian Report.

EXPLORATIONS AND FIELD WORK

Field expeditions play an important part in many of the Institu-
tion’s researches in biology, geology, anthropology, and astrophysics.
During the last calendar year 19 expeditions were in the field; the
regions visited included, besides 18 States in the United States, Green-
land, Alaska, Canada, the Bahamas, Honduras, Guatemala, England,
Germany, Holland, and Siam.

Secretary C. G. Abbot continued at Washington his work on per-
fecting an engine to convert the sun’s rays into power. Dr. R. S.
Bassler studied the geology of several classic European areas and
conducted researches on fossil echinoderms and corals in European
museums. E. P. Henderson collected epidote and other minerals in
southeastern Alaska. Dr. G. Arthur Cooper studied and collected
fossils from the Devonian beds of the midwestern United States.
Dr. C. Lewis Gazin conducted a successful search for fossil mammals
in New Mexico and Arizona. Dr. Alexander Wetmore studied and
collected the birds of the Guatemalan highlands. Watson M. Perrygo
and Carleton Lingebach collected birds and mammals in an area in
West Virginia hitherto unrepresented in the National Museum’s
collections. H. G, Deignan made a zoological survey of the little-

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 23

known easternmost districts of North Siam, journeying through the
provinces of Nan and Chiengrai. Capt. Robert A. Bartlett’s 1936
Greenland expedition collected for the Institution specimens of the
marine plant and animal life in the seas along the east and northeast
coast of Greenland. Austin H. Clark continued his exhaustive in-
vestigation of the butterfly fauna of Virginia. E. P. Killip collected
series of specimens of the flora of the Florida Keys, hitherto poorly
represented in the National Herbarium.

Dr. Alés Hrdlicka continued his archeological investigations in
Alaska in connection with his study of the origin and early migra-
tions of the American Indian. Henry B. Collins, Jr., conducted
archeological investigations in the vicinity of Bering Strait, Alaska,
to coordinate the results of his previous work at St. Lawrence Island
and at Barrow. Herbert W. Krieger made an archeological recon-
naissance of the Bahama Islands and excavated prehistoric village
sites on five of the larger islands. Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.,
continued his investigations of the Folsom complex, mainly at the
Lindenmeier site in northern Colorado. Dr. William Duncan Strong
led an archeological expedition to northwestern Honduras, excavat-
ing sites on the Ulua River and at Lake Yojoa which gave a strati-
graphic section from the historic occupation at Naco, through the
various polychrome horizons on the Ulua and at Lake Yojoa, and
down to the Playa de los Muertos culture which preceded the Maya
culture. J. N. B. Hewitt continued his studies of the League of the
Troquois in New York State and Ontario, Canada. Dr. Julian H.
Steward made an ethnological reconnaissance of the desert Shoshoni
of southern Idaho, northern Utah, and a part of eastern Nevada.

PUBLICATIONS

The “diffusion of knowledge”, one of the Institution’s primary
functions, is accomplished chiefly through its several series of pub-
lications. As is to be expected from the nature of the Institution’s
scientific work, the large majority of its publications are technical in
character, presenting the results of researches in astrophysics, radia-
tion, geology, biology, and anthropology. The Smithsonian annual
report, however, is intended primarily for the layman, for in it are
presented each year a series of understandable articles written by
recognized authorities, which together constitute a survey of ad-
vances and interesting developments in nearly all branches of science.
The wider diffusion of knowledge is accomplished by a system of
news releases furnished to more than 300 newspapers and press serv-
ices describing in popular form the Institution’s researches, expedi-
tions, and publications; and recently by a weekly radio program

94. ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

dramatizing the work and exhibits of the Institution put on the air
through the cooperation of the Office of Education, the Works Prog-
ress Administration, the National Broadcasting Co., and the Institu-
tion’s editorial office.

Of the 80 volumes and pamphlets published during the year, 46
were issued by the Smithsonian proper, 32 by the National Museum,
and 2 by the Bureau of American Ethnology. Details of these vari-
ous publications are given in the report of the editor, appendix 10.
The total number of copies of publications distributed was 144,817.

LIBRARY

The Smithsonian library gomprises 10 major and 35 minor units,
which together contain a total of 876,522 volumes, pamphlets, and
charts. The new accessions for the year numbered 11,469, most of
these coming in exchange for the publications of the Institution and
its branches. The library received many gifts during the year, out-
standing among which was the botanical library of the late Dr. Fred-
erick V. Coville, numbering 4,500 items, presented by Mrs. Coville.
The routine work of the staff included cataloging 6,766 publications,
preparing and filing 28,967 cards, entering 24,212 periodicals, and
making 10,995 loans, of which 196 were to libraries outside the Smith-
sonian system. In addition to considerable work on the union cata-
log, much time was spent on the preparation of periodicals for bind-
ing, and a total of 3,803 volumes were bound. This unusually large
amount of binding was made possible by the deficiency appropriation
of $12,000 approved toward the close of 1935. There still remain
thousands of volumes in urgent need of binding to prevent loss of
parts, many of which would be very difficult to replace.

Respectfully submitted.

C. G. Anzor, Secretary.

APPENDIX 1
REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the con-
dition and operation of the United States National Museum for the
fiscal year ended June 80, 1937:

Funds provided for the maintenance of the National Museum for
the year totaled $763,970. This was a net increase of $3,228 over
the previous year, but since $25,000 was expended last year for the
purchase of the airplane Winnie Mae for the aeronautical collections,
the actual increase was $28,228 for purposes of maintenance and
operation, printing and binding, and preservation of collections.

COLLECTIONS

Additions to the Museum collections during the year, coming
mostly as gifts from individuals or from expeditions sponsored by
the Smithsonian Institution, comprised the usual wide variety of
material in all departments. A total of 361,951 specimens were re-
ceived in 1,800 separate accessions and distributed as follows: An-
thropology, 1,790; biology, 292,250; geology, 62,757; arts and indus-
tries, 3,180; and history, 1,974. These accessions are all listed in
detail in the full report on the Museum, printed as a separate pam-
phlet, but the more important are summarized as follows:

Anthropology—tImportant archeological material included two
Guatemalan vases—a replica of a stuccoed vase from Uaxactun and
an original Maya vase from Lake Petén. Alaska was represented by
52 bone and stone artifacts from the Rat Islands, Aleutians, and by
an ivory harpoon socket from St. Lawrence Island belonging to the
Old Bering Sea culture. From South Africa came 29 Neolithic stone
artifacts and potsherds. Other valuable specimens came from the
Bull Creek archeological site in Georgia; the Black Mountains, Ariz.;
and the Rappahannock River, Va.

Of special interest among the ethnological material received were
unusual specimens presented by Mrs. Charles D. Walcott representing
the Kiowa Indians of Oklahoma, the Navahos, the Jivaros of South
America, and from Hawaii. Other accessions include Madagascan
woven fabrics and basketry and Kashmir copper and silver objects
collected nearly 50 years ago by the late Dr. W. L. Abbott; baskets,
idols, combs, figurines, and other objects from Dahomey, Cameroons,

25

296 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Nigeria, Belgian Congo, Portuguese East Africa, and Southern
Rhodesia; jewelry from Tibet; a collection of ethnological material
from Guatemala; and costumes and ceremonials of the Blackfeet and
the Indiana Algonkians. Nearly 100 specimens were received in the
division of ceramics, 57 in musical instruments, and 48 in period art
and textiles.

The 600 specimens added to the physical anthropology collection
came mostly from Alaska, as a result of the field work of the curator,
and from Florida, as a result of Smithsonian-C. W. A. projects.
Another lot of skeletal material came from three ossuaries in Mary-
land and the District of Columbia.

Biology.—Nearly 300,000 biological specimens a year now come to
the Museum, and the total now exceeds 12,000,000. Of those received
during the past year the following are outstanding: An unusually
large number of mammals from Panama, West Virginia, Siam, Japan,
Formosa, and the Philippine Islands, and Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson’s
private collection, numbering 855 specimens, which were transferred
from the Biological Survey; more than 1,100 skins and skeletons of
birds from Siam, 360 from Guatemala, and 1,090 from West Virginia;
types and paratypes of many new forms of reptiles and amphibians,
both North and South American; 90 large fishes from Lower Califor-
nia, over 1,700 fishes collected on the Smithsonian-Roebling expedi-
tion, over 800 Siamese fishes, nearly 6,900 fishes deposited in the Mu-
seum by the University of Washington, and over 4,400 fishes from
Maryland, Virginia, and miscellaneous localities; 60,000 insects trans-
ferred from the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 60,000
more collected in the West Indies by Drs. E. A. Chapin and R. E.
Blackwelder, and the J. F. G. Clarke collection of 10,000 Lepidoptera,
mostly from the Pacific Northwest; over 15,000 marine invertebrates
chiefly from various expeditions cooperating with the Smithsonian;
108,000 mollusks from many sources, including 10,000 from Siberia,
from the Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Scholarship, and 11,000
purchased through the Frances Lea Chamberlain fund; and more
than 45,000 plants, about a fourth of which were transferred from
the United States Bureau of Plant Industry.

Geology—tIncome from several Smithsonian funds brought valu-
able mineralogical specimens. Through the Roebling fund, crystal
groups and mineral examples from many localities; through the Can-
field fund, minerals from the copper mines at Tsumeb, Southwest
Africa, and crystals of various kinds that make up an unusually
colorful exhibit ; and through the Frances Lea Chamberlain fund, four
rare gem stones. There were also many donated specimens of rare
crystals, ores, and other minerals that notably enhance the Museum’s
collections.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY a7

Additions to the meteorite collection were obtained largely through
the Roebling fund. The total number of distinct meteoritic falls
represented in the Museum was increased from 606 to 635 during the
year. The new material came from Chile, Australia, Canada, and the
United States. Outstanding additions to the rock collections were
from Easter Island, Mexico, the Carolinas, Arkansas, Wyoming, and
Colorado.

In the field of stratigraphic paleontology most of the year’s acces:
sions were obtained by members of the staff : 30,000 Devonian inverte-
brates collected by Dr. G. A. Cooper and P. E. Cloud in the Eastern
States and 20,000 Tertiary and Cretaceous invertebrates obtained by
Dr. R. S. Bassler in Europe. Exchanges arranged with other mu-
seums and with individuals brought in many other specimens from
Africa, Australia, Austria, Bohemia, England, France, Hawaiian Is-
lands, Italy, and the United States, representing various geologic
periods and formations and many classes of fossil animals and plants.

About 625 fossil vertebrates were added to the paleontological series.
These included 600 Paleocene and Pliocene mammals collected by Dr.
C. L. Gazin and party in New Mexico and Arizona last year, a mount-
able skeleton of the giant sloth Mylodon harlani from the Rancho La
Brea deposits in California, a mounted skeleton of the antilocaprid
Merycodus from the Miocene of Montana, an excellently preserved ex-
tinct musk-ox skull (Symbos cavifrons) from the Pleistocene of Indi-
ana, a nearly complete fossil turtle (Aspideretes superstec) from the
Paskapoo formation of Alberta, and two eggs of Struthio andersoni,
an extinct ostrich, from China.

Arts and industries—The outstanding accession in aeronautics was
the gondola of the stratosphere balloon Haplorer IZ, in which Capts.
A. 8. Stevens and O. A. Anderson in 1935 established the present
altitude record of 72,395 feet for a manned balloon, presented by the
National Geographic Society. The collection of scale models of air-
craft was increased by 12 of commercial airmail planes (made for
the Great Lakes Exposition), 4 of current Navy types, 2 of World
War German planes, and several others including the Stinson De-
troiter and Lockhead Vega used by George Hubert Wilkins in his
1927 and 1928 Arctic flights. Mrs. Wiley Post presented instruments
that were used on the Winnie Mae. There were also accessioned vari-
ous objects connected with the historic flights or aircraft of Calbraith
P. Rodgers (1911), Maj. Russell L. Maughan (1924), John Moisant
(1910), and Alberto Santos-Dumont.

An interesting accession in watercraft is a collection relating to
the life and work of John W. Griffiths, naval architect, writer, and
editor, whose ships the Rainbow, 1845, and the Sea Witch, 1846, were
the first of the famous American clippers. A number of half-models,

a8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

many as a result of the Historic American Merchant Marine Survey
work, also were added. For the transportation group came the first
Franklin automobile (no. 3) to leave the factory in 1902, the oldest
existing example of that car; a gig phaeton of about 1840; and a fine
operating scale model of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s Royal
Blue train. Many objects of historical radio equipment, phono-
graphs, typewriters, calculating machines, clocks, tools, and electrical
devices continued to come in, as well as over 2,000 specimens pertain-
ing to textiles, organic chemistry, wood technology, history of agricul-
ture, and medicine, and about 500 photographs, prints, drawings, en-
gravings, books, tools, and other material relating to the graphic
arts.

History.—Nearly 2,000 objects of historic and antiquarian interest
and value were received, many of them pertaining to the lives and
public careers of eminent Americans and other historic characters,
such as Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon I, and President
Benjamin Harrison. The numismatic collection was increased by
321 coins, including an important series of United States commemora-
tive half-dollars; and the philatelic collection by 1,884 stamps, most
of which were specimens of current foreign postage stamps trans-
ferred from the Post Office Department.

EXPLORATIONS AND FIELD WORK

The scientific explorations of the year were financed mainly by
grants from the invested funds of the Smithsonian Institution or by
the assistance of friends of the Museum.

Anthropology.—Henry B. Collins, Jr., assistant curator of ethnol-
ogy, in October 1936 terminated his archeological investigations on
St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, conducted under the joint auspices of
the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution.
Previous work on St. Lawrence Island and at Point Barrow had
revealed the existence of an ancient but highly developed Eskimo
culture, with intermediate stages between it and the modern Eskimo.
One objective of the expedition was to search for pre-Eskimo re-
mains in the vicinity of Bering Strait, where man may first have
entered the American Continent. Mr. Collins and his assistants,
James A. Ford and Harrison Prindle, obtained definite evidence on
the sequence of prehistoric Eskimo cultures, but nowhere did they
find traces of human occupancy antedating that of the Eskimo.

From October to February, Herbert W. Krieger, curator of ethnol-
ogy, conducted archeological investigations in the Bahaman Archi-
pelago under a Smithsonian grant. He excavated kitchen middens
and burials on Long Island, Inagua, and New Providence Island and
uncovered data pointing to a close cultural contact between the Luca-

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 29

yan Indians of the Bahamas and the Arawak of Hispaniola and to
the tribal migration of the Lucayans at a comparatively recent date
from the island of Hispaniola.

Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, assistant curator of archeology, devoted some
time to the supervision of excavations at an Indian village site near
Seneca, Montgomery County, Md. On May 15 he left to conduct a
general archeological survey of northeastern Kansas and to excavate
part of an old Kansa site near Kansas City; he was still in the field
as the year closed.

Dr. Ale’ Hrdlitka, curator of physical anthropology, assisted by
four students, during July and August 1936 investigated sites on the
Aleutian Islands, in continuation of his Alaskan researches. He un-
earthed an important burial cave on Kagamil Island, transportation
being furnished through the cooperation of the United States Coast
Guard. In May 1987 he returned again to the Aleutians to continue
the work.

Dr. T. Dale Stewart, assistant curator of physical anthropology,
visited Indian-burial sites along the Potomac River, assisting private
investigators. Also, with the help of Dr. Wedel, he excavated two
ossuaries at Bolling Field, D. C.

Biology.—Gerrit S. Miller, curator of mammals, assisted by Charles
M. Wheeler, spent 3 months in Panama making collections for the Mu-
seum. With Corozal, C. Z., as a base, he worked over most of the
Canal Zone from Gatun and Barro Colorado to the Pacific coast and
along the national highway of Panama, with side trips to the Pearl
Islands, Taboga Islands, and the Indio River. The material brought
back includes about 450 mammals, 150 birds, 150 reptiles and amphibi-
ans, and 400 plants, as well as fishes, shells, marine invertebrates, and
Indian artifacts.

Dr. Remington Kellogg, assistant curator of mammals, was one of
the three delegates to represent the United States at a whaling con-
ference, which convened in London on May 24, 1937, on invitation
of the British Government.

H. G. Diegnan continued collecting in Siam and sent three large
shipments of birds and other material to the Museum. Dr. Alexander
Wetmore collected birds in the highlands of Guatemala in the fall
of 1936 and brought back a series of valuable specimens. W. M.
Perrygo and Carleton Lingebach collected birds during the year
in West Virginia and Tennessee. Dr. David C. Graham continued
his work in western China, forwarding collections mainly of birds
and insects.

Dr. Leonard P. Schultz, assistant curator of fishes, and E. D. Reid,
aid, made several successful collecting excursions into Virginia as
part of a survey of the fresh-water fish fauna of that State.

30 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Dr. E. A. Chapin, curator of insects, spent about 6 weeks in
Jamaica, where, after examining entomological collections in Habana,
he collected insects on the island in conjunction with Dr. and Mrs.
Richard E. Blackwelder. Several families of beetles, hitherto un-
known from the island, were taken, as well as many species recognized
as new to science. They also took over a thousand specimens repre-
senting seven species of the family Dryopidae, previously recorded
as nonexistent on the island. A new and interesting coccinellid of
the genus Psyllobora was found feeding on a mold growing upon the
leaves of beach-grape (Coccoloba wvifera), and at least two unde-
scribed species of Scarabaeidae have been recognized in the material
collected.

Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, curator of marine invertebrates, was
naturalist on the Smithsonian-Hartford expedition to the West In-
dies, traveling on one of the last of the square-rigged ships afloat,
the Joseph Conrad, through invitation of the owner, G. Huntington
Hartford, and accompanied by Robert G. Lunz, of the Charleston
Museum, as assistant. The party began work on March 15 at Nassau
in the Bahamas and in 2 months traveled as far south as Barbados.
In all they covered about 4,500 miles, making 19 stops for collecting
on 15 different islands. The expedition, aided greatly by the excellent
equipment provided by Mr. Hartford, was eminently successful.
More than 4,000 specimens of marine invetebrates were obtained,
chiefly Crustacea, but including also sponges, coelenterates, annelids,
mollusks, echinoderms, and lower chordates. Vertebrate material
brought back included fishes and two adult porpoises, in one of which
was found an embryo.

Dr. Paul Bartsch, curator of mollusks, was a member of the Smith-
sonian-Roebling expedition to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of
Mexico in the spring of 1937. Traveling on Donald Roebling’s
yacht Jorano, the party worked from Habana, Cuba, around the
western end of the island and along the south coast as far as
Guantanamo. Extensive marine collections were obtained over a
wide area. These include material previously poorly represented in
the Museum, which is now being studied and rapidly identified.

Geology.—Sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. R. 8.
Bassler, head curator of geology, spent the first 3 months of the fiscal
year in geological studies of several classic European areas and in
researches on echinoderms and other fossils in English, German, and
Dutch museums. He completed studies on several groups of Paleozoic
corals and sponges. prepared about 600 casts of Upper Paleozoic
crinoid types, collected Tertiary fossils from the Paris, Vienna, and
London Basins, and visited the Devonian area of Germany and
Czechoslovakia.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY af

Under the auspices of the Roebling fund, E. P. Henderson, assistant
curator of physical and chemical geology, spent several months on
Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, for the purpose of collecting speci-
mens of epidote and other minerals for which this locality is noted.
With the aid of his assistants, Arthur Montgomery, Edwin Over, and
C. B. Ferguson, he collected hundreds of fine crystals of epidote,
thousands of garnets, and many miscellaneous minerals. In May
1937 Mr. Henderson left to attend the Seventeenth International Geo-
logical Congress at Moscow.

In the summer of 1936, Dr. G. A. Cooper, assistant curator of strati-
graphic paleontology, with Preston E. Cloud as field assistant, visited
Middle Devonian localities in the Middle West to collect fossils and
study the Middle Devonian rocks. In June 1937 these two men pur-
sued further field work on the Middle Devonian rocks of Michigan,
New York, and Ontario.

Dr. E. O. Ulrich, associate in paleontology, accompanied by R. D.
Mesler, of the Geological Survey, collected fossils and studied Lower
Ordovician stratigraphy in Arkansas and nearby States.

C. W. Gilmore, curator of vertebrate paleontology, with Dr. Rem-
ington Kellogg, made two short trips to the Chesapeake Bay region to
collect cetacean specimens, including several porpoise skulls, previ-
ously located by Dr. W. F. Foshag.

Dr. C. Lewis Gazin, assistant curator of vertebrate paleontology,
under funds provided by the Smithsonian Institution, conducted an
expedition to the San Juan Basin, N. Mex., during the summer of
1936 to explore the Eocene Wasatch and the Puerco and Torrejon
formations of the Paleocene for fossil mammal remains. Besides Dr.
Gazin, the party included G. F. Sternberg and Harold Shepherd.
They were successful in gathering a representation of the important
faunas from these classic early Tertiary horizons, about 500 deter-
minable specimens being collected from the Paleocene alone. Later
in the season they went to Arizona and explored the Gila and San
Pedro Valleys for fossils.

Dr. R. Lee Collins, of Bryn Mawr, was given a small grant by the
Smithsonian Institution for work in the Miocene deposits along Chesa-
peake Bay, during the course of which he collected a number of
cetacean specimens, parts of a sirenian, and two bird bones.

MISCELLANEOUS

Visttors——For the first time, the number of visitors to the various
Museum buildings exceeded the 2 million mark, the total for the year
being 2,288,532, which is 314,859 more than the previous year. The
351,219 visitors during August 1936 is the largest number ever re-
corded for asingle month. The attendance in the four Museum build-

32 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ings was recorded as follows: Smithsonian Building, 364,057; Arts
and Industries Building, 1,050,388 ; Natural History Building, 702,657 ;
Aircraft Building, 171,480.

Publications and printing. —The sum of $22,000 was available dur-
ing the year for printing the Museum Annual Report, Bulletins, and
Proceedings, an increase of $17,950 over the previous year, and a cor-
responding increase in volume of publication was reflected. Thirty-
three publications were issued—the Annual Report, 1 volume of
Proceedings (completed), 2 Bulletins, and 29 Proceedings separates.
The two Bulletins issued were: No. 153, part 2, “Birds Collected by the
Childs Frick Expedition to Ethiopia and Kenya Colony: Passeres”,
by Dr. Herbert Friedmann; and no. 167, “Life Histories of North
American Birds of Prey: Part 1, Order Falconiformes”, by Arthur
Cleveland Bent, the tenth volume in this series of life histories of North
American birds. ‘The total number of octavo pages printed was 1,604;
and of plates, 135. Volumes and separates distributed during the year
to libraries and individuals throughout the world aggregated 68,822,
more than twice as many as last year.

An important step in the advance of Museum efficiency was the
thorough overhauling and equipping of the Museum’s Branch Print-
ing Office early in the year. Through the generous cooperation of the
Public Printer, a reconditioned and fully equipped linotype machine
was installed by the Government Printing Office, together with new
type faces suitable for the printing of Museum labels. As a direct
result of this new equipment, the labeling and job-printing work of
the Museum is practically up to date for the first time in many years.

Assistance from work relief agencies ——The Museum profited much
by the continued assignment of workers from the Works Progress
Administration of the District of Columbia. The number of such
workers increased from 66 at the beginning of the year to 88 at the end,
and the work totaled 89,419 man-hours, covering the following tasks:
Checking, labeling, and repairing library material; preparing draw-
ings and photographs; typing; arranging, cataloging, labeling,
mounting, and numbering specimens; model making; translating;
work on plaster casts; and drafting.

Special exhibitions—Sixteen special exhibitions were held during
the year under the auspices of various scientific, educational, and Gov-
ernment agencies, such as the Works Progress Administration, Third
World Power Conference, Association of Federal Architects, and the
District of Columbia Federation of Women’s Clubs.

The division of graphic arts featured 18 special exhibits—9 in
graphic arts and 9 in photography.

Changes in organization and staff—No major change in adminis-
trative organization occurred during the year and but few changes
in the scientific staff. The designation of the carpenter shop was

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 33

changed in April to cabinet shop, and steps were taken for the ap-
pointment of an assistant foreman of the shop to be directly charged
with its building-repair activities.

Eight persons were retired for age or disability, as follows—
through age: Frank H. Cole, assistant mechanical superintendent in
charge of the carpenter shop, on February 28, 1937, with over 39 years
of service; William F. Wicks, guard, on May 31, 1937, with 10 years
of service; Minor R. Stonnell, tinner’s helper, on June 30, 1937, with
nearly 27 years of service; Mrs. Hanorah Downey, attendant, on Oc-
tober 31, 1986, with nearly 25 years of service; and Mrs. Elizabeth
Merritt, charwoman, on November 30, 1936, with nearly 22 years of
service. Through disability: William Henry Goldsmith, foreman of
laborers, on April 30, 1937, with 41 years of service (Mr. Goldsmith
died on May 4, 1937, 4 days after his retirement) ; Mrs. Elizabeth E.
Dorsey, foreman of charwomen, on June 15, 1937; and Mrs. Ger-
trude Green, charwoman, on May 6, 19387.

Dr. George S. Myers resigned as assistant curator of fishes on
September 15, 1936, to accept an appointment at Stanford University.
Dr. Leonard P. Schultz, of the University of Washington, was ap-
pointed to succeed Dr. Myers, December 31, 1936. Dr. Waldo R.
Wedel was appointed assistant curator of archeology on August 15,
1936. The designation of Dr. William R. Maxon as head of the di-
vision of plants (the National Herbarium) was changed from asso-
ciate curator to curator on February 1, 1937. Mrs. Agnes F, Chase,
senior botanist in the United States Bureau of Plant Industry, long
associated with the late Dr. A. S. Hitchcock, was given honorary
appointment on February 15, 1937, as custodian of the section of
grasses in the Museum.

Other additions to and changes on the staff during the year in-
cluded the appointments of Henry Kaskowitz as junior scientific
aid in the division of vertebrate paleontology on August 1, 1936,
and of Andreas J. Andrews as scientific aid in the department of
anthropology on May 14, 1937; the reallocation of Mrs. Bertha T.
Carwithen to senior clerk, assistant personnel officer, on February 16,
1937; the appointment of Owen F’. Croggon, senior mechanic (senior
cabinetmaker) on July 1, 1936, to fill a new position included in the
appropriations for the year; the advancement of John H. Chance to
assistant engineer, on September 19, 1936; of Ernest Desantis from
guard to principal guard (sergeant of watch) on November 1, 1936,
and of John J. Queeney from guard to foreman of laborers on June
19, 993 te

On January 1, 1937, Norman H. Boss, chief preparator, inverte-
brate paleontology, returned to duty from temporary detail to the
Texas Centennial Exposition, at Dallas, and on June 16, 1937, he

31508—38——4

34 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

was detailed as exhibit supervisor for the Smithsonian for the Greater
Texas and Pan American Exposition at Dallas.

Necrology.—Through death the Museum lost during the year three
employees from its active roll: William H. Vanneman, principal
guard, on August 20, 1936, after 39 years of service; Frank M. Cheeks,
laborer, on January 3, 1937, after 27 years of service; and William C.
McKinnon, guard, on February 13, 1937, after 13 years of service.
From its list of honorary workers the Museum lost by death on
January 9, 1937, Dr. Frederick Vernon Coville, honorary curator of
plants since March 28, 1893, associated with the division of plants for
many years, and one of those deeply interested always in furthering
the Museum’s botanical work.

Respectfully submitted.

ALEXANDER WETMORE,
Assistant Secretary.
Dr. Cuartes G. ABpor,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

APPENDIX 2
REPORT ON THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi-
ties of the National Collection of Fine Arts for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1937:

For nearly 8 months of the fiscal year, this bureau of the Smith-
sonian Institution carried the name “National Gallery of Art”, but
this was changed by an Act of Congress, approved by the President
on March 24, 1987, to “National Collection of Fine Arts”, and the
old name was assigned to the new Smithsonian bureau created as the
result of Andrew W. Mellon’s gift to the Nation of his unexcelled art
collection and funds to erect a splendid building to house it.

A new system of lighting was installed over gallery 3, which pro-
duces a pleasing soft light and also does away with the lighting fix-
tures and gives a ceiling to the gallery. This also made possible the
installation of four stained glass windows, two by John La Farge
and two by William Willet.

Miss Louise A. Rosenbusch, who had been connected with the Smith-
sonian Institution for 44 years and had served as Recorder of the
National Gallery of Art since it was made a separate unit in 1920,
was retired on November 30, 1936.

Visitors to the office concerning art matters numbered 111 during
the last 5 months.

APPROPRIATIONS

For the administration of the National Collection of Fine Arts by
the Smithsonian Institution, including compensation of necessary
employees, purchase of books of reference and periodicals, traveling
expenses, uniforms for guards, and necessary incidental expenses,
$34,275.00 was appropriated, of which $16,893.29 was expended for
the care and maintenance of the Freer Gallery of Art, a unit of the
National Collection of Fine Arts.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART COMMISSION

The sixteenth annual meeting of the National Gallery of Art Com-
mission was held on December 8, 1936. The members met at 10:30
at the National Gallery of Art, where, as the advisory committee on

35

36 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the acceptance of works of art which had been submitted during the
year, they accepted the following:

Two lithographs: “Drying Fish Nets, Charlevoix” and “Edge of the Canyon”,
by Grace Neville Carrothers. Gift of the artist in the name of her son, Edgar
M. Carrothers, Jr.

Bronze relief portrait of Daniel Chester French (1850-1935), by Evelyn
Beatrice Longman (Batchelder). Gift of Mrs. E. B. L. Batchelder, of Windsor,
Conn. (Accepted for the National Portrait Gallery.)

A water color by Samuel Prout (1785-1852). Gift of Mrs. John T. Devine,
of Washington, D. O. (The legal status of this gift is in the hands of the
executor and has not been decided to date.)

A collection of 197 intaglio prints, by members of the Chicago Society of
Etchers, to be added to the 497 intaglio prints given last year. Gift of the
Chicago Society of Etchers.

Two line engravings “The Old Tinker” and “The Sister’, and two pencil
drawings both entitled “Study for ‘The Hedger’”, by Stanley Anderson. Gift
of the artist.

The following two paintings, purchased by the Council of the National
Academy of Design from the fund provided by the Henry Ward Ranger be-
quest were recalled and claimed, according to the terms of the will: “Central
Park and the Plaza”, by William A. Coffin (1855-1925) and “Cliffs of the
Upper Colorado River, Wyoming Territory”, by Thomas Moran (1837-1926).

A pair of stained glass windows, “Peacock and Peony”, by John LaFarge
(1835-1910). Gift of Henry LaFarge.

An oil painting entitled “Dressing for the Rehearsal”, by Seymour J. Guy,
N. A. (1824-1910). Gift of Miss Jennie A. Guy, the artist’s daughter.

(In 1928, a Portrait of George Inness, by F. C, Courter, offered as a gift
by an anonymous donor, was accepted by the Commission. It was actually
received in May 1937, but as a gift of August Franzen.)

The members then proceeded to the Smithsonian Building, where
the annual meeting was called to order by the chairman, Mr. Borie.
The members present were: Charles L. Borie, Jr., chairman; Frank
Jewett Mather, Jr., vice-chairman; Dr. Charles G. Abbot (ex officio),
secretary ; and Herbert Adams, Frederick P. Keppel, John E. Lodge,
Paul Manship, George B. McClellan, Charles Moore, Edward W.
Redfield, Edmund C. Tarbell, and Mahonri Young. Ruel P. Tol-
man, curator of the division of graphic arts in the United States
National Museum and acting director of the National Collection of
Fine Arts, was also present.

Mr. Moore, chairman of the executive committee, stated that Mr.
Mellon had had tentative plans for the National Gallery of Art
building prepared by John Russell Pope. These plans, as well as the
present status of the National Portrait Gallery, were discussed.

The Commission recommended to the Board of Regents the nomi-
nation of Dr. George Harold Edgell, director of the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, to succeed Mr. Gest, deceased.

The Commission recommended to the Board of Regents the re-
election for the succeeding term of 4 years of the following members:

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 37

John E. Lodge, Andrew W. Mellon, Edward W. Redfield, and Paul
Manship.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Charles
L. Borie, Jr., chairman; Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., vice chairman;
and Dr. Charles G. Abbot, secretary; as well as the members of the
executive committee—Charles Moore, Herbert Adams, and George
B. McClellan (Charles L. Borie, Jr., as chairman of the Commis-
sion, and Dr. Charles G. Abbot, as secretary of the Commission, are
ex officio members of the executive committee).

The following minute was adopted to express the policy of the
Commission in connection with its action in accepting or rejecting
Ranger fund paintings:

In reaching a decision as to the acceptance of paintings purchased from the
Ranger fund, it was the sense of the Commission that the artistic quality of
the painting in question should not necessarily be the only factor to be
taken into consideration. The presence of other examples of the artist’s work
in the national collection, for example, may properly be taken into considera-
tion, or the desirability of a wide distribution of these paintings in the
permanent collections of the country.

SPECIAL MEETINGS

In accordance with the request of the chairman, Mr. Borie, the
Commission met at the Smithsonian Institution April 6, 1937, for
the purpose of affording the members an opportunity of discussing
the acceptance by Congress of the Mellon gift under the title of the
National Gallery of Art, and the project for the proposed
Smithsonian Gallery of Art.

The Commission’s attention was also called to the desire of Mrs.
Mabel Johnson Langhorne, daughter of the donor of the Ralph
Cross Johnson collection of old masters, to name the Smithsonian
Institution in her will to receive certain pictures left to her by her
father, if the Institution thought them worthy of acceptance for
the national collection.

After the adjournment of the meeting the members inspected the
Mellon and Langhorne collections.

On May 11, 1937, a committee of three, appointed by Dr. Abbot
and Mr. Borie, consisting of Mr. Redfield, Mr. Tarbell, and Mr.
Young, met at the home of Mrs. Langhorne to select the paintings
which eventually will come to the Institution to be closely associated
with the Ralph Cross Johnson gift. Almost every painting was
considered of such high quality that it would be a valuable addition
to the collection.

THE CATHERINE WALDEN MYER FUND

Two miniatures were acquired from the fund established through
the bequest of the late Catherine Walden Myer, “for the purchase of

38 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

first-class works of art for the use and benefit of the National Gallery
of Art”, as follows: “Portrait of Charles Boynton Darling” and “Por-
trait of Elizabeth Ellis Darling”, by unknown artist; from Laurence
B. Darling, New York, N. Y.

This endowment, although small, has in 5 years made possible the
purchase of 11 first-class miniatures, illustrating how a small endow-
ment can be used to build up over a period of years an important
collection.

DEPOSITS

Portrait of Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, Head Curator of the Depart-
ment of Biology, United States National Museum, by Bjorn P. Egeli,
presented to the Smithsonian Institution by Dr. Stejneger’s friends
on his birthday, October 30, 1936, was deposited in the Gallery by the
Smithsonian Institution.

Portrait bust in bronze of Lord Kelvin (William Thomson 1824—
1907), British physicist, by Herbert Hampton, given by the Kelvi-
nator Co. to the English Speaking Union for presentation to the
Smithsonian Institution, and presented by the British Embassy
through the American Branch of the Union, October 9, 1936, was de-
posited in the Gallery by the Smithsonian Institution.

LOANS ACCEPTED

A stained glass window, “Consumatum Est”, designed and executed
by William Willet (1869-1921) in 1906, which won the contract for
a sanctuary window in the United States Military Chapel at West
Point; also a pair of small stained glass windows, “Dante” and “Bea-
trice”, by William Willet. Lent by Mrs. William Willet, of
Philadelphia, Pa.

LOANS MADE

Two portrait drawings in red chalk of Victor Chapman and Nor-
man Prince, by John Elliott, were lent to the Art Association of New-
port for exhibition at the Tercentenary Retrospective Exhibition,
Newport, R. I., from July 25 to August 16, 1936. (Returned Aug. 20,
1936.)

The painting, “High Cliff, Coast of Maine”, by Winslow Homer,
was lent to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N. Y.,
for the Winslow Homer Exhibition which was held from December
15, 1936, to January 15,1937. (This was sent directly to the Carnegie
Institute at the close of the exhibition.)

Two paintings by Winslow Homer, entitled “High Cliff, Coast of
Maine” and “The Visit of the Mistress”, were lent to The Carnegie
Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Winslow Homer Memorial Exhibi-

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 39

tion held January 28 through March 7, 1937. (These were returned
Mar. 13 and 19, 1937, respectively.)

Through the cooperation of Miss Leila Mechlin, director of the
Southern Art Projects, 16 paintings were lent to the New Mint Mu-
seum of Art, Charlotte, N. C., for its special inaugural exhibition
from October 22 to December 31, 1936, as follows:

June, by John Alexander.

Caresse Infantine, by Mary Cassatt.

Summer, by Charles H. Davis.

Portrait Sketch of Walter Shirlaw, by Frank Duveneck.
Illusions, by Henry B. Fuller.

Sundown, by George Inness.

An Interlude, by Wm. Sergeant Kendall.

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ, by John La Farge.
Three Trees, by W. L. Lathrop.

A Family of Birches, by Willard L. Metcalf.
Bradbury’s Mill Pond No. 2, by Henry W. Ranger.
The Torrent, by John H. Twachtman.

November, by Dwight Tryon.

The Cup of Death, by Elihu Vedder.

A Gentlewoman, by J. Alden Weir.

Autumn at Arkville, by Alexander H. Wyant.

Seven of the above paintings were returned January 5, 1937. The
following nine paintings were shipped directly from the New Mint
Museum of Art at the close of the exhibition to the University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C., for an exhibition from January
15 to February 20, 1937; the paintings were then forwarded to Sa-
vannah, Ga., where they were exhibited at the Telfair Academy of
Arts and Sciences from March 7 to 28, 1937. (They were returned
Apr. 2, 1937.)

Portrait Sketch of Walter Shirlaw, by Frank Duveneck.
Bradbury’s Mill Pond No. 2, by Henry W. Ranger.

The Torrent, by John H. Twachtman.

A Gentlewoman, by J. Alden Weir.

Autumn at Arkville, by Alexander H. Wyant.

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ, by John La Farge.

A Family of Birches, by Willard L. Metcalf.

Caresse Infantine, by Mary Cassatt.

Three Trees, by W. L. Lathrop.

Three paintings, by undetermined artists, were lent December 17,
3936, to the Public Library of the District of Columbia, as follows:

Madonna with Halo of Stars.

Adoration of the Christ Child.
The Christ Child with Cross and Torch.

An oil painting, “Mother Love”, by Charles F. Naegele, was lent
March 10, 1937, to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga. (It was
returned May 5, 1937.)

40 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

A bronze statue of Lincoln, by Augustus Saint Gaudens, was lent,
with the consent of the owners, the Estate of Mrs. John Hay, to the
Great Lakes Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio, for exhibition from May
29 to September 6, 1937.

LOANS RETURNED

The painting entitled “The Moose Chase”, by George de Forest
Brush, lent through the Carnegie Public Library at Fort Worth,
Tex., to the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial Exhibition, held at
Forth Worth, was returned November 20, 1936.

Two small bronzes by Edward Kemeys, entitled “Bear” and
“Coyote”, lent with permission of their owner, Mr. William Kemeys,
to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts for exhibition at the Texas
Centennial Exposition, were returned December 7, 1936.

The painting “Fired On”, by Frederic Remington, and the “Por-
trait of Premier Georges Clemenceau”, by Cecilia Beaux, lent to
The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts for exhibition at the Texas Cen-
tennial Exposition, were returned December 8, 1936.

The following five paintings, lent to the Public Library of the
District of Columbia on February 28, 1936, were returned December
17, 1936:

Portrait of Henry B. Fuller, by George Fuller.
Portrait of Jessie J. Burge, by Abbott H. Thayer.
Portrait of Wyatt Eaton, by J. Alden Weir.

The Visit of the Mistress, by Winslow Homer.
Moonlight, by Albert P. Ryder.

The “Portrait Sketch of Walter Shirlaw”, by Frank Duveneck, lent
to the Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio, for an exhibition
of the works of Duveneck, was returned September 15, 1936.

WITHDRAWALS BY OWNERS

Two portraits in pastel by James Sharples (1751-1811) of Gen.
James Miles Hughes, original member of the Society of the Cincin-
nati, and Mrs. James Miles Hughes, his wife, lent in 1932; with-
drawn by their owner, Madame Florian Vurpillot on December 15,
1936.

One oil painting entitled “A Farnese Investiture”, lent in 1928;
withdrawn by the owner, Mrs. Estelle Bakewell-Green on March
2, 1937.

A reproduction in silver, made in England about 1850, of a silver-
gilt wine pitcher, attributed to Benvenuto Cellini, lent in 1933;
withdrawn by the owner, Capt. Frank O. Ferris, on April 20, 1937.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 41

A painting entitled “Adoration of the Kings”, by B. Van Orley
(1493-1542) ; withdrawn by the owner, Mrs. Marshall Langhorne,
on May 3, 1987.

A bronze bust of Dr. John Wesley Hill, by Joseph Anthony
Atchison, lent by the sculptor in 1930; withdrawn by Mr. Wade H.
Cooper, the owner, on May 5, 1937.

THE HENRY WARD RANGER FUND PURCHASES

Since it is a provision of the Ranger bequest that paintings pur-
chased from the fund and assigned to American art institutions may
be claimed by the National Gallery during the 5-year period be-
ginning 10 years after the death of the artist represented, five paint-
ings were recalled for action of the National Gallery of Art Com-
mission at its meeting December 8, 1936.

Two paintings were accepted by the Commission to become per-
manant accessions of the Gallery, as listed earlier in this report.

The following three paintings were returned, thus becoming the
absolute property of the respective art institutions:

“The Maumee River’, by Carlton T. Chapman, N. A., to the Toledo Museum
of Art, Toledo, Ohio.

“Dawn”, by Dwight W. Tryon, N. A., to the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa.

“Repose of Evening”, by Ben Foster, N. A., to the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Mich.

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS

Two exhibitions were held as follows:

January 12, 19387—A special exhibition commemorating the one-
hundredth anniversary of the birth of Thomas Moran, N. A. (18387-
1926). This exhibition remains on view.

April 9 to 29, 1937.—Exhibition of the Second Annual Metropoli-
ton State Art Contest, 1937, under the auspices of the department
of fine arts of the District of Columbia Federation of Women’s
Clubs, cooperating with the following Washington art organiza-
tions: The Arts Club, the League of American Pen Women, Minia-
ture Painters Sculptors and Gravers Society, Society of Washing-
ton Artists, Washington Landscape Club, Washington Society of
Ktchers, Washington Water Color Club, and a free lance group.
There were 305 exhibits, prints, paintings, and sculpture by 148
artists. Cards were issued by the Gallery to an opening view.

THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS REFERENCE LIBRARY

The 388 publications accessioned during the year were obtained
through purchase, transfer, gift, and exchange. One hundred and

42 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

nine volumes of periodicals were sent to the bindery. The physical
equipment of the library was improved by replacing the remaining
wooden bookcases with steel shelves.

Miss Lucile A. Torrey was appointed librarian January 18, 1937.

SPECIAL DETAILS

The Acting Director was detailed from November 4 to 7, 1936,
to visit the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts. This made possible a
careful study of the contemporary work in ceramics being done in
the United States. He also visited the Walters Gallery, the Balti-
more Museum of Art, and the Municipal Museum, which is devoted
to the relics of Rembrandt Peale and his time.

A second detail from December 18 to 20, 1936, was granted to
visit the art galleries at Chapel Hill and Charlotte, N. C.

PUBLICATIONS

ToLtMAN, R. P. Report on the National Gallery of Art for the year ending
June 380, 1986. Appendix 2, Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution for the year ending June 30, 1936, pp. 29-35.

Lopez, J. E. Report on the Freer Gallery of Art for the year ending June
30, 1936. Appendix 3, Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion for the year ending June 30, 1936, pp. 36-39, pls. 1-2.

Respectfully submitted.

R. P. Totman, Acting Director.
Dr. C. G. Axnsor,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

APPENDIX 3
REPORT ON THE FREER GALLERY OF ART

Sir: I have the honor to submit the seventeenth annual report on
the Freer Gallery of Art for the year ending June 30, 1987:

THE COLLECTIONS

Additions to the collections by purchase are as follows:
BRONZBD

37.29. Cambodian (Khmer), twelfth century. A seated Buddha. Coppery
bronze with a green patina. 0.240 by 0.182 over all.

87.1. Chinese, early Chou dynasty. A ceremonial vessel of the type yii. White
bronze with a rough green patina; small areas of unaltered metal and
earthy inerustation. Decoration in low relief. Inscription in seven
characters. 0.418 by 0.565 over all. (Illustrated.)

37.80. Chinese, Han dynasty. A mirror; so-called TLV type. The surface is

immaculate, with a glossy black patina slightly clouded with green
on the face. Diameter, 0.143.

87.15. Chinese, late Han or later. A mirror. The surface has a glossy gun-
metal black patina with small areas of green aerugo on the back;
brilliant gray clouded with black and green on the face. The decora-
tion is in high and countersunk relief. Inscription of 56 characters.
Diameter, 0.135. (Illustrated.)

37.14. Chinese, Six Dynasties or earlier. A mirror. The surface has a dark
olive green patina on the back; brilliant bluish gray on the face;
earthy adhesions. The principal decoration is of figures and horse-
drawn chariots in moderately high relief. Diameter, 0.210.

MANUSCRIPT

37.6. Arabic, ninth-tenth century. A section of the Qur‘dn (from Chapter II)
written on 32 parchment leaves; later binding of “marbled” paper.
Kufie script in dark brown ink; diacritics in red; golden ‘ashiras and
verse-stops. 0.245 by 0.330, average leaf.
87.11. Arabic, ninth-tenth century. A parchment leaf from a Qur‘dn with full
page designs in gold, marking, respectively, the end of a chapter and
the beginning of another. 0.122 by 0.190.
37.28. Arabic, A. D, 1283. Yaqit al-Musta‘simi, calligrapher. A bound book;
later leather binding (broken): The collected verses of al-Hadira.
Thulth and naskhi scripts in black. Dated colophon. 0.277 by 0.205,
average leaf.
37.31. Arabic, fourteenth century (?). A paper leaf from a Qur‘én. Naskhi
seript in gold, nine lines to a page; diacritics in blue and light red.
Illuminated verse-stops and two marginal ‘ashiras. 0.340 by 0.217.

43

44 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

37.82. Arabic, fourteenth-fifteenth century (?). A paper leaf from a Qur‘dn.
Naskhi script in gold, 11 lines to a page; diacritics, verse-stops, and
marginal ornaments illuminated in gold and blue. 0.835 by 0.254.

37.37. Arabic (Turkey), seventeenth century (?). A bound volume; leather
binding (damaged): A collection of prayers entitled Munajat Qur‘dn
sharif. Small, clear naskhi script in black on 53 paper leaves; head-
ings in thulth script in gold and silver. Golden verse-stops; illumi-
nated corner-pieces. 0.252 by 0.172.

387.40. Arabic (Turkey), sixteenth-seventeenth century (?). <A section of the
Qur‘in (Chapters LXVII-LXXVII) ; leather binding. Alternations of
naskhi and thulth scripts in black on 28 paper leaves. Titles in gold,
green, or blue. 0.309 by 0.270, average leaf.

37.38-87.34. Arabic (Persia), Jate tenth century. Two leaves from a Qur‘dn.

Slender Kufie script in dark brown ink on paper; diacritics
in red, brown, and blue. Illuminated chapter heading (87.34
verso), marginal lectionary marks and verse-stops. 0.240 by
0.340. (87.38. Illustrated.)

37.41. Aramaic (Syriac), A. D. 1213-14. A bound volume (covers missing) :
The New Testament. LEstrangelo script in black and red on 7 paper
leaves plus 824 parchment leaves. Two colophons. 0.257 by 0.193,
average leaf.

36.15. Armenian, A. D. 1669 and 1670. A volume in contemporary binding of
leather overlaid with red velvet and silver appliques: The Gospel
according to the four Evangelists. Black, red, blue, green, and golden
round-hand (bolorgir) on 293 parchment leaves. Initials, paragraphs,
title-pages, arcades, and 6 full-page miniatures, all in colors and gold.
Dated colophons. 0.252 by 0.185 over all; 0.248 by 0.178, average leaf.

87.13. Armenian, fourteenth century. <A leather bound volume: The Psalter of
the orthodox Church. Black, red, blue, and golden, round-hand
(bolorgir) on 3802 parchment leaves. Miniatures (12); illuminated
headings (9), initials (71), and paragraphs (70). Colophon. 0.124
by 0.086 over all; 0.115 by 0.088, average leaf.

37.19. Armenian, A. D. 1650-1. A leather bound volume with silver clasps:
the orthodox Hymnal (Sharaknotz). Black, red, and golden round-
hand (bolorgir) with musical notation on 437 parchment leaves.
Miniatures (16) ; illuminated headpieces (9), initials (145), and par-
agraphs (145 plus 1). Dated head-piece and colophon. 0.121 by 0.085
over all; 0.119 by 0.078, average leaf.

37.2-37.4. Persian, sixteenth century. Three leaves from a manuscript of

Yusuf u-Zulaikha by Jami. Each leaf is inlaid in a larger leaf
of colored paper upon which border designs of animals, birds,
a grapevine, and floral scrolls are executed in gold. 0.252 by
0.150, average leaf. From the same manuscript as 36.9-36.12.

37.35. Persian, sixteenth century. A leather bound volume containing three
manuscripts :

I, Shah Mahmid Nishapuri, calligrapher. Fine nasta‘liq script
on 28 paper leaves. Illuminated headpiece. Colophon
dated in correspondence with A. D. 1523.

II. A collection of lyric poems. Minute nasta‘liq script on 13
paper leaves, much illuminated.

III. Salim al-Katib (Nishipiri), Calligrapher. Bold nasta‘liq
script in white on 5 green paper leaves. Colophon.

0.261 by 0.168, average leaf.

Secretary's Report, 1937.—Appendix 3 PLATE

SOME RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION OF THE FREER GALLERY OF ART.

PLATE 2

Secretary's Report, 1937.—Appendix 3

a

Ss

Ha I

SOME RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION OF THE FREER GALLERY OF ART.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 45
PAINTING

37.12. Chinese Yiian period, A. D. 1852. By Wu Chén (A. D. 1280-1354). A
river landscape entitled “Fishermen”, after a design by Ching Hao.
Ink on paper. Signature, label, poem, and dated colophon by the
artist. Makimono: 0.825 by 5.622.

37.36. Indian, Rijput, Rajasthani, sixteenth century. A musical mode (@Gujari
ragint) : a night scene with two figures—a distraught lady and her
attendant. Full color on paper. Inscription. 0.196 by 0.145.

37.42. Indian, Rijput, Pahari (Kangra), eighteenth century. A girl with a pet
antelope. Full color on paper. 0.211 by 0.149.

37.48. Indian, Rajput, Pahari (Kiangri), late eighteenth century. A musical
mode (Pirvd, rdgé): Radha’s toilette—a scene on a terrace. Colors
on paper. 0.154 by 0.108.

87.44. Indian, Rajput, Pahari (Kangra), eighteenth-nineteeuth century. A
musical mode (Pirvd raga): Ridha’s toilette—in a garden. Colors
on paper. 0.169 by 0.107.

37.38-37.39. Persian, fourteenth century. Two paper leaves (trimmed) : Studies

of trees, from Qaswini’s Cosmography. Colors on paper. 0.090
by 0.118; 0.064 by 0.120.

37.22. Persian, Herit school, late fifteenth century. A dromedary, hoppled, with
its keeper. Full color and slight gold on paper. 0.115 by 0.145.

37.24. Persian, Herat school, late fifteenth century. The prophets Elias and
Khadir at the Fountain of Life: An episode from Nizami’s Sikan-
darnadma. Colors and silver (darkened) on paper. 0.157 by 0.184.

87.25. Persian, Herat school, fifteenth century. Two demons, fettered—one with
cup and wine flask, one playing a musical instrument. Tinted drawing
with additions of gold on paper. 0.146 by 0.220.

87.26. Persian, Herat school, fifteenth century. A horseman killing a lion.
Colors and gold on paper. 0.140 by 0.210.

37.27. Persian, Herat school, fifteenth century. The abduction by+sea: an
illustration of an episode in the poem “The Hight Paradises”, in-
cluded in the Khamsah of Amir Khusraw Dihlawi. Full color, gold
and silver (darkened) on paper. 0.270 by 0.198.

37.7. Persian, Safawi period, mid-sixteenth century. By Shah Qiuli. An
angel, flying, with cup and wine flask. In ink, slight tint and gold
on paper. Signature. 0.180 by 0.185.

37.8. Persian, Safawi period, sixteenth century. By Muhammad of Herat.
Portrait of a prince wearing a mantle of gold brocade figured with
pairs of captors and captives. Full color and gold on paper. Sig-
nature. 0.195 by 0.105.

37.20. Persian, Safawi period, early sixteenth century. A horse, saddled and
bridled, attended by a groom. Full color and gold on paper. In-
scribed with an attribution to Master Haydar ’Ali. 0.113 by 0.110.

87.21. Persian, Safawi period, sixteenth century. A camel, richly caparisoned,
and his conductor. Full color and gold on paper. Signature and
date written within the border: Shaykh Muhammad, 964 (A. D.
1556-7). 0.109 by 0.182. (Illustrated.)

87.28. Persian, Safawi period, sixteenth century. Portrait of a young prince,
with a parrot on his wrist. Line drawing, with additions of color,
on paper. 0.147 by 0.083.

46 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
POTTERY

87.16. Chinese, Sung dynasty. Kuan yao: a miniature vase with tubular
handles and two corresponding holes in the foot-rim. Dense, hard
clay; lustrous gray glaze with large, irregular crackle. 0.102 by
0.061.

37.17. Chinese, Sung dynasty. Ju yao: a cup holder, with wide five-foiled
flange. Hard, gray porcelaneous clay; lustrous grayish green glaze,
medium crackle. 0.067 by 0.166.

87.18. Chinese, Sung dynasty. Jung-ch‘iian yao: a vase with long neck and
two handles of fish form. Hard, dense clay; lustrous celadon glaze.
0.259 by 0.118.

87.5. Persian, Rhages (Raiy), thirteenth century. By ‘Ali bin Yusuf. A
bowl (broken and repaired). Soft, sandy, white clay; white tin
enamel glaze (crazed) and a transparent wash under the foot. The
decoration of people and horses is painted in polychrome enamels
and leaf-gold. Kufic inscription inside; maskhi inscription outside ;
both with signature. 0.087 by 0.206.

87.9. Syrian, eleventh-twelfth century. A pitcher, thin-walled, with a low
foot-rim (broken and repaired). Soft, sandy white clay; cream-
white enamel glaze with traces of iridescence. Decorated with a
band of Kufie lettering in low relief. 0.130 by 0.120.

87.10. Syrian, twelfth-thirteenth century. A pitcher (broken and repaired).
Fairly hard, white clay; lustrous white enamel glaze of egg-shell
texture. The decoration is carved in relief, with details in pierced
work filled with glaze. 0,100 by 0.083.

Curatorial work has, as before, consisted largely in the study of
Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Aramaic, Armenian, Arabic, Persian,
East Indian, and Cambodian objects in the collection, of the texts
and seals associated with them, and in the preparation of this ma-
terial for Gallery records. In addition, 810 objects and 286 photo-
graphs of objects, Oriental for the most part, were submitted to
the Curator for expert opinion as to provenance, age, quality, or
other significance. Written or oral reports on these things were
made to the institutions or private owners who had requested this
service. Written translations of 31 inscriptions in Oriental lan-
guages were also made upon request, and 2 inscriptions—one in
Chinese, the other in Egyptian hieroglyphics—were composed for
the use of two Departments of the Government.

Changes in exhibition have involved a total of 92 objects, as
follows:

NCAR, oh CURIS So ee a eee ee 1
BS mii tlc: Ren O15) is T: < : Ge eL — CR PENNS RID LS SES 2
Paintings:
JA War crn rh A ec Er 62
BALE Ce Sc Ei EE St RE IR ia Ey BN 8 Sy ES Sec ae 25

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 47

ATTENDANCE

The Gallery has been open to the public every day from 9 until
4:30 o’clock, with the exception of Mondays, Christmas Day, and
New Year’s Day.

The total attendance of visitors coming in at the main entrance
was 140,881. The total attendance for week-days, exclusive of Mon-
days, was 94,221; Sundays, 46,660. The average week-day attend-
ance was 365; the average Sunday attendance, 897. The highest
monthly attendance was reached in April (30,837) and in August
(14,084) ; the lowest monthly attendance in December (6,418).

There were 1,600 visitors to the main office during the year. The
purposes of their visits were as follows:

MOrPCeRer Ale ni OEM el ON eae ee ee 8 ee oe ee eee 304
ree er ON eCIs tit SeOn ae en nn ee eee eae 348
PEAS CERN oN T INOS <5 ee eee eS eee os eee 98
DF | ay SY aes SOM Ae pr a ts fs aa Ba RS ee ee 3
Near Hastern paintings: and manuscripts == 22-22 33
EDP ISY aud WGC IES ayy 6 0s alee a se ead mee a we ens bf ea eee 5
PACVPTL CO Ty PETS AMEE Soe ne eee 83
‘W/L EUESY ALES Chey eh G0 SP gen a cca ey Sa Sey a 1 eee eee 14
Oriental, pottery, jade, bronzes, sculptures =~... = 82
By Zantinexonj;eete se seen Se ee eed 2
AINE TICATIe POULELYS..U see: eee i Sei eee eee eee ih
Mashing ton i anwserip att ee es ees ee ee ee 27
To nea Ghipyhne: MW OTan yes se eee Ea Sa os Mk ee eee ses Se 201
To make tracings and sketches from library books__----__-______-_-_-_- 5
MoySeer DUllGIneoangs INStalAhiONs sone oe ee ee ab
To obtain permission to photograph or sketch_-___-____---________________ vé
To;supmit- opjects Lor examination-285-o0° bee Use ee 159
Tovexamine ‘or purchase photorztaphs=-22e. +2 Be eee 370
MosRee MmemberstObuther stati oe Fle ae iw ed be Be be Ee ee 230
To see the exhibition. galleries on Mondays... =-4 = 2 40

LECTURES AND DOCENT SERVICE

Three illustrated talks were given by members of the staff before
three local organizations. Upon request, 15 groups, ranging from
2 to 15 persons (total 149), were given instruction in the study
rooms, and 10 groups, ranging from 10 to 50 persons (total 262),
were given docent service in the exhibition galleries,

PERSONNEL

On February 15, 1937, Thomas R. Fullalove, painter, retired, after
16 years of most excellent service. )
Grace T. Whitney worked intermittently at the Gallery between
October 15, 1936, and June 30, 1937, on translations of Persian texts.
Respectfully submitted.
J. E. Loner, Curator.
Dr. C. G. Aszor,

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

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APPENDIX 4
REPORT ON THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the field
researches, office work, and other operations of the Bureau of Amer-
ican Ethnology during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1937, conducted
in accordance with the act of Congress of March 19, 1936. The act
referred to contains the following item:

American ethnology: For continuing ethnological researches among the Amer-
ican Indians and the natives of Hawaii, the excavation and preservation of
archeologic remains under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, includ-
ing necessary employees, the preparation of manuscripts, drawings, and illus-
trations, the purchase of books and periodicals, and traveling expenses, $58,730.00.

SYSTEMATIC RESEARCHES

M. W. Stirling, Chief, spent the major part of the fiscal year in
Washington, during which time the ethnological report on the Jivaro
Indians of Ecuador was completed and submitted to the printer.

At the end of February 1937 Mr. Stirling left Washington for St.
Augustine, Fla., in order to attend the conference held under the
auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington for the purpose
of outlining a program of research concerning the historical and
archeological past of the city of St. Augustine and vicinity. At the
conclusion of this conference he continued to Manatee, Fla., in order
to examine some interesting newly discovered mounds in that vicinity.
Continuing up the Gulf Coast of Florida, a visit was made to Bristol,
on the Apalachicola River, where a sherd collection was made on a
large mound near the river south of the town. Mr. Stirling then pro-
ceeded to Panama City, Fla., in order to photograph several private
archeological collections.

From Panama City, Mr. Stirling went to Macon, Ga., for the pur-
pose of examining the large archeological project there which was
inaugurated by the Smithsonian Institution with the Society for
Georgia Archeology and now being conducted under the auspices of
that society by Dr. A. R. Kelly. From Macon, Mr. Stirling proceeded
to Philadelphia, Pa., in order to attend the International Conference
on Early Man, held under the auspices of the Philadelphia Academy
of Sciences. On the conclusion of this conference Mr. Stirling
returned to Washington.

31508—88——5 49

50 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Mr. Stirling was delegated to represent the Smithsonian Institu-
tion at the meeting held at Media, Pa., on May 13, 1937, in honor of
the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Daniel Brinton.

Dr. John R. Swanton, ethnologist, devoted the greater part of his
time during the past fiscal year to work as chairman of the United
States De Soto Expedition Commission. This involved field expedi-
tions from November 11 to December 9, 1936, and from May 16 to
June 4, 1937, except for 3 days, December 3 to 5, devoted to a meeting
of the Commission at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The first field trip extended over parts of Florida, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The second was confined to an
intensive study of that section of De Soto’s route which passed through
northern Mississippi. During these expeditions small collections of
potsherds were made, which will be of assistance in studying the cul-
tures of the prehistoric inhabitants of the several areas visited. As
chairman of the fact-finding committee of the same Commission, Dr.
Swanton prepared a report covering about 600 typewritten pages, and
this was adopted by the Commission at its Tuscaloosa meeting and
embodied in its report to Congress. The entire report has since been
submitted, but, as publication has not yet been ordered, it is still pos-
sible to add material, and he is engaged in doing so.

During the year Dr. Swanton also made some additions to his data
on the Indians of the Southeast, and he has been collecting from orig-
inal sources the most important references to the Quapaw Indians.

Until the end of the fiscal year Dr. Swanton continued as a member
of the executive committee of the Division of Anthropology and
Psychology of the National Research Council and as vice-president
of section H of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science for the current calendar year.

Dr. Truman Michelson, ethnologist, renewed his researches among
the Algonquian tribes of the James and Hudson Bay region under
a grant-in-aid by the American Council of Learned Societies. He
spent some time at Moose Factory, and a short time at Fort George,
Attawapiskat, and Weenusk. Owing to the presence of some Albany
Cree at Moose Factory and some Indians from Rupert’s House as
well as on shipboard, he was able to do personal work with them.
By correspondence he obtained some additional text-material from
Rupert’s House; by meeting the manager of the Hudson Bay Co.’s
post at the Ghost River and an Indian from Lac la Ronge he ob-
tained data from these regions. The results of the previous expedi-
tion were checked up as much as feasible. It results that the state-
ment made previously that east of Hannah Bay Cree leaves off and
Montagnais-Naskapi begins is confirmed. Besides texts and vocabu-
laries from the general area, a rather complete schedule of kinship
terms for the Great Whale River Indians, those of Fort George,the Cree

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 51

of Moose Factory, Albany, Attawapiskat, and Weenusk was obtained.
Very obviously the system of consanguinity favors cross-cousin
marriage; and it is to be noted that at the Great Whale River and
Albany both types of this marriage occur; at Moose and Attawapiskat
it is restricted to marriage with paternal aunt’s daughter ; at Weenusk
apparently neither type obtains. It may be mentioned that by lin-
guistic technique it is possible to show in the places named that a
number of old terms have been replaced, e. g., the term for cross-
nephew has been replaced by the term originally restricted to son-in-
law, etc. Also the kinship systems favor exogamy, but he has not
been able to find a true gens or clan organization in the whole area.

Dr. Michelson returned to Washington September 20, where he
studied the material gathered on this and previous expeditions. By
correspondence with Hudson Bay Co.’s officials and a missionary
he obtained data on the Cree of Cumberland House, Norway House,
Oxford House, Trout Lake, God’s Lake (all dialects in which original
Z is replaced by 7), Montreal Lake, Stanley, Pelecan Narrows (dia-
lects in which original 7 is replaced by y). A study was made of the
Montagnais of Le Jeune, over 300 years ago; the orthography plainly
indicates kh, tch, and some other variations are representatives of
one and the same sound, namely, the one usually transcribed by Ze.
This study enabled him also to make at least one correction to the
Handbook of American Indians, and prove one supposed Algonkin
tribe actually was Montagnais-Naskapi. From correspondence it
would appear that the dialect spoken at Island Lake is a mixture
of Cree, Ojibwa, and possibly Algonkin proper. This indicates that
in a number of places there is such a mixture, but apparently not on
the same scale. A map showing the distribution and interrelations
of the Cree and Montagnais-Naskapi dialects has been made. Tech-
nical papers have appeared in professional journals, and others have
been prepared and are awaiting publication. The Bureau published
Fox Miscellany (Bulletin 114), the proof-sheets of which were
corrected during the fiscal year.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, Dr. John P. Harrington,
ethnologist, prepared a report on the Use of Ferns in the Basketry
of the Indians of Northwestern California, centering on the use of
fern species among the Karuk tribe. The baskets of this section are
really built of lumber, that is, of the shredded roots of the Oregon
pine. But the two materials which make the baskets beautiful are
the glossy black of maidenhair fern stems and the handsome red of
Woodwardia fern filaments, dyed with alder bark.

Dr. Harrington next prepared a paper on Kiowa Memories of the
Black Hills and of the Devil’s Tower. The Kiowa Indians, 600
miles to the south, still have memories of the Black Hills country
of South Dakota, which they occupied some 150 years ago. They

52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

also retain knowledge of myths regarding the remarkable basalt
column near Sundance, Wyo., on the northwestern slope of the
Black Hills, known as the Devil’s Tower, but to the Kiowa as the
Rock Standing Like a Tree. An elaborate paper was finished on
the subject, going into the geology, history, and mythology of the
Devil’s Tower.

Dr. Harrington next finished a report on The Northern Pro-
venience of the Navaho and Apache, tracing related languages in
detail to Alaska, northwestern Canada, and the Pacific Coast of
the United States, and telling in detail how the relationship of
Navaho and Apache to the Indians of the far northwest was dis-
covered by W. W. Turner, librarian in the Patent Office, Wash-
ington, D. C., in 1852. This voluminous report resulted in the
discovery by Dr. Harrington of a curious distribution of these lan-
guages, the map of which takes the form of a wishbone. Their
nucleus is in the far Northwest, one prong extending down the
Pacific Coast and terminating a little north of San Francisco Bay,
another eastern prong extending down through the Rocky Moun-
tain region and culminating in the Navaho and Apache of the
Southwest. An exhaustive study was made of the earliest docu-
ments and maps on the subject, in the compilation of which Dr.
Harrington was assisted by the Geographic Board of Canada.

A report was completed on the Siberian Origin of the Ameri-
can Indian, presenting the background, the earliest historic writ-
ings on the subject, the Eskimo problem, the problem of the means
of crossing (whether by boat, over ice, or by means of former land
bridge), the distribution of tribes and density of population as
bearing out the theory, and general aspects. In this study he was
assisted by many other students, including native interpreters of
the Bering Strait region. This report suggests that America was
first discovered as a result of over-population which developed in
the east of Asia and forced Paleo-Siberian peoples to enter the
Chukchi Peninsula. From this point they sighted and spilled over
into America, using the Diomede Islands as resting places on their
transit, if this were during the period of the existence of the Ber-
ing Strait, and followed the food supply down what is now the
Alaskan coast, without realizing that they had discovered anything
more than an outlying island.

A paper was prepared on the Life of Jeronimo, Apache Indian
Chief, and the Indian leader whose expeditions probably cost the
United States Government more money and trouble than did those
of any other chieftain. The life and times of Jeronimo were
minutely searched, and data were compiled in chronological order.
The material of this paper is especially interesting to the American

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 53

public as it deals with a period already dimming in the memories
of living men. The name, Alope, of the first wife of Jeronimo,
was discovered to be merely a corruption of the Mexican Spanish
name Guadalupe.

Studies on linguistic relationship in the Southwest and California
were continued. These studies have resulted in the discovery that
Tano-Kiowan and Aztecan are genetically related, and to this larger
group Dr. Harrington gave the name Patlan. The discovery was
also made that Hopi is a Southern California Shoshonean dialect,
showing developments in common with the Southern California Sho-
shonean dialects, and constituting with them a dialectic group of the
Aztecan family in contradistinction to any other group. This unity
of Hopi with Southern California Shoshonean was first noticed many
years ago, the word for wood-rat (e. g., Hopi gdala, wood-rat, South-
ern California Shoshonean gdala, wood-rat) leading immediately to
the discovery. It was also noticed by Dr. J. R. Swanton and Dr.
Harrington that Tano-Kiowan and Shoshonean have genetic rela-
tionship with the languages of the Southeastern United States (Musk-
hogean, Chitimacha, Atakapa, Tonkawa, Timucua), Tano-Kiowan,
_for instance, and all the Southeastern languages above-mentioned
showing the characteristic prefix na-, something, used in deriving
nouns from verbs (e. g., Tanoan tha, to dwell; natha, house).

At the beginning of the fiscal year Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.,
archeologist, was engaged in excavating at the Lindenmeier site in
northern Colorado. At this place remains attributable to the ma-
terial culture of Folsom man, one of the earliest Known inhabitants
of the New World, are found. The 1936 investigations constituted
the third season’s work there, and valuable new information was
obtained on this important phase in the study of the history of the
American Indian. Digging was carried on at three different por-
tions of the site, and considerable new bone material and several new
types of implements came from the excavations. Most of the bones
were from the large extinct species of bison (Bison taylori) which
the people hunted, but in addition a number of bones from the Amer-
ican camel, probably Camelops, were obtained in direct association
with the bison bones and with stone implements. This adds one more
extinct species of animal to the list of those found with Folsom
artifacts. One of the significant facts established by the work is
that the site was occupied before and during a period characterized
by the formation of a thick, black soil layer produced by heavy vege-
tation that thrived when conditions were more favorable than those
of recent times. That the people were there before the inception of
this era of abundant growth points to an even greater antiquity than
that suggested by the presence of implements and bones in the bottom

54 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of the soil level. The work was brought to a close September 5, 1936.

In the latter part of August Dr. Roberts also investigated a site
near Kersey, Colo., where Folsom type objects were found by F. W.
Powars and his son Wayne, residents of Greeley. This location is
on a low terrace of the rolling terrain lying along the south side
of the South Platte River valley. Present evidence indicates that
it was a camp, but one occupied for a relatively short period of time.
Specimens obtained there represent a typical Folsom complex. ‘They
are so similar to those from the Lindenmeier site that it is difficult
to distinguish between specimens from the two sites. Bones are
scarce, and those recovered are so fragmentary that they are valueless
for determining the species of the animals represented.

After the completion of the Lindenmeier and Powars site investi-
gations Dr. Roberts proceeded to Sterling, Colo., where he visited
and inspected a number of sites in that vicinity. All proved to be
of more recent origin than the Folsom type material. From Sterling
Dr. Roberts returned to Washington. The autumn months were
spent in the office working over the material obtained during the
summer’s investigations.

February 24 Dr. Roberts sailed for Cairo, Egypt, where he served
as one of two American experts at the International Conference of
Archeologists held March 9 to 17, under the auspices of the Com-
mittee for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations. As his
part of the agenda for the sessions, Dr. Roberts presented a paper
on the subject “The Material Organization of an Archeological
Mission.” This included a discussion of the choice of personnel for
a field staff, the securing of equipment, the establishment of field
headquarters, and the general administration of such a project. At
the close of the conference he visited a number of sites in Egypt
and had an opportunity to study methods of excavation and general
archeological procedure as practiced in the Egyptian area. From
Egypt he went to Greece, Italy, France, and England and studied
collections in the museums at Athens, Naples, Rome, Paris, and
London. He returned to Washington April 24.

On May 21 Dr. Roberts left Washington for Kingman, Ariz.,
where he and C. W. Gilmore, curator of vertebrate paleontology,
United States National Museum, investigated a find of mastodon
bones and man-made objects. The deposit is located near a large
spring 24 miles west of Kingman. A week’s study and excavation
demonstrated that the material was a secondary deposit, washed in
from surrounding slopes, and of no importance from the stand-
point of the association of man and extinct mammals. Dr. Roberts
left Kingman on June 2 for Denver, Colo., and Fort Collins. On
June 12 he resumed excavations at the Lindenmeier site. By the

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 55

end of the fiscal year an area covering 375 square feet had been
uncovered. Numerous implements and considerable additional in-
formation were obtained from this work. These data serve to round
out more fully the story of the customs and habits of Folsom man.

During the winter months Dr. Roberts also prepared several
manuscripts on the subject of the work at the Lindenmeier site and
on Southwestern archeology in general.

Upon his return from Spanish Honduras early in the fiscal year,
Dr. W. D. Strong, anthropologist, spent his entire time in working
over the archeological collections from the Ulua River. With the
assistance of Alfred Kidder II, and Drexel A. Paul, Jr., Dr. Strong
completed the report on this work which is to be published in the
Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections under the title “Preliminary
Report on the Smithsonian Institution-Harvard University Archeo-
logical Expedition to Northwestern Honduras, 1936.”

From July 1 until late October 1936, Dr. Julian H. Steward, asso-
ciate anthropologist, continued his work of the previous year among
Shoshonean tribes in the Great Basin and Plateau areas. He had
two objectives: First, to study the ecological basis of the social and
political organization of the bands of horse Shoshoni in Utah and
Idaho to supplement his previous study of the foot Shoshoni of
Nevada; second, to continue his ethnographic survey by means of an
element list. An element list and satisfactory ecological material
were procured from the following: Bannock, Fort Hall Shoshoni,
Lemhi Shoshoni, and Grouse Creek (northwestern Utah) Shoshoni
at Fort Hall, Idaho; Promontory Point (Great Salt Lake) Shoshoni
at Washakie, Utah; Pahvant Ute (now almost extinct) at Kanosh,
Utah; Gosiute (determined to be actually Shoshoni) at Skull Valley
and at Deep Creek, Utah. Before returning to Washington, Dr.
Steward drove to Fallon, Nev., to examine guano caves said to hold
promise, but found little of interest. He returned by way of south-
ern Nevada and southern Utah, making brief visits to several South-
ern Paiute reservations. The remainder of the year was devoted to
preparation of research material for publication, and eight manu-
scripts have been completed.

The beginning of the fiscal year found J. N. B. Hewitt, ethnolo-
gist, on the Tuscarora Reservation near Lewiston, N. Y., where he
went to continue his researches on the League of the Five Iroquois
Tribes. From Lewiston Mr. Hewitt proceeded to the Grand River
Grant to the Six Nations in Ontario. Here he had the good fortune
to obtain a complete Mohawk text embodying the so-called Hand-
some Lake religious teaching, this document consisting of more than
5,700 Mohawk terms. Considerable additional information was ob-
tained concerning the interesting dual nature of the tribal organiza-

56 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

tion. On his return to Washington Mr. Hewitt completed the trans-
lation of the Mohawk text giving details of the birth and early child-
hood of Deganawida, also another Mohawk text giving an account of
the dancing lads who finally became the Pleiades.

During the month of June 1937, Mr. Hewitt again left Washing-
ton for Brantford, Canada, in order to check over in the field his
two large manuscripts in Onondaga text, one being the Iroquois
New Year Ceremony and the other consisting of the four Thanks-
giving Festivals. The end of the fiscal year found Mr. Hewitt still
in the field engaged in this task.

EDITORIAL WORK AND PUBLICATIONS

The editing of the publications of the Bureau was continued
through the year by Stanley Searles, editor.

Bulletin 114, Fox Miscellany, by Truman Michelson, was issued
during the year.

Bulletin 115, Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz, edited by J. N.
B. Hewitt, was released for printing.

Bulletin 116, Ancient Caves of the Great Salt Lake Region, by
Julian H. Steward, was released for printing.

An index of Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes, in six volumes, has been
further advanced toward completion.

Work has been done on other manuscripts in the custody of the
editor.

Publications distributed totaled 14,708.

LIBRARY

Miss Miriam B. Ketchum continued in charge throughout the year
as librarian.

Accessions during the fiscal year numbered 580 volumes, bringing
the total number of volumes in the library to 31,115; there are also
about 20,000 pamphlets and about 2,000 volumes of unbound periodi-
cals and society transactions.

The number of volumes prepared and sent to bindery was 1,330.

Library of Congress cards have been obtained for practically all
of the new books received during the year and for some of the older
material. All new material is being classed in the Library of Con-
gress scheme of classification and separately shelved. A partial
depository set of Library of Congress catalog cards has been estab-
lished and will shortly be installed in working order.

The work of refiling the catalog continues. Thirteen drawers are
now finished.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 57

A great many missing numbers have been requested and nearly
all of these have been supplied, amounting in some cases to several
volumes of a set. Of the exchange sets, 8 old sets which had been
allowed to lapse have been reestablished, and 11 new sets have been

established.
ILLUSTRATIONS

Following is a summary of the work accomplished by E. G. Cas-
sedy, illustrator :

Wine’ drawings ee eS a es es ae SS SE SS ee 266
ASRS hi Sete ieee eS UE ee ees ae 13
Platessletteredzorsmumpered..= <= 222 ones ee 199
PlateSsaASSCIMDlOGe See= oes ee eS 64
Plates'sized tor engraver-——- 2 == a a ee 129
(Aum rusht | ODS tee = woe ante od: SE Beate ee ae eee 6
Photos retouched 22s ee ee eee 51
POOP TALC. TANS ee ES Os ee ae 3
1 6) 1s ae eee ee ere ee oe 3
Mechanical drawin es) 2—- so a ee ee 3
LOGY ev ero ae, (0) fsa a Ns See eatett a eet, Staal es ete, - eter 3
HN STOSSINGS Sse ee en eae ee ee 2
Water:color paintings==s. ee es | ee eee ee Se a
oben e ki Be ot eo a 8 eee eee eee 743
COLLECTIONS
Accession
number

140,528. Skeletal material from two sites on Canaveral Peninsula, Brevard
County, Fla., collected by the Bureau in cooperation with the Fed-
eral Civil Works Administration during the winter of 1933-34. (250
specimens. )
142,561. Archeological specimens and human and animal bones collected during
mound excavations in Florida during the winter of 1933-384 in
cooperation with the Federal C. W. A.

MISCELLANEOUS

During the course of the year information was furnished by
members of the Bureau staff in reply to numerous inquiries concern-
ing the North American Indians, both past and present, and the
Mexican peoples of the prehistoric and early historic periods. Vari-
ous specimens sent to the Bureau were identified and data on them
furnished for their owners.

Personnel.—Miss Helen Heitkemper, junior stenographer, resigned
March 16, 1937. Miss Ethelwyn E. Carter was appointed May 1,
1937, to fill the vacancy.

Respectfully submitted.

M. W. Srtrauine, Chief.

Dr. C. G. Axpgort,

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

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APPENDIX 5
REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activ-
ities of the International Exchange Service during the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1937:

For that year the congressional appropriation was $44,260. Some
years ago, in order to supplement the amounts granted by Congress,
which have never been sufficient to meet the entire expenses of the
Exchange Service, the Board of Regents of the Institution gave au-
thority to charge governmental establishments 5 cents a pound for
forwarding their publications abroad through exchange channels.
The collections from that source during the year were $3,871.49,
making the total resources available $48,131.49.

The number of packages handled during 1937 was 657,346, an
increase of 60,395. The weight was 651,461 pounds, an increase of
32,672 pounds.

The following table gives the number and weight of packages sent
and received through the Exchange Service separated into three
classes: Parliamentary documents, departmental documents, and
scientific and literary publications.

Packages Weight

Sent Received Sent | Received

Pounds | Pounds
United States parliamentary documents sent abroad___________ B00; ot: Losewces ees Bd Ce 1 a (ee

Publications received in return for parliamentary documents___}___.-____- si) ane 29, 316
United States departmental documents sent abroad___-________ AZ 2B asec e 12g, a0 fons
Publications received in return for departmental documents____|_..__-___- FORO) [PE seteeesase 32, 624
Scientific and literary publications sent abroad________-_______- TOO; BST, fore a0; 402: on Je See
Scientific and literary publications received from abroad for
distribution:in:the United: States... 209) ts bie eee ofp yay Ly tl ees See 112, 394
Py Gat ee wee Te oo See 585, 946 71, 400 477, 127 174, 334
Grpeiliintalses, Reis SiO ME Siete; F dave 657,346 651,461

The number of boxes shipped abroad was 2,620, an increase of 145
over the preceding year. Of these boxes, 540 were for depositories
of full sets of United States governmental documents, and the re-
mainder (2,080) were for distribution to miscellaneous establish-
ments and individuals. In addition to the packages forwarded in
these boxes there were transmitted by mail 87,296, an increase of

16,397 over last year.
59

60 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
BRUSSELS EXCHANGE CONVENTIONS

In 1886, some years after the organization of the Smithsonian
system of exchanges, there were concluded at Brussels between the
United States and a number of other countries two exchange conven-
tions. The first, Convention A (Stat., XX V, 1465), provided for the
international exchange of official documents and scientific and literary
publications; and the second, Convention B (Stat., XXV, 1469), pro-
vided for the immediate exchange of the official journal. The Smith-
sonian Institution was charged by the Congress with the duty of
carrying out the provisions of those conventions on the part of the
United States (Stat., XIV, 573—Congressional Resolution approved
Mar. 2, 1867, setting aside 50 copies of all governmental documents
for exchange purposes; Stat., X-X-XI, 1464—Congressional Resolu-
tion approved Mar. 2, 1901, increasing the number of documents for
exchange to not exceeding 100 copies; Stat., XLII, 1106—Printing
Act approved Mar. 2, 1901, further increasing the number to 125
copies; and Stat., XX XV, 1169—Congressional Resolution approved
Mar. 4, 1909, setting aside copies of the Congressional Record for
exchange with foreign parliamentary bodies).

Kight countries signed the first convention, namely the United
States, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Serbia (now Yugoslavia),
Spain, and Switzerland. The second convention was signed by all
of those countries except Switzerland. Since the ratification of the
Brussels Conventions the following countries have signified their
adherence thereto in the order in which they are listed:

. Uruguay—both conventions, 1889.

. Argentine Republic—convention A, 1889.

. Paraguay—convention A, 1889.

. Czechoslovakia—both conventions, 1919.

. Poland—convention A, 1920; convention B, 1921.
. Rumania—both conventions, 1923.

. Hungary—both conventions, 1923.

. Dominican Republic—both conventions, 1923.

. Latvia—both conventions, 1924.

10. Free City of Danzig—both conventions, 1924.

11. China—both conventions, 1925.

12. Egypt—convention A, 1925.

Although not all countries joined the exchange conventions, most
of those not listed above have entered into exchange relations with
the United States and have established official bureaus to conduct the
work.

CONA AF wh

FOREIGN DEPOSITORIES OF GOVERNMENTAL DOCUMENTS

There are forwarded to foreign depositories 111 sets of United
States official publications, 61 of these being full sets and 50 partial
sets. The depository of the full set forwarded to Peru has been

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 61

changed from the Biblioteca Nacional to the Secciodn de Propaganda
y Publicaciones, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Lima.

DEPOSITORIES OF FULL SETS

ARGENTINA: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires: Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La
Plata. (Depository of the Province of Buenos Aires.)
AusTRALIA: Library of the Commonwealth Parliament, Canberra.
New SourtH Wates: Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
QUEENSLAND: Parliamentary Library, Brisbane.
Souru AUSTRALIA: Parliamentary Library, Adelaide.
TASMANIA: Parliamentary Library, Hobart.
Victor1A: Public Library of Victoria, Melbourne.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Public Library of Western Australia, Perth.
Austria: National Bibliothek, Wien I.
Beteium: Bibliothéque Royale, Bruxelles.
Braziu: Bibliotheca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro.
CANADA: Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
MANITOBA: Provincial Library, Winnipeg.
OnTaRIo: Legislative Library, Toronto.
QuEpEc: Library of the Legislature of the Province of Quebec.
CHILE: Biblioteca del Congreso, Santiago.
CHINA: National Central Library, Nanking.
CoLoMBIA: Biblioteca Nacional, Bogota.
Costa Rica: Oficina de Depdésito y Canje Internacional de Publicaciones, San
José.
Cusa: Secretaria de Estado (Asuntos Generales y Canje Internacional),
Habana.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Bibliothéque de l’Assemblée Nationale, Prague.
DENMARK: Kongelige Bibliotheket, Copenhagen.
Heyer: Bureau des Publications, Ministére des Finances, Cairo.
Estonia: Riigiraamatukogu (State Library), Tallinn.
FRANCE: Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris.
GERMANY: Reichstauschstelle im Reichsministerium des Innern, Berlin C 2.
Baven: Universitits-Bibliothek, Freiburg. (Depository of the State of
Baden. )
Bavaria: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Miinchen.
Prussia: Preussische Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, N. W. 7.
Saxony: Sichsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden—N. 6.
WurTEMBURG: Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart.
GREAT BRITAIN:
ENGLAND: British Museum, London.
GLaseow: City Librarian, Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
Lonpon: London School of Economics and Political Science. (Depository
of the London County Council.)
Hunecary: A Magyar orsziggyiilés kényvtarai, Budapest.
Inp1A: Imperial Library, Calcutta.
IrRIsH FREE State: National Library of Ireland, Dublin.
Iraty: Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale, Rome.
JAPAN: Imperial Library of Japan, Tokyo.
Latvia: Bibliothéque d’Etat, Riga.
LEAGUE oF Nations: Library of the League of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

62 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Mexico: Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico, D. F.

NETHERLANDS: Royal Library, The Hague.

New ZEALAND: General Assembly Library, Wellington.

NoRTHERN IRELAND: H. M. Stationery Office, Belfast.

Norway: Universitets-Bibliothek, Oslo. (Depository of the Government of
Norway.)

Peru: Seccién de Propaganda y Publicaciones, Ministerio de Relaciones
Exteriores, Lima.

PoLtanD: Bibliothéque Nationale, Warsaw.

PortucaL: Bibliotheea Nacional, Lisbon.

RuMANIA: Academia Romfna, Bucharest.

Spain: Servicio de Cambio Internacional de Publicaciones, Paseo de Recoletos
20, Madrid.

SwEDEN: Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm.

SWITZERLAND: Bibliothéque Centrale Fédérale, Berne.

TurKEY: Ministére de l’Instruction Publique, Ankara.

Union oF SourTH Arrica: State Library, Pretoria, Transvaal.

Union oF Sovier Socrarist REpusiics: State Central Book Chamber, Moscow 4.

UxraineE: All-Ukrainian Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign
Countries, Kiey.

Uruauay: Oficina de Canje Internacional de Publicaciones, Montevideo.

VENEZUELA: Biblioteca Nacional, Caracas.

YUGOSLAVIA: Ministére de l’Mducation, Belgrade.

DEPOSITORIES OF PARTIAL SETS

AFGHANISTAN: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Publications Department, Kabul.
AustriA: Vienna: Magistrat der Stadt Wien, Abteilung 51-Statistik.
Boiv1A: Biblioteca del H. Congreso Nacional, La Paz.
BRAZIL:
MinAs GreRAES: Directoria Geral de Estatistica em Minas, Bello Horizonte.
Rio dE JANEIRO: Bibliotheca da Assemblea Legislativa do Estado, Nictheroy.
BRITISH GUIANA: Government Secretary’s Office, Georgetown, Demerara.
Burearta; Minist®re des Affaires Etrangéres, Sofia.
CANADA:
ALBERTA: Provincial Library, Edmonton.
BrRiTIsH COLUMBIA: Provincial Library, Victoria.
NEw Brunswick: Legislative Library, Fredericton.
Nova Scotia: Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia, Halifax.
Prince Epwarp IstAnp: Legislative Library, Charlottetown.
SASKATCHEWAN: Government Library, Regina.
CryYLon: Chief Secretary’s Office (Record Department of the Library), Colombo.
CuInA: National Library, Peiping.
Danzig: Stadtbibliothek, Danzig.
DOMINICAN RerusBLic: Biblioteca del Senado, Ciudad Trujillo.
Ecuapor: Biblioteca Nacional, Quito.
FINLAND: Parliamentary Library, Helsingfors.
GERMANY :
BreMEN: Senatskommission fiir Reichs- und Auswiirtige Angelegenheiten.
HAmboure: Staats-und Universitits-Bibliothek.
HEsseE: Universitiits-Bibliothek, Giessen.
LtsBeck: President of the Senate.
THuRINGIA: Rothenberg-Bibliothek, Landesuniversitit, Jena.
Greecn: Library of Parliament, Athens.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 63

GUATEMALA: Biblioteca Nacional, Guatemala.
Harrt: Secrétaire d’Etat des Relations Extérieures, Port-au-Prince.
Honpuras: Biblioteca y Archivo Nacionales, Tegucigalpa.
IcetaAnp: National Library, Reykjavik.
INDIA:
AssSAM: General and Judicial Department, Shillong.
BENGAL: Secretary, Bengal Legislative Council Department, Council House,
Calcutta.
BiHAR and Orissa: Revenue Department, Patna.
Bompay: Undersecretary to the Government of Bombay, Generai Depart-
ment, Bombay.
Burma: Secretary to the Government of Burma, Education Department,
Rangoon.
CENTRAL Provinces: General Administration Department, Nagpur.
Mapras: Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, Public Depart-
ment, Madras.
Pungas: Chief Secretary to the Government of the Punjab, Lahore.
UNITED PROVINCES OF AGRA AND OUDH: University of Allahabad, Allahabad.
JAMAICA: Colonial Secretary, Kingston.
LisertA: Department of State, Monrovia.
LITHUANIA: Ministére des Affaires Etrangéres, Kaunas (Koyno).
Matra: Minister for the Treasury, Valletta.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Department of Home Affairs, St. John’s.
NrcARAGUA: Superintendente de Archivos Nacionales, Managua.
PANAMA: Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, Panama.
ParAqguay: Secretario de la Presidencia de la Reptiblica, Asuncidén.
SALVADOR: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, San Salvador.
Sram: Department of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok.
Srraits SerrLeMeNTs: Colonial Secretary, Singapore.
Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City, Italy.

INTERPARLIAMENTARY EXCHANGE OF THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL

The forwarding of copies of the Congressional Record and the
Federal Register to the Bibliothek des Preussischen Landtags, Berlin,
has been discontinued as the Landtag has been abolished. The fol-
lowing have been added to the list of those receiving the Congres-
sional Record and the Federal Register: Staatskanzlei des Kantons
Berne, Staatskanzlei des Kantons St. Gallen, Staatskanzlei des Kan-
tons Schaffhausen, and Staatskanzlei des Kantons Ziirich. 'The total
number of copies of these documents now forwarded abroad is 105.
A complete list of the depositories is given below:

DEPOSITORIES OF CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

ALBANIA: Ministrija Mibretnore e Punéyeté Jashtme, Tirana.
ARGENTINA :
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Buenos Aires.
Camara de Diputados, Oficina de Informacién Parlamentaria, Buenos Aires.
AUSTRALIA }
Library of the Commonwealth Parliament, Canberra.
New SourH Waters: Library of Parliament of New South Wales, Sydney.
QUEENSLAND: Chief Secretary’s Office, Brisbane.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Library of Parliament of Western Australia, Perth.

64 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Austria: Bibliothek des Hauses der Bundesgesetzgebung, Wien I.
Betarum: Bibliothéque de la chambre des Représentants, Bruxelles.
Bortv1a: Biblioteca del H. Congreso Nacional, La Paz.
BRAZIL:
Bibliotheca do Congresso Nacional, Rio de Janeiro.
Amazonas: Archivo, Bibliotheca e Imprensa Publica, Manfos.
Baus: Governador do Estado da Bahia, Sio Salvador.
Esprriro SANTO: Presidencia do Estado do Espirito Santo, Victoria.
Rio GRANDE Do Sut: “A Federacio”, Porto Alegre.
Srrarre: Bibliotheca Publica do Estado de Sergipe, Aracaji.
SAo Pauro: Diario Official do Estado de Sio Paulo, Sio Paulo.
Britisoh HonpurAs: Colonial Secretary, Belize.
CANADA:
Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
Clerk of the Senate, Houses of Parliament, Ottawa.
CxuinA: National Central Library, Nanking.
Cusa: Biblioteca del Capitolio, Habana.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Bibliothéque de l’'Assemblée Nationale, Prague.
Danzic: Stadtbibliothek, Danzig.
DENMARK: Rigsdagens Bureau, Copenhagen.
DoMINICAN REPUBLIC: Biblioteca del Senado, Ciudad Trujillo.
Dutou Hast Inpies: Volksraad von Nederlandsch-Indié, Batavia, Java.
Eayrt: Bureau des Publications, Ministére des Finances, Cairo.
Estonia: Riigiraamatukogu (State Library), Tallinn.
FRANCE:
Chambre des Députés, Service de l’Information Parlementaire EKtrangére,
Paris.
Bibliothéque du Sénat, au Palais du Luxembourg, Paris.
Bibliothéque, Direction des Accords commerciaux, Ministére du Commerce,
Paris.
GERMANY:
Deutsche Reichstags-Bibliothek, Berlin, N. W. 7.
Reichsfinanzministerium, Berlin, W. 8.
ANHALT: Anhaltische Landesbiicherei, Dessau.
BRAUNSCHWEIG: Bibliothek des Braunschweigischen Staatsministeriums,
Braunschweig.
MECKLENBURG: Staatsministerium, Schwerin.
OLDENBURG: Oldenburgisches Staatsministerium, Oldenburg i. O.
ScoHAUMBUKG-LipPE: Schaumburg-Lippische Landesregierung, Biicheburg.
GIBRALTAR: Gibraltar Garrison Library Committee, Gibraltar.
GREAT Brirarn: Library of the Foreign Office, London.
GREECE: Library of Parliament, Athens.
GUATEMALA: Biblioteca de la Asamblea Legislativa, Guatemala.
Honpurgas: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Tegucigalpa.
Huneary: A Magyar orsziggyiilés kinyvtard, Budapest.
InpIA: Legislative Department, Simla.
IrAN: Library of the Iranian Parliament, Téhéran.
Iraq: Chamber of Deputies, Baghdad.
IrkisH Frep STATE: Dail Eireann, Dublin.
ITALY :
Biblioteca della Camera dei Deputati, Rome.
Biblioteca del Senato del Regno, Rome.
Ufficio degli Studi Legislativi, Senato del Regno, Rome.
Latvia: Valsts Biblioteka, Riga.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 65

LEAGUE OF Nations: Library of the League of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
LieertA: Department of State, Monrovia.
Mexico: Secretaria de la Camara de Diputados, Mexico, D. F.
AGUASCALIENTES: Gobernador del Estado de Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes.
CAMPECHE: Gobernador del Estado de Campeche, Campeche.
CuHr1APAs: Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutierrez.
CHIHUAHUA: Gobernador del Estado de Chihuahua, Chihuahua.
CoaHuILA: Periddico Oficial del Estado de Coahuila, Palacio de Gobierno,
Saltillo.
CorimA: Gobernador del Estado de Colima, Colima.
DuRANGO: Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Durango, Durango.
GuANAJUATO: Secretaria General de Gobierno del Estado, Guanajuato.
Guerrero: Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero, Chilpancingo.
JAtisco: Biblioteca del Estado, Guadalajara.
LOWER CALIFORNIA: Gobernador del Distrito Norte, Mexicali, B. C., Mexico.
Mexico: Gaceta del Gobierno, Toluca, Mexico.
MicHoacAn: Secretaria General de Gobierno del Estado de Michoacan,
Morelia.
Moretos: Palacio de Gobierno, Cuernavaca.
NAyARIT: Gobernador de Nayarit, Tepic.
Nugvo Leon: Biblioteca del Estado, Monterey.
OAxACA: Periddico Oficial, Palacio de Gobierno, Oaxaca.
PuesbLA: Secretaria General de Gobierno, Puebla.
QUERETARO: Secretaria General de Gobierno, Seccidn de Archivo, Queretaro.
San Luis Porost: Congreso del Estado, San Luis Potosi.
Srnatoa: Gobernador del Estado de Sinaloa, Culiacan.
SonokA: Gobernador del Estado de Sonora, Hermosillo.
TasBasco: Secretaria General de Gobierno, Seccién 3a, Ramo de Prensa,
Villahermosa.
TAMAULIPAS: Secretaria General de Gobierno, Victoria.
TLAxcALA: Secretaria de Gobierno del Estado, Tlaxeala.
Vera Cruz: Gobernador del Estado de Vera Cruz, Departamento de Gober-
nacioOn y Justicia, Jalapa.
YucaTAn: Gobernador del Estado de Yueatin, Mérida, Yucatén.
New ZEALAND: General Assembly Library, Wellington.
Norway: Storthingets, Bibliothek, Oslo.
Peru: Camara de Diputados, Lima.
POLAND: Bibljoteka Narodowa, Warsaw.
PortuGAL: Secretario da Assemblea Nacional, Lisboa.
RUMANIA: i
Bibliothéque de la Chambre des Députés, Bucharest.
Ministére des Affaires Eitrangéres, Bucharest.
SPAIN :
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Madrid.
Catalunya: Biblioteca del Parlament de Catalunya, Barcelona.
SWITZERLAND: Bibliothéque de l’Assemblée Fédérale Suisse, Berne.
Berne: Staatskanzlei des Kantons Berne.
St. Gallen: Staatskanzlei des Kantons St. Gallen.
Schaffhausen: Staatskanzlei des Kantons Schaffhausen.
Ziirich: Staatskanzlei des Kantons Zitirich.
SYRIA:
Ministére des Finances de la République Libanaise, Service du Matériel,
Beirut.
Governor of the State of Alaouites, Lattaquié.
31508—38——6

66 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

TurRKEY: Turkish Grand National Assembly, Ankara.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA:
Library of Parliament, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope.
State Library, Pretoria, Transvaal.
Urvavay: Diario Oficial, Calle Florida 1178, Montevideo.
VENEZUELA: Biblioteca del Congreso, Caracas.
Vatican Crry: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City, Italy.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE AGENCIES

The work of the Peruvian Exchange Agency has been transferred
from the Biblioteca Nacional to the Seccién de Propaganda y Pub-
licaciones, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Lima.

LIST OF EXCHANGE AGENOIES

ALGERIA, via France.

ANGOLA, via Portugal.

ARGENTINA: Comisién Protectora de Bibliotecas Populares, Canje Internacional,
Calle Callao 1540, Buenos Aires.

Austria: Internationale Austauschstelle, National-Bibliothek, Wien, I.

Azores, via Portugal.

Brereium: Service Belge des Echanges Internationaux, Biblioth@que Royale de
Belgique, Bruxelles.

30LIVIA: Oficina Nacional de Estadfstica, La Paz.

Brazit: Servico de Permutacdes Internacionaes, Bibliotheca Nacional, Rio de
Janeiro.

British GuIANA: Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society, Georgetown.

British Honpuras: Colonial Secretary, Belize.

Buta@ariA: Institutions Scientifiques de S. M. de Roi de Bulgarie, Sofia.

CANADA: Sent by mail.

Canary IsLANps, via Spain.

Cute: Servicio de Canjes Internacionales, Biblioteca Nacional, Santiago.

CHINA: Bureau of International Exchange, National Central Library, Nanking.

CotompraA: Oficina de Canjes Internacionales y Reparto, Biblioteca Nacional,
Bogota.

Costa Rica: Oficina de Depdsito y Canje internacional de Publicaciones, San
José,

Cuspa: Sent by mail.

CzeECHOSLOVAKIA : Service Tchécoslovaque des Echanges Internationaux, Biblio-
théque de l’Assemblée Nationale, Prague 1-79.

Danzig: Amt fiir den Internationalen Schriftenaustausch der Freien Stadt
Danzig, Stadtbibliothek, Danzig.

DENMARK: Service Danois des Echanges Internationaux, Kongelige Danske
Videnskabernes Selskab, Copenhagen V.

DutcH GUIANA: Surinaamsche Koloniale Bibliotheek, Paramaribo.

Bovuapor: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Quito.

Eeyret: Government Press, Publications Office, Bulaq, Cairo.

Estonia: Riigiraamatukogu (State Library), Tallinn.

FINLAND: Delegation of the Scientific Societies of Finland, Kasiirngatan 24,
Helsingfors.

FRANCE: Service Francais des Eehanges Internationaux, 110 Rue de Grenelle,
Paris.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 67

Germany: Amerika-Institut, Universitatstrasse 8, Berlin, N. W. 7.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND: Wheldon & Wesley, 2-4 Earnshaw St., New Oxford
St., London, W. C. 2.

Greece: Bibliothégque Nationale, Athens.

GREENLAND, via Denmark.

GUATEMALA: Instituto Nacional de Varones, Guatemala.

Hair: Secrétaire d’Etat des Relations Extérieures, Port-au-Prince.

Honpuras: Biblioteca Nacional, Tegucigalpa.

Hunaary: Hungarian Libraries Board, Ferenciektere 5, Budapest, IV.

IcELAND, via Denmark.

InpIA: Superintendent of Government Printing and Stationery, Bombay.

Iraty: R. Ufficio degli Scambi Internazionali, Ministero dell’ Educazione
Nazionale, Rome.

JAMAICA: Institute of Jamaica, Kingston.

JAPAN: Imperial Library of Japan, Uyeno Park, Tokyo.

JAVA, via Netherlands.

Latvia: Service des Hichanges Internationaux, Bibliothtque d’Etat de Lettonie,
Riga.

LisertA: Bureau of Hxchanges, Department of State, Monrovia.

LITHUANIA: Sent by mail.

LouRENCO MArquez, via Portugal.

LUXEMBOURG, via Belgium.

MADAGASCAR, via France.

MAperrra, via Portugal.

Mexico: Sent by mail.

MOZAMBIQUE, via Portugal.

NETHERLANDS: International Ixchange Bureau of the Netherlands, Royal
Library, The Hague.

New SourH WALES: Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney.

New ZEALAND: General Assembly Library, Wellington.

NIcARAGUA: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Managua.

Norway: Service Norvégien des Wehanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque de
VUniversité Royale, Oslo.

PALESTINE: Hebrew University Library, Jerusalem.

PANAMA: Sent by mail.

Paraguay: Seccién Canje Internacional de Publicaciones del Ministerio de
Relaciones Hxteriores, Asunci6n.

Peru: Seccion de Propaganda y Publicationes, Ministerio de Relaciones HEx-
teriores, Lima.

PoLAND: Service Polonais des Hchanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Nationale,
Warsaw. 5

PortuGaL: Seccio de Trocas Internacionaes, Bibliotheca Nacional, Lisboa.

QUEENSLAND: Bureau of Exchanges of International Publications, Chief Secre-
tary’s Office, Brisbane.

Rumania: Bureau des Wchanges Internationaux, Institut Météorologique
Central, Bucharest.

SALVADOR: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, San Salvador.

Sram: Department of Foreign Affairs, Bangkok.

SoutH AvsTRALIA: South Australian Government Exchanges Bureau, Govern-
ment Printing and Stationery Office, Adelaide.

Span : Servicio de Cambio Internacional de Publicaciones, Paseo de Recoletos
20, bajo derecha, Madrid.

68 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

SuMATRA, via Netherlands.

SweEDEN: Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien, Stockholm.

SwITzERLAND: Service Suisse des Echanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Cen-
trale Fédérale, Berne.

Sygra: American University of Beirut.

TASMANIA: Secretary to the Premier, Hobart.

TRINIDAD: Royal Victoria Institute of Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain.

Tunis: via France.

TurRKEY: Robert College, Istanbul.

Union oF SoutH ArricA: Government Printing and Stationery Office, Cape
Town, Cape of Good Hope.

UNION oF Sovier SocrAList Reruslics: Library of the Academy of Sciences of
the U. 8S. 8S. R., Exchange Service, Leningrad, V. O.

Urvuevay: Oficina de Canje Internacional de Publicaciones, Ministerio de Rela-
ciones Exteriores, Montevideo.

VENEZUELA: Biblioteca Nacional, Caracas.

VicrorIA: Public Library of Victoria, Melbourne.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Public Library of Western Australia, Perth.

Yuaostavia: Section des [changes Internationaux, Ministére des Affaires

Etrangéres, Belgrade.

Respectfully submitted.
C. W. Suormaxer, Chief Clerk.

Dr. C. G. Aszor,

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

APPENDIX 6
REPORT ON THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the opera-
tions of the National Zoological Park for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1937:

The regular appropriation made by Congress for the maintenance
of the Park was $225,000, all of which was expended.

IMPROVEMENTS

The fiscal year 19837 was probably the most outstanding in the
history of the Zoo. The construction under the Public Works Ad-
ministration grant of $892,920 was completed. These improvements
include a brick exhibition building for small mammals and great
apes; a stone exhibition building to house large mammals; a new
wing to the bird house; a two-story building for machine and car-
penter shops; a stone garage; the installation of three 250-horse-
power down-draft boilers in the central heating plant; an extension
of the conduit system to the small mammal house and large mammal
house; and rearrangement of the electric supply distribution sys-
tem, a portion of which was put underground.

The small mammal and great ape house was completed and opened
to the public in May 1937. It is approximately 185 by 115 feet and
contains 96 cages and tanks varying in size from 18 by 12 by 26
inches to 12 by 40 by 10 feet, which provide accommodations for a
considerable variety of animals. The building consists of four sec-
tions: A large central room with cages in the center and around the
sides, some with glass fronts and others with steel bars; a wing for
the great apes with a glass partition between the animals and the
public; a third room for the gibbons, which are likewise partitioned
from the public by glass; and a fourth room, semicircular in form,
which is termed the nocturnal room and is designed to house an array
of small creatures that are rarely shown in collections. The build-
ing is fairly easy to keep clean, and the system of forced ventilation
eliminates practically all the odor.

The contract work on the large mammal house was completed in
June 1937, but considerable still remains to be done before it is ready
for occupancy. This work is being carried on by the Zoo’s regular
personnel which it is hoped will be augmented by assistance from

69

70 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

W. P. A. It is anticipated that the building will be occupied by
animals late in the summer of 1937.

The structure is about 227 by 90 feet and is designed to accommodate
elephants, rhinos, hippos, pigmy hippos, tapirs, and giraffes, for
which it has 13 inside cages ranging in size from 12 by 19 feet to
22 by 58 feet. Several of the inside cages have pools, and each
cage connects with an outside yard in which the animals are re-
tained by dry moats in lieu of fences. The design of the building is
simple, well proportioned, and beautiful. The public space is 30 by
165 feet, and the sound-deadening effect of the acoustical tile on the
ceiling produces a highly satisfactory condition. The walls of the
cages for the hippo, African and Indian elephants, and giraffe have
been painted with appropriate backgrounds by artists of the Treasury
art relief project.

The addition to the bird house, 43 by 133 feet, was completed in
November 1936. This wing contains 27 glass-fronted cages, one of
which has insulated walls and a glass top and is provided with a re-
frigeration system which makes it a well-lighted cold storage room.
This was stocked with penguins, which are thriving in the uniform
temperature of 63° F. The backs of a number of the cages, including
that of the penguin room, have been decorated with scenes representing
various geographical regions, which greatly enhances the attrac-
tiveness of the exhibits. The art work was done by the Treasury
art relief project.

The installation of new boilers in the central heating plant was
completed late in the summer of 1936, and the plant was used during
the winter of 1936-7.

The mechanical shop building is of stone, 51 by 100 feet, 2 stories;
the lower story accommodates a stockroom and iron and machine
work, and the upper story is mainly for carpentry work. The im-
proved facilities provided by this have permitted much greater effi-
ciency of operations in the maintenance of the Park than had been
possible heretofore.

The stone garage, 56 by 64 feet, was built near the boiler room
and completed late in the summer of 1936.

From July 1, 1936, until January 27, 1937, a small and diminishing
group of W. P. A. laborers was available for miscellaneous work
about the Park. With this labor a variety of work was accomplished,
including repairing and resurfacing some roads and walks. A trench
600 feet long was dug for the laying of electric conduit from the
bird house to the large mammal house. Trenches also were dug
for the laying of about 600 feet of sanitary sewers and drains. More
than 400 cubic yards of sand was hauled from the creek bed, cleaned
and screened for use in concrete work. Miscellaneous grading was

Secretary's Report, 1937.—Appendix 6 - PLATE 3

1. LARGE MAMMAL HOUSE AS SEEN FROM THE WEST. ELEPHANT YARD AND
POOL IN FOREGROUND, AND GIRAFFE YARD AT LEFT.

2. INTERIOR OF LARGE MAMMAL HOUSE LOOKING TOWARD HIPPO POOL.

Secretary's Report, 1937.—Appendix 6 PLATE 4

IT
|

il

[ae ~

1. HIPPO IN POOL IN LARGE MAMMAL HOUSE,

2. REFRIGERATED PENGUIN CAGE IN BIRD HOUSE.

Secretary's Report, 1937.—Appendix 6 PLATE 5

1. EXTERIOR OF NEW ADDITION TO BIRD HOUSE.

2. INTERIOR OF NEW ADDITION TO BIRD HOUSE.

Secretary's Report, 1937.—Appendix 6 PLATE 6

1. SMALL MAMMAL HOUSE AS SEEN FROM THE ROAD

2. INTERIOR OF NOCTURNAL ROOM OF SMALL MAMMAL HOUSE.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY fal

done about the Park. General improvement work about the grounds,
including seeding, sodding, and planting of trees and shrubs, was
carried on as well as the continuance of eradication of poison ivy
in the sections of the Park most used by the public.

Normal maintenance operations of the Park required all the mate-
rials and personnel that could be supplied under the regular appro-
priation, so almost no improvements were made under the regular
funds. Indeed, a great deal of finishing up work remains to be
done around the newly constructed buildings or in them but is
progressing very slowly because of lack of manpower and materials.

A bookbinder assigned to the Smithsonian Institution by the
W. P. A. has bound, rebound, or repaired a considerable number of
publications in the Zoo branch of the Smithsonian Institution
library, resulting in a great improvement in the condition and use-
fulness of the library.

The work of classifying and arranging in their proper places in
the library various publications of use in the Zoo has progressed
very satisfactorily through the arrangement whereby a member of
the Smithsonian Institution’s regular library force comes to the
Zoo once a week and carries out this type of work.

EXPEDITION

The National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution East
Indies Expedition, which is financed by the National Geographic
Society to obtain animals for this Zoo, left Washington in two sec-
tions. Dr. William M. Mann, Director of the Park, Mrs. Mann, and
Dr. Maynard Owen Williams, chief of the foreign editorial staff
of the National Geographic, left Washington January 12 and sailed
from Vancouver, B. C., January 19 on the Empress of Asia for south-
ern Asiatic points. On February 9, Roy Jennier, assistant head
keeper, and Malcolm Davis, keeper, in the National Zoological Park,
left Washington with 28 animals (2 black bears, 2 pumas, 2 jaguars,
4 raccoons, 3 opossums, 10 alligators, and 5 hellbenders), sailed from
New York February 11 on the steamer J alisse and arrived at Bel-
awan-Deli, Sumatra, March 22, 1937, where Dr. Mann had previously
landed and had established headquarters for the expedition. The
American animals were intended for zoos in the Far East. At the
close of this fiscal year the expedition is still in the field, and it will
not return to Washington until late in September or October 1937.
Information as to the animal collection being assembled indicates a
satisfactory trip.

NEEDS OF THE ZOO

The remaining two most important structural needs of the Zoo
are a new antelope building and a new restaurant building.

72 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The old frame structure now called the antelope house accom-
modates animals of a higher total value than any other single struc-
ture now occupied in the Park. It is an unhealthful type of struc-
ture, a dangerous fire hazard, is difficult to heat and expensive to
maintain. A new building adapted for the magnificent and re-
markable group of rather delicate even-toed hoofed creatures is much
needed.

The old frame shelter now housing the restaurant and concession
stand is badly deteriorated and entirely inadequate to accommodate
the large volume of business that has developed with the increasing
attendance at the Zoo. The construction of a suitable building
would be a self-liquidating undertaking, as the annual revenue de-
rived from the restaurant concession has been $6,012 per annum for
the past 3 years, and for the forthcoming 3 years will be $9,012
per annum.

There is also need for some additional walks and roads that we
hope may be constructed with the aid of the W. P. A.

VISITORS FOR THE YEAR

5 fix (a OS, Sah a Le a — Sete, DOO I MeDIUaLYy.— 2 ee 95, 000
T7421 | Ae ee RY Ce ae a ee eR ae A BE 176, 500
ere per = =a A ee 200; OU) Atle 2 or ee ee ee 239, 700
MOOLODGIS Ey 5 der Se ed Sh eels 2G6, 4004 May.ce ete ee ee 318, 350
LCE CIE C2) ack eae ae ne pr UE bh pee ee eC ae ieee 265, 600
Mecem pers. a. 8 sie eee 81, 250 ———_
TOS nc is SaaS EE a a 88, 450 pf eee 2, 435, 520

The attendance of organizations, mainly classes of students, of
which there is definite record was 34,120 from 688 different schools
in 20 States and the District of Columbia, as follows:

Number | Number Number | Number
State of of State of of

persons parties persons | parties
7 ne eee ee 20 1 |} North Carolina.........--.--- 1, 262 37
Oonnectiont_ wc. ~~ 22..52-.22-. 109 A) 3 (Oe a ES SR bens Sees eee 934 26
(ORC) ai ee eee eee 486 10 |] Pennsylvania-.....----------- 8, 552 167
District of Columbia__------- 6, 638 18311) Rhode island. co ade cite 40 1

SOTMIO Acca eek sakes 363 11 || South Carolina...-...--.----- 234 7

1 ee ee a eee 107 2 1) “Dennessee 22.25.26... 1 1
MARVIANG Jo S25 eos lates 4, 659 2 Ul), Waren ea es en ats Ss 4, 870 85
Massachusetts_.......-.....-- 337 Ol West Virginm. 20 2S 452 10
Wien pan o-* ica cc bac ewes 86 2 || Conventions—Members of
Wilesaite s2 ali vo east aS 46 1 various States_..........--- 140 2
New Hampshire_.-.--.------- 72 i
Wew darssys 62 20s a4. Se 2, 519 32 Potal ste ee 34, 120 638
INSW.Re Omi s eske fonc cee 2,178 24

About 3 o’clock every afternoon, except Sundays and holidays, a
census is made of the cars parked on the Zoo grounds. During the
year 32,668 were so listed, representing every State in the Union,
Canada, Mexico, Canal Zone, Alaska, and Cuba. Since the total

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY rhe.

number is merely a record of those actually parked at one time,
it. is not of value as indicating a total attendance but is of impor-
tance as showing the percentage attendance by States, Territories,
and countries. The District of Columbia comprised slightly over
48 percent; Maryland, 21 percent; Virginia, 14 percent; and the
remaining cars were from other States, Territories, and countries.
During years in which counts have been made on Sunday as well
as during the week it has been found that the percentage of cars
from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia is less, and
the percentage of the more distant States is correspondingly in-
creased. This is brought about by tourists coming to the Zoo on
Sundays when other points of interest are closed to them.

The nineteenth annual meeting of the American Society of Mam-
malogists was held in Washington May 4 to 8, inclusive. Their
program included a trip to the Zoo on May 8, where luncheon was
served in the large mammal house. The small mammal house was
first opened to the public as this organization entered it.

ACCESSIONS

Gifts——Many specimens were received as gifts this year. Inter-
esting additions were a pair each of cheer pheasants and white-
crested kaleege from Dr. J. Delacour, Cleres, France; a pair of blue-
crowned hanging paroquets and a tui paroquet from Alan N. Steyne,
Washington, D. C., and a male Kaibab squirrel from the United
States Forest Service.

We take this opportunity to express appreciation for the assist-
ance and cooperation of the personnel of the United States Biological
Survey, National Park Service, and Forest Service, and Vernon
Bailey, of Washington, D. C., Theodore Scheffer, of Puyallup, Wash.,
Alex Walker, of Tillamook, Oreg., and John M. Davis, of Arlington,
Va., for gifts of American small mammals for stocking the small
mammal house when it was opened. More than 150 small mam-
mals were received through them from localities ranging from
Georgia to Washington and Oregon.

When the small mammal and great ape house was completed, the
Director of the Park was on an extended trip to the southern Asiatic
region to assemble a collection for the Zoo, so it was not advisable,
even if it had been financially possible, to stock this building with
exotic animals. Arrangements were accordingly made for plac-
ing on exhibition a collection of American small mammals. It was
probably the largest and best collection of its kind ever assembled,
and has attracted much favorable attention. It is particularly
valuable in showing the considerable diversity of forms common to
North America and which are frequently overlooked or ignored.

74 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Also, it is of value because it has given visitors an opportunity to
study rather closely animals that are of great economic importance
either because of their beneficial or destructive habits or their value

for fur.
DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS

Mrs. Anna H. Anderson, Washington,. D. C., alligator.

A. M. Aytona, Washington, D. C., opossum.

L. D. Babbitt, Petersham, Mass., through Dr. Doris M. Cochran, copperhead
snake, hog-nosed snake, spotted turtle, musk turtle.

Miss M. B. Bailey, Hyattsville, Md., 3 Pekin ducks.

Vernon Bailey, Washington, D. C., 3 flying squirrels, short-tailed shrew.

Mrs. John B. Baker, Durham, N. C., rhesus monkey.

Marshall Banks, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

Dr. Thos. Barbour, Cambridge, Mass., chicken snake, corn snake, 3 garter
snakes, 2 black snakes, 2 king snakes, 15 water snakes.

Mrs. Virgil Barker, Fort Myers, Fla., broad-winged hawk.

Mrs. Beavers, Mt. Rainier, Md., black widow spider and eggs.

C. T. R. Bohannon, Carlsbad, N. Mex., prairie rattlesnake.

V. BE. Bolton, Washington, D. C., opossum.

W. L. Bond, Fredericksburg, Va., 2 barn owls.

Julius Booker, C. C. C., Belvoir, Va., copperhead snake.

Miss Mary L. Borger, Chevy Chase, Md., white rabbit.

Harlie Branch, Washington, D. C., alligator.

R. D. Brands, Washington, D. C., groundhog.

Mrs. Richard Brickway, Washington, D. C., orange-fronted parrot.

Dr. Alice L. Brown, Washington, D. C., 18 black skimmers,

Miss Caroline Brown, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Elwood Brown, Washington, D. C., white-throated capuchin.

8. K. Brown, Eustis, Fla., 4 corn snakes, 2 pine snakes, 3 coral snakes, water
moccasin.

Mrs. T. R. Brown, Washington, D. C., Belgian rabbit.

L. J. Burner, Maurertown, Va., raccoon.

Dr. A. Busk, Washington, D. C., 2 grass paroquets.

Miss Anna Butler, Washington, D. C., yellow-naped parrot.

Adjutant Carnahan, Washington, D. C., raccoon.

Dr. Doris M. Cochran, Washington, D. C., blacksnake.

Frederick Cochrane, Washington, D. C., alligator.

C. P. Coe, Chevy Chase, Md., raccoon.

Mrs. J. L. Cotton, Washington, D. C., Pekin duck.

Mrs. 8. C. Cotton, Washington, D. C., 2 grass paroquets.

Mrs. J. M. Cox, Washington, D. C., 6 moles.

Raymond Crawford, Warren, Ohio, 2 sidewinder rattlesnakes, 2 chuckwalla
lizards, gopher tortoise, 2 horn snakes, king snake.

C. R. Cruey, Centerville, Va., great white heron.

Frank Cundall, Kingston, Jamaica, Jamaica boa.

P. B. Darling, Washington, D. C., red fox.

Miss Priscilla Deane, Washington, D. C., bobwhite.

B. L. Deitzel, Washington, D. C., tarantula.

Dr. J. Delacour, Cleres, France, 2 cheer pheasants, 2 white-crested kaleege.

J. P. Delphey, Frederick, Md., Javan macaque, rhesus monkey.

Irving Denenberg, Washington, D. C., pied-billed grebe.

C. F. Denley, Glenmont, Md., 2 ring-necked pheasants, 2 white ring-necked
pheasants,

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 75

Mario DePrato, Washington, D. C., 3 geckos, garter snake.

Mrs. Catherine L. Devine, Washington, D. C., alligator.

¥. H. Dreyer, Laurel, Md., Cooper’s hawk.

Vernon Dye, Alexandria, Va., barred owl.

Billy Earman, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Mrs. C. W. Elliott, Washington, D. C., double yellow-headed parrot.

Mrs. J. H. Elvin, Washington, D. C., 3 Pekin ducks.

Dr. Wm. O. Emory, Washington, D. C., 5 salamanders.

Mrs. Arnold Flack, Washington, D. C., 2 grass paroquets.

Florida Reptile Institute, Silver Springs, Fla., 2 red-shouldered hawks.

Dr. R. H. Ford, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

Mrs. C. R. Fornwald, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

Mrs. Agnes L. Fort, Washington, D. C., double yellow-headed parrot.

M. B. Foster, Orlando, Fla., corn snake, mud or horn snake.

Mrs. Edith Frazier, Washington, D. C., yellow-naped parrot.

C. B. Freeman, Washington, D. C., 4 screech owls.

R. L. George, King City, Calif., yellow-billed magpie.

Frank Glaisdell, Washington, D. C., 24 horned lizards.

Sol Gnatt, Washington, D. C., water moccasin.

W. R. Gorman, Washington, D. C., Pekin duck.

Louis Granados, Riverdale, Md., blacksnake.

Donald Griffin, Cambridge, Mass., 9 hibernating bats.

R. Grove, Washington, D. C., raccoon.

Joseph Gruss, Waldorf, Md., bald eagle.

Mrs. Emma T. Hahm, Washington, D. C., 3 fan-tailed pigeons.

Miss Matilda J. Hahn, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Miss Reba Haiden, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Hugh M. Hamill, Sells, Ariz., desert rattlesnake.

J. Harvey, Washington, D. C., Pekin duck.

Thaddeus Hess, Marine Band, Washington, D. C., 5 pygmy rattlesnakes, 5
Florida diamond-back rattlesnakes, 12 water moccasins, blacksnake, corn
snake, 2 Florida king snakes, hoop snake or rainbow snake.

W. E. Hill, Petersburg, Va., banded rattlesnake.

P. J. Hollohan, Washington, D. C., Cuban parrot.

Mrs. N. Horan, Washington, D. C., African gray parrot.

L. C. Hosley, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

HH. N. Hosmer, Arlington, Va., alligator.

’ Billy Householder, Phoenix, Ariz., Agassiz’s tortoise.

Bob Householder, Phoenix, Ariz., Gila monster.

Tom Householder, Phoenix, Ariz., tarantula.

Dr. Claude Hudson, Washington, D. C., 18 red moon fish.

C. L. Hugh, Washington, D. C., opossum.

John H. Jackson, Oak Grove, Va., great horned owl.

W. B. Jones, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 2 water moceasins, 2 chicken snakes, copper-
head snake.

Ellis 8S. Joseph, New York City, 10 banded finches.

L, 8. Julier, Chevy Chase, Md., 2 Java sparrows.

Mrs. Martha Junkin, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

Wilbert Kaiser, Laurel, Md., bald eagle.

Walter Karig, Alexandria, Va., red-vented bulbul.

Mrs. A. S. Keever, Washington, D. C., ground squirrel.

Jacob W. Kennedy, Washington, D. C., tarantula.

C. T. Kettler, Washington, D. C., ribbon snakes.

J. B. Kimes, Silver Spring, Md., barn owl.

76 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

R. Lambert, Washington, D. C., 2 bobwhites.

Lester Leigh, Dade City, Fla., 3 garter snakes, chicken snake, 3 southern
pilot snakes, 3 Florida king snakes, 3 mud or horned snakes.

M. Libert and Wm. Spawn, Washington, D. C., trap door spider and nest.

Letty L. Light, Washington, D. C., sparrowhawk.

Capt. G. E. Lightcap, Washington, D. C., barred owl.

Mr. and Mrs. F. CG. Lincoln, Washington, D. C., salamander.

A. Loveridge, Cambridge, Mass., 2 chicken snakes, black snake, king snake,
corn snake.

Rowland Lyon, Chevy Chase, Md., opossum.

W. Mackay, Washington, D. C., alligator.

E. B. Maddox, Hyattsville, Md., 2 raccoons.

Herbert Magruder, Washington, D. C., black snake.

Harry A. Mahone, Roanoke, Va., indigo snake.

Harold BE. Martin, Washington, D. C., horseshoe crab.

Maryland University through Dr. Burhoe, 8 hairless rats.

H. W. D. Mayers, Collinsville, Conn., 2 green guenons.

R. H. McCauley, Ithaca, N. Y., 2 pine snakes, indigo snake.

Miss J. McDuffie, Washington, D. C., Pekin duck.

Mrs. J. D. McDuffie, Washington, D. C., Pekin duck.

BH. A. Mellhenny, Avery Island, La., 10 wood ducks, black Carolina and
turkey vulture hybrid.

Dr. Kenneth Meyers, Detroit, Mich., 5 lizards.

Mrs. Robert Montgomery, Washington, D. C., 2 horned lizards.

R. 8. C. Morman, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Wesley McC. Morris, Ednor, Md., 2 Formosan ring-necked pheasants.

Miss F. C. Mortimer, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

B. C. Moyer, Washington, D. C., opossum.

Stanley Mulaik, Rio Grande City, Tex., through Dr. Doris M. Cochran, 2
sealy lizards.

Mrs. J. Murcelle, Washington, D. C., blue jay.

Miss Ann C. Murray, Cumberstone, Md., 2 gray foxes.

National Park Service, through A. BE. Borell, Phoenix, Ariz., 12 desert pocket
mice.

Mrs. E. Page, Washington, D. C., double yellow-head parrot.

Drury Parks, Washington, D. C., orange-crested cockatoo.

R. L. Parnell, Alexandria, Va., 2 great-horned owls.

Mrs. E. Penn, Washington, D. C., flying squirrel.

D. N. Pratt, Washington, D. C., mouse opossum.

L. C. Probert, Olney, Md., mute swan.

U. S. Randle, Randle Highlands, D. C., American black bear.

F, A. Rapp, Washington, D. C., great blue heron.

Miss Helen Roach, Washington, D. C., 2 Pekin ducks.

Bi. H. Rolston, Alexandria, Va., 2 gopher tortoises.

Carroll W. Ruhle, Washington, D. C., pilot snake, queen snake, water snake,
3 ring-necked snakes, worm snake.

Mrs. Charles Saltzman, Silver Spring, Md., 2 flying squirrels.

Andrew Santorios, Washington, D. C., 2 tarantulas.

James R. Sarton, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Earl Saunders, Washington, D. C., Canadian porcupine.

Edward Saunders, Kensington, Md., screech owl.

Theodore H. Scheffer, Puyallup, Wash., 4 yelm pocket mice, 2 mountain beavers,
varying hare.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 77

Dr. Schultz and Mr. Reid, Washington, D. C., pilot snake.

W. W. Schwink, Washington, D. C., woodchuck.

Harry Sedley, Washington, D. C., marine turtle.

Miss Carolyn Sheldon, Woodstock, Vt., 2 eastern chipmunks.

W. H. Sherbert, Edgewater, Md., red-shouldered hawk.

John Shorey, Washington, D. C., screech owl.

G. W. Shuster, Washington, D, C., baby raccoon.

Allen Smith, Washington, D. C., 2 fence lizards.

Miss Betty Smith, Washington, D. C., white rabbit.

Miss Daisy Smith, Newark, Del., ferret.

Otto Smith, Harpers Ferry, W. Va., gray fox.

Wm. Spawn and M. Libert, Washington, D, C., trap door spider and nest.

Miss Daisy R. Spradling, Athens, Tenn., osprey or fish hawk.

Miss Katherine Stafford, Baltimore, Md., white-throated capuchin, marmoset.

FI, EF. Stayton, Chestertown, Md., brown capuchin.

Alan N. Steyne, Washington, D. C., 2 blue-crowned hanging paroquets, Tui
paroquet.

H. I’. Stroup, Washington, D. C., grivet monkey.

J. J. Taleott, Washington, D. C., horned lizard.

Dr. W. M. Tallant, Manatee, Fla., indigo snake.

Ralph Taylor, Washington, D. C., black widow spider.

Mrs. 8. G. Taylor, Washington, D. C., yellow-naped parrot.

M. R. Thorp, Washington, D. C., double-yellow-headed parrot.

Mrs. Ethel B. Timmons, Washington, D. C., Pekin duck.

Miss Mary Troiano, Washington, D. C., salamander.

Carl Tucker, Washington, D, C., hog-nosed snake.

Horace A. Tucker, Washington, D. C., indigo snake.

U. S. Biological Survey, through C. HE. Beebe, St. Regis, Mont., puma; through
J. S. C. Boswell, Washington, D. C., 8 corn snakes; through H, N. Elliott, El
Paso, Tex., 9 prairie dogs, 6 pocket gophers; through J. Finley and C. E.
McFarland, Cashmere, Wash., 3 mantled ground squirrels, 5 Hollister chip-
munks; through John H. Gatlin, Albuquerque, N. Mex., puma, 2 prairie wolves;
through Gill Gigstead, Havana, Il., 4 coyotes; through A. S. Hamm and N. E.
Buell, Casper, Wyo., long-tailed weasel, 2 picket-pin gophers; through L. E.
Hicks and L, Baumgartner, Columbus, O., 4 red squirrels; through F. N. Jarvis,
Washington, D. C., 3 meadow mice, pied-billed grebe; through BE. V. Komarek,
Thomasville, Ga., opposum, 3 cotton rats; through Kenneth Krumm, Middle
River, Minn., muskrat; through C, R. Landon, San Antonio, Tex., 4 Baird wood
rats, 4 cotton rats, 3 Rio Grande ground squirrels, hispid pocket mouse; through
C. R. Landon and J. M. Hill, Jr., Bryan, Tex., 6 pocket gophers; through ©, R.
Landon and L. C. Whitehead, San Antonio, Tex., Baird wood rat, cotton rat,
hispid pocket mouse, 2 gray pigmy mice, 3 Merriam’s silky pocket mice, 2 nine-
banded armadillos, 3 pallid white-footed mice, ground squirrel, red house
mouse; through J. Manweiler, Baudette, Minn., 6 varying hares or snowshoe
rabbits; through Wm. H,. Marshall, Bingham, Utah, 3 marmots; through O. J.
Murie, Seattle, Wash., bald eagle, glaucous-winged gull; through C. E. Mush-
back, Cache, Okla., 8 prairie dogs, 2 cotton rats, 2 round-tail wood rats, Old
field mouse; through W. D. Parker, Fort Totten, N. Dak., 6 flag squirrels,
11 Richardson ground squirrels; through W. Taylor and V. W. Lehmann, Hagle
Lake, Tex., 7 Texan red wolves; through H. W. Terhune, DeWitt, Ark., 6
cotton rats; through Stanley Young, Washington, D. C., bay lynx.

U. 8S. Forest Service, Washington, D. C., Kaibab squirrel.

W. C. Varner, Washington, D. C., horseshoe crab.

78 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Dr. Charles T. Vorhies, Tucson, Ariz., 2 Merriam kangaroo rats.

Alex Walker, Tillamook, Ore., Washington varying hare, Oregon creeping mouse.

Col. W. E. Welliver, Washington, D. C., 2 African monitors.

P. C. Wercks, Washington, D. C., grass paroquet.

W. David White, Washington, D. C., 3 red-shouldered hawks.

Mrs. J. H. Whitmore, Washington, D. C., yellow-naped parrot.

L. Wilkins, Takoma Park, Md., banded rattlesnake.

Mrs. B. IF’. Williams, Chevy Chase, Md., Canadian porcupine.

G. B. Williams, Thurmont, Md., 12 banded rattlesnakes, 10 copperheads, 5 water
snakes, 2 hog-nosed snakes, 11 pilot snakes, 2 fence lizards.

Mrs. R. Williams, Washington, D, C., alligator.

R. W. Williams, Washington, D. C., 2 rhesus monkeys.

BE. W. Wilson, Washington, D. C., groundhog.

Lee Guy Wilson Estate, Tree Top, Va., barred owl.

John Wyman, Washington, D. C., duck.

Philip N. Youtz, New York City, kinkajou.

Yugoslav Legation, Washington, D. C., alligator.

Births.—There were 50 mammals born, 37 birds hatched, and 14
reptiles hatched or born in the Park during the year. These include

the following:
MAMMALS

Scientific name Common name Number
Ammotragus lervia._._._.__ yA SUNT Ci elle pitti ds satale spec Bag cs ae 3
a FI arte eee Boe fa 0 Lo 5 le I, ie ea i De Sone 3
ewe, TRONS ao et en Oe eae ee AeriCwn DNON eee 2
Dee AL), | ite MIR ae iets Selah tesa st oe ee ee eee eee Z
Pee SF ites ap at i iS aN Se ecltien 9 Ne esa te Blea note pt ig) |
Camelus dromedarius —_-__-___--_--_- PAU CHINE >< oo, ee nme. 1
Contes tupus lycaon____-________ Pte er Le agi (0 | leaned, EAS mB esa 2
Capromys, ptlorides_______________ -___ 23 1: nee Rate eae ae ee 3
RIOT Ur SAIS een ee ee eee a ns WAL: + alkiellialal att es tetera, Nye 2! 2
ROTTER CGD pate ee eee BAUOW UOer se eee eee 8
Dolichotis salinicola__________.________ WATE CV nie ne eee 4
AGUUS OFZewWaleiet- 8 Mongolian wild horse ___-__-______ i
Hrethizon dorsatum ——___-__-__-___ Dastern porcupine —~_____--_-_- 1
ITGUEE ORIN os re ee ee ee Pr 1 pea a Salle aE aan seh ate 3
SLUG LEE Ci Balad etal, Dig rt SR Dit Mn Sats ka CA peel ain eerpmdid dae cred be ples 3
MODUSNE GUNG Se ees ONPEIGLY SRT coe ge 1
Oryx beisa annectens_________________ We RR e 2G an, ace aits Mate amelie St 1
pe Ng TT | dal ann le a Sag A VODUMERS COR a. nn a ee 8
gle ge gt ila Ni este Ana Maat is Sl piace Alaska Peninsula bear____-_--____ 1.

BIRDS
Anes undulatus Al 2h e. lee oe African yellow-billed duck__-__-__- 1
Ardea herodius XA. occidentalis_______ Heron thy brid: =. tit) es es 3
Branta canadensiée 22.2 Gonads . spose. ert wees] bien 2
Chrysolophus pictus_.__.___.____.___.-___ Golden: PheaRantise ies scsi gi I 5
Larus novaehollandiae___._..-.____-___ Silyveryhett 222220) ge eee 14
Pavo ovtatatuel 226 ot AE ii ge re Penfawizeliteics teemertt sabinr pote 5

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 79

REPTILES
BOG CHING) a0 tee Lae Creed tree Ode. ere 6
Egernia cunninghami__--------------- Ciunnmegham “skink. 2" 2) 2
Sistrurus catenatus catenatus____---_- iN, [TISTSEV SET poe pice dle A Mae 6

Eechanges.—In an exchange with the Philadelphia Zoological
Gardens there were received the following: Hybrid tree kangaroo,
American elk or wapiti, 2 European water snakes, 4 Kuropean vipers,
6 green tree frogs, and 10 small European lizards. From Louis
Ruhe, Inc., New York City, were received a cock of the rock and a
koel, A pair of gannets was received from the Toronto Park Zoo,
Toronto, Canada. From Dr. Johan Beetz, Director, Service de
VElevage des Animaux a’ Fourrure, Province of Quebec, was re-
ceived a splendid specimen of ranch-bred mink obtained by him from
the mink farm of Dr. J. E. La Forest, near the city of Quebec.

Purchases.—Important purchases during the year were three
pronghorn antelopes, 6 jackass penguins, a pair of jabiru storks, and
3 black-tailed marmosets. In December 1936, 30 hummingbirds were
purchased in Habana, Cuba, and transported by airplane to the
Park. Only 2 died en route, the remainder arriving in good
condition.

REMOVALS

Deaths.—Important losses by death during the year include two
chimpanzees, one of which, “Soko”, had been in the collection since
September 8, 1915. A Komodo dragon received June 21, 1934, died
July 11, 1937. A Burmese deer and saiga antelope died during this
period.

During the year 405 specimens that died were sent to the National
Museum.

ANIMALS IN COLLECTION THAT HAD NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN EXHIBITED

MAMMALS
Scientific name Common name
Callithrix argentata.-.. 2 Black-tailed marmoset.
Cricetomys gambianus________________ African pouched rat.
BIRDS
BEPOON WaUMCHR 80) 18.8 ke ne Cheer pheasant.
Gennaeus albocristatus_______________. White-crested kaleege.
REPTILES

Bavcrates subllavus 20.05 Sure Jamaica boa.

80 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Statement of accessions

Received
Pre- : Pur- On de-
Class Born in ex- ; Total
sented change chased posit
WU 2 hn ae ee ae Bane = a5 Shae 185 50 3 26 15 279
ye es eh ee Uae SAR eae Te 97 37 26 204 18 382
1c) oe ne aS Sane as. \. Oe y 224 14 16 36 25 315
TAD MIIANS 0s. 2 ceo ak catce dase seeee ee q |axcuoseese 6 pt anaes Se 32
Loy CUT See eee ee ee a ee ee eee VW on! Sa 50

Summary
ATIMAIN ‘On DANG. JULY: 1, heO. ee 2F Se ee 2,191
Acceusions' during’ the. yenriitit Cero ery Beh ees es ee 1, 067
‘Total animals. in collection during years —._ + 545) eo ee 3, 258
Removal from collection by death, exchange, and return of animals on
RRS. TAM cts Sone eRe el ec: osetia . Spies a 2 fic) Nis tein ne Bell’ 916
In eonection Jiime 80; Gets Or ear be et See 2, 342

Status of collection

Individ-

Class Species Species

ANIMALS IN THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, JUNE 30, 1937

MAMMALS
MARSUPIALIA
Didelphidae: Number
Didelphis virginiana_____------_-_- OnORSTII: 52 Aor ae Re = pe ee 9
Metachirus opossum =_____.___--__. Zorro or banana opossum___—---~~ il
Macropodidae:
Dendrolagus ursinus XD. inustus.._ Hybrid tree kangaroo___------~-- i
CARNIVORA
Felidae:
Felis concolor azteca ———_ =. Mexican ‘puma’ a eee ‘!
Metachirus opossum_..____.-____. j Eg bic: Ngpeet ice send eve dat Soap nibh Pea tt en 4
TCUS 100. 2 eee eee oe TOT ee 6
TGUGR TOR GURU aaa ne ee een Uganda ‘wild. tabby u
; JRLTAT oe ere ee 5
teat eenceseeae Sabana Black taeuar 2 eee 2
CIS MOTOS ne eae eee ee ‘Biack leopard = eee 1
Felis pardus suahelicus_______-~_-. Hast African’ leopard... == 1
Fels temmincki_=—.—-__..~__...— Golden ent too es eee 1

Felis tigris longipilis___.c.______- Sileripn tiers eee 2

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY Sl

Felidae—Continued.
Felis tigris sondaicus____________- Sumatranotirer 22 2
yn TOC CY ta ee Boley sclyux = eS oe eee, 1
EAD ECU OCU ae ee ee oe CCE WHTY OFF I pene on pepe atc od, iene Bel pale 1
U DAY INT PAPO PUI eS i Raa Rach ite ISS Vp yiisee ee ee ee a ee 5
Viverridae:
Cweitictis civetta____----__--=_—— Oly Cig one ee eee a
Genetta dongalana neumanni___—-- NMenmann’ Ss sSeneh= = eee il
Moschothera megaspila______----- CTE Fae a ES ee EE ne LOT 3
Hyaenidae:
Crocuta crocuta germinans__---~~-- East African spotted hyena__--__ 1
YAGCNG ULUNNeb == ee Brown hyena =—— = ee 2
Canidae:
i Coyote; = 0522 =. a ee 13
Canis latrang.---—= apnea ne Albino: coyote=--===—- =. oae_ Senos af
Canis latrans X domestica____-_-. Coyote and dog hybrid____________ 2
Canis lupus lycaon_—-----_-_-----. Timber > wolfsec=-—- ass EB Ie 4
Canis tipus mubiluso2 == WOME ans ne age eens i oe 8
Canis lupus nubilus X domesticus. Wolf and dog hybrid___-_________ 1
Canrssniils = ees Texan red - woltetiees | ae if
Chrysocyonjubataz—- 2s _ be Maned-~wolt 2a Uree8 sana a al
Urocyon cinereoargenteus___-__-_- Gray “fox Se) See et 7
Anes lieu eee eee Red: for oes Sa Ie See Nee see 9
Procyonidae:
NGS NOTI CO Lae =e ae eer RE Gray’-coatimundi#2 2 2 eas 3
Pars cee Se 2 ee Kinks joua 2 a ae 3
Procyon cancriworus—2—2ie fee Crab-eating raccoon________-_____ 1
Rercoprres eS) LO eee 17
POCYUONNLOLOT ee Aibino (raccoons 2 00, Saas 1
Blacksraccoon=<-- ==" lens: Soles al
Bassariscidae:
Bassariscus astutus_--__-_---4___ Ring-tail or cacomistle____________ 2
Mustelidae:
Galictis barbara barbara____------ Whitestayra ==<-==2e re eee Z
Lutra canadensis vaga------------~ Moridar otters eae seer 2
Mellivora capensis __-__---__-__-__ Rate le atst canker See vee 1
Meniitiscnigra ==" =- 2 Denese ee ee ee ee ee a
Mustela cicognani cicognani_______ Bonaparte s weasel ofl
Mustela eversmanni _______--____~ HP errepesse = essere See 3
Mustela longicauda longicauda._-- Long-tailed weasel________________ 1
Mustela vison vison——__.__-_-§_-______ Ma er ee ee ee 1
Spilogale ambarvalis ________---__ Florida spotted skunk ___________ 1
Ursidae:
Huarctos americanus____________- American black bear__...____-_____ 6
Huarctos emmonsti__-_-___- GAACIETS CAT, nn eee eee of
Helarctos malayanus___-_---_-_- Malavior Sun bear==—— ere 1
Thalarctos maritimus____________ ROAR Dea ee eee 2
Thalarctos maritimus X Ursus gyas Wybrid bear___-_______-____________ 3
UCL OR a European brown bear_____________ +
OU RUS OU US ena a Alaska Peninsula brown bear______ 4
GRSUS TACO Ci a ee Kadder’s\ bear 5.2 ee nee 2
Ursus middendorfii______-___.___- Kodiak. bear. 222 e task 3
Ursus -sithensig. os Sitka.brown. bear. - .5-= ae 3
Ursus thibetanus.._._____________. Fimalayanvbegr=2as ao esse ee 1

31508—38——_7

82 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

PINNIPEDIA
Otariidae:
Humetopias jubatus______.__.______ Steers Gil, ons) oe oe
Zalophus californianus_____-__--_- California seq lions.
Phocidae:
Phoca richardit__._._________-_____ Pacific harbor seal__________-_-___
PRIMATES
Callitrichidae :
Oallithria jacohus___—___.--_____ Common marmoset ——..-_-_-__--_
MOG OC UENCE eg Black-tailed marmoset-__---------
Oedipomidas geoffroyi__-__-______ Central American marmoset_-------
Cebidae:
Cebus angle) 8 ee Brown :capuchin.._-<= 222 ts Bea
Oebue capucinus._-.________.___ White-throated capuchin___--_--__
Cebus fatuctiae= 2 oes Weeping capuchin
ORT PR ok Oe ee he Brown. CANUCHIN sw. Soe
Cercopithecidae :
Cercocebus fuliginosus____________ Sooty meanpapey.—- =
Cercopithecus albigularis___..____ SyKeS Bhenon ek ere
Cercopithecus aethiops aethiops__. Grivet monkey_-_.________________
Cercopithecus aethiops roloway_.._. Roloway monkey —----------______
Cercopithecus aethiops sabacus__.. Green guenon__--_-----_--_______
Cercopithecus diana______________ Diatie INOWROY. Qos ee
Cercopithecus neglectus___________ De Brazza’s guenon_..___ ._+
Cercopithecus petaurista__________ Lesser white-nosed guenon____-___
Colobus polycomos caudatus______ White-tailed guereza __._.________
Colobus polycomos polycomos____— White-tailed colobus____.__________
Macaca fuscste oo on ce Japanese monkey_.----__-_-______
Macaca mordee? ..— a Javan macaque... ee
Macaca nulatia......._..-3..._. EENOBUS MONKGY oe ee
Macnee sens. WRHUSrOG MONKCY. 22 oa as
BE OGG Disb 2 re nn ice Bonnet monkey <2. 252. Se
ee ee Macaque monkey...
Mague maureus.__. se Moor MOnKey. = =e ae
Mandrillus leucophaecus __-_______ (07.1) SRE eRe eee aera ELE Sc
Mandrillus sphing___...__.._____. bE i ee
Papio comatus <n ORB sa ee
Papio hamedryae______.__._.____ Hamadryas baboon_.--_.__-____--
Papio papio cynocephalus___._____ Hast African baboon________.______
Papio papio papio________________ West African baboon _.___________
Theropithecus gelada_____________ Gelada’ baboon... eee
Ifylobatidae:
Symphalangus syndactylus_______ Slamane -P1DDOR =<. - os ee
Pongiidae:
PPORGO DOCU oie ce Sumatran orangutan______________
RODENTIA
Sciuridae:
Oallospermophilus saturatus______ Mantled ground squirrel__________
Citellus beecheyi douglassii_______ Douglas ground squirrel__________
Citellus mexicanus parvidens_____ Rio Grande ground squirrel____--_

Citellus richardsonii_-.____-_____- Richardson ground squirrel____-_~

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 83

Sciuridae—Continued.
Citellus richardsonui elegans___--- Picket-pin gopher —_--__-_-__-___- oe es I
Citellus tridecemlineatus___-_---- Hlagesquirrel_2 twas. sisiseere set 6
Cynomys ludovicianus____-------- Prairie, dog = ek eee “13
Eutamias amoenus ludibundus____ Hollister chipmunk —--___-___--_-_-~-- 2
Glaucomys volans___------------- Biying, squirrel... -eVaseen. yee 5
Marmota flaviventris____-__------- Marmot or whistler_________-__ Le ee
Woodchuck or groundhog_-__----- _ 7
Marmot Monde ————————— ana naa == eee woodchuck or groundhog-- 1
Sciurus fintaysoni__.-~-- 2522-2. Lesser white squirrel___________ ue
Sciurus hoffmani sub. sp_--------~ otiman’s squirrel 2 See ee a
Sciurus kaibabensis__._____-__-____ oa Dy Sg uinTebs a oe eee 1
Seirus: Nigeva= === eee Woxeisqairrel- 1
MaMias SITtOtUss = ee Hastern-chipmunk==2-25232 es. 2
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus___------ Rede Sq irre] ae os ee 2
Geomyidae:
Geomys arenarius______-__--_---.- Sand pocket gopher__-----__--___ 4
Thomomys douglasti yelmensis__-_-. Yelm» pocket ,gopherss-2 =: 2. 1
Heteromyidae:
Perognathus hispidus___._._.___.__—. Hispod pocket mouse_-_-_-__-____ 1
Perognathus merriami merriami___ Merriam’s silky pocket mouse---_ 2
Perognathus penicilliatus_______-_- Desert pocket mouse___.----~--~~ 2
Castoridae:
Castor canadensis.___._____.__.__—- IB ORViO Ts sascha 2 ee ee ae 2
Cricetidae:
Baiomys taylori taylori___-___----- Gray. pigmy: monse=- 23 1
Microtus oregoni oregoni____-----~ Oregon creeping mouse_-------_-_ 1
Microtus pennsylwanicus______---- Meadow sIMOuUses4 22 a 2
Neotoma floridana attwateri_--_-- Round-tailed wood rat___._--__-~~- 2
Neotoma micropus—_—__-_.—.=—=—== Baind swood, ate 2
Ondaira zibethica__.—.— = Black. muskrats. <= -- =2e 2 = i
Peromyscus leucopus.__—_.—.——_=— White-footed mouse_______--_-_-_ +
Peromyscus maniculatus pallescens— Pallid white-footed mouse___-_-~-_ 2
Sigmodon hispidus hispidus_______ (COUROD: Wiles oes Se ae 9
Sigmodon hispidus terianus_______ OOtbOn) Pata 22 ee ee ean 5
Muridae:
Cricetomys gambianus_______-____ Gambia pouched rat--__._--__-_~— 2
ITAL SON AUSCALIARS 3 et et Red ,housewmouses222—= = 2 2
IGE SRE LOCI se eee ee Waltzing. Moluse=s2).3.2 es ae ree 3
ACIS COMESTICH. 22 ee eee IG EPIORS rob ee ek re 4
Dipodidae:
Dipodomys merriami_____.__-_--_ Merriam kangaroo rat___-._---~~~—~ 2
Hystricidae:
Acanthion brachyurum______--_-_- Malay porcupines. = = 2
EU SUPAD” CALCU ass eee East African porcupine_____~----- 2
Erethizontidae:
Erethizon dorsatum_________----- Hastern: porcupines. = 2 a.) 1
Myocastoridae:
Myocastor <Coypu oss Og): a: | a ne eters e een 2
Capromyidae:
Capromys pilorides_.__.________._-_ 13 tiint oe eae Oe ee ee ae ee NS 9
Cuniculidae:

Citellus richardsonii____________ — Central American paca______-__-_- 2

84 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Dasyproctidae:
Dasyprocta croconota prymnolopha_ Agouti-__.___-___.-.-__-__-_--______
Dasyprocta rubrata___-_---_------ Trinifad sageutitcsasn ts tie
Myoprocta..~p—_._sh_ ais =f Tailed agouti: +e Speak ot an
Caviidae:
Oavia .porcellue.___Lestives 2ue so Domestic guinea pig_--__-___-_____
Dolichotis magellanica____.___--_-~ Patagonian. cayy2ssisa® stapeett
Dolichotis salinicola__.___-___-----~ IDyate ACa Vy ee eee
Hydrochoeridae :
Hydrochoerus hydrochoerus____--- Oa DP DAED nen Pe BD te
LAGOMORPHA
Leporidae:
Lepus americdnusann24--.<-2-26 Varying hare or snowshoe rabbit——
Oryctolagus cuniculus___._____-__ pte RR tree
BOLOLS THUDIC. ee ee
ARTIODACTYLA
Bovidae:
Ammotragus lervia ________----_- BN 1 1) Ct Cen eC a eg la Iola
Anoa depressicornis______________ ROSS eee ee
Antilope cervicapra —.____-__..-_-- Black buck or Indian antelope___
Steun DiRONS ee ATIGMICHYDISON - ok eee
FOR TV OURGIAD wer? ss eS ee pee a eee
Pe ene oe eee Ra 2 eee ees Partha Mal he Ely
Boselaphus tragocamelus ____-___ ae 4:) EE Ree oe ee ee er ard!
Bubalus bubalis______.__._________ Indien butte. ee eee
Capra iinieG ee Sipetian ibexe- —— eee
Connochaetes gnu —_.______________ White-tailed gnu.
Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus White-bearded gnu_------_-----__
Hemitragus jemlahicus_____-___- ea! Ye et pee he eS bee hain at toe be |
Onotragus lechee_______________ — Anechesantelope___-
Orya beisa annectens_____________ Thean belsk Crys
Ovtscuropacis = REGYEO Oe en ee eee
Poephagus grunniens____-------- pT easel Nee A A tals Lateline
Taurotragus orye 2 THIN Up gecesi cela tat liebe ee tact as tot
Antiloeapridae:
Antilocapra americana __-_--_--__ Pronghorn antelope ~-__-__________
Cervidae:
A RR re ASIA RET en ey
Oervus canadensis.22 Amerionn clic 222" eee
Cervus duvaucellit —..__._..______ Barasineha. deers see
Cervus claphus___ 2 European red deer_____-_---__-__-
Cervus xanthopygus_____-________ Bedford: deer. 2. eee
Hatlow (Geer SS eee
PREY PARR te a AD A, Sits White fallow deer___--_-_-------
Muntiacus sinensis_______________ Barking or rib-faced deer____--__
Odocoileus costaricensis __________ Costa RicanwWeer ee
Odocoileus virginianus __-_--_-__- Virginia Geet... SS eee
Rusa moluccensis ———~_.-._____ Molucca deers see
Gin Hppon = 22! sea, Japanese deer’. 2. =e eee
Camelidae:
Camelus bactrianus _____--_-_____ Bactrian camel) ss soe
amit Gama eee. AB 1 BED Piatra eee ets tla ed bt Aad

Lema huanacus_.—. Guanaco

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 85

Tayassuidae:
Pecars anguiatus—=-_ Collared: peccary-—_ = sahiens 3
Tayassw pecan 22 2S ee ae White-lipped peccary__----__-__ Ae Bae
Suidae:
Babdirussa alfurus______-_-----__-_ Babirussa =a ttod ge oninnsaiet Gi
Phacochoerus aethiopicus mas-
SULCUS to ne Hast African warthog____________ 8
SAUSUSCLOIO se el ee ee Huropean wild boar_————~ 22-412 il
Hippopotamidae:
Choeropsis liberiensis____--------~ Pigmy hippopotamus_____________ 2,
Hippopotamus amphidius._----——~ ERB pHOPOLAINUS 22 5= 22s 2 Sw ee 1
PERISSODACTYLA
EHquidae:
HOWUS OTeUYli-8- = = see eet Grevy’s” . zebra. £2 - 2s 1
Hquus grevyi-asinus__-__--------- AENvAa-SS, NY DTG eee ee 1
Equus grevyi-caballus______-__---- Zebra-horse hybrid______~_---~--_ L
HQUUS KONAG Cra a ee Asiatic wild ass or kiang__---__-- 2
Equus przewalskit___._-__.___~——— Mongolian wild horse___-____-_--- 3
Equus quagga chapmani-_—_---~---. Chapman’s zebra=-2=2=- 5 -== 8
WOUUSIOCE UL Oe ee eee ee Mountain (zebras. = eee 2
Tapiridae:
Tanirenla CCindiias a= a Baird's: tapir. = a ee 1
RODINUS LCrVestris=—— a ae Brazilian “tapiro—- _ 22 ee ee 1
Rhinocerotidae:
DiCeros UiCOTni Sas =a eae Black rhinocer0s==_==3s====1- 28 1
PROBOSCIDEA
Hlephantidae:
Hlephas sumatranus_.__________--- Sumatra’ elephant 22255 2222 22a pf
Hiephas manimis—_—__ -— 32 eee Indian’ -clephant_____--_-- + sae a
Loxodonta africana oxryotis_______— African elephant=_ 2-2 52-55 22s 1
EDENTATA
Choloepodidae:
Choloepus didactylus__________-_- Two-toed .Ssloth=--3s=s- = pee 4
Dasypodidae:
Dasypus novemcinctus___—__-__-_---~ Nine-banded armadillo_____-___-__ 4
CHIROPTERA
Desmodontidae:
Desmodus rotundus_+—=—+-—=----+ Trinidad vampire. bat22--------=— 3
Birps
STRUTHIONIFORMES
Struthionidae:
Struthio camelus____-— 22-2 =2 ek South African: ostrichs. S242 eee il
RHEIFORMES
Rheidae:

TERE G QMCMiCANG. = oo ee ee Common rhea or nandu_____--_—-~ 1

86 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

CASUARIIFORMES
Casuariidae:
Casuarius unappendiculatus_____-_ Single-wattled cassowary_--_---_-
Dromiceiidae:
Dromiceius n. hollandiae___---_-_- Common. emu—__ 6) ss see
SPHENISCIFORMES
Spheniscidae :
Spheniscus demersus________-___.- Jackass penguin._._._._ “$205 ese
PELECANIFORMES
Pelecanidae:
Pelecanus californicus______-_____- California brown pelican____-____-_
Pelecanus conspicillatus_______-_- Australian pelican... = 2a
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos_--__--~- American white pelican__-______--
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos XP. oc-
cldontalie.— Ur Se eS Bybrid--pelican—° sos eee
Pelecanus occidentalis_____-__--___ Brown -pelican-=_.-— 22 bee
Pelecanus onocrotalus___---_----~ European pelican_____------__-___
Pelecamus roseus_.-—-~-- Rose-colored pelican-__-------_--_
Sulidae:
Morus: dDaseqnus ——...-—_. _-_..... Chammiotist fio ee
Sula orant A ee Blue-footed booby-_-------—-- ~~~
Phalacrocoracidae:
Nannopterum harrisi__.._._._..___-- Flightless cormorant—-.-~~----_--_

Phalacrocorar auritus albociliatus. Farallon cormorant. -_-.._.-----—-
Phalacrocorar auritus floridanus Florida cormorant --__-_--------~~

Anhingidae:

Anhinga anhinga__.______--._-.__ Avihings ool. Ss eee
Ardeidae: CICONITFORMES

Ardea herodtas. 22525 Great blue heron--~------.-----~-

Ardea herodias X A. occidentalis__ Hybrid heron _-_--_-----_--_---__

Ardea occidentalis.___________ 2 Great. white heron_—._._._.__..______

Casmerodius albus egretta__..____ American egret___.___._.= See

Nycticorar nycticoraw naevius____ Black-crowned night heron_--_--__
Cochleariidae :

Cochlearius cochlearius_._____--___ Boathbill- hergit}ss we Sea
Balaenicipitidae:

Balaeniceps re@.........__ 222 SC Biia Bit ho
Scopidae:

Scopus. amobretia t=. 2 ss, Hammerhesd.-Ase ee: se ea
Ciconiidae:

Dissoura episcopus____.________-. Woolly-necked stork _.______-__-__

Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis____ Saddle-billed stork____._.__-__-_-____

Jabiru. mycteria..—___._..--2 iv Daas i= theater oe

Leptoptilus crumeniferus _..-_-___ Marabou 22.222. 2S

Leptoptilus dubius._..-__ Indian .adjutant..2202 409 sips)

Leptoptilus javanicus _-___.______ Lesperiadietant: = eee

Mycteria americana___-__________ Wood ibis

1

1

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 87

Threskiornithidae :

LEU THAD ge TANT el Rosexte, snoonbill-s-- 1
Gab PG BE ie Ra oe 8 oe VV L One 8 es eek al ee 4
Guara alba X G. rubra____------- Mtg it aise dt
Guare. rbbre. 2-2 ee SG RL RES 4 ee eS ee 2
Threskiornis aethiopica___-»-__--_ Scie 0 gn! 0) Ries) ee eee Z
Threskiornis melanocephala_____ ~~ Black-headed jibis= 2s =, 2
Anatidae: ANSERIFORMES
Aig spons@=— =... Sones at ieee Woodiiducke.3... a * ae 18
Alopochen aegyptiacus_ ~~---__-_---~ Heyptian: goose =22. 2s seer eee 2
Anas domestica_______~-~ cs sla at BReking ducks see eee 15
Anas platyryn clos aan ffosn-anee Grice) —AiboRll oat
FATS TALON RD OS ee a nee Black or dusky mallard_-_---__-~~_ 2
ANUS) MDW =e eee eae African yellow-billed duck--___--~- 8
PAMISCH, QLOt TONS 2222 American white-fronted goose___-—_ 3
PATTSCN! HOOGLUS sre oon scree es BEG SOpse se eee See 2
BT ONL UCTHACHT = ase ee Bran eset ee ee 3
Bronte canadensis Canada s00ser ee ee 6
Branta canadensis hutchinsii______ Hutchin'’s'gooses:-42" a eee 4
Branta canadensis minima_______— Gaickimet 2008e2 a eee 4
Branta canadensis occidentalis__._._°_ White-cheeked goose____-----~--~~ 20
EVOL LCUCOD SIG aa Barmacles cose ee eee ee 1
Carina’ moschataa. 2-2 Muscovyr ducka==* See eee 3
Oasarca variegata_—__..--_.--2-.-_ Paradise: duck= 222 he eee 1
Cereopsis novaehollandiae___-_-__ Cereopsis or Cape Barren goose____ 1
Ohenvatlonticas oe ee NNO WSEOUNG ee ee eee ee ees 7
Chen caerulescens-___—_--._-~____. Binerequsetee te a ee 9
Chloephaga leucoptera____________ Magellan t200s6 eee 1
Cygnopsis cygnoides______________ GINENE” (BOOSG. tase 2 Se i)
Cygnus columbianus. Wiiistiitiows wanes Pitts 3
OU IUEST OL OV Se ee Ea a tee, IMibers wath. Serre r erie 3
RE TOU CEOUL 2 ee ee Pin tally “QUCKS 2a ee 5
Dajfita bahamensis_____-~-_____-.. Bahantwnes pm tails. a |
Dafila acuta X D..sp____--._-.—-- Pintallny prides = =o eee il
Dendrocygna arborea______-_-----_- Blaek-billed™ duek2-—.-—-2- =. +2 5
Dendrocygna autumnalis Black-bellied tree duck __-______ +f
Dendrocygna viduata______._-_-_ White-faced tree duck ____________ ul
Hentotarsts eytonis 2. Hyitonys: tree! duck. 0 i
Mareca. americana_______________. Bags Wate See See ee ee 3
IVGGCIDCTESI IL UL = ee ee ne OTINOCOR. DOSE et ee es eee 1
Nettion carolinense______________ Green-winged teal__________._____ 1
IVROCEe COMMUN ea ee en neck: GUCk= 2h. ee ee i
Nyroce valisineria_______ Canvas-pack Quek. =o res if!
PALECTE CONGOGLCG ee HIMpPeror “LOOSE. 6 3 eee, at
Plectropterus gambensis__________ Spur-winged goose________________ al
Querquedula cyanoptera__________ Cinnamon: {Teale 228 aioe s Deere A
Querquedula discors_.__.__.-_____- Bine-wineed™: teal = es ae 1
Sarkidiornis melanota____________ UGHONET LOPE UTE inst bi PY ge ae ae 1

ROT NG POUT eg tie eg COTES See en a e D

88 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
FALCONIFORMES

Cathartidae :
Calhiries nirire se == ene te Torkey.- VOLT ess 3
Cathartes aura X Coragyps atra- Black Carolina and turkey vulture

|S) pA ee ae eed Al ot Ay brid once 1

Uoragyns trate Black..-vulture:ssis2 2 soe eee 1
Gymnogyps californianus__--_---- California: ‘condor2us 2 shina 3
Veli orvonhias 3 oS South American condor___------__ » |

Accipitridae:
Aegypius monachus— ..__.-------- CINCTEOUS - VULENTC. 2.2 ae ee 1
Aquila chrysaetos_____----------_ tie emma ees 2
Biuree pores. Red-tailed hawk. ee 5
iBGteo nema Soe i Red-shouldered hawk_------------ 3
Buteo platypterus___._._.._.-.-=--= Broad-winged hawk_ _----------__ 1
Buteo swainsoni_.....-._--...-—- Niwarnson s: MHawWwh=Se2 7 1
Gypaetus barbatus grandis__--___- DBO! ele 12! 5) ene AE el iL.
Gunes rucppellh.—-.=+- BAYT DGL' SV ULOTINC se x
ot ED a a a ee Malay brahminy kite..._..__.....- 1
Haliacetus leucocephalus-_______- ESC Oe Ed Fe Se ge 20
MRR MIGTONS = <a eeecteeeen Vellow-hilled. ‘klie Sey:
Pandion haliaetus carolinensis____ Osprey or fish hawk _ _----------__ 2
Stephanoactus coronatus___-__---_ Crowned hawk eagle__-__..______ 1
Torgos tracheliotus_____..._....—. African eared-vulture __-.--______ 1
Uroaetus aquden =... Wedge-tailed eagle________________ a |

TFalconidae:
Palco. sparvertue——___ - SDATEOW HAW eo te hee 1
Polihierar semitorquatus_________ African ‘pigniy “faleoMsecn cere eee 8
Polyborus cheriway..___.--_--_~= AndupOn’S. CATACATS 2 2
Polyborus plancus___--_---------- South American caracara--------- 1

GALLIFORMES

Cracidae:
Crag globulesa_—. 2S Spix’s wattled curassow__--__--__ 1
TRG TINO T ee Pani Carson... ee |
JY Os 1) CER Coe € sepia Se) 5 ethane Razor-billed curassow —-----_---__ x
META ROTO a nae Salvin’s ‘curdssows. a.

Phasianidae:
Argusianus Grguese 2: ALPS CANINE. eee a
Catopiasie- 6ihon_____ MIG Sy pHessaN 6 ee eee 1
Oatreus waliichit_____.. -_________ Shiver piensa ee 1
Chrysolophus amherstiae-____-___ Lady Amherst’s pheasant_____--_- 3
Chrysolophus amherstiae X Syr-

maticus reevest_______-______-_ ERY RIG ee oe eee 1

Chrysolophus pictus___.___________ Golden pheasant —.___-___________ 5
Colinus virginianus___-____-_____ Bobwhite.) ee ee 1
Coturnia japonica__________-_-__ Asiatic migratory quail_____-_-~~_ 3
Orossoptilon mantchuricum_______ Manchurian pheasant —_-_________ 2
Gennaeus albocristatus___________ White-crested kaleege--__------__ af
Gennacus lineadtus. =. - Linested: pheasant 3
Gennaeus nycthemerus______--___ Silverrphedsant ee 2
Gennaeus nycthemerus bellii______ Bell’s silver pheasant_____________ 1

Hierophasis swinhoei__._...__.._ Swinhoe’s pheasant ______________. 2

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

Phasianidae—Continued.

Lophophorus impeyanus__—------- Himalayan Impeyan pheasant__—~

; Blue. pestowl 2322 85hee 22 asses
TONAL A tae gala Fane peafowl. === seebite
Pavoemutlique=——==28 2 ese Green. peafowl 2sdss22 24222) 25_
Ring-necked pheasant__---------~
fone ring-necked pheasant----~~

Phasianus torquatus formosanus__ Formosan ring-necked pheasant__

Phasianus torquatus.—_.=-=--___—

Syrmaticus reevesi_.2_---=---~-_+ Reeve’s pheasant----.--------_---
Numididae:

Numida mitrata reichenowi___~-- Reichenow’s helmeted guinea fowl_
Meleagrididae:

Meleagris gatlopavo____----_-2_-~ Domestic turkeys sites see

GRUIFORMES

Gruidae:

Anthropoides virgo_.__--.-222—" =~ Henrmiselle crane. ===

Antigone australasiana_____----~~ Australians Crane .-)—2 222

Balearica pavonina_______-~----—-- West African crowned crane__---~-

Balearica regulorum gibbericeps_. East African crowned crane__----

Grus canadensis canadensis___--- Little, brownyerane-= ==

Grus canadensis tabida__--------- Sandhill. cranes. 3-532 ee

Gris Gl COUCheN = seen nea White-naped crane __..._______

Grus leucogeranus..=.—-t—-===+= Siberian. crane se ee
Psophiidae:

'Ps0pnia Crepitans=-* 2. ee Gray-backed trumpeter______--- =
Rallidae:

Fulica americana =.= as - American (cogt =. 2225.2

Gallinula chloropus cachinnans__— Florida gallinule-_____________-_-_

Limnocoraz flavirostra____----__- Atniecan: black rales ss ese

Porphyrio melanotus_______—--=__— New Zealand mud hen_-__--____-~

Porphyrio poliocephalus______-___ Gray-headed porphyrio__-_--__----~
Hurypygidae:

Hurypyga; helias_-—_ se Sine DIltern = | ss eee
Otididae:

OUi8) COPROS = 4s 8 eee Denhanirs) bustard_-. 2. ese

Otis caffra jacksoni_2_—__._-__-- =. Jackson’sispustards== =

CHARADRIIFORMES

Haematopodidae:

Haematopus ostralegus__________- Kuropean oyster catcher________ a
Charadriidae:

Belonopterus cayennensis____---_- South American lapwing__--____--

Serciophorus tectus_- Black-headed plover--____________
Scolopacidae:

Philomachus pugnaw_____-__-____ 1 82 pee ge letra a eae aor
Laridae:

TAT US ON UCNUGUUS == ee erin: OU ee eee

Larus delawarensis_______-______ Ringe billed. gully sa. eee

OTUs QUALCESCENS 2 Glaucous-winged gull__-_---__-___

Larus novaehollandiae___________ Slvr OUR eer oe ee ee er

LOrusOCccidentauis._ WiEStEIn SUl 2 fae ee ee ee nee

LOrus SMAVOUndUs- eo European gull

90 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

COLUMBIFORMES
Pteroclidae :
Pterocles orientalis_t...u-=+-=-__- Oriental sandgrouse____________ =
Columbidae:
Caloenas nicobarica______------~- Nicobar) pigeon... gia the. 2
Columba leuconota______--------- SPIDETAR., QURRON io)
Columba palumbus___---------- BEA Wes (ON eee
Columba, domestic variety_------- Archangel: pigeoneus<<35-<e5n.52
Columba, domestic variety___-___- Fan-tailed . pigeon-=ss--e.saseee
Gourd Cielo. ee Victoria crowned pigeon__-_---_-__
Leptotila rufavilla.____.-___..-.--- Scaled pigeorises x43) ted ee
Streptopelia risoria___...._..._.____.- Ring-necked dove— =~ -<22).8)--=
Streptopelia senegalensis_____----- Bast African ring-necked dovye__--
Terie TR. Se Ore Ove. <-eee ueae
Zenaidura macroura macroura____- West: Indien ‘doves =e |
PSITTAOIFORMES
Loriidae:
Oe WANE ee eee en ne Red -iery- 22.2) eee eee
Trichoglossus cyanogrammus__-_--~ Green-naped lory 22222 See
Trichoglossus forsteni___-_-------~ Forsten’s paroquet_—-2- 20 Sete
Trichoglossus novaehollandiae__-- Blue-bellied lory___--___-____--_---
Psittacidae :
Agapornis lUlianae__---.---___.-- Nyassa lovebirds Seas
Amazona albifrons_____.______.-— White-fronted parrot-_.._.._--_-_--
Amazona amazonica_____--------- Orange-winged parrot-_--_----_----_
Amazona arausiaca_______------- Bouguets parrot... see
Amazona auropalliata____----_--_ Yellow-naped parrot____----_--_-_
Amazona fartmose__ 2 Mealy "Sarrot- oe eee
Amazona festiva___—_-.-_-__.~.=. Kestive- parrot... _ eee
Amazona leucocephala_____-_----- Guban‘: parrot! Uses Ore erie:
Amazona ochrocephala____-----_- Orange-fronted parrot--____------
Amazona ochroptera_--_--------_ — Yellow-shouldered parrot____---_--
Amazona oratrig______--_------~- Double yellow-head parrot-___---_
magoue. 100. os Bed-fronted. parrot... -- Ss See
Amazona ventralis_____-_-__-__-- Hispaniolan white-fronted parrot__
Amazona viridigenalis____-__-___-- Red-crowned parrot-.....-_._-_-.
Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus__---- Hyacinthine macaw-__-_--------__
Arh: Grants oe ne Yellow and blue macaw _--------_
Ara chieropterg-.=>-. > Red and yellow macaw--_---------
AINE OO arate at Sha Red, yellow and blue macaw__----
Aa ADOI OO Tilieer’s machw =
ALG: MCMCING.2 Mexican green macaw--_--------~-
ASE ROOGT si cr eS Severe. macaw en ee
Aratinga holochlora_____-___------ White-eyed . parroL...o-—.—_.___..._
Aratinga jendaya___..—..___._.= JEnGAT CONUTPR. .- a
Aratinga solstitialis___._ctc..__i. Yellow: pareqteti. se
Brotogeris juguloris__.-___._-______ TOWd. PARONlas ee ne
COPaconsts: ANOTE 222 LOBSCY. VASA, DATTOL._.__-
Cyanopsitiacus spizt_______._______ DLE 8) AGH oe
Holophus roseicapillus___...__._____ Hoses he: Cockaine.

Hupstttuia aurea_____.________.... Golden-crowned paroquet-_---__---

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY
Psittacidae—Continued.
Eupsittula canicularis_____-_----- Petz. paroguetis =) 2 esate fs
Forpus gwianensis__._.--_____-_-- Green-rumped parrotlet_____---___
Kakatoe citrinocristata__.___-_-_-_-- Orange-crested cockatoo__-________
Ken catoe-gaterita__ = Sulphur-crested cockatoo__________
Kakatoe leadbeateri___________-__ Leadbeater’s cockatoo_____________
Kakatoe moluccensis_______------ Great red-crested cockatoo________
Kakatoe: sulphurea_2 i= Lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo____
Leptolophus novaehollandicus_____ Cocks hi elas = ea tr be ss te
Melopsittacus undulatus ____---~ Grasswparogquet=— 23 see. eee
Microglossus aterrimus__--------~ Great black cockatoo—- ==.
Myopsitia monachus________--~--- Quaker paroquet=.—— 2. -2
Nandayus nanday____-___-.----.. INAnG ay epAarOguebeH2— se ee
INCSLORANOLUUL Re ee (cg ees ee ea as
Pionites santhomera____._._----- Amazonian: caique:—- ===
PiONUS MMONSUTUUSa< a Blue-headeds,parrot__—- 5 ==
Psittacula k.- krameri____._______- Long-tailed paroquet____________--
Psitiacula. nepatlensis_____________ Nepalese, paroguet=:--2 22. =
P3ittgeus, eTUthacus. = African jeray parrots -= ==
Tanygnathus megalorhynchus____— Great-billed:parrot,.-= >
CUCULIFORMES
Cuculidae:
Centropus sinensis_____.__-______ Sumatran: coucal-= "222 os ee
Cyeulus: Canorus o-— Nuropeany, cuckoo-2— = 2 ee ee
Hudynamis scolopaccus____--_--___ A C0 Y 5] em mapa: aboard. ts Seay ee ils DBs oie
STRIGIFORMES
Tytonidae:
Tyto alta pratincola-___—__--____ Barmsuwli eo ee
Strigidae:
Bubo virginianus________-_______ Great horned owles ota
CRU Si SUS See na ee te Nereech/ Owls == eee
Simin Cunt sae ee oe oe IBSCreds OW esate eee eee ee
CAPRIMULGIFORMES
Caprimulgidae:
Chordeilesominor_ 2-2 Nighi aw kaise ee
TROGONIFORMES
Trogonidae:
Proteus temnurus..—- Cuban: troeons 22 ee Se
CORACIIFORMES
Alcedinidae :
TVACELOV GUS et ee eee eee Kookabutrasce<22. eee 2a
Momotidae:
Momotus momotus parensis_____-- Motmot2222 Se Tt sees
Bucerotidae:
Bueceros’ rhinoceros.—_ === 2 = Rhinoceros “hornbilla22le sees
Bucorvus abyssinicus_____-==—-—-- Abyssinian ground hornbill__------

Dichoceros bicornis__._-____.--_.. Coneave casque hornbill___-_---___

92 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

PICIFORMES
Ramphastidae:
Aulacorhynchus erythrognathus___ Venezuelan toucanette___.________
Pteroglossus bitorquatwus_________- Two-banded aracari______________
Ramphastos ariel..—._-._._..~..-- Atel tones ss ooo ses ee
Ramphastos toco_-______-___.___~ "ROGO GOT eta ee
Selenidera. cultks_—____.-.--—-~._- Guiana ‘toucanette... 2.2
PASSERIFORMES
Cotingidae:
Chasmorhynchus nudicollis_______ Naked-throated bell-bird__--______
Graculidae:
Gracula palawanensis______-____-_ Palawan-mynan nee oe
Gracula religiosa__________.______ Southern hill mynah__-__-________
Tyrannidae:
Pitangus sulphuratus_____._______- Kidkades Tycatcher- eee

Corvidae :
Aphelocoma californica woodhousei. Woodhouse’s jay--_____-____--_--_

Calocitta formosa__-_—-_____-____- Mexican magpie jay--._._-_______

Cisaa chinensis____._______..--_.— Ghiviese iane 2 so 2s a ee

COTUUR GlOUS 8 a es Wiite-breasted crow - 2)

Corvus brachyrhynchos__-_------~ American. Crow. ee

Corvus coran sinuatus_-____-_---_-- AINGTICNN. “THVEN = 8 5 ee

Corvus coronoides__.____________.. BUSIWEMAN. Crow. ==. 3

Corvus cryptoleucus_____.__._-_-__- White-necked raven___._________--

Cyanocitta cristata____.__.__.__.__.-- lpe Syn eee ee

Cyanocorar cyanopogon____-_--~~ Wobite-naped aya. eee

tig a eee De eee Yellow-billed magpie----____--____

Pica pica hudsonia______._._______~ American mengnic..- 8... =e

Urocissa occipttalis.__._.__...._..._.. Red-billed blue magpie__-----_---__

Xanthoura luauosa guatemalensis. Guatemalan green jay_-----------
Paradiseidae:

Paradisea minor ________---~.---- Lesser bird of paradise_______._._--

Seleuouies ger. 12-wired bird of paradise____----_~
Timaliidae:

Pomatorhinus erythrogenys imber-

[| OEE See Ra SERN Salvadori’s scimitar-babbler_______

Pycnonotidae :

Molpastes haemorrhous__-_------~- Black-headed bulbul___._____.______

Otocompsa jocosus________.__--___ Hed-eared Jbribula a2
Turdidae:

Mimocichla rubripes____.______.-_- Western red-legged thrush__-----~-

STREP OUNNS «OT CANS ne a ie Bonaparte Ss. tarushe 22) 225) *s
Laniidae:

Donius Corsaie. ‘Teita.. fiscal shrike-— >. te
Sturnidae:

Cosmopsaris regitts_________.-__-- Splendid starlings. es

Galeopsar salwadorii____._-__-_-~~- Orested. starlings 2s ec ele

Lamprocolius sycobius____-__-__-__- Southern glossy starling_______--_
Coerebidae:

Cyamerpes cyaneus___.—~.~-___--= Blue honey creeper--._----—__.--.--
Icteridae :

Agelaius assimilis.______.____._..___ Cuban red-winged blackbird____-~

Agelaius icterocephalus___-.______ Yellow-headed marsh bird--------

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 93

Icteridae—Continued.

Amblyrhamphus holosericeus____- Red-headed marsh troupial___---- x
Gynnomystax mexicanus_—__----- Gianty oriole... =. setae ote eS if
Feterus: givqudt- 222.2—2 ee 8 ees= Giraudis? oriole__ alee of
IMOLOURT US GLEN Soa 5 ee eae @Cowbird)—222--- = = ee 1
Psomocolag oryxivora___-------~- Rieeweracklese she sh ye iy eee eS 1
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus__- Yellow-headed blackbird_---~---~-- 4
Thraupidae:
Spindalis pretretzs22 5 Ss Se Cuban. spindnlis=_- orsesens she 3
Tanagra luteicapilla_______-----_- Yellow-crowned euphonia_---~~-~~ 1
PRIAUptSEiCOndi ast Sie See ees Blue \tanagern!ses ede enteoinws> ab
Thraupis palmarum melanoptera__ Palm tanager_-------~------------ a!
Ploceiidae :
Amadina fasciata__-~----_---__-~ Cut-throat finch 2tes 22a 1
Coliuspasser ardens_____-----=~--~ Red-necked whydah____--__-----~ 4
Diatiropura procne_——-——~-+- 22+ Giant why dahet2 2s. ee ee 8
Buplectes capensis. 29222-22282 Yellow-shouldered whydah___----—~ iH
Neochmia phaeton_-__--_----=- 22 Crimson or blood finch____--__---- il
POEL ORYLVOOT C222 a= Ea pas White. Java sparrowaes.2usese Z
Ploceus intermedius__-—-=---=--=- Black-cheeked weaver____----—--_~ 20
(PIOCEUS TUDIGMOSUS_ Eee ee Chestnut-breasted weaver ____—-_—— 8
Poephila aeuticauda=s—==-=22-—-- = Long-tailed “‘finch=..-+ 20a 9
Poephita: gouldiae. ee 22. secs Gouldian: finchi#2see) saeusges 5
Quelea sanguinirostris intermedia_ Southern masked weaver finch_-___ 1
Steganopleura bichenovii_____---- Banded finch: 22 = a ee eee 5
Steganura paradisea_____-____---- Paradise whydah< 2 1o8ee ues 7
Taeniopygia castanotis_________~_. Zebra. finchwe2 even. aul hee 3
Fringillidae:
Carduelis. carduelis_.222422-—22 22 Huropean gold finch—2—-~-22-~--- 1
Fringilla montifringilla____--__-__ Brambling “finchi=2-----..__ =e noms 1
Melopyrrha. nigra== 2a Se Cuban: bullinch 2s eee 2
POL OUrnit: <CriStQtd 2 22a en ose Red-crested or Brazilian cardinal. 1
Pheucticous tibialis £228 pase eas Yellow: .grosbeak2uletweny.saamus 1
Senrinus) COnarvuse a2 2 eta ees Canary <824.. Sse hn ete 8
Sicalis. minorss2—-- 2st. Ses Lesser yellow finch__________.____ |
Sporophila auritasss te oce eee Hick’s:seéd-eater:shietes _ eye 4
Sporophila gutturalis__._._________ Yellow-bellied seed-eater__________ 2
ROPES COMOROS = one ee Sena wat) ies Melodius' grassquit 2222226 anelios 2
TiQriussOUva ced =a 2a sete ee. ae ee ae Mexican) srassquits som.2 Sat 15
Volatinia jacarini_______- Blue-black grassquit_________-____ 2
REPTILES
LORICATA
Crocodylidae:
Alligator mvississipiensis__________ ANAT ON 5 ea ee 36
Commons scler ops WaiMan = sap Ake 2 ye a Sat ale 3
Crocodylus acutus. = 4 American crocodile:==- +4 ="-434 2% 1
Crocodylus cataphractus__________ West African crocodile__________-_ aL
Crocodylus porosus_.. 3223 2288 Salt water crocodile--._____-______ 1

Osteolaemus tetraspis__.________~ Broad-nosed crocodile_____________ a

94 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

SQUAMATA
Lacertidae:
Lacerta. murals. 5. etl seit Wall: ‘Visgyd obese ate et
Lacerta vrtdis__.-- a Green Jizard seers ee
Agamidae:
Physignathus lesueurii____--_---- Lesueur’s water dragon-____-_____
Iguanidae:
Anolis carolinensis________...._-_ False chameleon. aa
Anolis equcstris.._ siete ee Giant, nnolis. 2 = pete atte Se
Anolis porcatuets. uinee Cuban: anolis. 03.00 tot eae
Conolophus subcristatus__._._____-- Galapazos iguana _o225 stent
Oyclura. cornuta__.__2-22- 524+ Rhinoceros: iguana=ase es 2355 8
Leiocephalus cubensis_________-_- Cuban curl-tailed lizard___.________
Phrynosoma cornutum___---__---- Horned. lizard... 2s. + 4 ee
Phyrnosoma platyrhinos_____----- Horned. Uzard...e6-5 «<2. sehuts
Pie gcd... ee eS eee Plicated, lizard 2ss05 6. oho otet
Sceloporus magister______.__--_-_-_ Western spiny lizard. .-.u-2=..-
Sceloporus torquatus cyanogenys_— Sealy lizard___._--___-_--__________
Sceloporus undulatus____-_________ Nenee Dearden eB Gee
Gerrhosauridae:
Gerrhosaurus validus___._____-_-__ Robust plated lizard--__.._-__-__
Helodermatidae :
Heloderma horridum____---~----~ Mexican beaded lizard--__________
Heloderma suspectum_-__-_-----_ Gila. moniter sei ee ey
Teiidae:
Cnemidophorus 8s. sexlineatus____~ Six-lined limards= ten costes! aaa
Crocodilurus lacertinus________--~ Crocodile lizard. <-.:_ so s24tase 0
Dracaena guianensis_____-__--_-~ Dragon. linard... >. ee ee
Tupinambis nigropunctatus______- Teeu. Tigard. 2555514 3 iessaete
Scincidae:
Agernia cunninghami______---_--_- Cunningham’s skink______--______
RGCVRIG: WAGIOR2 ka be fe TG Grenter BkInE ..2t2 is) Seb
Bumeces fasciatus______..._---_— Bed-headed skink ies) eos
Eumeces obsoletus____._-____._---__ Brown Akink. set Se ee ee
Tiliqua nigrolutea_—-_____ = Mottled Tizard... - s2 = tee
Tiliqua scincoides_._.._-—~-______ Blue-tongued lizard-______________
Trachysaurus rugosus____________ Stump-tailed lizard________-_______
Varanidae:
Vaeranus gouldtisuesee ase Gould’s: monitor —s.284) >. es aut
Varanus niloticus_.-...._.______ African: monitor. sesso skate
Zonuridae :
Zonurus giganteus_______________ Black ‘spiny: lizard ee =
OPHIDIA
Boidae:
Hoe Pantha. WS 2 ete wees Wed te Green ‘tree ‘posi oe ht see pa
Constrictor constrictor.___.-______ Common “boas SE See
Constrictor mexicana_____________ Mexié¢an. boas +22) 628 eer
Ppicrates angulifer___._.____._______ Guban' tree Bont a eae cals
Ppicrates cenchris__.___________-__ Bainbow -beas== 2220 ee eee
Epicrates subflavus__..___________ Jamaica.-boaeee 8s fee
Eumectes murinus______-_________ Rubi ee ee eh ees og

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

Pythonidae:
Python molurus_-—___ +. —-______.— indian python]. s.— 2. ee ee
PATCHON BROOUIS == Sane eee DSR Ls eS ee ee ae
Python reticulatus___.___-_-__.----- etal) python 4.—
Colubridae:
Abastor erythrogrammus___-----~ Hoopsnake or rainbow snake__--~-~
Alsophis angulifer__._._._____-_-_---- MpOnOL, GHlebra 9 = ae Ae
Coluber c. constrictor____-__------- 1 BUT Vd Paetoa 3 a oe esas a RS SS De a SNe Se
Drymarchon corais cooperi-__-—--- GI PO WSN AKe Fae ee se
Hiapne 2outtaraag es oe COUT 1s tr Pl ee Tee ee, ee a ae peli
anne (aes sa ee ee TUMOTY. 8 Sua ken ee ae
Elaphe obsoleta confinis-____------ Southern pilot snake_._-_._-____-
filaphe.o. obsolteta________.__---. EBL ONE ps0) GA Re aa sa ne
Elaphe quadrivittata_____________ Ohicken: snakes = 2 we;
Hiapvecupineg == GX AKO a eh ee
Farancia abvacuras..__--_--..=—== Miudorshormesnake..._- = ret
Heterodon contortriv_____--__-----~ Hoe-nosed'= snake... = =
Lampropeltis getulus floridana____ Plorida king snake______--_______
Lampropeltis g. getulus____-_-_---- ing: Snake so oe oe be) ee ee
Leimadophis andreade___-__-__-_- Jubito: or magdalena—___._.__ -
Liopelis vernalis.____________--.. Smooth green snake__-__-__--___-
MGStiCOpnis $pa-2 ea Coach whip wsnaken
Natrin cyctopion________...-.... Water. snaiietercd = 20. fe Lay
CHALE) bo) 1 Vis se see ane Re Waterman ake: oes aero
Opheodrys aestivus_____________. Rough-sealed green snake_.____ ze
Pituophis melanoleucus__-__-_____ Bul Snag
PATUODNAR SOY UE = = ao ee PENe ART Gee he ae PR gs
Thamnophis sauritus__._______._.__ Habbonr, snake dts
Thamnophis s. sirtalis___-________ Garter: Snakes 6 eee Lele
Tretanorhinus variabilis______-___- Cuban water snake.2 2.5 2s
Elapidae:
Micrurus fulwus______.___________ Wonal snake: 22-22 sles Soe eee
EN CHR TUG ts es Ss Golden ODih ee oe ee
Naja tripudians sumatrana___--__ Sumatran black-hooded cobra_____
Crotalidae:
Agkistrodon mokasen___---__-____ LOST 7 Tsu 11 1:7) RAO ean ie Rea Ree
Agkistrodon piscivorus________-_-_ Waters mocen sins =. ee
Crotalus adamanteus_____________ Diamond-backed rattlesnake______
Crovalis: C7 OT oo = Desert) rattlesnake.—-
Crotalus confluentus______________ Western rattlesnake___.___________
Orotalustnorridus = Banded) rattlesnake: =... =.
Sistrurus catenatus catenatus_____ 1 Lo Ca: en ee, eee he
Sistrurus miliariugs___._._.__._.____ Pismy: rattlesnake = 2).
Trimeresurus monticola__________ Mountain pit viper
Viperidae:
BitiSMOrietans ss cee ee See Puteeadder a eee ee
Pipers: bers NERO peAny Viper. ee
TESTUDINATA
Chelydidae:
Hydromedusa tectifera____._.______ South American snake-necked tur-
LLOene eerste Uren Bee ee NE ee

Platemys platycephala____________ Miat-head.. turtles 2.2) o. » ee eenaees

96 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Pelomedusidae:
Pelomedusa galeata__-_-___-_--_--- Common African water-tortoise____
Podocnemis ewpansa___-_--------- South American river tortoise__-_-
Kinosternidae:
Kinosternon flavescens__--------- Muck . turite <2 eee
Kinosternon subrubrum__-------- MISE. “LOD Gn oe en
Chelydridae :
Uncware osceulas..._- Osceola snapping turtle-______-_____
Chelydra rossignonii_______-_-_-- Rossignon’s snapping turtle_______
Chelydra serpentina_____-______-_ SOapnie ture. ee eee
Macrochelys temminckii_-------~- Alligator snapping turtle__--______
Testudinidae:
Chrysomys picta_— Painted “totic... ee
Olemmys guttata_—__-——_---___ SDOUEO LUTiG= ona ee eee
Clemmys insculpta___-___-_--____ W000, COLLUIRG—— ene
Clemmys muhlenbergii___-__-----~- Muhlenberg’s tortoise--___________
Cyclemys amboinensis______-___-__ Walivan pox Lure...
Gopherus agassizit__________-____ ASassiz ss tOrioise.-- 2 aan
Gopherus polyphemus_-_-_-----_~ GUDHEGR LOCLOING 60 eee
Graptemys pseudogeographica____ False geographic turtle______--__-~_
Malaclemmys centrata__--_--_---- Diamond-back terrapin------------
Pseudemys concinna____----_----- aL 2 ata ac Det pape ea TR fs | ie AS
Pseudemys decussata__.___.___--_- PigtGnn - PeLta ll eee
Pseudemys elegans——____ Cumberland terrapin--___._____--__
Pseudemys floridana____-____-__-- BIGTION “Derreiishn ee,
Pseudemys rugosués_______-__._-_ Chuan Letra eee ee
Terrapene carolina_______________ BE: CORPO eee eee
Terrapene Major____—_ Higtian VOL Wire ee
Terrapene™ ornata______-_-_ Cerne UsRIne Re eee
Testudo elephantina__.___._.-____-_- Hiéphant. tortoine
Testudo ephippium_—___-___._-__. Dunean Iland toro
Téstude noodenste—— Hoou island tortoise______..
Testudoe radiate. _-— TEALIRLOGLY LEE DONSE ee eee
Testude tabulata—_— South American tortoise______----
Teaude tornen_._.> Soft-shelled land tortoise__--_----
EERO HOR rn ae Albemarle Island tortoise_____--__
Trionychidae:
PETE, TORI ee ce Sort-shelied Turtle =. 2
AMPHIBIA
CAUDATA
Salamandridae:
Salamandra salamandra____--_--- HISAR ON so rae
Triturus pyrrhogaster________.__. Red-bellied Japanese newt__------
Triturus viridescens__.____..-.-..-— COMMON TO gy ts se he
Amphiumidae:
Amphiuma means... --_ 2-20 Blind eel or Congo snake _________
Amphiuma tridactylum___________ Blind eel or Congo snake _______ =
Cryptobranchidae:
Cryptobranchus alleganiensis_____ Belibenders. 2 a eee
Necturidae:

Necturus maculosue__.____....... Mud puppy~. eee

2
1

1
4

1

a!
4

2

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY Q7
SALIENTIA

Brachycephalidae:

Atelopus varius cruciger________-- WellOw rm atelOpus os eee 1

Atelopus varius varius_____------ Yellows atelopus = ee 6
Discoglossidae :

Bombine bombing___- = —*==="2 0 = Bine-peliedetOng == = =e ee 2
Dendrobatidae :

Dendrobates auraius____________-— ATTOW: POIsom Lroge= 2-2 se 30

Dendrobates pumilio __-_--------- Red, dendrobates22 = 1
Bufonidae:

Bul O: GUGTV eee ee ee Green toad 23) S091 ete 5

Bufo americanus..__-_-_-__.___.-- Common American toad_---_--____ 2

Bufo Cmpusuge= == = ee SapO ROG. CONCHhA = sta eee 15

BUT OMNOTINUS 22 aa oa eee Marine: [Osan ee ee eee 4

Bufo peltocephalus__-_-__-_-_----- @Cabandgiant-toad=32—=-== Se 10
Ceratophrydae:

Ceratophrys dorsata____-_________ Horned{oadsiasss-se Seer eat 2
Hylidae:

OTIS TYTN i Crieket Teo ia ee oe es 2

Hala. Or 00red.—. =- Green” tree frog. 2 eee a

EU COCTMICU so Australian tree frog. eee if

Hala emeregsil acd is Da es 8 Florida. tree frog ss>5 seen i

PEA CTUCI CN aaa oe ee See Tree. Trost. 225. se ee ee 4

Hyla. septentrionalis._____________~ Cubanitree: trop) 38a alts
Pipidae:

Pip GMeriCONnG=.= HULINAM tOad 4s een eee nee eee il

Xenopus ‘niulleriz_— -— == eee Muller’s clawed frog______________ 5
Ranidae:

EQN CES OD UG = ee et Fa Bees Gopherotrogh 42. 22. ee al

Rang catesveiang.222 52 2- = o Bull tro. 6 ee. Se ieee at

Rana, clamitans._ = Green Troe 2 es edie ates al

Rana sphenocephala______________ Southern leopard frog____________ al

FISHES

ACONTRONLOINANS WW s2 8 SS eo ch ke es ae es ee 5
PES OO Sun 8 eee eee oes a OS Se ON Se ee ee Se 8
Bertarsplendens= = 2-5 = a Siamese fighting fish_._.____________ al
Bracnyaanion Ferto._-— CDT RD efi Ser = ake eer nee eae oe eee 5
COrydoras’ Geneus 2a ee hee Trinidad armored catfish________-_ 4
Corydoras melanistius_______.___.___-_— ATMOTEE: (ea thshe ee es Pee ee 1
Hlectrophorus electricus.__..._..._.___- Hileetric.eele 2a. Sees res ene alt
Helostoma temminckii_______________- ISissine souram i ee 2
PLCTAOLUNLINALS AULALINC LES es a ee ee Pe ee il
EC LOLITA OTN OSC ate ae Se rey ee a ee ee ee 8
Hyphessobrycon bifasciatus__.___.______ Wellow “Characins. seers ee sees 1
EU POStOMUSIsp — 52 ee ee eS Armored: (Gathishe. 22s a 1
Jordanella floridae___________ Eee © FATTerican Nae HShe ss S22. ea 7
Kryptopierus bicirrhus_______________ Clas. ca thishes -2t 2 ee 4
Lebistes reticulatue-_— Guppy 222s St ee eee 50
Lepidosiren paradova_________________ South American lungfish________-_ 3
ICHOTUNUS TOR CIALUS ee aes Chere 2 eB Bem een Ad Ei eee Aen. Wel 1
Malopterurus electricus____._________-_ Hlectrichieathish- 2 SS fsa 1
Pantodon buchholzi____....__.________ Buttiertly fishe22- 2-32 2 eae Se 1

31508—38——8

98 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Platypoecilus maculatus___---__------- eral El es np ee

PERCE TUE en en er ae

Protopterus annectens________________. Atrican Tnpnely es se Sea ee

Pterophyllum scatare._____._.-__._...~ POE OBS 1 1 a «Oe UE ea

GRROTIE “OCOrOMmOr nition

Trichogaster trichopterus__._______.--- Three-spot gourami_____________

Atphophorus heterti________.______._. NwiOrrtbad) 2 ss
ARACHNIDS

Mary pounme06 =e Tarantula: 2. 2 ee

Latrodectus mactans__.-----_-.--___- Black widow spider___--------~ =

INSECTS

LOE eS. PES I SC ee TS Giant cockroach =. ae 2 oS
MOLLUSKS

Achatina variegata.__......._-_.-.... Gignt land; anette
CRUSTACEA

Cardisoma guanhumi______--_-------- Great land crab... see eee

Respectfully submitted.

W. M. Mann, Director.

Dr. C. G. Axsor,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution,

4

APPENDIX 7
REPORT ON THE ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi-
ties of the Astrophysical Observatory for the fiscal year ended
June 380, 1937:

WORK AT WASHINGTON
REVISION OF SOLAR-CONSTANT VALUES

At the beginning of the fiscal year preparations were being made
to publish a table of best values of the solar constant of radiation
since 1930. This table involved the comparison of results from three
field stations, searching for errors of reduction, and examining the
records of each individual day for evidences of imperfect observation
or unfavorable sky conditions.

But in considering certain discrepancies it suddenly occurred to the
Director that a flaw had been overlooked when he devised the so-
called short method of reduction in 1923. It will be recalled that in
the years 1903 to 1919 all observations of the solar constant had been
made by the fundamental or long method. This involved measure-
ments of the intensity of sun rays from early morning until mid-
forenoon, and about 2 days of computing to yield one value of
the solar constant of radiation. Moreover, if the sky gradually be-
came clearer or more hazy during the several hours of observation,
the value obtained would be too high or too low, without any means
of recognizing this error.

To save work, to avoid error, and to multiply results, the short
method was introduced in 1919. Two solar-constant values could be
obtained from observations of only 10 minutes’ duration for each, by
computations requiring only 1 day for both. In 1923, however, a
method occurred to the Director whereby the computing could be
almost eliminated, through the use of tables computed once for all.
All through the years which have since elapsed this method has been
used. Usually, five values were obtained without undue labor for
each day observed.

But some months ago, as above stated, the Director perceived that
this brief method has a fatal flaw. Without going into technicalities,
the defect consists in this: that if the results of two equally clear days
are to be compared, on one of which the sun actually emits 1 percent

99

100 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

more intense radiation than on the other, the brief method of 1923
will indeed distinguish the day of more intense radiation, but will
show less than the true 1 percent change. Moreover, the deficiency
of amplitude in solar variation, due to the method of 1923, is greater
the more hazy the days, and the lower in altitude the station from
which the sun is observed.

Consequently, although the published record of solar variation
since 1923 shows solar changes at their right times and in their right
directions, the amplitudes of variation found are too small. Also,
the hazier stations are at a disadvantage, not only because of their
less favorable sky conditions, which naturally give inferior results,
but because the method of reduction of 1923 inevitably diminishes the
resulting amplitude of the variation of the sun, which they were
established to determine, even more than it affects clearer stations.

Our first care was to devise a correct method of reduction, retaining
as far as possible the brevity of computation which was the merit
of that of 1923. Several months were occupied by the staff at Wash-
ington in comparing different proposed methods, checking their
results, and at length in computing tables for the one finally selected.
This new brief method, although somewhat shorter than the short
method used from 1919 to 1923, is far longer than that of 1923. It
requires, what was unnecessary for the method of 1923, the complete
measurement of the photographic records of observation, just as
complete, indeed, as the long method used prior to 1919.

Accordingly, orders were sent to all field stations to have measured,
if possible, three bolographs for each day since 1923 when the sun
was observed. This heavy task has been to a large degree accom-
plished by the field observers.

In the meanwhile, by financial aid of John A. Roebling, and by
the assistance of W. P. A., the computing staff at Washington has
been much enlarged. Great progress has been made in the rereduc-
tion of the solar-constant observations. Mount Montezuma observa-
tions since 1932 have been fully recomputed, and several years’
observations at Table Mountain are done. However, it will require
many months before the recomputations are fully completed.

SILVER-DISK PYRHELIOMETERS

As in former years, orders have come from foreign lands for
silver-disk pyrheliometers, either new or to be repaired and re-
standardized. These instruments are in use at nearly a hundred sta-
tions in many countries, in all of the continents of the world, to
measure the solar radiation. But nowhere are they used in coopera-
tion with the spectroscope, as with us, to make complete determina-
tions of the solar constant of radiation.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 101
ADDITIONAL SOLAR STATIONS

Great hope had been aroused by favorable action of the Senate in
June 1936, with approval of the President and the Bureau of the
Budget, that as many as seven additional stations for observing the
solar constant of radiation could be established. But the hoped-for
appropriation having failed in the House, the item was rejected by
the Bureau of the Budget in the estimates for 1938, and with the
present stress on economy in Government expenditure seems un-
likely to be revived. It is still believed that valuable advance in
weather forecasting would follow the accurate daily determination
of solar variation, such as might be attained with additional solar-
constant stations.

LONG-RANGE FORECASTING, LAKE LEVELS, AND TREE RINGS

Letters have been received nearly every day by the Director from
drought-stricken areas, some telling of observations confirmatory
of his expectations as to the progress of the drought, but most of
them begging for predictions to cover ensuing years. The Director,
in his replies, has always pointed out the insecurity of such predic-
tions. He has limited himself to referring to indications arising
from the history of Great Lakes levels since 1837. These point to a
probability that drought conditions in the Northwestern States and
neighboring Canada will mend beginning in 1938, but recur in 1975.
This view is supported by a record of 400 years’ duration in tree
rings at Fairlee, Vt., measured by Professor Lyon, of Dartmouth
College. Periodicities of 23, 46, and 92 years are plainly apparent
therein, which have close relations to the levels of the Great Lakes.

SOLAR ENGINE

The Director caused to be prepared and tested in September 1936
a solar radiation steam boiler of his design. The machine is repre-
sented in the accompanying illustration. It exposed 36 square feet
(pl. 7) of mirror surface and was intended to produce about 14 horse-
power at the engine. Cinematograph records were made of it, and by
operating an electric generator a short program was broadcast by
solar power. However, the device had many defects, and was not in
that form practical for utilizing solar radiation for power. A small
solar flash boiler has since been prepared which offers much greater
promise.

FIELD WORK

Solar radiation observing stations have been maintained by public
funds, supplemented by private resources of the Smithsonian Insti-

102 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

tution, at Table Mountain, Calif.; Montezuma, Chile; and Mount St.
Katherine, Egypt. At these three stations the observations to de-
termine the solar constant of radiation have been made on all favor-
able days. The average number of days per year suitable for these
exacting observations is about the same at these three elevated cloud-
less desert stations and approaches 80 percent of all days.

PERSONNEL

Frederick E. Fowle, research assistant, who joined the staff of the
Astrophysical Observatory in the year 1894, was retired for dis-
ability at the end of the fiscal year. Mr. Fowle has been associated
with practically the entire history of the Observatory, and has taken
a large part in its observing, computing, theoretical studies, and
plans for its work. He will be especially remembered for his re-
searches on water vapor and ozone in the atmosphere, for his long
investigation of the extreme infrared spectrum of water vapor, and
for his authorship of numerous editions of “Smithsonian Physical
Tables”, which enjoy an enviable reputation.

Respectfully submitted.

C. G. Assor, Director.

The SrecreTary,

Smithsonian Institution.

‘9E6l HAGWALdAS “AYOLVAYMASEO TWOISAHdOYNLSY SHL SO GYVA AHL NI YaTIOG WV3SLS NOILVIGVY YVIOS LOgay SHL

3ivid 1 xtpuaddy—7¢6| ‘y10deyy s ArejaI00¢

APPENDIX 8

REPORT ON THE DIVISION OF RADIATION AND
ORGANISMS

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the
activities of the Division of Radiation and Organisms during the
year ended June 30, 1937:

Notable successes have been attained during the year in the studies
of photosynthesis, of phototropism, and of special reactions of ultra-
violet rays in the economy of various plant forms.

W. H. Hoover published the results of several years’ study of
photosynthesis in wheat. This basic study was made with wheat
grown in glass tubes of measured temperature, humidity, and carbon
dioxide content, under nearly monochromatic selected spectral rays
of measured intensity... Various radiation sources were employed,
sometimes the Mazda electric light, sometimes the mercury arc, some-
times the sun. The results are of high accuracy. They give to a
probable error of only 2 percent in most spectral regions the de-
pendence on wave length of the assimilation of carbon dioxide by
wheat. The accompanying figure shows that photosynthesis in
wheat, starting from zero at the end of the visible red, reaches a
high maximum in the red at 6500 A, diminishes through the yellow
and green, reaches a subordinate maximum in the blue at 4400 A,
and then fades away in the violet.

Mr. Hoover’s work was accomplished by a chemical method of
estimating the air content of carbon dioxide. During the year Dr.
McAlister has further perfected a spectral absorption method of
extraordinary sensitiveness and extreme rapidity for measuring car-
bon dioxide concentration in air. The apparatus has been standard-
ized by him and has become a tool which bids fair to be of immense
value for the detection and measurement, not only of carbon dioxide,
but carbon monoxide, and other organic chemical compounds of ex-
treme interest in plant physiology, human metabolism, mine explora-
tions, and perhaps in other industrial fields. In connection with this
apparatus, L. B. Clark has developed an extremely sensitive and
rugged thermocouple, the evacuated housing of which is sealed by a
bubble window of microscopically thin glass. These beautiful devices
together add greatly to the practical success of the spectral absorption

1 Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 95, no. 21, pp. 1-13, figs. 1-4, pls. 1-3, 1937.
103

104 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

method. The new apparatus has been duplicated in our shop for in-
tensive use in photosynthetic studies. We expect to observe photosyn-
thesis quantitatively in various families of plants.

Dr. McAlister published preliminary results of a research on time
relations in photosynthesis. He showed that intermittent illumina-
tion gives very different growth rates depending on the rapidity of
intermittance. With alternations of light and darkness 60 times per
second the growth rate over a period of several hours was actually
twice as rapid as with continuous illumination of an equal total guan-
tity of light suppled. Owing to the practically instantaneous char-

acter of his measurements, he was able, for the first time, in studies

350
300
250
200

150

COz ABSORPTION

100

50

3500 4500 5500 6500 7500
WAVE LENGTH

Figure 1.—Wave-length assimilation curves.

of plant physiology, to turn on the light and continuously follow what
happens in plant growth. Many most interesting observations were
recorded.?

In a cooperative research with Dr. Flint, of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, Flint and McAlister examined the efficiency
of different wave lengths of light to promote germination in light-
sensitive lettuce seed.* Their results tie in most suggestively with the

? Smithsonian Mise. Coll., vol. 95, no. 24, pp. 1-17, figs. 1-10, pls. 1, 2, 1937.
38 Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 96, no. 2, pp. 1-8, figs. 1, 2, pl. 1, 1937.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 105

curve of chlorophyll absorption. Wave-length regions inhibiting
germination were found in the blue and in the infrared spectrum.

Dr. E. S. Johnston continued with marked progress his investiga-
tions tending to produce normal growth of tomato plants under lab-
oratory conditions. The great difficulty is to obtain from artificial
sources light of sufficient intensity and proper wave-length distribu-
tion. By various ingenious expedients he has to a considerable degree
solved the problem.

He also continued phototropic experiments, studying the bending
of plants toward the light as well as carbon dioxide assimilation
with polarized as compared to normal light. It had been sug-
gested that a real difference would be found, but he found none.

With Dr. P. R. Burkholder, of Connecticut College, Dr. Johns-
ton investigated the inactivation of plant growth substance by light.‘
A very beautiful technique was developed, whereby live tips and
half tips of oat seedlings were applied in various ways to decapi-
tated oat seedlings in order to determine what are the circum-
stances which govern elongation under the influence of light. The
results appear to show that under considerable intensities of light
the growth hormones are inactivated rather than displaced in pro-
ducing the well-known lower stature of illuminated plants as com-
pared with plants grown in semidarkness. For further informa-
tion see their very interesting paper.

Dr. Meier did much work on the classification of a large col-
lection of algae for the National Herbarium. Her own investiga-
tions concerned a search for the stimulation of multiplication in
algae by ultraviolet rays known to be lethal in doses of sufficient
intensity. The research is not finished as yet, but plainly shows
great stimulative influence by minute doses of these lethal rays,
and that the degree of stimulation is most interestingly connected
both with wave length and with the lethal dosage.

The instrument maker, Mr. Fillmen, and the glass technician,
Mr. Clark, constructed apparatus of invaluable use in these inves-
tigations.

Respectfully submitted.

C. G. Anzor, Director.

The Srcrerary,

Smithsonian Institution.

* Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 95, no. 20, pp. 1-14, fig. 1, pls. 1, 2, 1987.

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APPENDIX 9
REPORT ON THE LIBRARY

Sm: I have the honor to submit the following report on the
activities of the Smithsonian library for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1937:

THE LIBRARY

The library, or library system, of the Smithsonian is made up
of 45 libraries, all more or less specialized and independent in their
nature and location, but all cooperating under the central purpose
of the Institution. They are the Smithsonian deposit in the Library
of Congress, which is the main unit of the system; the library of
the United States National Museum; the library of the Bureau
of American Ethnology; the Smithsonian office library; the library
of the Astrophysical Observatory; the library of Radiation and
Organisms; the library of the Freer Gallery of Art; the library of
the National Collection of Fine Arts (until recently the National
Gallery of Art); the Langley aeronautical library, since 1930 on
special deposit in the Library of Congress; the library of the National
Zoological Park; and, finally, the 35 sectional libraries of the
National Museum.

PERSONNEL

There were two changes in the permanent staff. Lucile A. Torrey,
senior stenographer in the office of the librarian, was appointed to
the newly established position of library assistant in the National
Collection of Fine Arts, and Mrs. George C. Rodgers was chosen
for the vacancy—a position she had formerly held. Carroll M.
Martin, assistant messenger in the National Museum library, was
transferred to the Social Security Board, and Joseph Salat, Jr.,
succeeded him.

The temporary assistants were Helen G. Rankin and Margaret
Kober. Fifteen workers were also assigned to the library for vari-
ous periods by the Works Progress Administration.

EXCHANGE OF PUBLICATIONS

The exchange work of the year brought to the library, as usual, a
wealth of publications. These represented most of the 22,714 pack-
107

108 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ages received by mail and the 2,226 by the International Exchange
Service—a total of 24,940, or an increase of 764 over 1936. Each
package contained one or more items. Among the largest sendings
were those from the Australian National Research Council, Sydney;
Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft, Berlin; Royal Society of Tas-
mania, Hobart; Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne; Société
Géologique de Belgique, Liége; Society for the Preservation of the
Fauna of the Empire, London; Verein der Freunde der Naturge-
schichte in Mecklenburg, Rostock; and Zoological Society of London.

The number of dissertations received was 5,367, or 1,654 fewer than
the year before. Of these, 2,292 were sent to the Smithsonian
deposit ; the other 3,075, being medical in character, were forwarded
to the Surgeon General’s library. They came from the Academy of
Freiberg, the universities of Basel, Berlin, Bern, Bonn, Braun-
schweig, Breslau, Cornell, Delft, Erlangen, Freiburg, Giessen,
Heidelberg, Helsingfors, Jena, Johns Hopkins, Kiel, K6nigsberg,
Leipzig, Liége, Lund, Lwéw, Marburg, Neuchitel, Pennsylvania,
Rostock, Strasbourg, Tiibingen, Utrecht, Wittenberg, Wiirzburg,
and Ziirich, and the technical schools of Berlin, Braunschweig, Dres-
den, Karlsruhe, and Ziirich.

The staff wrote 2,307 letters, most of which had to do with the
exchange of publications. They obtained by special correspondence
and by search among the Smithsonian duplicates 4,580 volumes and
parts needed in various sets, particularly in the Smithsonian deposit
and the libraries of the National Museum, Astrophysical Observatory,
and National Zoological Park. They also arranged for 262 new
exchanges.

It should be noted that, while the number of small sendings received
has increased somewhat during recent years, the number of large ones
has diminished. This falling off in the large sendings would indicate
that the special effort of the employees in the libraries of the Smith-
sonian, begun sometime ago, to recheck the main sets for missing
numbers and obtain by exchange as many of these as possible while
they were still available, has been highly successful, at least so far
as the gaps, especially the longer ones, can be filled in this manner.
It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that most of the substantial send-
ings in the future will not be to fill out old sets, but rather to supply
the library with earlier numbers of comparatively new serials needed
in the work of the Institution. For the staff in taking up new ex-
changes have two aims constantly before them—to serve Smithsonian
scientists and to conserve Smithsonian publications. They also, of
course, do what they can, in cooperation with the offices of publica-
tions, to encourage the return of duplicates not wanted by institutions
to which they have been distributed, that these may be used again

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 109

in the exchange work of the Institution. The success of this coopera-
tive service the past few years has been noteworthy.

GIFTS

There were many gifts during the year. The Philosophical Society
of Washington turned over to the library several thousand copies
of its Bulletin to be used for exchange purposes. The Geophysical
Laboratory presented 838 miscellaneous publications; the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, 525; the American Art
Association, Anderson Galleries, 38 priced catalogs of art objects; and
both the Anthropological Society and the Biological Society of Wash-
ington, a substantial number of journals. The outstanding gift, how-
ever, was a collection, numbering nearly 4,500, mainly on botany,
that had been part of the working library of the late Dr. Frederick
V. Coville, chief botanist of the Department of Agriculture and hon-
orary curator of the division of plants in the National Museum. The
collection was presented by Mrs. Coville.

Among other important gifts were, Ancient Egyptian Paintings,
in three volumes, by Nina M. Davies, with the editorial assistance of
Alan H. Gardiner, from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Red-Figured
Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in two volumes,
by Gisela M. A. Richter, from the Metropolitan Museum; Catalogue
of Hispanic Pottery, by Alice Wilson Frothingham, and Catalogue
of Laces and Embroideries, by Florence Lewis May, in the collection
of the Hispanic Society of America, from the Society; Index Cata-
logue of the Library of the Surgeon General’s Office, fourth series,
volume 1 (two copies), from the Army Medical Library; A Cata-
logue of the Collection of Martinware Formed by Frederick Johu
Nettlefold, together with a Short History of the Firm of R. W.
Martin and Brothers of Southhall, by Charles R. Beard, from Fred-
erick John Nettlefold; Nel Cinquantenario della Societa Edison,
1884-1984, in four volumes, edited by Giacinto Motta, from the ed-
itor; Gregorio Vazquez de Arce y Ceballoz, by Roberto Pizano Res-
trepo, from the Government of Colombia; Georg Wilhelm Steller,
the Pioneer of Alaskan Natural History, by Leonhard Stejneger,
from the author; French Arts and Letters and Other Essays, by
W. Francklyn Paris, from the author; An Essex Index, in four vol-
umes, compiled by Fred J. Brand, from the compiler; Bibliography
and Index of Geology Exclusive of North America, volume 2, by
John M. Nickles and Robert B. Miller, and volume 3, by John M.
Nickles, Marie Siegrist, and Eleanor Tatge, from Marie Siegrist;
Oceanic Birds of South America, in two volumes, by Robert C.
Murphy, from the American Museum of Natural History; The Birds
of the Malay Peninsula, volume 3, by Herbert C. Robinson and Fred-

110 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

erick N. Chasen, from Gertrude Abbott; Proboscidea, volume 1, by
Henry Fairfield Osborn, from the Osborn Library; Fragments of
Entomological History, by Herbert Osborn, from the author; Moss
Flora of North America North of Mexico, volume 1, part 1, by A. J.
Grout, from the author; Praktikum der Edelsteinkunde, by Georg
O. Wild, from Alfred N. Goldsmith; and several publications, in-
cluding J. M. W. Turner, by W. L. Wyllie, and the De Luxe Illus-
trated Catalogue of Early American Portraits Collected by Thomas
B. Clarke, from Theodore Bolton.

Finally, there were gifts from members and associates of the
Smithsonian staff, notably Secretary Abbot and Assistant Secretary
Wetmore. Mrs. Charles D. Walcott also gave a large number of
items, including two copies of her recently published Illustrations of
North American Pitcherplants.

SOME STATISTICS

Accessions to the various libraries:

Approxi-
Pamphlets mate
Volumes Total | holdings
and charts June 30,
1937
po I) Oy ee eae ee ee eee 326 95 421 9, 197
Bureau of ona s 9 pia ao le ei ae ta ee y ARC, BAO biccdccnattensd 580 51, 000
TS fC oP, aa ee ee eee 629 114 743 12, 674
Langley ja Ake ton SERS fl As sa EERE EBs WINS Ss ae Et 34 25 3, 328
National Collection of Fine Arts. ..............-...--.-.----. 402 355 757 5, 784
pS po et or eS TRS Tal SEES) HI aS 2, 486 951 | 3,437 207, 142
National Sechenleal aia SO ER ae SS ORES 8 SRE 89 10 99 3, 571
Jeeiagson ei. Ormpaninnnn. SiS ee re 4 3 7 245
Smithsonian de epost, a ierary Dt aE ee ee ees 3, 037 2,006 | 5,043 553, 078
ce ia ee Be Se Beale ET ee 302 21 323 30, 503
ir) he a A le | Rie Ba 2 $l et ip et Beare co ee 1g 7, 889 3,580 | 11,469 1 876, 522

1 These holdings do not, of course, include the thousands of volumes still unbound, uncataloged,
or incomplete.

The number of periodicals entered was 24,212; of publications
cataloged, 6,766; of cards prepared and filed, 28,967; of loans made,
10,995, of which 196 were to libraries outside the Institution and its
branches. From the Library of Congress 1,942 publications were
borrowed, and from other libraries, 386.

The index of Smithsonian publications was kept up to date; the
index of exchange relations was advanced; and the union catalog
received considerable attention, as the following table will show:

Voltimes; catalocet oS a a ee ee 4, 122
Pamphlets and. charts cataloged. _—=—~— 2. +. - 5 aes — 2,427
New “Serial G@iTtties 3800. Fn 218
Typed cards added to catalog and shelf list_-_____-__----------~ do: 4, 733

Library of Congress cards added to catalog and shelf list--__-___-_____-_- 2, 239

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 111
BINDING

More time than usual was spent by the staff in preparing periodi-
cals for binding, with the following results: the library of the Na-
tional Museum sent to the bindery 1,846 volumes; the library of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, 1,330; the Smithsonian office li-
brary, 271; the library of the Astrophysical Observatory, 189; the
library of the National Collection of Fine Arts, 113; and the library
of the Freer Gallery of Art, 54. The binding of these 3,803 vol-
umes—or all but 106 of them, which were otherwise provided for—
was made possible by the deficiency appropriation of $12,000 ap-
proved toward the close of 1935. Mention should also be made
of the fact that an experienced binder, assigned to the National
Zoological Park under the W. P. A., bound 389 volumes for the li-
brary of the Park and several other libraries of the Smithsonian;
and of the further fact that this expert and two other W. P. A.
workers repaired about 500 books, thus extending their period of
usefulness.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Special attention was given during the year to the libraries of the
National Collection of Fine Arts and the National Zoological Park.
As a consequence, much progress was made in sorting their accumu-
lations of miscellaneous material and rendering .the publications
retained available for use. Many items needed in the files were
supplied by the Library of Congress, National Museum, and Smith-
sonian Institution.

The work of the 15 W. P. A. employees assigned to the library
consisted largely of typing letters, copying cards, repairing books,
putting pamphlets into binders and labeling them appropriately,
preparing, mounting, and filing aeronautical clippings, checking and
sorting publications, shelving duplicates, recording periodicals, and
assisting with the cataloging.

Smithsonian duplicates were sent, on special exchange, to the Bu-
reau of Mines, Ecuador, and the following colleges and universities:
Brown, Columbia, Franklin and Marshall, Harvard, Pennsylvania,
Princeton, Rollins, and Yale.

Steps were taken late in the year to provide a third lot of steel
shelving for the technological library. When this is installed, it
will increase materially the shelf space for this important collection
and make possible, it is hoped, the early completion of the reorgani-
zation of the libraries in the Arts and Industries Building begun
some years ago.

The reference and bibliographical work of the various libraries
of the Institution, which has steadily increased since 1924, reached

112 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

in 1987 a high point of effectiveness, requiring much time from sev-
eral members of the staff and involving service, not only to the
scientists and associates of the Smithsonian and to other Government
employees, but to many inquirers outside of Washington.

NEEDS

‘he library needs a larger annual allotment for binding, so
that this essential activity may be brought and kept up to date.
There should also be an increase in the funds available for purchas-
ing publications that have a direct bearing on the projects, both
present and prospective, of the scientific staff and cannot be found
in Washington or obtained by exchange. Two other needs should
be considered in due time: more trained catalogers to correct and
revise the catalog of the National Museum library and more shelf
room for its collections.

Respectfully submitted.

WituiaM L. Corsin, Librarian.

Dr. C. G. Axsor,

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

APPENDIX 10
REPORT ON PUBLICATIONS

Sm: I have the honor to submit the following report on the
publications of the Smithsonian Institution and the Government
branches under its administrative charge during the year ended
June 30, 1937:

The Institution published during the year 16 papers in the series
of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 1 annual report, and
pamphlet copies of the 27 articles contained in the report appendix,
and 2 special publications.

The United States National Museum issued 1 annual report, 2
bulletins, and 29 Proceedings papers.

The Bureau of American Ethnology issued 1 annual report and 1
bulletin.

Of the publications there were distributed 144,817 copies, which
included 70 volumes and separates of the Smithsonian Contribu-
tions to Knowledge, 34,178 volumes and separates of the Smith-
sonian Miscellaneous Collections, 23,906 volumes and separates of
the Smithsonian Annual Reports, 2,220 Smithsonian special publi-
cations, 68,822 volumes and separates of the National Museum
publications, 14,708 publications of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology, 90 publications of the National Gallery of Art, 110 publica-
tions of the Freer Gallery of Art, 24 annals of the Astrophysical
Observatory, 16 reports of the Harriman Alaska Expedition, and
673 reports of the American Historical Association.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

Of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, volume 73, there
was issued 1 paper; volume 91, 2 papers; volume 95, 12 papers and
title page and table of contents; and volume 96, 1 paper, making 16
papers in all, as follows:

VOLUME 73

No. 8. Opinions rendered by the International Commission on Zoological
Nomenclature. Opinions 124 to 138. 44 pp. (Publ. 3395.) October 28, 1936.

VOLUME ?1

Reports on the collections obtained by the first Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea
Expedition to the Puerto Rican Deep.

31508—38——9 113

114 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

No. 25. A new Actinian, by Oskar Carlgren. 4 pp., 3 figs. (Publ. 3401.)
January 30, 1937.

No. 26. New species of mysidacid crustaceans, by Walter M. Tattersall. 18
pp., 10 figs. (Publ. 3413.) May 7, 1937.

VOLUME 95

No. 13. A comparative study of the labium of coleopterous larvae, by W. H.
Anderson. 29 pp., 8 pls. (Publ. 3393.) August 11, 1936.

No. 14. Morphology of the insect abdomen. Part III. The male genitalia
(including arthropods other than insects), by R. E. Snodgrass. 96 pp., 29 figs.
(Publ. 3396.) October 12, 1936.

No. 15. Further evidence on the dependence of terrestrial temperatures on
the variations of solar radiation, by C. G. Abbot. 4 pp., 2 figs. (Publ. 3397.)
August 12, 1986.

No. 16. A seventeenth century letter of Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderén, Bishop
of Cuba, describing the Indians and Indian missions of Florida, by Lucy L.
Wenhold. 14 pp., 12 pls. (Publ. 3398.) November 20, 1936.

No. 17. A new race of the song sparrow from the Appalachian region, by
Alexander Wetmore. 3 pp. (Publ. 3399.) September 26, 1936.

No. 18. Two original photographic negatives of Abraham Lincoln, by Alex-
ander Wetmore. 2 pp., 4 pls. (Publ. 3400.) October 16, 1936.

No. 19. Cycles in tree-ring widths, by C. G. Abbot. 5 pp., 1 fig. (Publ. 3402.)
December 16, 1936.

No. 20. Inactivation of plant growth substance by light, by Paul R. Burk-
holder and Earl S. Johnston. 14 pp., 2 pls., 1 fig. (Publ. 3403.) February 5,
1937.

No. 21. The dependence of carbon dioxide assimilation in a higher plant on
wave length of radiation, by W. H. Hoover. 13 pp., 3 pls., 4 figs. (Publ. 3406.)
February 27, 1937.

No. 22. Third contribution to nomenclature of Cambrian trilobites, by Charles
Elmer Resser. 29 pp. (Publ. 3408.) April 5, 1937.

No. 23. On the corrections to be applied to silver-disk pyrheliometry, by
C. G. Abbot. T pp. (Publ. 3409.) March 10, 1937.

No. 24. Time course of photosynthesis for a higher plant, by E. D. McAlister.
17 pp., 2 pls., 10 figs. (Publ. 3410.) May 4, 1937.

Title page and table of contents. (Publ. 3415.)

VOLUME 96

No. 2. Wave lengths of radiation in the visible spectrum promoting the
germination of light-sensitive lettuce seed, by Lewis H. Flint and E. D.
McAlister. 8 pp., 1 pl., 2 figs. (Publ. 3414.) June 16, 1987.

SMITHSONIAN ANNUAL REPORTS

Report for 1985 ——The complete volume of the Annual Report of
the Board of Regents for 1935 was received from the Public Printer
in October 1936.

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution show-

ing operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institution for the year
ending June 30, 1935. xiv+580 pp., 95 pls., 89 text figs. (Publ. 3348.)

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 115

The appendix contained the following papers:

Weather governed by changes in the sun’s radiation, by C. G. Abbot.

Seasonal weather and its prediction, by Sir Gilbert T. Walker.

The sun’s place among the stars, by Walter S. Adams.

The atmospheres of the planets, by Henry Norris Russell.

The surface features of the moon, by F. E. Wright.

The upper atmosphere, by G. M. B. Dobson, D. Sce., F. R. S.

The nature of the cosmic radiation, by Thomas H. Johnson.

What is electricity? by Paul R. Heyl.

New facts about the nucleus of the atom, by Carl D. Anderson.

The approach to the absolute zero of temperature, by F. Simon, D. Phil.

Discovery and significance of vitamins, by Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins,
Phas:

The salinity of irrigation water, by Carl S. Scofield.

Selenium absorption by plants and their resulting toxicity to animals, by
Annie M. Hurd-Karrer.

The glacial history of an extinct volcano, Crater Lake National Park, by
Wallace W. Atwood, Jr.

Concretions—freaks in stone, by R. S. Bassler.

Biology and human trends, by Raymond Pearl.

The relation of genetics to physiology and medicine, by Thomas Hunt Morgan.

Conservation of the Pacific halibut, an international experiment, by William F.
Thompson.

The swallowtail butterflies, by Austin H. Clark.

Those ubiquitous plants called algae, by Florence E. Meier.

The Boulder Canyon project, by Wesley R. Nelson.

Wings over the sea, by Louis Blériot.

The coming of man from Asia in the light of recent discoveries, by Ales
Hrdlitka.

The antiquity of man in America in the light of archeology, by N. C. Nelson.

A survey of southwestern archeology, by Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.

Nuzi and the Hurrians: The excavations at Nuzi (Kirkuk, Iraq) and their
contribution to our knowledge of the history of the Hurrians, by Robert H.
Pfeiffer.

The ruins of Tenampua, Honduras, by Dorothy H. Popenoe.

Report for 1936.—The report of the Secretary, which included the
financial report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents,
and will form part of the annual report of the Board of Regents to
Congress, was issued in January 1937.

Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and financial report of

the executive committee of the Board of Regents for the year ending June 30,
1936. 107 pp., 2 pls. (Publ. 3404.)

The report volume, containing the general appendix, was in press
at the close of the year.

SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS

Explorations and field work of the Smithsonian Institution in
1936. 100 pp., 98 figs. (Publ. 3407.) April 6, 1937.

116 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Statement to the Smithsonian Board of Regents on 10 years of
Smithsonian affairs, by Secretary C. G. Abbot. 10 pp. (Publ.
3412.) April 1937.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

The editorial work of the National Museum has continued during
the year under the immediate direction of the editor, Paul H. Oehser.
There were issued 1 annual report, 2 bulletins, 1 volume of the Pro-
ceedings, and 29 separates from Proceedings volumes 83 and 84, as
follows:

MUSEUM REPORT

Report on the progress and condition of the United States Na-
tional Museum for the year ended June 30, 1986. 8vo, 111+115 pp.,
January 14, 1937.

PROCEEDINGS : VOLUME 83

Complete volume:

Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol. 83, 8vo, viii+617
pp., 37 pls., 71 figs.

Separates:

No. 2990. A revision of the chalcid flies of the genus Perilampus Latreille
occurring in America north of Mexico. By M. T. Smulyan, Pp. 369-412.
October 16, 1936.

No. 2991. Pycnogonids from Puget Sound, By Harriet I. Exline. Pp. 413—
422, fig. 83. July 9, 19386.

No. 2992. California Crustacea of the order Cumacea. By Carl Zimmer.
Pp. 423-439, figs. 34-89. August 27, 1936.

No. 2993. A comparison of the shallow-water sponges near the Pacific end
of the Panama Canal with those at the Caribbean end. By M. W. deLauben-
fels. Pp. 441-466, figs. 40-45, July 31, 1936.

No. 2004. New species of polychaetous annelids of the family Nereidae from
California. By Olga Hartman. Pp. 467-480, figs. 46-53. July 11, 1936.

No. 2995. Four new species of Chalcidoidea parasitic on cactus insects, By
A. B. Gahan. Pp. 481-486. August 7, 1936.

No, 2996. The Tertiary Foraminifera of the genera Operculina and Opercu-
linoides from North America and the West Indies. By T. Wayland Vaughan
and W.S. Cole. Pp. 487-496, pls. 35-38. October 8, 1936.

No. 2997. Review of the seahorses (Hippocampus) found on the coasts of the
American continents and of Europe. By Isaac Ginsburg. Pp. 497-594, figs.
54-71. January 18, 1937.

—— Title page, table of contents, and index. Pp. i-viii, 595-617. March 17,
1937.

VOLUME 84

Separates:

No. 2998. Report on the fishes collected by H. C. Raven in Lake Tanganyika
in 1920. By George S. Myers. Pp. 1-15, pl. 1. September 24, 1936.

No. 2999. The ichneumon-flies of the genus Brachycyrtus Kriechbaumer. By
R. A. Cushman. Pp. 17-24, figs. 1-4. September 26, 1936.

No. 3000. New cottid fishes from Japan and Bering Sea. By Rolf L. Bolin.
Pp. 25-38, figs. 5-8. October 10, 1936.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 117

No. 8001. Revision of North American beetles of the staphylinid subfamily
Tachyporinae—Part I: Genus Tachyporus Gravenhorst. By Richard B. Black-
welder. Pp. 39-54. November 17, 1936.

No. 3002. Revision of the fishes of the family Microdesmidae, with descriptions
of a new species. By Harl D. Reid. Pp. 55-72, pl. 2, figs. 9-12. December 10,
1936.

No. 3008. Two new species of hawks from the Miocene of Nebraska. By
Alexander Wetmore. Pp. 73-78, figs. 18, 14. November 3, 1936.

No. 3004. A new North American mason-wasp from Virginia, with notes on
allied forms. By Joseph Bequaert. Pp. 79-87, fig. 15. November 24, 1936.

No. 3005. The nest of Odynerus tempiferus var. macio Bequaert, with notes on
the habits of the wasps. By Austin H. Clark and Grace A. Sandhouse. Pp.
89-95. November 24, 1936.

No. 3006. Crested millipeds of the family Lysiopetalidae in North America,
with descriptions of new genera and species. By H. F. Loomis. Pp. 97-135,
pls. 3, 4, figs. 16-18. May 15, 1937.

No. 3007. Notes on phallostethid fishes. By George S. Myers. Pp. 1387-143.
January 6, 1937.

No. 3008. The deep-sea zeomorph fishes of the family Grammicolepidae. By
George S. Myers. Pp. 145-156, pls. 5-7. January 18, 1937.

No. 3009. New North American species of earthworms of the family Megas-
cvolecidae. By Frank Smith. Pp. 157-181. January 8, 1937.

No. 3010. Observations on the trematode genus Brachycoelium Dujardin. By
Klon KE. Byrd. Pp. 183-199, pls. 8,9. April 7, 1937.

No. 8011. New muscoid flies (Diptera) in the United States National Museum.
By David G. Hall. Pp. 201-216, figs. 19-26. April 6, 1937.

No. 3012. The pupa of Myocera tabanivora Hall (Diptera). By Charles T.
Greene. Pp. 217-218, fig. 27. April 6, 1987.

No. 3013. A new subspecies of the nymphalid butterfly Polygonia faunus. By
Austin H. Clark. Pp. 219-222, pl. 10. April 9, 1937.

No. 3014. A new species of trematode from the mud-eel (Siren lacertina). By
C. Courson Zeliff. Pp. 223-226, pl. 11. May 4, 19387.

No. 3015. Mexican fossil Echini. By Robert Tracy Jackson. Pp. 227-237,
pls. 12-15. June 12, 1937.

No. 3016. Two new beetles of the family Mordellidae from orchids. By
Eugene Ray. Pp. 239-241. April 21, 1937.

No. 3018. A revision of the clapper rails (Rallus longirostris Boddaert). By
Harry C. Oberholser. Pp. 318-354. June 30, 1937.

No. 3020. Synopsis of the Puerto Rican beetles of the genus Mordellistena,
with descriptions of new species. By Eugene Ray. Pp. 389-399, fig. 28. June
26, 1937.

BULLETINS

No. 153, part 2. Birds collected by the Childs Frick expedition to Ethiopia
and Kenya Colony: Passeres. By Herbert Friedmann. xii-++506 pp., 14 pls., 30
figs. (colored frontispiece). June 25, 1937.

No. 167. Life histories of North American birds of prey. Part 1: Order
Falconiformes. By Arthur Cleveland Bent. viii+409 pp., 102 pls. May 3, 1937.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF AMERIOAN ETHNOLOGY

The editorial work of the bureau has continued under the immediate
direction of the editor, Stanley Searles. During the year one annual
report and one bulletin were issued, as follows:

118 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Fifty-third Annual Report on the Bureau of American Ethnology to the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1935-86. 8 pp.
Bulletin 114. Fox miscellany. By Truman Michelson. 124 pp., 9 figs.

REPORT OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

The annual reports of the American Historical Association are
transmitted by the association to the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution and are communicated by him to Congress, as provided
by the act of incorporation of the association.

Volume I of the report for 1935 and volume III of the report
for 1981 (Writings on American History, 1932) were issued during
the year. The annual report for 1936, volume I, and Writings on
American History, 1983 and 1934, were in press at the close of the
year.

REPORT OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY, DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION

The manuscript of the Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Na-
tional Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, was trans-
mitted to Congress, in accordance with law, December 3, 1936.

ALLOTMENTS FOR PRINTING

The congressional allotments for the printing of the Smithsonian
Annual Reports to Congress and the various publications of the
Government bureaus under the administration of the Institution
were virtually used up at the close of the year. The appropriation
for the coming year ending June 30, 1938, totals $65,000, allotted as
follows:

Ninithseian: sis be plOn je Se Sa ek ee $12, 500
UREN IVECIRG DM som tere, De mest Se 30, 000
Bureau: @f American: Siwdloey. - = s e hk ee 13, 300
Intemational lisclanpe Service 5-4 ok Be eee 200
a ME ON 2, ee are STR Ae oS a rents ER 200
ASUPOPR VSI CAL ADD SOR Vata T ysis es Oe re Sr Es 400
American Historical Assocth tions.) bes, Ses a 8, 000
INS tons LaGoMection Svrine Arts. jo To” ee or a -_ 400

Respectfully submitted.
W. P. Troe, Editor.
Dr. C. G. Asgor,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTHE OF
THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITH-
SONIAN INSTITUTION

FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1937

To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution:

Your executive committee respectfully submits the following re-
port in relation to the funds of the Smithsonian Institution, to-
gether with a statement of the appropriations by Congress for the
Government bureaus in the administrative charge of the Institution.

SMITHSONIAN ENDOWMENT FUND

The original bequest of James Smithson was £104,960 8s 6d—

$508,318.46. Refunds of money expended in prosecution of the

claim, freights, insurance, etc., together with payment into the

fund of the sum of £5,015, which had been withheld during the

lifetime of Madame de la Batut, brought the fund to the

DTG UT en eae ee ee SP i SR er ie ee ee ee $550, 000. 00
Since the original bequest the Institution has received gifts from

various sources chiefly in the years prior to 1893, the income

from which may be used for the general work of the Institution.
To these gifts has been added capital from savings on income,

gain from sale of securities, etc., bringing the total endowment

for general purposes to the amount of_______________________ 1, 132, 868, 57

The Institution holds also a number of endowment gifts, the
income of each being restricted to specific use. These are invested
and stand on the books of the Institution as follows:

Arthur, James, fund, income for investigations and study of

AUnwang Lecturer on: the sun 22- a eae $39, 993. 48
Bacon, Virginia Purdy, fund, for a traveling scholarship to
investigate fauna of countries other than the United States___ 50, 101. 00

Baird, Lucy H., fund, for creating a memorial to Secretary Baird_ 13, 489. 06
Barstow, Frederic D., fund, for purchase of animals for the

HOOLOSICAI ERAT Ke 29.20 0 inte Jee A eee Ae oe 760. 67
Canfield Collection fund, for increase and care of the Canfield

COMECHONU OL * MIN CEAIS se a2 hen re Ee ARR Gln: + elves neers 38, 247. 22
Casey, Thomas L., fund, for maintenance of the Casey collec-

tion and promotion of researches relating to Coleoptera______ We teen oe
Chamberlain, Francis Lea, fund, for increase and promotion of

Isaac Lea collection of gems and mollusks___________________ 28, 160. 59
Hillyer, Virgil, fund, for increase and care of Virgil Hillyer

colleceongofelishtin=s Obj ectge ae ee nee 6, 572. 25

Hodgkins fund, specific, for increase and diffusion of more exact
knowledge in regard to nature and properties of atmospheric

120 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
Special Research fund, gift, in form of real estate_____._-__________ $20, 946. 00
Hughes, Bruce, fund, to found Hughes alcove__-_---_--_________ 15, 150. 12
Myer, Catherine Walden, fund, for purchase of first-class works
of art for the use of, and benefit of, the National Gallery of Art__ 18, 956. 10
Pell, Cornelia Livingston, fund, for maintenance of Alfred Duane
en jeomectiqn ©)" ) 8:2 3 eS ee eee 2, 413. 55
Poore, Lucy T., and George W., fund, for general use of the In-
stitution when principal amounts to the sum of $250,000______ 67, 717. 14
Reid, Addison T., fund, for founding chair in biology in memory
ys A WT TMB Uc hr | eee es ene seo eamoe ene einenace: dete. Seow eRe Tae Se 29, 084. 86
Roebling fund, for care, improvement, and increase of Roebling
OLIEREIOM Gl. ere ee en ee ee 120, 682. 75
Rollins, Miriam and William, fund for investigations in physics
gud? Ghemistry: (ices ee SE ye eee oe ee 52, 902. 67
Springer, Frank, fund, for care, ete., of Springer collection and
Ty Sey an 2 Sn nes Sees ee Wee ees SEES Toate kone sen as 17, 932. 90
Walcott, Charles D., and Mary Vaux, research fund, for develop-
ment of geological and paleontological studies and publishing
rp Lebo ity MeO a ee Ree Ne eo ee a NIA S a RUNES bE. 10, 736. 20
Younger, Helen Walcott, fund, held in trust-_____-__-_____-_______ 50, 112. 50
Zerbee, Frances Brincklé, fund, for endowment of aquaria_____- 761. 08
Total endowment for specific purposes other than Freer
endewmen tite * aioe fe re ee ee ee eee 692, 448. 47

The capital funds of the Institution, except the Freer funds, are
invested as follows:

Fund — Consolidated| Separate Total
Treasury fund fund

pr AE ei BASS Fe SR oes (geoweeree 3 $30,008) 48 |. <...-4.. , 993.
Bacon, Mei xg ye ee a Ee ae Read FMT A. S Op, 100. OD teen 50, 101. 00
ORI BAO Preps ntrhaasien pn 5a ccsgeedsn shphe wecaetnndee | warninttagsseee 15; 600,00; 1.1.< eccnenes 13, 489. 06
Barstow, Frederio Eppes ins Merten b/g: SLA) bn wh, eee MOG, OF Tat cen aicuan 760. 67
he 8) A IES EE SES ES Y EL oe es a 88, 247. 22
ee AQ So 2 AE See eee LER A ahi eek db a a is (OS Ioaewesonenae 7, 728, 33
oo RE EERE RNS Firs Coe Meche RL AEN LAL C GR aE” = Oe SI Oe ae ee 28, 160. 59
pI a, | eh ee a Re PS Tee ee eed EES ee eee SS ee 6,072. 28} occ le see 6, 572. 25
CO ee eae ee $100, 000 tances ee eae 00, 000. 00
BROIL TOONNOTOH | atten es Fe eases HALE me cee mal cea deinete Be $20, 946. 00 20, 946. 00
ERE SEAR ac saad lances ener bined Bars olnnae haoka eeabll ocnaan om tepaee eas 20, 060, 02) be oe 15, 150. 12
Tpomer intbenind Wha eee ee een bee ie i woe 18, 958. 10
Pell, Dernelie Livinesten 62. 2ossi. 5. eslh uae echt S016: Ba eee 2, 413. 55
Poore, Lacy T. ana George W.-..<..s22 25-53 26, 670 hi Va GO ees 67, 717. 14

pS SS Oe ee eS STEN 11, 000 3, 584. 4, 500. 00 , 084.
Perey PoE i ae oe Cee eae KE. i va 120, 682. 75
ons Miirians We Wy PIE oe en loamanieneemi 43, 402. 67 9, 500. 00 52, 902. 67

Smithsonian unrestricted:

SS RS eee Al ee, Pes Pale 1, 400. 00 1, 400. 00
DO SS 535 12 95 RSet aes ees es Ph 8 Bi, BO Oh Aa cacenstccce 51, 236. 81
Endowment 103, 460. 08}. 5- 193, 460. 03
2 LY a Se RIS paella et aE tne, (elie Mi i («| | fl aoc atleast bene Ee SE 500. 00
Hachenberg oun) a 4,021. 50
maaan IOI LON EAE RAE IS 2, 500 08: 08 fw wanceadus 2, 903. 68
} EE OP ea ree Ek EE SS Te pot os SS MOM SS le 1, 200. 42
Hodgkins {711 1b DNASE See eNO eee 116, 009 Ey Sa eee 146, 223. 12
Pea. Dla a AS SS OE a ale , 640 RE Te eeacconnces 728, 860. 78
120° SRR eR HR REA ERE ENS TES. 590 rt 4 Pe eee 1, 063. 07
OTE Ss ESOS NRA SANE ER al SEERA IEE SN SoC 1, 100 | ee ee 1, 990. 16
Springer. - 5022 ES tee ae), Eee eee bf Eos eS cee 17, 932. 90
Waloott, Oharies D., and Mary Vaux... 20220212. ca as 10, el 2 10, 736. 20
Younger, Fielen: W al00tt onsen ee eee 50, 112. 50 50, 112. 50

worbee, Prancel Brincki6. oo og ok See ateoliensomns ames cA 1) ee eae 761.
Total... 2 eee ee eed 1, 000, 000 738, 858.54 | 86,458.50} 1,825,317. 04

REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTED 121

FREER GALLERY OF ART FUND

Early in 1906, by deed of gift, Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, gave
to the Institution his collection of Chinese and other oriental objects
of art, as well as paintings, etchings, and other works of art by
Whistler, Thayer, Dewing, and other artists. Later he also gave
funds for the construction of a building to house the collection, and
finally, in his will, probated November 6, 1919, he provided stock and
securities to the estimated value of $1,958,591.42 as an endowment
fund for the operation of the gallery. From the above date to the
present time these funds have been increased by stock dividends,
savings of income, etc., to a total of $4,881,986.96. In view of the
importance and special nature of the gift and the requirements of
the testator in respect to it, all Freer funds are kept separate from
the other funds of the Institution, and the accounting in respect to
them is stated separately.

The invested funds of the Freer bequest are classified as follows:

Oodrmand-eroqgnGgs tund!2 =o See ee ee — $646, 932.11
Court, and” zrounds’ maintenance find— 2. | a ee ee 137, 506. 17
(GAVE Woy ehh AUG ANG ices Pats ARE siete il aN ee Rs eee re oe 556, 567. 59
BRESLOUAITY LO RHCy en oe Se Sa eS a ee ee 3, 640, 981. 09
TD Ue ee ee A ae et peace ey SN pe Ee, 4, 881, 986. 96
SUMMARY
Invested endowment for general purposes______________________ $1, 132, 868. 57
Invested endowment for specific purposes other than Freer
CITGO WaT GING sce oes es eet aS ee dase Th ey ae 692, 448. 47

Total invested endowment other than Freer endowment. 1, 825, 317. 04
Freer invested endowment for specific purposes____________ — 4,881, 986. 96

Total invested endowment for all purposes_.____________ 6, 707, 304. 00

CLASSIFICATION OF INVESTMENTS

Deposited in the U. S. Treasury at 6 percent per annum, as

authorized in the United States Revised Statutes, sec. 5591__ $1, 000, 000. 00
Investments other than Freer endowment (cost or

market value at date acquired) :

Bonds (19?difierent groups)... — $300, 367. 81
Stocks (41 different groups) ——-_____-________ 474, 721.18
Real estate and first-mortgage notes-___________ 41, 746. 00
Mininvested-enpitake 2 8, 482. 55

825, 317. 04

Total investments other than Freer endowment_-——_ — 1,825,317. 04

122 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Investments of Freer endowment (cost or market
value at date acquired) :

Bonds)(44: different: groups) == -=- === $2, 379, 555. 93

Stocks (54 different groups) -~------------_--- 2, 449, 697. 40

Real estate first-mortgage notes__________ = 24, 500. 00

ininvested: capital > ee ee 28, 233. 63
———————— $4, 881, 986. 96

‘Total “isivestments. 2 on ee

6, 707, 304. 00

CASH BALANCES, RECEIPTS, AND DISBURSEMENTS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR

Cash balance on hand June 30, 1986-----_----------

Receipts:
Cash income from various sources for general
Work or the- Insicnon jn
Cash gifts and contribytions expendable for
special scientific objects (not to be invested) ~-
Cash gifts for special scientific work (to be in-
Bf hi ae eee ee ee eee et es ee ee
Cash income from endowments for specific use
other than Freer endowment and from miscel-
laneous sources (including refund of tempo-
ELE, PPLEL RISRCON ) eo oe
Cash received as royalties from Smithsonian Sci-
PIG ARTION 6 ee ee
Cash capital from sale, call of securities, etc. (to
pO eat te a eee

Total receipts other than Freer endowment-_----------~

Cash receipts from Freer endowment, income

$72, 439. 29

33, 440. 45

105. 00

Prom anvestments, Ste 250. Aes ee $280, 969. 53

Cash capital from sale, call of securities, etc. (to
Neer Ven bee) ne ee

754, 718. 98

Total receipts from Freer endowment—----__---_-_--__-

Disbursements :
From funds for general work of the Institution:

Buildings, care, repairs, and alterations_____~ $4, 717. 66
Morminire and fixtures! si2s4~ 0 3 Sor See es 570. 51
Generel: mdministration <2: tceke: (tot ows fe: 28, 464. 76
PADTATY@ 2c. 2 pt een S| eee Fa, 2, 101. 26
Publications (comprising preparation, print-

ing. ned aightipintion yes ee da — 14,689. 95
Researches and explorations_____.___________ 27, 254. 20
International :-Wixchanges ead 3, 263. 08

$222, 452. 43

263, 970. 01

1, 035, 685. 51

1, 522, 107. 95

81, 011. 42

1 This statement does not include Government appropriations under the administrative

charge of the Institution.
2 This includes salary of the Secretary and certain others.

REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 123

Disbursements—Continued.
From funds for specific use, other than Freer en-
dowment :

Investments made from gifts, from gain from
sale, etc., of securities and from savings on
INCOME =~ ee $26, 168. 15

Other expenditures, consisting largely of re-
search work, travel, increase and care of
special collections, etc., from income of en-
dowment funds and from cash gifts for
specific use (including temporary ad-

VELA Sc te Ps eet a RS ae ce 78, 947. 71
Reinvestment of cash capital from sale, call
OfeSCCUTINES veb@lo nln es oe 44, 383. 42

Cost of handling securities, fee of investment
counsel, and accrued interest on bonds pur-
Ch ENS 6 OR BR a ae Ee EE et Ae ee oe eet 2, 079. 24
——————_ $1511, 578. 62
From Freer endowment:
Operating expenses of the gallery, salaries,

fiel deexPenSes: sClOs =a eee ee 49, 422.18
Purchases of att. Objectss a= ee ee 141, 942. 96
Investments made from gain from sale, etc.,

Of PRECUTITICS ete ee eee hie. ee eee SEE 230, 665. 78
Reinvestment of cash capital from sale, call

OlmsSeCUnIMIES I etCs =< 2S 02 = eels ee ee as 490, 327. 70

Cost of handling securities, fee of investment
counsel, and accrued interest on bonds pur-

[oF | a oe a ee ee a ee ee ae 22, 864. 69
935, 223. 31
Onehibalance: Sune,.30, JOR sas ane cee IO 354, 294. 70
TG a ttre ee te eae SO ae 1, 522, 107. 95

EXPENDITURES FOR RESEARCHES IN PURE SCIENCE, PUBLICATIONS, EXPLORA-
TIONS, CARE, INCREASE, AND STUDY OF COLLECTIONS, ETC.

Expenditures from general funds of the Institution:

AEA GTI oe ere See 20. 3 eA ale Secs Pl $17, 090. 34
Researches and explorations____-__________________ 27, 254. 20
$44, 344, 54
Expenditures from funds devoted to specific purposes:
Researches: and explorations... te 49, 757. 28
Care, increase, and study of special collections_____- 10, 787. 39
Puplications=... ft sssatgr ire) seater Os tect elt) 5, 606. 02
— 66, 150. 69
NG | [Ss a ea ES SAE an Pel ACG Re oo Ci ER pene acl heise ean 110, 495. 23

The practice of depositing on time in local trust companies and
banks such revenues as may be spared temporarily has been con-
tinued during the past year, and interest on these deposits has
amounted to $1,249.26.

124 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The Institution gratefully acknowledges gifts or bequests from
the following:

Dr. William L. Abbott, portion of bequest left to the Smithsonian Institution.

Friends of Dr. Albert S. Hitchcock, for establishment and care of a library
in his name.

Edith C. Long, bequest for care of collection of laces, ete., presented to the
Institution.

Mr. John A. Roebling, further contributions for researches in radiation.

Mrs. Mary Vaux Walcott, for certain publications and purchase of specimens.

Research Corporation, further contributions for researches in radiation.

The Garden Club of America, the Amateur Gardener’s Club of Baltimore,
the Herb Society of America, and others, for the publishing of the Badianus
Manuscript.

All payments are made by check, signed by the Secretary of the
Institution on the Treasurer of the United States, and all revenues are
deposited to the credit of the same account. In many instances
deposits are placed in bank for convenience of collection and later are
withdrawn in round amounts and deposited in the Treasury.

The foregoing report relates only to the private funds of the
Institution.

The following annual appropriations were made by Congress
for the Government bureaus under the administrative charge of the
Smithsonian Institution for the fiscal year 1937:

Salaries and @xpenses—. oa shel ees ee a ee $36, 330
Tntermetional siemens. a 44, 260
Cee SG RAT Da a I a cts A Sse ee A tr apne DO 58, 730
Astronnyaical Ghrervatory_._. ee, oe ee ee 30, 850
National Museum:
Wrennnce fd. Onern on ee $134, 390
Preservalon Uf Couecnons = Ses Se 604, 580
738, 970
bea SLC a ag 8, syle A ated RE ee aoe i SP ah ea aa 34, 275
Printing antl bindines oh Ee a eet ae 55, 500
INSLIOURYCOOLOMICAL PATE 5. on 3 Sn ee 225, 000
iy ROR RA A RES Alea 2 eed ee ES ec oe as Pi J alee ate tae ae et 1, 223, 915

1 Name changed to National Collection of Fine Arts by Public Res. 14, 75th Cong., 1st
sess., approved Mar. 24, 1937.

The expositions at Cleveland, Ohio, and Dallas, Tex., were con-
tinued from last year and the following allotments made for par-
ticipation therein by the Smithsonian Institution:

Gfeat bakes Hepoesition, A987 and..1088 2 = ee a $350
Greater Texas and Pan American Exposition--__._____-__---_---------_---- 5, 000
An allotment of $500 was also made to enable the Smithsonian

Institution to place an exhibit in the International Exposition held
in Paris, France.

REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 125

The report of the audit of the Smithsonian private funds is printed
below:
AvaustT 27, 1937.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEF, BOARD OF REGENTS,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

Sims: Pursuant to agreement we have audited the accounts of the Smith-
sonian Institution for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1937, and certify the bal-
ance of cash on hand, including petty cash fund, June 30, 1937, to be $356,194.70.

We have verified the record of receipts and disbursements maintained by the
Institution and the agreement of the book balances with the bank balances.

We have examined all the securities in the custody of the Institution and in
the custody of the banks and found them to agree with the book records.

We have compared the stated income of such securities with the receipts of
record and found them in agreement therewith.

We have examined all vouchers covering disbursements for account of the
Institution during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1937, together with the author-
ity therefor, and have compared them with the Institution’s record of expendi-
tures and found them to agree.

We have examined and verified the accounts of the Institution with each
trust fund.

We found the books of account and records well and accurately kept and the
securities conveniently filed and securely cared for.

All information requested by your auditors was promptly and courteously
furnished.

We certify the balance sheet, in our opinion, correctly presents the financial
condition of the Institution as at June 30, 1937.

Respectfully submitted.

Wr11am L. Yarcer & Co.,
Witi1Am L. YAEGER,
Certified Public Accountant.

Respectfully submitted.

Freperic A. DreLano,
R. Warton Moors,
JouHn C. Merriam,

Eauecutive Committee.

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GENERAL APPENDIX

TO THE

SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1937

127

ADVERTISEMENT

The object of the GznreRAL Aprrnprx to the Annual Report of the
Smithsonian Institution is to furnish brief accounts of scientific
discovery in particular directions; reports of investigations made by
collaborators of the Institution; and memoirs of a general character
or on special topics that are of interest or value to the numerous
correspondents of the Institution.

It has been a prominent object of the Board of Regents of the
Smithsonian Institution from a very early date to enrich the annual
report required of them by law with memoirs illustrating the more
remarkable and important developments in physical and biological
discovery, as well as showing the general character of the operations
of the Institution; and, during the greater part of its history, this
purpose has been carried out largely by the publication of such
papers as would possess an interest to all attracted by scientific
progress.

In 1880, induced in part by the discontinuance of an annual sum-
mary of progress which for 30 years previously had been issued by
well-known private publishing firms, the secretary had a series of
abstracts prepared by competent collaborators, showing concisely
the prominent features of recent scientific progress in astronomy,
geology, meteorology, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zool-
ogy, and anthropology. This latter plan was continued, though not
altogether satisfactorily, down to and including the year 1888.

In the report for 1889 a return was made to the earlier method of
presenting a miscellancous selection of papers (some of them origi-
nal) embracing a considerable range of scientific investigation and
discussion. This method has been continued in the present report
for 1937.

129

31508—38——-10

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CONSTITUTION OF THE STARS!

By Sir ArrHur STaNnLey EDDINGTON
Professor of Astronomy, University of Cambridge

When we turn a telescope on the sun, we look at it through its
tenuous envelopes—the corona and chromosphere—then down through
a few hundred kilometers of its outermost atmosphere, to a level
where it becomes too opaque for us to see further; just as, in looking
down on the ocean, we can see down a few feet but no further. At
the vaguely defined level which is the limit of our vision, the tempera-
ture is about 6,000°. What lies below that level? What is it like
deep down in the interior of the sun—and the other stars?

The exploration of the deep interior of the stars began in 1869
with a paper by Homer Lane of Washington, which he entitled, “On
the Theoretical Temperature of the Sun, Under the Hypothesis of a
Gaseous Mass, Maintaining Its Volume by Its Internal Heat and
Depending on the Laws of Physics as Known to Terrestrial Experi-
ment.”’ Evidently he didn’t believe in snappy headlines. This paper
has been the foundation of developments by Ritter, Emden, and
others, which are being continued at the present day.

There is a phrase in the title of Lane’s paper which I would under-
line: “Depending on the laws of physics as known to terrestrial excperi-
ment.” ‘That expresses the principle of which I profess myself a
devotee. We want to find out how far the phenomena which we
observe in the sky agree with, and are a consequence of, the laws that
have been assigned to matter as the result of terrestrial experiment.
Take ordinary matter—some mixture of the elements that we know—
and apply on a large scale the properties of matter and radiation that
have been found by experiments on a small scale. Treat it as though
you were designing a large dam instead of a large star—with just the
same kind of calculations and exercising so far as possible the same
kind of foresight. The conditions in the star are very extreme; but
the ultimate things to be dealt with—electrons, atomic nuclei, X-rays—
are the same in the star as in the laboratory, and we can apply our
laboratory knowledge of them. Calculate in this way what will be

1 Address given at the Harvard Tercentenary Conference of Arts and Sciences. Published by permission
of the Director of the Harvard Tercentenary.

131

132 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the properties of the huge mass—what, for example, will be its output
of heat and light, what will be its period if it is set pulsating. Cal-
culate “according to the laws of physics as known to terrestrial
experiment”; and then turn to the man with the telescope and ask, “Is
that anything like the stars you come across in the sky?” It may be
that he will point out differences. If the stars have anything new to
reveal to us—which the physicist with his limited conditions of experi-
ment has been unable to foresee—we shall in this way sort it out from
that which is a direct consequence of what we already know or think
we know.

Investigations which follow this course of procedure are clearly
not speculative. They may have other faults, and their conclusions
may be uncertain; but their method is the very opposite to flighty
conjecture. Parenthetically, may I ask whether it is not possible for
critics of theoretical investigations of the stars to find some other
term of disapprobation than the term “speculative” ; one prefers to have
even one’s faults called by the right name. I do not class all specula-
tion as a fault; and it has sometimes happened that important ad-
vances have begun in a speculative way. The real harm is when
speculative attempts are not sufficiently discriminated from the
straightforward application of existing knowledge. And the con-
verse is no less harmful—when Lane’s pattern of investigation, that is
to say, the results of applying on the stellar scale the laws found in
the laboratory, is confused with the frankly speculative theories that
have at times been put forward; and (perhaps I may add for the bene-
fit of the mathematicians here) worst of all, when stars constituted of
matter obeying the laws of physics so far as they have been unraveled
to-day, are confused with mathematical creations whose only claim
on our attention is that they satisfy elegant differential equations.

I will not guarantee that the conclusions that I shall put before you
will survive the progress of knowledge in the next 50 years. If by
then the stars of gaseous constitution which we accept today have
given place to liquid stars or solid stars or, as I once suggested, crys-
talline stars composed of gaseous erystals—well, there have been more
surprising changes in science than that. But I believe firmly that the
conclusions are such as fit our present scientific knowledge; and that
they represent present-day astronomy in step with present-day
physics. To use a rather favorite word nowadays, wnification, the
interest of these investigations is, I think, not so much dependent on
the absolute information they yield, as in the unification of physics
and astrophysics—enabling us to see one underlying cause or one
elementary equation at the root of the most diverse manifestations,
tracing its effects in the vacuum tube, in the interior of stars, in the
diffuse nebulae, and—not least—in the system of galaxies which con-
stitutes the cosmos.

CONSTITUTION OF THH STARS—EDDINGTON 133

I want to leave time to speak of recent problems, so [ will run over
rather briefly the older part of the subject. Let us suppose that by
‘ observation from outside we have ascertained the mass M and the

radius R of a star—just those two data. Armed with this informa-
tion, what can we deduce (by laws of physics) about its interior?

The first difficulty is that, although we have ascertained the total
mass, we have not found how it is distributed—whether it is fairly
uniform throughout the volume of the star or strongly concentrated
to the center. I will not stop to explain how we have got over this
difficulty ; but it is a side of the problem in which considerable progress
has been made in the last year or two. Although we cannot deter-
mine the concentration accurately, we can assign limits by purely
theoretical deduction. The central density is not less than 5 times
the mean density, and not more than 50 times the mean density—so

that we know roughly the degree of concentration that we are up
against.

Knowing then how the mass is distributed in the structure we can
calculate the pressure at any depth. Any civil engineer will tell you
that that is possible; so that we know the pressure as well as the den-
sity at each point in the interior. Now the density, pressure, and
temperature are connected by a relation called the equation of state
of the material; if any two of them are known we can find the third.
In this case we know the pressure and density and we can therefore
find the temperature—which is, of course, an extremely important
thing to find out, in order to realize the sort of conditions we have to
deal with. For all the stars except white dwarfs, the equation of
state, which connects the temperature with the pressure and density,
is the well-known equation of a perfect gas. For the extremely dense
matter in white dwarf stars the equation is more complicated; but
the theoretical physicist by his terrestrial studies has worked out for
us the required equation. (Incidentally he has worked it out wrong—
but that is another story, and I’ll speak about the white dwarfs
later. For the present we will keep to the ordinary stars.)

The internal temperatures determined in this way are of the order
10 to 20 million degrees Centigrade. Having ascertained this, we
begin to realize the state of things that we have to deal with. At
this temperature all the atoms will be highly ionized. Light elements
such as oxygen will be stripped bare to the nucleus, and heavy elements
such as iron and lead will retain only a few of the innermost satellite
electrons. The rest of the electrons will be free. We have therefore
to deal with a population consisting of free electrons, the shattered
remnants of atoms and photons or quanta of radiation. Planck’s law
determines both the amount and kind of radiation present at a given
temperature. At 10 to 20 million degrees the radiation consists of
rather soft X-rays.

134 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Now we can see more or less what is happening at 10 million degrees
in the interior of the sun. Crowded together within a cubic centi-
meter there are more than a quadrillion atoms, about twice as many
free electrons and 20,600 trillion X-rays (British reckoning). The
X-rays are traveling with the speed of light, and the electrons at
10,000 miles a second. Most of the atoms are hydrogen atoms or
rather, since they have lost their satellite electrons, simply protons
traveling at 300 miles a second. Here and there there will be heavier
atoms such as iron lumbering along at 40 miles a second. I have told
you the speeds and the state of congestion of the road; and I will leave
you to imagine the collisions. Small wonder if the atoms are found
with their garb of electrons badly torn or even stripped naked.

The stripped atoms are continually capturing free electrons and, so
to speak, repairing their dress; but scarcely has the captured electron
settled when an X-ray bears down on it and explodesit away. This is
not a fanciful picture. These are phenomena which have been found
happening in the laboratory when we use X-rays of the same wave-
length and electrons of the same speed asin the sun. There is no need
to go beyond the limits of terrestrial experiment to discover what is
happening to the population, and all the calculations have an experi-
mental basis.

The atoms and electrons are rushing violently hither and thither; but
on the whole they do not get any forwarder; gravitation pulls them
back and keeps the material of the star in equilibrium. But the
X-rays gradually leak outward. They are subject to gravitation, it is
true; but their velocity of 186,000 miles a second is sufficient for escape
from any star. Itis just the same as in the theory of planetary atmos-
pheres, where gravitation is sufficient to retain the heavier constituents,
but the lightest atoms have sufficient velocity to escape. The planet
thus loses the lightest gases; and in the same way the star loses (or, as
we say, radiates) photons of radiation. I should explain that, although
these photons are X-rays in the interior of the star, they are trans-
formed down to longer wave length in passing through the last few
thousand kilometers of comparatively cool matter; so that it is in the
form of light and heat waves that they finally escape.

So you may picture a photon of radiation, barging first one way,
then another, like a man in a rioting mob—absorbed by an atom and
flung out again in a new direction. In this way a photon in a star
will wander aimlessly round in the interior for a million years or more
until, just by accident, it finds itself at the exit of the maze—shoots
through—and makes a bee-line across space to the Oakridge reflector,
where Professor Shapley photographs it.

Having first ascertained the particulars about the population that
I have been describing, we can apply the laws (based on laboratory
experiment) which determine the amount of obstruction offered by

CONSTITUTION OF THE STARS—EDDINGTON 135

atoms and electrons to the passage of X-rays, and so find how many
photons leak out into space per second. We can compare this result
with observation—that is to say, we can see whether Professor
Shapley catches as many of them with his telescope as (according to
our calculation) he ought to catch—in short, whether the star is
actually as bright as our caleulation makes it.

In the last few years we have found a complication in the calculation
which I must now explain. At an earlier stage we had to ask the
physicist to supply a formula giving the temperature of a gas when the
pressure and density are known. Not unreasonably he will object:
“You have not given me enough information. What is the gas?—
oxygen? iron vapor? mercury vapor? or what?” We cannot say.

But on second thoughts he withdraws the objection. ‘Never
mind. Ordinarily it would make a big difference, but at the high
temperatures we are concerned with it makes practically no difference
what element we take. The atoms will be almost completely ionized;
that is to say, their satellite electrons will be moving as free particles.
We only want to know the average weight per free particle. The
number of satellite electrons in an atom is roughly half the atomic
weight—so that we shall have roughly 2 units of weight per particle;
for example, oxygen of atomic weight 16 breaks up into 9 particles,
namely 8 electrons and a nucleus; iron of atomic weight 56 breaks up
into 27 particles.”” Owing to this remarkable property it has been
possible to make considerable progress with the theory of the interior
of a star without knowing what chemical elements it is composed of.

Those are the physicist’s second thoughts. But on third thoughts
he exclaims, “Bother! There’s hydrogen.” The rule that there are
two units of weight per particle does not work for hydrogen. It has
atomic weight 1 and splits up into a proton and electron, so that the
average weight per particle is 4’—instead of 2. That makes a vast
difference.

A year or two ago the physicist had some alarming fourth thoughts
about neutrons; but neutrons are absorbed very easily by atomic
nuclei, and I think they will have only a transitory existence on the
sun, as on the earth, and never form an appreciable part of the
population. So we won’t worry about fourth thoughts. The crux of
the matter is that, for the purposes of these investigations, there are
just two kinds of matter, namely, hydrogen and not-hydrogen. UHydro-
gen gives a much lower temperature than not-hydrogen, and therefore
lower brightness for a star of the same mass and radius. Our compari-
son of theory and observation can therefore be used in two ways. We
can calculate the brightness of a star, assuming the material to be
not-hydrogen, compare it with observation, congratulate ourselves on
the partial agreement we find, and ponder over the possible sources of
the discrepancies which remain—one possible source of discrepancy

136 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

will be the presence of a significant proportion of hydrogen. The
other way is to try various combinations of hydrogen and not-hydrogen
until we find the proportion which gives precise agreement of the cal-
culated and observed brightness. That is the method we generally
employ nowadays; the observed brightness of a star tells us what
proportion of its mass consists of hydrogen.

Dr. Bengt Strémgren found in this way that the sun, Capella, and
other typical stars contain 33 percent of hydrogen. My own calcula-
tions agreed precisely. This agreement is rather specially interesting
because we adopted different composition for the remaining 67 per-
cent of the mass. Strémgren used a mixture of rather light elements,
familiarly known as ‘‘Russell’s Mixture,” believed to agree with the
composition of the outer layers determined with the spectroscope; I
used a mixture about three times heavier. Our precise agreement
confirms what I have already said—that it makes no difference what
kind of stellar material you assume, so long as it is not-hydrogen. Itis
still doubtful to what extent the proportion of hydrogen varies in
different stars; there is some evidence that it is greater in the most
massive stars, but the evidence is not very good. An important paper
presented by Prof. H. N. Russell to the Tercentenary Conference was
partly devoted to this question.

I must say a word about the agreement of theory and observation.
Since we determine the proportion of hydrogen so as to make the
observed and calculated brightness agree, we obviously cannot claim
that the agreement is a confirmation of the theory. Nevertheless it
does furnish a fairly efficient check. Unless the theory were pretty
near the truth, we should find that for some of the stars which we
try it would be impossible to find any proportion of hydrogen that
would bring about agreement. It is satisfactory, therefore, that all
the stars give a reasonable proportion. If Strémgren had found,
instead of 33 percent, an answer which involved the square root of
—1, as might easily have happened, we should have concluded that
there was something fishy about the theory.

The recognition of white dwarf stars with density far transcending
that of any terrestrial matter is one of the more spectacular develop-
ments of the study of stellar constitution. A cubic inch of the mat-
ter of the companion of Sirius weighs about a ton, and some of the
more recently discovered white dwarfs appear to have higher den-
sities even than that. In order to explain a new point which has
arisen in connection with the theory of these stars, I must go back
to past history. In 1924 the mass-luminosity relation—that is, the
formula expressing the result of the calculation I have been describ-
ing—was worked out; and, on comparing with observation, it turned
out that it was obeyed not only by the diffuse giant stars for which
it was intended but also by the dwarf stars with densities greater

CONSTITUTION OF THE STARS—EDDINGTON 137

than water for which it was not intended. This was a complete sur-
prise. But the explanation was not difficult to find. We had been
taking it for granted that stellar matter would cease to behave as a
perfect gas when the density approached that of ordinary liquids or
solids. Ordinary terrestrial atoms then begin to jam together and
the material becomes almost incompressible. But in the stars the
temperature of 10 million degrees causes most of the satellite elec-
trons to be torn away from the atom, and what is left of the atom is
a tiny structure. The atoms or ions are so reduced in size that they
will not jam until densities 100,000 times greater are reached. For
this reason, the perfect gas state continues up to much higher den-
sities in the stars. The sun and other dense stars insisted on obey-
ing the theory worked out for a perfect gas, as they had every right
to do, since their material was perfect gas.

There was, therefore, nothing to prevent stellar matter from becom-
ing compressed to exceedingly high density; and it suggested itself
that the densities which had been calculated from observation for
certain stars called white dwarfs, which had seemed impossibly high,
might be genuine after all.

In reaching this conclusion I was not without a certain misgiving.
I was uneasy as to what would ultimately happen to these superdense
stars. The star seemed to have got itself into an awkward fix. Ulti-
mately its store of subatomic energy would give out and the star
would then want to cool down. But could it? The enormous density
was made possible by the high temperature which shattered the
atoms. If the material cooled it would presumably revert to terres-
trial density. But that meant that the star must expand to say
5,000 times its present bulk. But the expansion requires energy—
doing work against gravity; and the star appeared to have no store
of energy available. What on earth was the star to do if it was con-
tinually losing heat, but had not enough energy to get cold!

The high density of the companion of Sirius was duly confirmed
by Professor Adams—but this puzzle remained. Shortly afterward
Prof. R. H. Fowler came to the rescue in a famous paper, in which
he applied a new result in wave mechanics which had just been dis-
covered. It is a remarkable coincidence that just at the time when
matter of transcendently great density was discovered in astronomy,
the mathematical physicists were quite independently turning atten-
tion to the same subject. I suppose that up to 1924 no one had
given a serious thought to abnormally dense matter; but just when
it cropped up in astronomy it cropped up in physics as well. Fowler
showed that the newly discovered Fermi-Dirac statistics saved the
star from the unfortunate fate which I had feared.

I will say a word or two about Professor Fowler’s explanation. My
colleague Fowler was in his youth a pure mathematician, and I am

138 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

afraid he has never really recovered from this upbringing. Conse-
quently, although his paper contained reassuring equations, it did
not clearly reveal the simple physical modification of ideas which
wave mechanics brought about. He proved that the star would
manage all right. But, as you may have inferred from Professor
Hardy’s revelations, J am not an extreme worshipper of proof. I
want to know why; a proof does not always tell you that. As Clerk
Maxwell used to ask, ‘‘What’s the go of it?’’ Well, in this case the
“oo of it’? was that whereas the older theory said that atoms could
only be ionized by high temperature the new wave mechanics said
that high temperature was not essential because they could also be
ionized by crushing them under high pressure. Several writers tum-
bled to it, before I did, that that was what Fowler’s rather mysterious
result really meant; but I think that it is still not at all generally
known. You see this allows the star to cool down and still retain
its enormous density—which the older quantum theory did not.

Not content with letting well alone, physicists began to improve on
Fowler’s formula. They pointed out that in white dwarf conditions
the electrons would have speeds approaching the velocity of light, and
there would be certain relativity effects which Fowler had neglected.
Consequently Fowler’s formula, called the ordinary degeneracy for- |
mula, came to be superseded by a newer formula, called the relativ-
istic degeneracy formula. All seemed well until certain researches by
Chandrasekhar brought out the fact that the relativistic formula put
the stars back in precisely the same difficulty from which Fowler had
rescued them. The small stars could cool down all right, and end
their days as dark stars in a reasonable way. But above a certain
critical mass (two or three times that of the sun) the’star could never
cool down, but must go on radiating and contracting until heaven
knows what becomes of it. That did not worry Chandrasekhar; he
seemed to like the stars to behave that way, and believes that that is
what really happens. But I felt the same objections as 12 years
earlier to this stellar buffoonery; at least it was sufficiently strange to
rouse my suspicion that there must be something wrong with the
physical formula used.

I examined the formula—the so-called relativistic degeneracy
formula—and the conclusion I came to was that it was the result of a
combination of relativity theory with a nonrelativistic quantum
theory. I do not regard the offspring of such a union as born in
lawful wedlock. The relativistic degeneracy formula—the formula
currently used—is in fact baseless; and, perhaps rather surprisingly,
the formula derived by a correct application of relativity theory is the
ordinary formula—Fowler’s original formula which every one had
abandoned. I was not surprised to find that in announcing these
conclusions I had put my foot in a hornet’s nest; and I have had the

CONSTITUTION OF THH STARS—EDDINGTON 139

physicists buzzing about my ears—but I don’t think I have been
stung yet. Anyhow, for the purposes of this lecture, I will assume
that I haven’t dropped a brick.

I venture to refer to a personal aspect of this investigation, since it
shows how closely different branches of science are interlocked. At
the time when my suspicion of the relativistic degeneracy formula
was roused by Chandrasekhar’s results, it was very inconvenient to
me to spare time to follow it up, because I was immersed in a long
investigation in a different field of thought. This work, which had
occupied me for 6 years, was nearing completion and there remained
only one problem, namely, the accurate theoretical calculation of the
cosmical constant, needed to round it off. But there I had completely
stuck. JI had, however, secured a period of 4 months free from dis-
tractions which I intended to devote to it—to make a supreme effort,
so to speak. But having incautiously begun to think about the
degeneracy formula I could not get away from it. It took up my
time. The months slipped away, and I had done nothing with the
problem of the cosmical constant. Then one day in trying to test
my degeneracy results from all points of view, I found that in one
limiting case it merged into a cosmical problem. It gave a new
approach to the very problem which I had had to put aside—and
from this new approach the problem was soluble without much diffi-
culty. I can see now that it would have been very difficult to get at
it in any other way; and it is most unlikely that I should have made
any progress if I had spent the 4 months on the direct line of attack
which I had planned.

The paper which I read to the mathematical section a few days
ago,” giving a calculation of the speed of recession of the spiral nebulae
and the number of particles in the universe, had an astronomical
origin. It was not, however, suggested by consideration of the spiral
nebulae. It arose out of the study of the companion of Sirius and
other white dwarf stars.

I mentioned that we ouly gradually came to realize that ionization
could be produced by high pressure as well as by high temperature.
I think the first man to state this explicitly was D.S. Kothari. Stim-
ulated by some work of H. N. Russell, Kothari has made what I
think is an extremely interesting application. The relation of ioniza-
tion to pressure is a curious one, for at low pressures we decrease the
ionization by increasing the pressure; but the ionization must have a
minimum, for at high pressures the Fermi-Dirac complication steps
in and the ionization ultimately increases with pressure. No one
seems to have bothered much about this revised ionization law; they
have been content to recognize, or I think rather to guess, that in
white dwarfs the ionization would be pretty high. Kothari, how-

4 Amer. Journ. Math., vol. 59, no. 1, 1937.

140 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ever, has treated it seriously and worked out the degree of ionization
in various conditions, including comparatively small masses in which
the pressure is relatively low and the ionization is not very high. He
has thus obtained formulae which he is able to apply to the planets.

I turn now to the subject of subatomic energy which we believe to
be the source which maintains a star’s heat. This is a matter on
which, until about 3 years ago, terrestrial experiment gave us no help
at all. Conditions have now changed, and physical laboratories
throughout the world have given themselves up to an orgy of atom-
splitting. It is of immense importance for the future of astronomy
that a new laboratory technique enables us to experiment directly on
the processes of liberation of energy by transmutation of atomic
nuclei, since these are almost certainly the processes which keep the
stars alight. But at present it is too early to expect results this way.
The theory of stellar constitution, which I have been describing, was
built up without any Jaboratory knowledge of subatomic energy.
This was possible because the problem of the source of maintenance
of a star’s heat could be segregated almost completely from the rest
of the problem. By Lane’s method we could determine the tempera-
ture—how much heat there was in the star—without speculating as
to how it came to be there; and we could show that a star so endowed
must radiate at the moment a calculable amount of light and heat—
without inquiring how it managed to go on radiating it for thousands
of millions of years. In short, the structural problem could be segre-
gated from the evolutionary problem.

The only point at which the segregation is not complete is this: The
concentration of density toward the center of a star depends to some
extent on how the source maintaining the heat is distributed. It
seems clear from present-day experiment, as well as from astronomical
evidence, that the liberation of subatomic energy increases rapidly
with temperature; so that we may expect it to occur mainly in the
hottest central part of the star. This has the effect of diminishing the
concentration of density to the center—making it less than in the
standard model which has generally been employed. This effect is,
however, limited; because, if the star overdoes it, convection currents
are set up, which bring about compensation. ‘To describe our present
conclusion I must use technical terms: The density distribution near
the outside has a polytropic index 3 which gradually diminishes to 1.5
at the center, where there is a convective core. I am speaking of
ordinary stars such as the sun; but curiously enough this specification
of the density distribution applies also to white dwarfs—for which it
has long been the recognized model—though in the white dwarfs it
comes about in quite a different way.

Apart from this refinement, the researches which I have hitherto
described are not affected by theories of subatomic energy. But

CONSTITUTION OF THE STARS—EDDINGTON 141

they put us in a favorable position to learn something about the laws
of subatomic energy. Many well-known lines of argument have
convinced us that the sun and stars have a lifetime to be reckoned in
thousands of millions of years—which means that evolutionary
changes are extremely slow, and that the heat radiated by a star into
space is almost exactly balanced by the heat liberated from subatomic
sources in the interior. So when we measure the radiation of a star,
we measure the generation of subatomic energy. You see then that
the measurement of subatomic energy is just a common everyday
astronomical measurement.

To the engineer the release of subatomic energy on a practical
scale is, and seems likely to remain, a Utopian dream. ‘To the phys-
icist it was, until 3 years ago, a field of uncontrolled theoretical
speculation. To the astronomer it has long been an everyday
phenomenon which it would be absurd to close his eyes to.

Having then measured the rate of release of subatomic energy in
all types of stars, we can correlate it to the temperatures and densities
which we have found in the interior. This more or less direct inves-
tigation of the conditions of release can be supplemented by a theo-
retical examination of the conditions of stability of stars containing
such a source—a line of attack initiated by Prof. H. N. Russell.

If the star contracts, the liberation of subatomic energy must be
stimulated; otherwise the star is unstable. We cannot deduce
astronomically whether the stimulus comes from the increased
temperature or the increased density; but for simplicity we shall
suppose it to be mainly the temperature. Then each star contracts
until its internal temperature reaches the value at which the liberation
of subatomic energy is equal to the heat radiated, and there it
sticks—not quite indefinitely, but for a very long period until the
sources of subatomic energy show signs of exhaustion. The stars
on the main series appear to be those which have reached this balance
and stuck. Now it is one of the results of our previous investigations
that the stars of the main series, from the most massive to the lightest,
have practically the same internal temperature. We used to give
the central temperature as 40 million degrees, but the figure has come
down—partly by the recognition of the abundance of hydrogen and
partly by the substitution of a less condensed model, and the present
estimate is about 15 million degrees. But whatever it is, it is nearly
the same for all. It appears, therefore, that on the main series a
small star which requires a small amount of energy per gram to
maintain its radiation and a massive star requiring 1,000 times as
much energy per gram both have to rise to 15 million degrees to
liberate it. Or to put it another way the liberation must increase
1,000 fold in a rise of temperature scarcely large enough for us to
notice in our rather rough calculations.

142 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Another result of the examination of the stability of a star is
important. The rate of liberation of subatomic energy must increase
with temperature but not too fast; if it increases more steeply than a
certain limit the star will be thrown into pulsation. Some stars do
pulsate, namely, the Cepheid variables, but the majority do not.
Perhaps we may infer that the actual law of increase is pretty near
the limit, so that the conditions of most of the stars are on the one
side and those of the Cepheids just beyond it. But there is a way
by which the star can escape this pulsatory instability. We have
been supposing that the response of the subatomic energy to the
stimulus of temperature is immediate; if there is a lag—if the rising
temperature stimulates the formation of active material which emits
the energy later on in its own good time, or if it starts a chain of
processes of which the actual energy liberation is the last, then there
will be no pulsation. A lag of some days at least is required. Pro-
vided there is this lag, the stars will be stable, even though the energy
liberation increases very rapidly with the temperature—as our
observational results for the main series stars indicate and as is also
indicated by the recent laboratory experiments.

This is the main information about subatomic energy that we have
learned from astronomy. I suppose that, taken altogether, it seems
a meager amount. But its importance is considerably enhanced,
when we recall that on almost every point it was completely at
variance with the views then held by physicists. The only form of
liberation of subatomic energy with which physicists were then
acquainted was radioactivity—a process independent of density and
unaffected by temperature unless the temperature were far higher
than 15 million degrees; and they were inclined to be intolerantly
disposed toward considering any other process, no matter how strong
the astronomical evidence might be. I cannot but think that this
is an instance of the harm done by the writers who give the impression
that stellar investigation is a field of loose speculation. Physics and
astrophysics are one subject, following the same rules of progress,
recognizing the same standards of rigorous deduction, and utilizing
the same corpus of accepted knowledge; and liable to the same
failures through our human limitations.

Various attempts were made to find a loophole for admitting much
higher temperatures in the stars so as to satisfy the physicist’s objec-
tion to admitting energy liberation controlled by low temperature;
for example, Jeans’s theory of elements of very high atomic weight,
and Milne’s theory of the existence of a core of white dwarf density
in ordinary stars like the sun. We can scarcely say that such sug-
gestions are impossible without attributing to our existing knowledge
of the laws of physics greater completeness than we care to claim.
But I think it can be said firstly that these theories were found on

CONSTITUTION OF THE STARS—EDDINGTON 143

examination not to fulfill what was initially claimed for them—on
the strength of which they were recommended. And secondly it is
not unfair to describe them as agreeing with the physicist on a matter
as to which he knew nothing, at the expense of disagreeing with him
on matters as to which he claimed to know a great deal.

All that has changed now that these subatomic processes have been
studied in the laboratory. They are found to require comparatively
low speeds of the particles, corresponding to comparatively low
temperatures, such as the stellar investigations had indicated. The
first criticism I heard, after the experiments on disintegration of
elements by protons had begun, was that 40 million degrees was too
high a temperature for the sun; and it could not be much over 15
million degrees without blowing up. Happily we had been before-
hand; and the revised astronomical calculations had already lowered
the temperature to a point which makes the sun safe for posterity.

New experimental discoveries have helped us to come to an
important decision as to the nature of the subatomic energy released
in the stars. For 15 years we have been hesitating between two
alternative suggestions. The energy might be provided by electrons
and protons annihilating one another, thus setting free the whole
energy of their constitution in the form of radiation. Or it might
be provided by transmutation of the elements. Even in this applica-
tion it remains true that we need distinguish only two kinds of stellar
matter, namely hydrogen and not-hydrogen; so the transmutation
can be more precisely defined as the transmutation of hydrogen into
not-hydrogen. The annihilation of a proton by an electron corre-
sponds to the complete disappearance of a hydrogen atom. The
energy released by the transmutation of a hydrogen atom into other
elements is only about 4.9 of the energy which would be released by its
complete disappearance. Thus the annihilation hypothesis provides
more than 100 times as much energy as the transmutation hypothe-
sis; and the possible lifetime of a star is correspondingly increased.

Attempts to decide between the two alternatives by astronomical
evidence were inconclusive. But recent progress in physits seems
to point decidedly to the transmutation hypothesis; and the annihila-
tion hypothesis seems to have been generally abandoned. Perhaps
the most serious blow to it was the discovery of the positron by
Anderson at Pasadena. The positron, not the proton, is the true
opposite of an electron; and positrons and electrons do annihilate
one another. Our lust for slaughter being thus satisfied, it would be
incongruous to bring in the proton as an alternative agent; and we
look on the supposed annihilation of electrons by protons as a rather
misdirected anticipation of the real cancelling.

Simultaneously the very long time-scale, which corresponds to the
annihilation hypothesis, has lost its attractiveness. The phenomenon

144 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of the expansion of the system of the galaxies which constitutes our
universe, as well as studies of the stability of individual galaxies, make
it difficult to assign an age to the stars greater than 5,000 million
years. The radiation required for this period is amply provided for
by the transmutation hypothesis, and the hundred fold greater
energy provided by the annihilation hypothesis would only be an
embarrassment.

Both hypotheses were originally theoretical suggestions; but the
transmutation hypothesis can now claim a definite observational
basis. Take the sun, which we have found to be one third hydrogen
and two thirds not-hydrogen. At 15 million degrees the hydrogen
is ionized and its nuclei—i. e., the protons—are traveling at average
speeds of 500 miles a second. We know that in the laboratory pro-
tons of this speed attack and enter the nuclei of other elements—the
not-hydrogen—and bring about transmutations in them. We may
hope that in due time the physicists will be able to trace for us the
whole sequence of changes direct and indirect which result, so that
we shall be able to find quantitatively the rate of disappearance of
free hydrogen under these conditions, and so find the amount of
subatomic energy of this kind liberated in the sun. If it is found
to agree with the sun’s rate of radiation, we shall then have definite
proof that no other source—such as annihilation—is operative. We
are, of course, far from having the necessary knowledge at present.
It is complicated by the fact that, although the protons enter atomic
nuclei and change the nuclei into new elements, in many cases the
new nucleus breaks down after a short time, a proton is shot out and
no permanent transmutation results. Such permanent transmutation
as is observed comes at the end of a chain of processes of which the
attack of the proton on the nucleus is the first. It is interesting to
notice that this was already foretold by the astronomical investiga-
tions which, as I have said, demand a time-lag between a stimulation
of the activity of the protons by rise of temperature and the corre-
sponding increase of output of subatomic energy.

I have given you my impression of the way in which this new knowl-
edge works in with, and so far as we can see, agrees with the existing
theory of stellar constitution, not because I lay stress on the rough
conclusions that can be drawn in the turmoil of new discovery—the
data available at present are far too scrappy—but because I want to
show how intensely important for astronomy is the work of atom-
splitting now in progress—so that we may look forward to great
developments in the future.

DISCOVERIES FROM SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS *

By 8. A. MircHEeu

Director, Leander McCormick Observatory, University of Virginia

[With 9 plates]

Throughout all ages of the world’s history, the coming of a total
eclipse of the sun has always been regarded with fascinating interest.
Even today in some less civilized portions of the globe, a dragon is
believed to be devouring the sun, with the result that the monster
must be scared away by the beating of tom toms or must be appeased
by the making of sacrificial offerings. The present-day appeal to
intelligent people is a twofold one: first and foremost, on account of
the spectacular character of the phenomenon, the coming of darkness
during the daytime, and the matchless beauty of the corona, and
second, on account of the apparently uncanny skill with which the
astronomer is able to predict hundreds of years in advance the exact
hour and minute when the darkening will take place and the location
on the earth’s surface where the phenomenon may be observed.

The modern scientific method of investigation, that of experimenta-
tion, came into vogue about the time of the 1842 total eclipse which
was greeted at Milan with shouts of ‘Long live the astronomers,’’ who
bad provided so beautiful a phenomenon to please and interest the
populace. The unexpected beauty of color and form of the promi-
nences and the corona, coupled with the discovery of Baily beads, and
in the year following the discovery of the periodicity of sunspots, caused
an unprecedented increase in interest in the physical constitution of
the sun. If one of our present-day enthusiastic eclipse astronomers
had been alive at that time and with long life and unimpaired vigor
had been permitted to take part in each eclipse expedition from that
day to this, and if he had had to take his average run of luck with the
weather, he would have been permitted 1 precious hour of 60 golden
minutes to secure all of his observational material. Among all the
wonders of modern science, it is safe to state that the eclipse astron-
omer eclipses the performances of any other scientist in the wealth of
information gleaned per hour spent in securing the observations.

1 The sixth Arthur Lecture, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, February 9, 1937. The
author observed his tenth solar eclipse as the scientific leader of the National Geographic Society—U. S.

Navy expedition to Canton Island. Through the kind permission of the National Geographic Society
we are enabled to publish photographs from this latest eclipse, that of June 8, 1937.— EDITOR.

31508—38——11 145

146 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Photography was employed with success at the eclipse of 1860, aad
by its means it was proved that the prominences belonged to the sun.
The first triumph of the spectroscope at eclipse time was the discovery
of helium in 1868, though it was not isolated as an inert gas until 1895.
Coronium was discovered in 1869, but even today we do not know its
physical constitution. Before the eclipse of 1870, Young foretold a
sudden change in the appearance of the spectrum of the sun at the
time of the beginning of totality, from dark lines on a bright back-
ground to the sudden flashing out of bright lines on a dark background.
His were the first eyes to see the spectrum of the chromosphere called
by him the ‘flash spectrum” which was first photographed but very
imperfectly at the eclipse of 1893. With better and better photo-
graphic plates, each eclipse, especially since 1900, has been assiduously
observed, distances away from home and difficulty of access being no
insurmountable obstacles to the eclipse observer. One of the most
spectacular discoveries from eclipses came in 1919 with the verification
of the relativity shift as predicted by Einstein. Succeeding eclipses
gave a more complete verification. In the following pages will be
given a more detailed account of the chief discoveries from the most
recent of eclipse observations.

There are many different kinds of eclipses: Eclipses of the sun and
moon, eclipses of a star by the moon, eclipses of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s
satellites, and eclipses of one star by another of a binary system.
Observations of eclipsing binaries have given valuable information
regarding the masses and densities of stars—but for lack of space
the subject cannot be treated here.

The accuracy with which the times of solar and lunar eclipses can
be predicted depends on the reliability of the work of astronomers of
all ages, and the manner in which the torch of learning has been handed
on from one generation to the next. The motion of the earth about
the sun is now known with a very high degree of accuracy. In spite
of the refined researches on the motions of the moon, the place in the
sky of our unruly neighbor is yet not known with a sufficient degree of
precision. Tables of the moon are used for calculating the place of
the moon in the nautical almanacs prepared by different national
governments some 3 years in advance. For these almanac positions
it is desirable to keep the theory of the moon as free as possible from
arbitrary empirical terms so that the lunar theory may not be cluttered
up. When observations are secured, the results can be compared
directly with theory. Between the theoretical position of the moon
given by the almanac and the observed place there may be a difference
of several seconds of arc.

For long-range predictions of lunar or solar eclipses the simplest
method is to refer to Oppolzer’s Canon der Finsternisse where are
given the elements of all the eclipses (8,000 solar and 5,200 lunar)

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 147

between the dates 1208 B. C. and A. D. 2162, together with charts of
the earth showing the locations where total and annular solar eclipses
may be observed. Oppolzer’s predictions became possible on account
of the fact that the moon repeatedly takes nearly the same position
in the sky with reference to the sun and earth as is shown by the
following values:

Days
PS eclinae Meares he SIs ae eh = = SEA 6,585.7806
QD ISVMOOLG MMOMtISe fens. OR en i ee 6,585.3211
DADO CICA MIT ON US =e em ee are ee eet ee EE SERRA 6,585.3572
ZOUANOMANSuCeMOMTNS= 2 oe ne ene oe ee 6,585.5374

More than 2,000 years ago it was known to Hipparchus that the
moon’s node was not fixed. Nineteen returns of the sun to the node
or 242 of the moon take place in 6,585 days, an interval of time known
to the Chaldeans as the Saros (meaning “repetition’’), which is
equivalent to 18 years 11 days or 18 years 10 days depending on
whether 4 or 5 leap years intervene. The author observed his first
total solar eclipse in Georgia on May 28, 1900. In 1918 he had to
travel westward to Oregon to observe the eclipse of June 8. The
following eclipse in the Saros occurred on June 19, 1936, and was
observed in Soviet Russia and in Japan. The chart on plate 3
shows 44 total eclipses in the series which includes the eclipse of
August 31, 1932. This series in A. D. 1211 began near the earth’s
South Pole and the eclipse tracks will pass off the earth near the
North Pole in the year 1985, so that for 775 years this eclipse has
been repeating itself again and again after the lapse of the Saros
interval. Three times this interval is 54 years and 1 month, and
it is seen from the chart that the eclipse track is fairly parallel to the
one 54 years earlier but farther north. In such a series of solar eclipses
there are between 68 and 75 repetitions, depending on circumstances,
extending over some 1,200 years. In each series there are approxi-
mately 25 partial and 45 central eclipses. These numbers vary for
different series. Of the central eclipses, total eclipses follow total
eclipses with about the same duration of totality and annular eclipses
follow annular eclipses. If eclipses take place at the moon’s descend-
ing node, the eclipse tracks come on the earth at the South Pole and
move north, whereas if eclipses occur at the ascending node the
eclipse tracks start at the North Pole and move southward.

According to Oppolzer, there are on the average 237.5 solar eclipses
in a century, or more than 2 solar eclipses per year. There are 83.8
partial, 77.3 annular, 10.5 annular and total (the vertex of the moon’s
shadow just reaching the earth), and 65.9 total solar eclipses. On
the average, therefore, two total eclipses are visible in 3 years. The
chart showing the series including the 1932 eclipse shows that the
succeeding eclipses are difficult of access and therefore will probably
pass unobserved, hence a total solar eclipse is actually observed about

148 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

once every other year. In the years 1900-36, expeditions have
attempted observations on 18 separate eclipses.

In a third of a century there were five total eclipses observed in
the United States, those of the years 1900, 1918, 1923, 1925, and 19382.
but in the coming half-century only the two eclipses of 1963 and 1970
can bring scientific results of value, though two other eclipses in 1945
and 1954 will begin at sunrise about on the Canadian border. Hence,
the present generation of American eclipse observers must make
long trips from home if the scientific reputation of the country is to
be maintained.

The total number of eclipses, solar and lunar, partial and total,
that may occur in 1 calendar year varies from a minimum of two to
& maximum of seven. The number of solar eclipses in a year varies
from two to five. In the years 1922, 1926, 1929, 1933, 1940, 1944,
1951, and 1962 there are two eclipses only, both of the sun. In 1935
there were two lunar and five solar eclipses, a combination that will
not take place again until the year 2485. In 1982, there will be three
total lunar eclipses and four partial solar eclipses.

Taking the earth as a whole, there are more solar eclipses than
lunar in the ratio of 4 to 3. It has been calculated’that on the average
a total eclipse of the sun visits a locality once every 360 years. The
maximum duration of totality at a solar eclipse is 7 minutes 30
seconds. On June 8, 1937, totality will last 7 minutes 4 seconds.
The eclipse may be observed from a few small islands in the Phoenix
group about 8 o’clock in the morning when totality will last a little
more than 4 minutes. Thirty-five minutes before sunset the eclipse
will reach Peru, where duration is 3 minutes 20 seconds, and an altitude
of the sun of only 8° will make scientific observations difficult.

The inhabitant (and we believe there are none) on Jupiter or Saturn
would have frequent opportunities to observe total eclipses, both of
the sun and of the moons. If our own fair Luna were 25,000 miles
farther off from the earth, or if its diameter were 10 percent smaller
there would never be a total solar eclipse. What a dreary old world
this would be, especially for poets and lovers, if the earth resembled
Venus in having no moon!

TIMES OF CONTACTS

The position of the moon is furnished from the times of contact of
the limbs of the sun and moon. The time of first contact, or the
beginning of the eclipse, is difficult to observe visually with accuracy,
since nothing is to be seen at the edge of the sun until the moon is
projected on the sun’s face—and first contact has actually taken place.
Fourth contact, the end of the eclipse, is easier to observe, since the
moon may be followed in a telescope of low power until it leaves the
face of the sun. Second and third contacts, the beginning and ending

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 149

of totality, can be determined with greater accuracy. By means of
photographs taken throughout the partial eclipse, both before and
after totality, the relative positions of the sun and moon can be
determined with a much greater accuracy than can be obtained
visually, and in addition many more observations are available than
the four times of contact.

At the eclipse of 1905, totality came ahead of the predicted time
by 20 seconds, in 1918 by 12 seconds, and in 1922 by 16 seconds.
For guiding the work of the eclipse astronomer, it is now deemed
desirable to know the times of beginning and ending of a total solar
eclipse within an error of a few seconds. Accordingly, it has become
customary in recent years to secure from Washington or Greenwich,
a month or more before the eclipse takes place, corrections to the
almanac positions of the moon.

On account of the difficulty of seeing the moon when near the time
of new moon, there is ordinarily a gap in the regular lunar observa-
tions, whether these are made by occultations or by meridian circle.
An intense interest was aroused in the United States by the total
eclipse of January 24, 1925, which was visible to almost one-tenth of
the total population of the country. From large numbers of careful
observations it was hoped that it might be possible to obtain a very
high degree of accuracy and thus permit a comparison of different
methods of observation in order to detect any systematic errors
peculiar to any one method. For predicting the eclipse it was neces-
sary to add a correction of 7.’’0 to the mean longitude of the moon
as given in the American Ephemeris. The times of second contact
by skilled observers with every facility for obtaining accurate posi-
tions of their stations and accurate time signals on eclipse day differed
from locality to locality by over 4 seconds, and the duration of totality
had a range of 6 seconds, variations in fact much larger than were
expected. However, it must not be forgotten that the outline of the
moon departs greatly from a perfect circle and that the time of the
beginning and ending of a total solar eclipse depends very largely on
the character of the lunar surface at the point of contact, the begin-
ning of the total eclipse not taking place until the last Baily bead has
disappeared. The comparison of the different methods shows that
the meridian observations of the moon differed widely among them-
selves. Occultations and eclipse results agreed with each other
within their probable errors, but there were systematic differences
from the meridian observations. To obtain greater accuracy, obser-
vations must be continued at each succeeding eclipse. Times fur-
nished by observations of eclipses give information not only about
the motion of the moon but also about the time of diurnal rotation
of the earth on its axis, with the result that an observation of an
eclipse of the sun made 3,000 years ago has an important bearing on
recent refined researches on the motion of the moon.

150 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
THE CORONA

The total light of the corona is roughly one-millicnth that of the
noonday sun or one-half that of the full moon. The coming of a
total eclipse, particularly the last few seconds before totality, the
engulfing shadow of the moon coming from the west, the sudden
coming of darkness and then the gorgeous corona make a never-to-
be-forgotten spectacle, still further enhanced by the beauty of the
rosy red prominences. Regarding the 1925 eclipse, the New York
newspaper folk state that no phenomenon of modern life had so
many words written per unit of duration of the event as that particu-
lar eclipse.

The corona may be photographed by cameras large or small, fast
or slow. In spite of the excellent qualities of modern photographic
technique, it is still impossible to get an adequate photograph that
will represent all the details of the corona that are readily visible to
the naked eye. The inner corona is very brilliant, while the outlying
portions of the coronal streamers fade off gradually to nothingness.
From the lofty perch of Pike’s Peak in 1878 the corona was detected
to 12 diameters from the sun’s edge, a distance of over 10 million
miles. An exposure long enough to portray the faint outlying streamers
will have the inner corona quite burnt out through overexposure.

With cameras of great length it is necessary to counteract by
mechanical means the diurnal motion. This may be done by mounting
the telescope horizontally and then using a coelostat mirror or by
pointing the object glass directly to the sun by means of erecting a
tower. In 1900 the Smithsonian Institution used a camera of 135
feet focus, and its great length required it to be arranged horizontally.
Unfortunately, the heat of the sun may warp the plane mirror of the
coelostat and spoil the focus. The result has been that in recent years,
when exact definition is desired, it is obtained by a camera pointed
directly at the sun. For moderate focal lengths up to about 15 feet
this may be obtained by mounting on a polar axis, but for greater
lengths the tower telescope is necessary with the diurnal motion
counteracted by a motion of the photographic plate. The Swarthmore
astronomers have obtained exquisite definition with focal lengths of
63 and 65 feet. Equally good definition may be secured with cameras
of 15 feet focus mounted on a polar axis. The question is whether it
is more desirable to photograph on the smaller scale and then enlarge
four times if the greater scale is needed or to obtain scale without
enlargement by the greater focal length. As for the final definition
of the large-scale photographs, there is little to choose between the
two methods. The individual astronomer must decide the problem
for himself, depending on a number of factors, chief among which is
the equipment he owns and the experience he has had. Then he must
decide whether it is more convenient and cheaper to take from home

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPHDITIONS—MITCHELL 151

the complete polar axis and mounting for the shorter focal length or
take the plate holders and the clock mechanism for moving the plate
and then build the tower from materials that may be found locally.

It is interesting to note that at eclipse expeditions success has
always been greater in the direct photography of the corona than
in any other branch of the investigations. The self-evident reason
is that every well-equipped expedition, no matter what their other
programs, attempts to photograph the corona and usually with several
cameras. However, there is another reason not so apparent, which
is that perfection of focus and seeing, although desirable, are not
absolutely essential in obtaining successful photographs of coronal
details. A lack of perfect focus plays havoc with spectroscopic
photographs but detracts little from the corona for the reason that its
structure is nebulous or filmy in detail. However, no astronomer will
be satisfied with anything short of absolute perfection in the deter-
mination of the best focus.

THE SHAPE OF THE CORONA

The general form of the corona can be predicted in advance of the
eclipse. Near sunspot minimum are found the extended streamers
along the sun’s equator and the short plumelike polar brushes, whereas
near times of spot maxima the corona is nearly circular in shape, thus
resembling a gigantic dahlia. Fortunately, photographs of all scales
except the small can be utilized to determine the coronal shape by a
very simple type of measurement devised by Ludendorff, of Potsdam.
In the author’s Eclipses of the Sun, 1935 edition, page 500, a chart
gives all the eclipses since 1893 successfully observed (but not in-
cluding 1936). The surprising fact is that the most elongated type
of corona does not take place exactly at sunspot minimum, or at
phase zero of the curve. As the interval from maximum to maxi-
mum is 11 years, it is seen from the chart that 2 years or more before
spot minimum the corona is quite as elliptical as at zero phase.
The most pronounced ellipticity takes place 14% years before minimum
of spots, and likewise the corona closest in shape to a circle takes
place 1% years before spot maximum. The recent eclipse of 1932 took
place 1.2 years before spot minima and yet its shape placed it at the
highest point of the curve. The succeeding eclipse of 1934 was
only 0.2 years after spot minimum but instead of having a pronounced
ellipticity the corona had lost its minimum type characteristics.
The 1936 corona 2.4 years after minimum spots, in shape resembling
an irregular five-pointed star, had lost all of the minimum features
except the brushes at one pole. Although about 1 year ahead of
the predicted spot maximum, the corona of 1937 will be more nearly
circular than that of 1936 and will be the typical sunspot maximum
eclipse.

152 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
MOTIONS IN THE CORONA

Although the shapes of the corona at spot-minimum all resemble
each other in having long equatorial streamers and pronounced polar
brushes, yet each corona has its own distinctive features with the
result that one corona could never be mistaken for another. In the
circular coronas corresponding to maximum of spots the streamers
shoot out at various angles differing in each eclipse. Weare, therefore,
forced to the conclusion that changes are continually going on within
the corona. Beginning in 1889, attempts have been made repeatedly
to measure these changes. It is evident that the greater the interval
of time between the photographs to be compared at two stations the
higher will be the accuracy. A splendid opportunity was presented
in 1905 when the Lick Observatory established three stations, each
with a camera of 40-foot focus, one in Labrador, one in Spain,
one in Egypt. Unfortunately for the success of the scheme, it
was totally cloudy in Labrador, there were thin clouds in Spain,
and, although clear in Egypt, the definition of the photographs was
poor. At the American eclipse of 1918, from a comparison of
Lick and Swarthmore photographs, it seemed likely that motions of
the order of 10 miles per second were found in the coronal arches over-
topping prominences. However, at the eclipse of 1926, a comparison
of photographs made in East Africa and Sumatra revealed that, if the
coronal domes moved at all, the velocities were probably not greater
than 1 mile per second.

Much valuable information regarding coronal disturbance was ob-
tained on Niuafoou Island in 1930. This was the first time in the
history of eclipses that so much detailed structure was visible in the
spectral lines of the corona, this structure being made possible by the
fine definition of the grating spectra taken without slit. A comparison
of all the 1930 spectrograms, but more particularly the H and K lines,
reveals the interesting fact that 2 years after sunspot maximum the
sun was in a condition of great activity on the day of the eclipse.
The coronal rings of the spectra and the direct photographs taken with
the 63-foot tower telescope show prominences completely circling the
sun. Comparisons were also made with spectroheliograms on 4
successive days, taken at Mount Wilson or Kodaikanal. The
superb definition of the eclipse photographs showed both the promi-
nences and inner corona in great beauty.

A comparison of all the photographs, the spectroheliograms with
the eclipse plates both direct and spectrographic, showed that the great
activity of the sun was found not only at eclipse time but persisted
throughout the whole period of 4 days covered by the plates. The
direct photographs and the eclipse spectra show that the whole south-
east quadrant was a tremendously stormy region on the sun. The
center of the longest coronal streamer was situated 30° to the east of

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 153

the south point of the sun. Intertwining the coronal streamers was
a beautiful series of coronal domes connected with an extended promi-
nence group. Greater heights were attained by another group of
prominences, at position angle 115°, the location of a conspicuous
feature called the ‘‘strawberry dome,” with its magnificent arches and
delicate structure of filamentous details. On plate 4, drawings near
this particular dome are given for comparison; at A from the K and
Ha lines of the spectra of the chromosphere, at B three drawings of
the same region from the direct photographs and from the lines 5303
and 6374 of coronium, respectively. At C on the western edge of the
sun, the details in the green coronal line at 5303 result in forms
similar to the coconut palms that grow so profusely on ‘““Tin-Can”’
Island.

For many years eclipse observers have called attention to the con-
nection between coronal streamers and prominences. ‘This depend-
ence was abundantly verified in 1930, but this eclipse demonstrates the
fact that the longest coronal streamers, on which the shape of the
corona more or less depends, are always located near prominences but
are not necessarily exactly connected with the prominences which at
the time of the eclipse are of the greatest height.

PHOTOGRAPHING THE CORONA OUTSIDE OF AN ECLIPSE

In 1882, when a bright comet was seen close to the eclipsed sun,
attempts were started to photograph the corona without waiting for
an eclipse. A decade later, the spectroheliograph was developed, and
prominences were readily photographed in full sunshine with the
result that attempts were renewed on the corona. In order that the
glare of the earth’s atmosphere be reduced as much as possible,
mountain tops like Pike’s Peak or Mount Etna were occupied. No
success whatever being obtained, a series of attempts were made by
heat-measuring instruments like bolometers or photoelectric cells.
Each and every one of the plans, at times carried out with great skill
and ingenuity, resulted over and over again always in the same man-
ner—failure to photograph the corona. The measures made by
Abbot in 1908 and by many others since then have shown the cause
of the failures, namely, the intrinsic feebleness of the coronal light.
Even in its brightest parts, the inner corona is no brighter than the
surface of the full moon. The corona is about equal to the intensity
of the illuminated sky at 8° or 10° away from the sun’s edge.

In 1930 and in later years Lyot of the Meudon Observatory has
had brilliant successes where others had repeated failures. His great
triumph resulted from the ingenious arrangement of his telescope to
reduce to a minimum the amount of scattered light inside the instru-
ment. A mountain observatory on the Pic du Midi (9,100 feet) and
at times very transparent skies permitted photographs when the

154 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

scattered sky light was less than five-millionths that of the sun.
Lyot not only was able to photograph the brighter parts of the inner
corona but by the use of a spectrograph he determined the wave
lengths of many coronal lines including three lines in the infrared not
yet observed in eclipses.

THE LIGHT OF THE CORONA

Our knowledge regarding the distribution of light within the corona
is in a very unsatisfactory state since the law of intensity has been
found by various observers to be inversely as the second. fourth,
sixth, seventh, eighth, and powers such as 2.3 or 2.4, of the distance
measured either from the center or from the edge of the sun. It is
of great importance that a well-devised form of apparatus be con-
structed for use at eclipses, and that photographs be secured both in the
violet and visual regions on a carefully prepared plan at several future
eclipses. The eclipse photographs should have calibrated squares
impressed on them from a standard source, and if in addition photo-
graphs of the full moon were obtained, we should then be in a position
of having information additional to that acquired during the progress
of the eclipse. We need to know whether the distribution of light
within the corona follows the same law at every eclipse, or whether
this law varies according to the sunspot period, and we need to know
the law both in the blue and the yellow regions. Many coronas have
been observed through clouds or haze or with varying conditions of
transparency. The intensity of the silver deposit measured on the
photographs is a summation of two separate effects, one due to the
corona itself, the other to the diffuse light of the sky. Added to these,
there is in reality a third effect found close to the moon’s limb, a halo
caused by reflection from the glass-side of the plate of the strong
illumination of the inner corona. Unfortunately, it has not been
possible to make proper allowances for these varying factors, with the
result that observations are affected by large systematic errors.

In considering the measurements made for determining the total
light of the corona, there are similar evidences of large systematic
errors depending on transparency conditions at the time of the eclipse.
A few examples may be given to show the wide divergent results
obtained at the same eclipse by different methods and at different
eclipses by the same methods and instruments. Harvard Observa-
tory devised a photographic photometer which has been used since
the 1925 eclipse. Various types of illumination meters are also used
visually which can furnish a measure of the total illumination of
corona plus diffused sky light. Measures made with the photo-
graphic photometers at the eclipse of 1925 and 1926 seemed to show
the corona 40 percent brighter in 1926 than in the year previous.
Visual work with the illumination meter in 1925 gave 0.24 foot-

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 155

candles as the result; in 1926, 0.14 foot-candles; and in 1929 and 1930,
0.15 and 0.38 foot-candles, respectively, the eclipses from 1926 to
1930 being measured by the same instruments.

These measures seemed to show that although the 1926 corona
was 40 percent brighter than that of 1925, the total illumination of
corona and sky together was 40 percent fainter.

Following the 1932 eclipse, when many measures were made in the
United States, one competent illumination expert voiced his opinion
of attempts to measure the total light of the corona by the use of
illumination meters in the following words: ?

There can be no objection to anyone measuring the normal illumination on a
completely exposed test plate at the time of totality if he is convinced of the
utility of so doing. Trouble, however, may ensue when the results of such
measurement are seriously put forward as indicative of the amount of light which
the corona is giving.

Hence, it is evident that we must not now take too seriously the
attempts to correlate intensity of coronal radiation with sunspot
activity. It seems very highly probable that the inner corona at
sunspot maximum must be brighter than at spot-minimum. More-
over, as the inner corona contributes the greatest part of the energy
of the total coronal radiation, we would logically expect that the total
energy at maximum of spotsisgreater thanatminimum. Unfortunately,
eclipses come but seldom and there are few observations with which
to derive correlations. Many astronomers (and other scientists as
well) have come to hasty conclusions through the discussion of
observations affected by large accidental and systematic errors.
When we consider the paltry amount of time devoted to the measure-
ment of the light of the corona, we must not be too much discouraged
at the meager and conflicting results obtained.

In spite of all the inconsistencies of the results, observers through-
out the past 50 years have been in agreement that the total light of
the corona is roughly one-half that of the full moon. It is with a note
of surprise that we read * the statement by Menzel and Boyce that
the latest corona observed, that of 1936, shone with an illumination
of 50 to 100 times that of the full moon. We shall await the detailed
results with great interest.

POLARIZATION OF THE LIGHT OF THE CORONA

Polarization measures must be the result of a combination of the
partly polarized light from the corona and the unpolarized light in the
earth’s atmosphere. The measures made of eclipses in the early years
of the present century seemed to show that the percentage of polar-
ization in photographic light was about three times greater than in

2 Journ. Optical Soc. Amer., vol. 23, p. 234, 1933.
3’ Technology Rev., November 1936.

156 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

visual light, a result quite in agreement with the assumption that the
coronal radiation is Rayleigh scattering from atoms or ions. At the
eclipse of 1932, however, photographic measures by Dufay and
Grouiller proved that the amount of polarization was entirely inde-
pendent of wave length and was a maximum of 26 percent in the
corona at 10’ from the sun’s edge. At the succeeding eclipse of 1934
Johnson found a maximum of 28 percent polarization at 8’.5 from the
sun’s limb, a result in good agreement with the 1932 eclipse. Evi-
dently the scattering of light in the corona cannot be caused by
atoms or ions.

THE SPECTRUM OF THE CORONA

It may be said that the corona exhibits three separate spectra:
First, the emission spectrum of ‘‘coronium” existing in the inner
corona and extending on the average to 5’, or 200,000 km from the
sun’s edge; second, the continuous spectrum (without lines), of the
middle corona; and third, the Fraunhofer lines showing feebly in the
inner corona.

In the Revised Rowland Tables (1928) are given a list of 40 bright
lines attributed to the corona by Campbell and Moore. Of this list
of lines more than half, or 22, appear to take their origin in the high
chromosphere. Only 23 emission lines in the corona are known with
certainty at the following wave lengths: 3328, 3387.96, 3454.13,
3600.97, 3642.87, 3800.77, 3986.88, 4086.29, 4231.4, 4311, 4359, 4567,
4586, 5116.0, 5802.90, 5536, 6374.30, 6701.8, 7059.6, 7891.9, 8024.2,
10746.8, and 10798.0. Other faint lines are suspected but not yet
verified. The green line of 5303 (discovered in 1869) and the ultra-
violet line at 3388 have the greatest strengths.

In comparing the green and red coronal rings obtained in 1930 on
spectra taken with grating and without slit, it was surprising to find
how little they resembled each other in their structural details of
greatest strength and how little either resembled the high-level lines
K and Ha of the chromosphere. It was further found that the radia-
tion of 6374 always sticks close to the sun’s edge and is more con-
centrated and more uniform in distribution than 5303. It is evident,
therefore, that these two lines cannot take their origin in the same
atom, or at least not in the same atom in the same state of ionization.

In order to determine the atomic origin of “coronium,” several
authorities have grouped coronal lines together depending on the sim-
ilarities in appearances or distribution of light in the spectral lines.
As the radiation of 5303 is very unevenly distributed around the sun,
it is evident that spectra taken with slit will be badly handicapped in
detecting similar structural details, especially when in many of the
coronal spectra the definition is none too good. The only groups to
which most authors agree are 5303 and 3388 put together, the strongest

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 157

lines of the spectra, and 4086 with 3601. As stated above, 5303 and
6374 cannot be placed in the same group.

Without an eclipse Lyot found that the green and red lines and
also 6702 have widths of about an angstrom. His wave lengths com-
bined with the best values from eclipses are the values given above.
His wave length for the red line, however, differs by 0.2 angstrom
from the best eclipse value which gives further evidence of the fact
that better wave lengths of the coronal lines are urgently desired.

With the great advance made in recent years in atomic structure,
there have been many attempts to find the origin of the mysterious
coronium. The general consensus of well-informed opinion seems to
be that although neutral oxygen may eventually be found to be one
of the chief constituents of coronium, at present that fact is far from
being proved. In brief, none of the scientific guesses made up to
date have been verified by observational evidence.

SPECTRUM OF THE MIDDLE AND OUTER CORONA

In addition to the bright line spectrum caused by the hypothetical
element ‘‘coronium,” the corona shows the continuous spectrum in
the inner corona and dark lines in the middle and outer corona. In
1929, with three spectrographs, Grotrian obtained spectra of the
corona which were compared with the solar spectrum taken with the
same instruments but weakened by known amounts. Measurements
of intensities give the following interesting results: (1) The position
of energy maximum in the coronal spectrum is independent of the
height in the corona and agrees exactly with the energy maximum in
the solar spectrum; (2) within the errors of measurement, the distribu-
tion of energy in the coronal spectrum is independent of height in the
corona and is identical with the intensity of radiation in the solar
spectrum. After many years of uncertainty and conflicting evidence,
we at last seem to have the positive information that the color of the
corona is identical with that of the sun, or in other words, the corona
derives its radiation from scattered sunlight.

In the remarkably clear sky at the Australian eclipse of 1922, Moore
seemed to prove quite conclusively that the Fraunhofer lines in the
middle and outer corona have their origin in the corona itself and are
not caused by sunlight scattered in the earth’s atmosphere. By
means of a registering photometer, Grotrian measured the widths of
the stronger Fraunhofer lines in the coronal spectrum of 1923. These
widths were compared with those of the solar spectrum taken by the
same spectrograph but weakened by known amounts. In every case
the widths of coronal lines were compared with the widths of both
stronger and weaker solar spectra. Heretofore, nearly all observers
have been in agreement that the coronal lines looked both wider and
less distinct than similar lines in thesun. On the contrary, the photom-

158 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

eter measures make clear that the dark lines in the coronal spectrum
are certainly much less distinct through lack of contrast than in the
solar spectrum and, moreover, the dark lines are more prominent in
the outer corona than in the inner, but nevertheless the widths of the
coronal lines are the same at all distances out from the sun’s surface,
and within errors of measurement are identical in width with the
corresponding lines in the solar spectrum. From similar measures
carried out on the 1922 and 1932 spectra, Moore confirms Grotrian’s
measures of the 1923 spectra.

WHAT IS THE CORONA?

According to Rosseland, the corona has “stimulated speculation to
the breaking point, it being even suggested that there we witness our
recognized physical laws set at naught by nature itself.” It is evident
that the cause of the coronal radiation cannot be found in the emission
spectrum of coronium which extends no more than 5’ from the sun’s
edge. As the coronal streamers have been detected to distances 300
times greater, the explanation for the mysterious light of the corona
must be found in the radiation causing the continuous spectrum of the
inner corona and the dark-line spectrum at greater distances from the
sun. The spectra taken in 1923 showed Fraunhofer lines on the face
of the dark moon. On the assumption that these were caused by
coronal light scattered either in the earth’s atmosphere or in the
spectrograph, Grotrian was able to apply corrections to the measured
intensities of the dark lines in the coronal spectrum. These corrected
intensities show that near the sun’s edge the continuous spectrum is
much stronger than the Fraunhofer spectrum so that no lines are
visible, owing to lack of contrast, in the inner corona, though no doubt
dark lines may be there. At increasing distances from the sun’s
edge outward, the intensity of the continuous spectrum falls off more
rapidly than the dark-line spectrum. At an angular distance of 19’.5
on the east side and 14’.5 on the west side, or at an average of one
solar radius, the intensities of the continuous and the Fraunhofer
spectra are equal. At increasing distances from the sun’s surface, the
dark lines become gradually more readily visible owing to increased
contrast on account of the diminished intensity of the continuous
spectrum.

Spectra taken at many eclipses during totality have shown the
and K lines and the stronger hydrogen lines in great intensity, even
across the face of the dark moon. These spectral lines take their
origin in light from the high chromosphere scattered by the earth’s
atmosphere, particularly near the beginning and ending of totality.
It, therefore, may be quite unsafe to assume that the lines of the spec-
trum on the face of the moon in 1923 were actually caused by scattered
light emanating from the corona rather than from sunlight reflected

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 159

by nearby clouds in the earth’s atmosphere. This, however, is a mere
detail on a fine piece of work by Grotrian, and it is evident that the
measures must be repeated at future eclipses when, it is to be hoped,
the sky will be clear from passing clouds and haze.

As a result of many different theories, it is now generally recognized
that the electron must play an important role in explaining the
radiation of the corona. If the continuous spectrum is caused by
free electrons which scatter the solar radiation, it is found that at a
temperature of 4,000° K., the average thermal velocity of the electron
would cause a Doppler effect of the order of 10 angstroms. As a
result, all of the Fraunhofer lines would be wiped out with the excep-
tion of the broad wings of the H and K lines.

Electron scattering, therefore, furnishes an adequate explanation
of the absence of dark lines in the spectrum of the inner corona and
also is in conformity with the fact that there is no difference in color
between the corona and sunlight, as was found at the 1932 eclipse.

But how are the dark lines in the outer corona to be explained?
If the electron is to be the agent, then it is necessary to find some
process whereby the random velocities of the electrons may be slowed
down to such an extent that the Doppler effects will not obliterate
the Fraunhofer lines. It is scarcely possible to assume a tempera-
ture in the middle corona less than 2,000° K. which would cause a
Doppler effect of about 7 angstroms. We might, if we please,
assume some (as yet) unknown influence from positrons, or that the
sun’s magnetic field, or some other unknown source, might gradually
slow up the electron velocities at distances of 10’ from the sun’s
surface. If, indeed, there were a gradual slowing up of the electrons,
this would cause the Fraunhofer lines to be broader in the inner
corona and sharper in the outer corona, which is not in accord with the
facts.

Under the assumption that the light of the corona is caused by the
superposition of a continuous spectrum over a dark-line spectrum,
it is necessary to conclude that electrons are present everywhere
throughout the corona. As atoms and ions are present in the inner-
most corona causing the bright-line spectrum of coronium, it has
been thought by many that ionized atoms must be the cause of the
dark lines in the spectrum of the outer corona. If atoms were pres-
ent in appreciable numbers, their existence would cause a Rayleigh
scattering and a distribution of intensity in the coronal radiation
different from that of the sun—which again is not in accord with the
facts.

To explain the dark lines of the outer corona and with no change
in color, Grotrian is forced to assume that the mechanism must be
solid particles with diameters greater than three times the wave
ength of light. Close to the sun all solid particles would be imme-

160 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

diately vaporized but at greater distances there would be an increas-
ing number of solid particles; in fact, in the zodiacal light we have
independent evidence of the existence of such material in interplane-
tary space. According to this hypothesis, within one radius of the
sun’s surface the electron is the scattering mechanism but farther
out the interplanetary dust cloud does most of the scattering. If
the dust cloud moves with the sun, then any details of coronal struc-
ture in the outer corona would persist for long periods without
changes. For the long streamers which are prominent features of
nearly every corona and which unquestionably change slowly with
time, the dust cloud explanation is unsatisfactory. When knowledge
progresses still further and we learn more about the physical laws
that govern matter under solar conditions, then we may be able to
find an explanation of the dark lines in the coronal spectrum that is
simpler than the assumption of scattering of the sun’s light by
interplanetary dust.

Manifestly, for future progress we need more and better spectra of
the dark lines in the coronal spectrum taken under clear skies devoid
of water vapor in order to be more certain that the Fraunhofer lines
are actually coronal in origin and do not come from sunlight scattered
in the earth’s atmosphere. We need more and better spectra of large
dispersion in order to derive more accurate wave lengths of the bright-
line spectrum by which to find the origin of coronium and to measure
the rotation of the corona. Up to date we have pitifully few spectra
of the corona with good definition and adequate dispersion. In the
future these spectra must be measured photometrically to as great
distances as possible from the sun’s surface in at least two directions,
at the sun’s equator and poles. Needless to say, the photographs
should cover as great a range in wave length as possible. More
information is urgently needed concerning the degree of polarization
of the coronal light to as great distances from the sun as possible.

In spite of the brilliant work of Lyot in photographing the corona
outside an eclipse, it is not difficult to predict that coronal observations
in the future as in the past will have to depend almost exclusively on
the few precious moments of total eclipses which afford an average of
1 minute per year for accumulating observations.

THE FLASH SPECTRUM

Ever since it was first observed in 1870, the spectrum of the chromo-
sphere continues to be one of the most important problems taken up
for investigation at each succeeding eclipse. In spite of the enormous
advances in instrumental equipment and technique, which in other
branches of astronomy has appeared to accomplish almost the impos-
sible, there are remarkably few good photographs of the flash spectrum.
In fact, to check off on one’s fingers the really first-class photographs

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 161

taken by different observers at all the eclipses in the past 40 years,
both hands would be unnecessary. The arch enemy of the eclipse
astronomer, cloudy weather, has foiled many attempts, yet those that
escaped the clouds have not obtained perfect results through poor
focus or poor seeing or from inaccurate timing of the exposures.

At a total solar eclipse, the flash spectrum may be observed at the
beginning and at the end of totality, either with or without slit, and
by the use of prisms or grating. If without slit, the individual lines in
the spectrum are a series of arcs of various intensities and of different
lengths depending on the heights to which the solar gases extend
above the sun’s surface. The photographic plate may be fixed for
each exposure or it may be moved gradually by an arrangement first
tried out successfully by Campbell in 1905. A variation of the fixed
plate is the ‘jumping film” successfully tried in 19382 by the Lick
expedition. The principle is the same as with the movie camera, the
film being moved between exposures made on a fixed film. The
essential differences are that the camera is a spectrograph, the films
are much larger in size than the standard 35-mm variety and the
exposures and times for changing film may be each about % second in
duration.

The fixed plate requires very exact timing of the exposures in order
to obtain imprints from the most important layers of the chromosphere,
those of lowest levels. The moving plate or the jumping film starts
the exposures a half minute or more before the beginning of totality in
order to catch the first flash so that the human element is partly
eliminated. Each of the three methods has both its own peculiar
advantage and at the same time its own disadvantages. Without
here going into details, it is evident that on account of the very great
difficulty of obtaining successful photographs of the chromospheric
spectra already alluded to, it will be wise to utilize more than one
type at an eclipse.

Astronomers do not go on an expedition merely to see the phenom-
enon and enjoy the beauties of the corona. Frequently the astrono-
mer is in a dark room making exposures or he has such a large program
to carry through that he can obtain merely a passing glimpse of the
corona. Expeditions are to secure photographs which are measured
and studied at home far distant from the few thrilling and excited
moments of the total eclipse. In the year 1905 in Spain, the author
obtained with an exposure of 2 seconds a photograph of the flash
spectrum on which he has spent considerably more than 5 years of
concentrated work.

Such a photograph is used to supplement researches being carried
out daily on the sun without an eclipse by the use of a powerful
spectrograph such as is attached to the 150-foot Mount Wilson tower

31508—38——12

162 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

telescope. From each line of the flash spectrum information is
obtained in three separate and distinct directions: 1, wave lengths;
2, intensities; and 3, heights.

With the brief exposures available at eclipse time it is only possible
to use a dispersion much smaller than that employed in daily solar
work, with the result that the accuracy of wave-length determinations
is not sufficiently high to ascertain systematic differences between
eclipse wave lengths and those taken under ordinary solar conditions.
Accordingly, chromospheric wave lengths can serve no other purpose
than the identification of the lines from comparisons with Rowland’s
Tables in order to determine the gaseous element whence the spectral
lines originate.

The most characteristic difference between the chromospheric and
the ordinary solar spectrum is found in the relative intensities of the
lines. In the eclipse spectra the helium lines, including D, discovered
in 1868, are of great strength, whereas in the Fraunhofer spectrum
they are entirely missing. In the eclipse spectra the hydrogen lines
are of great prominence, and 32 lines of the Balmer series have been
observed, whereas in the Fraunhofer spectrum only 4 hydrogen lines
are observed. Compared side by side, the spectra on plate 7 seem
to belong to stars of two different types rather than to the same object
under different conditions.

A glance at the chromospheric spectra taken without slit shows that
the strongest lines are of the greatest lengths on the photograph and
hence the vapors extend to the greatest heights above the sun’s sur-
face. The heights from eclipse spectra in the capable hands of Saha
provided him with indispensable information from which he was able
to derive temperature and pressure conditions in the solar atmosphere.
The theory of ionization developed a decade and a half ago as a result
of heights from eclipse spectra has fairly revolutionized the science
of astrophysics. Saha’s theory has furnished an explanation of the
causes of the differences in intensities of lines in spectra of stars of
different types, has given a means of deriving the temperatures of
the stars and has given measures of the distances of the stars by
their spectroscopic parallaxes.

Starting out with Saha’s theory, new information gleaned about the
structure of the atom has revolutionized the method of attacking
solar problems. Practically all the prominent lines in the spectrum
of the sun have been assigned to multiplet groups with known excita-
tion potentials measured in electron-volts, the arbitrary intensity
scale of Rowland has been submitted to calibration tests which have
revealed that the intensities depend on the number of atoms engaged
in the formation of the spectral lines. From the weakest Fe lines
perceptible in the solar spectra to the strongest, the number of atoms
involved increases about 1,000,000 times.

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 163

A person having no knowledge of the theory underlying multiplet
groups would not advance very far in the practical operation of corre-
lating heights in the chromosphere with intensities either in sun or
chromosphere before the fact would be forced upon his attention that
generally the lines of greatest intensity reach the greatest heights, and
moreover the intensities and heights for any element are greatest for
the multiplets of lowest excitation potential. The best element for a
study of these correlations is neutral iron. This element has been
assiduously observed in the laboratory and very exact wave lengths
are known. Fe is very rich in lines which have been grouped into
multiplets with a wide range of excitation potentials.

From a study of 1,222 Fe lines in the flash spectrum the following
facts were noted: (1) The strongest lines in the sun belong to the
multiplets of lowest excitation potential; (2) with increase of excitation
potential, the maximum intensity of lines in the multiplets steadily
decreases; (3) for multiplets of any given excitation potential, there is
a close correlation between intensities and heights; (4) for any given
Rowland intensity, such as 6, the heights diminish as the excitation
potentials are increased. There are many important consequences
of these correlations.

Fascinating results on sunspots were announced by Evershed in
1909. With the slit of his spectrograph placed across the spot, he
found that the wave lengths in the penumbra of the spots were differ-
ent from the values at the center of the sun. The displacements
which affected practically all lines were not constant but differed in
amount depending on the intensities of the lines investigated, the
shift being greater for the weaker than for the stronger lines. Ever-
shed’s results were abundantly confirmed at Mount Wilson with the
result that conclusions are drawn that the displacements in wave
length are a Doppler effect caused by the actual flow of the solar gases
out of the spots at levels close to the sun’s surface and into the spot
vortex at higher levels. The heights from the flash spectrum furnish
the explanation. As shown by St. John, the layers closest to the
sun’s surface have a motion of translation out of the spot at the rate
of 2 kilometers per second. This motion becomes less and less in
amount at greater and greater heights. At a certain level the out-
ward motion ceases, while above this level the motion of translation
is into the spots with increasing speeds at greater and greater heights
above the photosphere. At the maximum heights reached by lines of
the chromosphere, 14,000 kms by H and K of ionized Ca, there is a
movement of the calcium vapor into the spot at the speed of 3.8 kilo-
meters per second corresponding to a displacement of 0.063 angstroms.

The Evershed effect shows that there is a circulation of gaseous
material in the neighborhood of sunspots. Other lines of research

164 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

show that circulation is going on all over the sun. These motions
cause Doppler shifts which affect exact wave lengths. In what
follows some consequences will be noted, particularly as they are
correlated with intensities and heights determined from eclipse spectra.

THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY

Einstein’s theory of gravitation has been justly regarded as the
ereatest triumph of mathematical reasoning since the time of Newton.
It is safe to say that no scientific achievement of recent years has
aroused so much popular interest and enthusiasm as that evoked by
the verification of the Einstein prediction by the 1919 total eclipse.
In addition to the shift in star light by the gravitational pull of the
sun amounting to 1’’.72 at the sun’s edge, the principle of relativity
has two other consequences shown by: (1) The motion of perihelion
of the planet Mercury; and (2) the red shift of lines in the solar
spectrum. We shall first take up the shift to longer wave lengths.

The Allegheny Observatory in cooperation with the Bureau of
Standards has determined laboratory wave lengths of the highest
degree of reliability. The method of obtaining the photographs was
by a powerful grating spectrograph and interferometer, the wave
lengths having an accuracy of 1 part in 5,000,000. For many reasons
the results for neutral iron are more exact than for any of the elements.
Wave lengths in the laboratory reduced to the conditions of vacuum
pressure are referred to as ‘vacuum are.” Differences in wave length
between the sun and the vacuum are, after the greatest care is exer-
cised to get all wave lengths to the one standard system, are given
in the following table. From the differences, sun minus vacuum
arc, are subtracted the predicted relativity shift amounting to
2.13 10-*X X where \ is the wave length in angstroms.

TasLe 1.—Relalivity shift in the sun

Main diagonal Side diagonal Whole multiplet
Excitation Inten-
potential sity Se ale, o. wae

i ee Sees SBE +3.0 , 722 10} +1.4 19 | +2.2
ht Sa ee 4-40 15 | +2.0] 1,157 20} +0.5 792 35 | +1.2
jo” Res Sees ee 2-30 12} +2.0; 1,400 13} -0.1 823 25} +0.9
O08 Soct Ea 4-8 5} +1.2 540 6| —0.6 500 11} +0.2
a ee 3-10 10} +0.9 625 of 1.0 500 27} —0.3
REG Rie 1- 8 17} —0.9 497 25} —1.2 409 42; —11
y Sg Mek eee They eo 1- 6 —2.6 525 34] —2.5 518 61 | —2.6
ft hee Se 0- 6 40} —2.9 406 49 | —2.4 361 89] —2.6

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 165

The table takes account of all the Fe lines in well-defined mul-
tiplets. Altogether a total of 48 multiplets involving 309 lines were
discussed, the material being divided into 3 series, strong, medium,
and weak multiplets. In each case are given the number of lines
involved, the height in kilometers from the flash spectrum and Ad
(in units of 0.001 angstroms), which is the equivalent to the difference
sun minus vacuum are from which has been subtracted in each case
the relativity shift.

From the abundant material that went into the table, it is evident
that in addition to the relativity shift to the red, corresponding in
the table to AA=0, there are other effects present. For the strong
lines, those of small excitation potentials and greater heights, the
value of Ad is positive while for the weak lines, those of higher excita-
tion potentials and lesser heights, the values of AX are essentially
negative. The systematic differences between strong and weak lines
is most readily explained as a Doppler shift caused by a circulation
of vapors in the sun’s atmosphere. On account of the higher tem-
peratures and higher pressures near the photosphere, the solar activity
causes the Fe atoms to ascend through the medium of thousands of
weak lines of high excitation potential, the maximum velocity of
ascent found for Fe being 0.2 km per second. The heights to which
these atoms are ejected are much greater than can be measured by
the lines in the flash spectrum. In the upper reaches of the chromo-
sphere, especially where the pressures are minute, some of the atoms
lose an external electron and become ionized.

From the law of nature that ‘whatever goes up must come down,”
the Fe atoms descend from the maximum heights. In their descent
some of the ionized atoms gain an external electron and again become
neutral. According to this interpretation, in a direct photograph of
the sun showing its mottled surface the atoms ascending from the
sun exhibit themselves over the small bright granules and the descend-
ing atoms over the large dark interspaces, the observed effect being
an integrated one.

As an illustration of the correlations found to exist between different
solar values, there are given in tabular form the quantities involved
in the dozen lines of a composite multiplet of /e. More than 100
times as many atoms are active in producing the strongest line at
3820 A as go to form the weakest one at 3940 A. The relativity shift
amounts to 0.0082 A. Hence, within a single multiplet the heights
found directly from the flash spectrum, or indirectly from the Evershed
effect in sunspots, are not constant but are the greatest in size for
those lines which involve the largest number of atoms.

166 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
TABLE 2.—The Fe Multiplet a'F —y'D°

Fs Fy Fs F: F,
3820 3887 pl 9 ORE ae Ba Baa eae
25 Bi Ch. Der See eee ate ee
[2S 2 4 ey i 1600 BOD he aS Pe ee ee eS
0. 000 0. 005 OGIG 1s Fees Aare ee ates
0.0102 . 0082 LAL UC] eee es Ie ae
SSE ES 3825 ~ S017) see
ee See ae Se Ce eee ee | Pera 1500 1000 BEvigtias
WSS Sar es 0. 000 0.003 Ul ee a
aoe ew 0. 0098 0. 0090 O,0074 1.2 0r ase
YS Rely Meee Fee 3834 3872 3898
ERATE (SOBRE Pew A 14 9 5
Dg as 8 oy a kpc te Sele aaron dee ae ee Ns acne =e ene ae oe 1200 1000 600
ee NEE Aa ES. ca at 0. 002 0. 003 0.013
a eee ee 0094 0. 0090 0. 0074
aed eps Rigi ea poem eckinor ccm Geen) aston aphasia 3840 3865
BS oe Soo wie] eid oe 10 8
i By i a oe eae ae AE DE Pl ar ee Bae ey hs fin ee a ae Bee, | a ere toe 1000 800
i 2 Ls RR ty | 0. 003 0.005
AR <p nlp) Niles LEE lRseenl Cre air Ale 0. 0090 0. 0082
Wave pre: 2822s ee ee eee ee 3849
PRGOIRIGy Tr St es 7
Dip ete ke ees ee 2 Re eeee oer AE case Haisn’ in ‘kilometers i. 25 532i ice See ees 750
Evershed effect in sunspots___-..-.---.-------_- 0.
Sun minus vacuum arc in angstroms_-_------_-_- 0. 0078

RELATIVE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF ELEMENTS IN
THE LOWER CHROMOSPHERE

By combining the heights to which the various lines in a multiplet
are observed in the flash spectrum with the multiplet intensity for-
mulae, it has been possible to derive for many elements the density
distribution in the lower chromosphere. This seems to indicate that
turbulence and not selective radiation pressure is responsible for
keeping the elements so well mixed. From the flash spectrum the
relative abundance of various elements was determined and the
results from the chromosphere were compared with those from the
reversing layer, stellar atmospheres, earth’s crust, and stony meteor-
ites. It is inferred that within errors of observation the compositions
of all samples are alike, with the exception that hydrogen is conspicu-
ously deficient in the earth’s crust and in meteorites and is probably
more abundant in the chromosphere than in the reversing layer.
It seems also safe to conclude that there is a marked deficiency of the
heavier elements in the chromosphere.

RELATIVITY SHIFT OF STAR IMAGES

At the 1929 eclipse, the Potsdam party using two different cameras
found the Einstein deflection reduced to the sun’s edge to be 2724+
0”10, a result which differed radically from the Lick deflection 1775+
0”09 at the 1922 eclipse, or from the theoretical value of 1772. Un-
fortunately, at the 1929 eclipse, the bright stars photographed on the
eclipse plates were extremely unsymmetrically placed. A straight
line passed through the center of the sun found 17 stars on one side

SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS—MITCHELL 167

and a single star on the other side of the line. As a consequence, the
light deflections to be determined depend to a high degree on the plate
constants used in the reductions. If, by means of least squares, the
scale correction is determined at the same time as the other constants
of the plate from the star observations themselves, that is, by follow-
ing the procedure adopted in 1919 and 1922, the 1929 plates give a
deflection of 1775-+0"13. Taking the values of all eclipses together
as solved by least squares, the observed value of the relativity de-
flection is 1779-+0706.

The differences between the various reductions of the 1929 eclipse
show the underlying difficulty of the whole problem, namely, the
practical impossibility of adequately separating the scale of the plates
from the star deflections. It, therefore, appears evident that work on
relativity displacements must be repeated at future eclipses by proc-
esses which will insure a far greater accuracy than has been attained
in the past. Such a recommendation is quite obvious—but unfor-
tunately it will be quite impossible to put this recommendation into
effect at any time within the next two decades on account of the
poverty of stars in eclipse fields.

Most astronomers and physicists are now satisfied that the theory
of relativity has been verified by observations made in three different
fields of investigation: (1) The motion of the perihelion of Mercury;
(2) the red shifts of lines in the solar spectrum; and (3) deflections on
eclipse photographs. In addition, Adams has measured a very large
relativity shift in the system of Sirius, and Trumpler has measured
red shifts in stars of O type. Many new and interesting facts con-
cerning this theory will be accumulated in the next quarter of a
century of progress before there is another eclipse with a satisfac-
tory distribution of bright stars that will permit another thorough
test of the relativity displacement.

mae Re port 3 Ee eit ay al sa Ws Pane ee - 1 fe
Fi a apa mage: pairs tae rio whax =
prorneresity chgintae it kos nntab od og eeabitoal oboe
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hae Cr vehhy aie i ah a wat Y ans fT Smirnova fone
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Wore eadoly QONt all: Se i ra a a ite
erga goacjiley {Lo lo wank TA. ti a oii m0

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theistih soutl af sbasit wien Jo: ie , rt i I
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nageab ce a howegsacedd mordbdeate sankeqonga
Ghiveubonios ned miami l'ho. nsiiacte t rte indy
tian “ated waieoe ai han ovaaaine 3 bis on wi in
Lgebak deter pe deectt lorie i Sosatendvond eds iitee ick)
eapolaltoea i dtier onqils aubannhionodd. ested,
afore dit nian. fiweng Hive canbe
Pedy soot, RS & thumsijeheirens
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in thie wath a efued) eet Fay wnt i
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atc ticle VaR hors ie
bendy W lps cledipasplert

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ui: Ripatedn detartne red oad 1 the batr's ipa toe OE

4 ithaeh diffocet Jechaaiee fram tha Taek delfestina i?
aeein ‘ye? ¢f4it SP the thos tical Pele ot Pv
fi) i) re WO Gctiiee, ere sins bats nll er ae iage Gir es:

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mitchell PLATE 1

THE CORONA, JUNE 8, 1937.

Photographed at the National Geographic gover S. Navy expedition to Canton Island by I. C.
Gardner.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mitchell PLATE 2

National Geographic Society Photograph by R. H. Stewart

THE PROGRESS OF THE 1937 ECLIPSE

Exposures were made every 5 minutes from first contact (bottom). Note that in the 26 exposures that
extended over more than 2 hours only one, the fifth after totality was over, was made through thin
clouds.

SOAS SIG} 0} pasuojeq ‘ZE6l ‘Tg IsnSNy Jo asdifoe eq,
‘310d HLYON SAHL YVAN ‘9861 ‘€ YHSSOLDO ONIGNYA ANY ‘1 LZl ‘21 AINF 3AIOd HLNOS SHL YVAN ONINNISSAG SASdI19D9 IWLOL py AO SAIMsS V

siete Be here <8 i

30.

CSL 1a [2Y3IN— 2¢6| 40dey ueruosyqiucg

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mitchel] PLATE 4

A East
B East
Cc West

ECLIPSE SPECTRA IN 1930 PHOTOGRAPHED BY CONCAVE GRATING WITHOUT SLIT.

A and B refer to the same eastern portion of the sun. For purposes of comparison the positions in C at
the western edge of the sun are inverted. :

In A are given the K line and the Ha line, both from the chromosphere. In Band Care given (from left to
right) details from direct photographs of the corona near the beginning (B) and the end (C) of totality,
and the structure in the coronal rings at wave lengths 5303 and 6374, respectively.

‘Q0BJINS S,UNs OY} UI0Ij Se[Tur 000‘000'E 0} pepuesxe esdijoe
LE6I 8} JO Joureet}s [eUOI0D oUO YdeIZ0joYd 4YSI oy} UD ‘“poeiNsveul eq UB UNS 94} WOJJ JNO SodUBISIP SNONBA Je 4y4sl[ peztaejod jo eseqjueosed oy} sydeis0joyd esey} mm017
“SATONY LNSYSSsIG LV GSANYNL ..dlowv10d,, JO SNSSYOS HLIM LLNS SASNAT IWOILNSG! HLIM SHdVYSOLOHd SNOANVLINWIS

ieATIAQOIY “yy “A Aq sydeis0jogg Aja100g o1yde1s094) [BUOTZE Ny

G ALV1d [12493 Z¢6| ‘4odey wermosyqUIg

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mitchell

National Geographie Society 9

REHEARSALS FOR THE 1937 TOTAL ECLIPSE.

1, The camera that took the photograph of the corona on piate 1.

2. F. K. Richtmyer and his helpers.

“UNS OY] Ul JWASQe SI [Lp PUL] WINIjay Suo1s aq} pus slaydsou1o1yo aq} Ul JasUO.S YONUT ode OFEF PUL TOTP 1B SoUT[ UaSoIpAY
ONL (AL) Shhh PUB‘ (OS) LZ ‘(OM) ksh (AS) CTSP ‘(AS) LLOF ‘SYISUI] PABA SULMOT[OJ aq} 3B SoUl| peoURYUE 9q4 Jo aayYdsoMLOIYO dy} JO UINIJOedS OY} UI SOI}ISUazUI JaqyveIS 94} OJON

‘pasie[ue asdifoa WOT VAIIBSIN -wWoyo_Y “psonpal se[VV S,PUB[MOY -appiyy “aos YIZue| vary doy

“WHLDAdS DINAHdSOWOYHD GOSl GNV YSSOHNNVYSH AO NOSIYVKIWOD

ask 1s ink a of ld ae A la A hl Ht

4 ij

ZL3LW1d [PY Z€6| ‘4oday ueruosyywig

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mitchell PLATE 8

&
be
om

to

National Geographic Society

ADJUSTING SPECTROGRAPHS FOR THE 1937 ECLIPSE.

1. Theodore Dunham, Jr., and Charles G. Thompson. 2. S. A. Mitchell putting into line a concave
grating spectrograph.

PLATE 9

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mitchell

‘A Begins
eo Noon
@ Ends

Total
....-- Annular

~-—.. Ann. Total

TRACKS OF SOLAR ECLIPSES BETWEEN THE YEARS 1919 AND 1940.

CHANGES IN THE LENGTH OF THE DAY

By Ernest W. Brown
Yale Observatory

Even to the professional astronomer it comes perhaps as a shock
when he first learns that the moon must be regarded as our ultimate
exact measure of time. He is so accustomed to the apparent vagaries
of its motion, to seeing it all over the sky and to being bothered by
its presence that it is difficult to realize the exactness with which every
detail of its motion can be followed. On the other hand, the stars
follow a regular and nearly uniform motion due to the rotation of
the earth, so that the latter seems to be the natural standard. He
knows, of course, that the length of the day is very slowly increasing
because the friction caused by the tides is slowing down the rotating
earth, but he knows that its amount is very small and supposes that
it is known.

However, our observational knowledge of this gradual increase in
the length of the day comes chiefly from the moon, because it depends
almost entirely on the study of ancient eclipses of the sun by the
moon. The place of occurrence of these eclipses is not the same as
calculation shows it should be if the revolving earth had maintained
its rate. The earth moves so fast on its axis that if the moon is not
at the appointed place at the given moment the earth can slip round
an appreciable amount before the meeting with the sun occurs, so
that a total obscuration occurs elsewhere than in the place pre-
dicted. The same thing occurs if the earth has been going round
more slowly than the calculated value.

Several workers have examined these old records. The question
is not a simple one, chiefly because the historians who wrote them
were not expert in observing the phenomena or in gathering the
particular kind of information that is needed by the astronomer.
We have to judge from the details which may be given that the all-
important question whether the eclipse was seen as total or partial
is properly answered. The latest and, I think, the best of all these
investigations was made by Dr. J. K. Fotheringham, of Oxford,
England, who died recently. Dr. Fotheringham was a_ notable
classical scholar who knew the languages in which the accounts were
originally written and the habits of thought and expression of the men
who wrote them, and so was able to appraise with some degree of

169

170 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

certainty the real meanings of the phrases which they used. He
became interested in the astronomical side of the records and took
the trouble to learn how to deal with them according to the best
canons of the astronomer. He became thoroughly expert in this
part of the work, and the combination of knowledge and judgment
which he gave to it has produced excellent results.

Some years ago Prof. G. I. Taylor added to our stock of information
by showing that the greater part of the friction came from the tides
in shallow seas. He calculated that the Irish Sea alone produced
about one-fiftieth of the necessary amount. A little later Dr. Jeffreys
made a similar survey of the whole earth. He found, though his
calculations were necessarily rather rough because only rough data
were available, that the total amount was about the same as that
given by observation. One interesting fact emerged, namely, that
the Bering Sea contributed the greater part of it. Had better data
for that stretch been available he would have been able to make his
calculations much more exactly.

This result of Jeffreys raises a point which is sometimes forgotten,
namely, that the present figure for the amount of the friction, and
consequently for the slowing down of the earth, may have no great
degree of permanence. The southern boundary of the Bering Sea is
a highly voleanic region in which changes are continually taking place.
It requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that in the
course of a few thousand years the depth of this sea and its boundary
may materially change and that in consequence, changes will occur in
the amount of the friction. Thus caution is needed when we use the
present figure for arguments concerning the past and future history
of the earth-moon system—a question I shall deal with briefly below.

The amount of this gradual change is very small—the day is longer
now by less than one thousandth of a second than it was a century
ago. The error of the clock increases much faster—in fact, as the
square of the elapsed time. If the clock loses 1 second in a century
it will lose 100 seconds in 10 centuries, and in 100 seconds the earth,
in the middle north or south latitudes, turns a good many miles.
This is why the place of an ancient total eclipse is so sensitive to small
changes in the length of the day.

Of much more scientific importance is the change in the moon’s
motion. As the earth is losing energy, the moon, which is responsible
for the greater part of the change because of the fact that it is the
chief tide raiser, must be gaining energy. This makes it move around
the earth more slowly and sends it farther away from us. If this
went on indefinitely the moon would leave us. But it is calculated
that when the month is about twice as long as at the present time it
will stop receding. What will happen afterward is largely a matter
of speculation.

CHANGES IN LENGTH OF DAY—BROWN 171

Much more startling are changes which seem to be irregular and
which take place in a much shorter time. Our knowledge of them
arose originally from a discovery by Simon Newcomb that there was
an apparent oscillation in the motion of the moon which was not
accounted for by theory. I have said above that the theory of the
motion of the moon is the most accurate amongst those of all astro-
nomical bodies. But this has been achieved only at the cost of great
labor. Starting with Isaac Newton who formulated the laws of motion
and gravitation from which the theory is developed, a host of workers
have toiled to improve it—Euler, Laplace, Hansen, Delaunay, New-
comb, and G. W. Hill, to mention only a few of the most famous great
mathematicians and great astronomers who have added successively
to it. Finally, the writer, building on the work of his predecessors
and especially on that of G. W. Hill, gave the results of a calculation
which, if free from mistakes, had an accuracy at least comparable with
that of observation. This last work had to be done by old-fashioned
methods since machines were not then available and the human factor
entered largely. To make assurance doubly sure, the work is being
repeated almost wholly by machinery so that little doubt will remain
as to the accuracy of the results.

At the time of Newcomb’s discovery, however, the best theory was
that of Hansen, and it was by no means certain that some important
term had not been omitted which could account for the deviation.
The completion of the writer’s theory showed that such a solution
of the difficulty was highly improbable since the deviation was much
larger than any probable mistake in the theory.

The question of the source of the deviation was reopened by Innes,
who, in examining the deviations of the planet Mercury, found char-
acteristics which with some stretching of the imagination could be
compared with those given by the moon. But the observational
material was too poor to carry conviction. However, it suggested to
the writer the thought that perhaps another body, the sun, might
show changes more certainly than Mercury. The sun moves much
more slowly around the earth than Mercury does around the sun and
on that account is a much poorer testing body. On the other hand,
it has been continuously and carefully observed at every fine noon
for 170 years and perhaps the mass of observations could make up
for the slow motion.

The material was gathered and the curves of deviations from its
theoretical orbit drawn, and it was immediately seen that the ques-
tion had been solved—the deviation was not in the motion of the
moon but in our measure of time. Newcomb had suggested this as a
possibility, and Innes had adopted it to explain his deviations.

I must go into some further details in order to show what the
evidence is worth. Newcomb had represented the deviations of the

172 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

moon on a scale which was wide horizontally and narrow vertically.
In order to get the material on a smaller piece of paper, I altered the
horizontal scale so that the horizontal scale for a century was about
the same as the vertical. A peculiar feature appeared. The curve
was not like an ordinary sine curve, which has flat tops and bottoms
and which is characteristic of motions produced by continuous forces.
It had sharp pointed tops and bottoms and was much more like a
series of intersecting straight lines than a continuously changing curve.
In other words the changes that took place were comparatively sudden
and then stopped, as if an occasional blow had been given.

I had three of these sudden changes which were large: One about
1790, which, however, might have been gradual, as the observations
are not very accurate; one about 1897; and a third about 1917. Since
the last one there has been no further large change. The last change
disposes of Newcomb’s sine curve—it will not fit at all. When the
sun curve was compared, it showed the same features as the moon
curve and in particular the three sudden changes of direction at the
same times. There could then hardly be any doubt about the source
of the deviations.

Other workers have added informative evidence from the planets
Venus and Mars. DeSitter gathered all the evidence from various
sources including some from the other satellites and in general showed
that the result was correct. But there was a fly in the ointment, as
usually happens in pioneer scientific work. Although the changes in
rate shown by all the bodies occurred at the same dates, the amounts of
the changes shown by the sun and planets were less than those shown
by the moon in the ratio 1.28: 1. DeSitter estimated the probable
error of this factor to be +.08 so that it is probably real and not a
mere effect of inaccurate observations. This factor, if real, indicates
that the moon has something to do with the changes but has only a
small effect.

The amounts of these changes in the rate of the earth’s rotation are
considerable from the astronomical point of view. The greatest of
which we have any certain knowledge is that which occurred about
1897 and which changed the apparent length of the year by a second.
This is getting near the best that the new Shortt clocks can show, but
the latter have not yet quite attained the accuracy which is needed
for the purpose. Perhaps if we had a dozen such clocks, kept going
under the very best conditions, we might, by averaging the times they
would show, detect such a change. There is some interest in this
question at the present time because the deviation of the earth from
showing correct time is now greater than it has ever been since observa-
tions were made with sufficient accuracy, and consequently it is
reasonable to expect that a new change may soon occur.

It is natural to ask at this stage how the observations of the moon
are made and the nature of the errors to which they are subject.

CHANGES IN LENGTH OF DAY—BROWN 173

The fundamental series have been the meridian observations at
Greenwich and Washington—in the former case an unbroken series
since 1750. In these observations the times at which the limb of
the moon crosses the wire in the transit meridian telescope is observed.
The declination is also noted by placing the cross-wire on the upper
or lower limb of the moon. By means of tables, given in the nautical
almanac, the position of the moon at those instants can be found.
Unfortunately, these observations are subject to many errors. There
are the instrumental errors, most of which can be dealt with; the
errors due to the irregular shape of the limb, for which corrections
can be made; and finally the error of the observer when he tries to
make the wire tangent to the limb. The last is the most serious
because it varies with different observers and with the same observer
at different times. About 100 observations a year are obtained in
this way at each observatory with some 50 more at Greenwich obtained
by noting when the wires cross the crater Mésting A. During the
last 12 years a campaign has been under way to obtain and utilize
occultations. Here we simply observe the instant when the moon
covers a star. There are practically no instrumental errors, and as
the time of occurrence need only be observed to the nearest second,
the human factor does not seriously enter. But they still depend on
the shape of the edge of the moon and, in addition, on the accuracy
of the places of the stars. Both of these errors can be largely cor-
rected so that the possibility for accuracy with this latter method
seems to be greater than with the meridian observations. It has been
possible also to obtain many more such observations. During the
3 years 1933-35, we had an average of over 1,400 a year. With all
this material we now know with considerable accuracy how the rate
of rotation of the earth is varying from year to year. It should be
mentioned that Newcomb got his original curve from occultations
which he gathered from all over the world.

What is the cause of these variations in the earth’s rate of rotation?
At present the answer is—we do not know. But the facts at our
disposal enable us to eliminate a good many hypotheses that might
otherwise have some plausibility and thus narrow the field of con-
jecture. Perhaps we may even go so far as to say that possibly we
can obtain new information concerning the behavior of our earth.

The quantity we are mainly concerned with is the angular momen-
tum. This is a product of the angular velocity, the mass, the square
of the radius, and a constant which depends on the manner in which
the mass of the earth is distributed. Theory tells us that this cannot
be changed (except in a manner which is easily calculated and which
is allowed for). We have seen that there is one important exception,
namely, the frictional effect of the tides produced by the sun and the
moon. The irregular changes might be supposed to be due to varia-

174 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

tions of the frictional effect. But the changes we are considering are
enormously greater than the whole frictional effect and consequently
any variation in the latter is quite powerless to produce them. Indeed
theory goes a step farther and indicates that no force external to the
earth that we know of can produce a change in the angular momentum,
except in the manner just stated.

We are thus reduced to asking whether there are any external
forces which can alter the distribution of matter in the earth. The
only such forces we know of are tidal actions by the sun and moon.
But such forces are quite regular in their action, and the changes we
observe are extremely irregular, so that this source must be ruled out.
There are in fact no known forces outside the earth that can produce
the observed results.

Are there surface changes due to meteorological causes or other
conditions which might be effective? When these results were first
published it was suggested that accumulations of ice and snow at the
poles might account for the phenomena. But calculation shows that
in order to use this source, the requisite amount of frozen water
would change the average sea level all over the world by something
like a foot, and we should all know if this had happened in 1897.
I took the trouble to look up the records and, as I expected, found no
significant change in sea level near that date.

Local changes of level or volcanic action are apparently far too
small to produce the required effect. DeSitter calculated that if the
whole group of the Himalaya Mountains could be razed and placed
at the poles, it would produce only a fraction of what is needed.
No imaginable surface changes seem sufficient for our purpose.

We are then driven to changes below the surface to account for it.
Here we must resort entirely to hypothesis, for there is nothing that:
we actually know which is available for our purpose. The most
plausible start is to imagine some action which changes the radius of
the earth. The astronomer has already adopted some such idea to
explain the changes which take place in the light of certain variable
stars. He imagines that they pulsate bodily—perhaps it is a feature
of all stars to a greater or lesser degree. Ifso, there is no difficulty in
imagining a pulsating earth—the remnant perhaps of a time when
such changes were on a large scale. The amounts required seem quite
small. If there is a uniform dilatation and compression throughout
the whole mass of the earth, a change in the external radius of 5 inches
is sufficient to account for the maximum change of rate which has so
far been observed. If the change took place in a layer 50 miles below
the surface, the external radius would have to change by 12 feet to
produce the same effect. If a change of this character is the cause of
the phenomenon, something between these two extremes is indicated.
Another suggestion which has been made is the redistribution of

CHANGES IN LENGTH OF DAY—BROWN 175

matter inside the earth, different densities playing the principal role
in this hypothesis. I repeat, however, that these are mere hypo-
theses made to account for the phenomenon.

My own idea is to imagine the existence of a layer of material not
too far from the surface which is at or near a critical temperature, the
latter being defined as one in which a small change of temperature
produces a relatively large change of volume. There are many sub-
stances which possess this property. Thus a small change in the
interior condition of the earth might easily produce a relatively large
change in the volume of the layer, causing necessary expansion or
contraction at the only portion which is free to move, namely, that
above the layer.

A change of volume considerably less than 1 percent in a layer with
a thickness of a mile would be amply sufficient to take care of the
maximum observed change. Incidentally, it may be noted that the
change in volume consequent on any change in temperature gives a
rapid method of transfer of heat in a mass composed of different ma-
terials, for changes of pressure are transferred without delay and the
cooling of a hot mass could be made much more rapid in this way than
by mere conduction.

The hypothesis gives a mechanism for mountain building which
has some rather attractive features. The elasticity of the surface
materials of the earth is amply sufficient to take care of any such
increase in the volume of its crust. As a matter of fact, however, the
surface is broken and fissured in all directions, and the effect of an
expansion would be to open these fissures. They would be partially
filled by matter dropping from above or pressed in from below. In
any case, when the subsequent contraction came, they would not be
able to close and there would necessarily be a bulging toward the
surface. The evidence we have indicates that the major changes take
place at intervals of the order of a century or less, so that the same
fissures are likely to repeat their successive openings and closings,
resulting in successive elevations of the same region. The energy
necessary for the process is thus traced back to the interior heat of
the earth and the supply would seem to be ample.

It is not entirely impossible that the hypothesis could be tested if
and when the next great change occurs. Some device which could
measure very small changes in the opening of a fissure could certainly
be set up. If one costing a small sum only could be constructed and
numbers of them placed in various parts of the earth, especially in
those regions where mountain building is known to be going on, the
information needed could be obtained. In a few places elaborate
mechanisms with recording devices might be employed. In any case,
much might be learned concerning the movements which are continu-
ally taking place on the surface of the earth.

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THE THUNDERSTORM !

By E. A. Evans and K. B. McEKacuron
Pittsfield Works, General Electric Co.

[With two plates]

In this article the writers have attempted to gather together in
one place sufficient information on the electrification of thunder-
clouds, the causes of their formation, and their characteristics, to
give engineers a general understanding of the thunderstorm. To
this end the writers have drawn on their own personal experiences in
field studies of lightning and have selected and interpreted the ideas
of a number of investigators who have presented their findings in
numerous publications, many of which are not easily accessible to
the average engineer. In a number of instances, additional field
data have been added to round out or corroborate the findings and
deductions of previous investigators. The characteristics of actual
thunderstorms are described to amplify the conceptions obtained
from descriptions of “‘ideal’”’ models which, for ease in understanding
their operation, necessarily have to be simple. Finally, an explana-
tion is given as to how a knowledge of the characteristics of thunder-
storms and of the factors affecting their formation and travel can be
applied in lightning protection problems.

ELECTRICAL PICTURE OF THE THUNDERSTORM

It is desirable first to review briefly the operation of the thunder-
cloud generator before explaining its formation and characteristics.
As a helpful picture of this generator, the lower part of a thunder-
cloud can be visualized as one plate of a physically huge condenser,
the air as the dielectric, and the ground, or another part of the cloud,
as the other plate. It must not be forgotten that the cloud is not a
conductor but consists of a multitude of poorly conducting water
droplets suspended in an insulating medium, the air. The charge
of the cloud is not distributed on its surface as on the plates of a
metallic condenser, but is a volume charge distributed on water drop-
lets and air ions throughout considerable regions in the cloud.

The cloud charge attracts to the ground beneath and near it an
equal amount of charge of opposite sign. Between the charge on
the cloud and the charge on the ground an electrical field exists just
as between the charges on the plates of any other condenser. This

1 Reprinted by permission from the General Electric Review, September 1936.
31508—38 13 177

178 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

field increases as the generation process goes on within the cloud.
When the field reaches a certain critical value a discharge between
cloud and earth takes place.

HOW THUNDERCLOUDS BECOME ELECTRIFIED

It is certain that the electrification of thunderclouds is closely
connected with the turbulent convection systems which form them.
This was very evident during an intensive 2-year field study? of
thunderstorms made from a mountain top in Colorado by one of the
writers of this article. In the course of some 300 storms there were
numerous occasions when the shape and nature of the storm cloud
and its electrical activity were plainly visible at the same time.
Clouds with dense well-developed heads, showing evidence of violent
internal convection systems through many and continually changing
surface protuberances, were practically always active electrically.
On the other hand, clouds which did not indicate the presence of such
convection systems were not electrically active.

The exact manner in which these convection currents take part
in the electrification of thunderclouds is not completely known.
That they separate the small raindrops and cloud particles from the
large raindrops, and that by doing so they separate positive and
negative electricity within the cloud, is generally agreed. But
whether they cause the electrification of the raindrops by breaking
them up, or by bringing them into contact with each other while they
are polarized and then separating them again, or by helping to bring
positive and negative air ions in contact with polarized raindrops, is
a controversial subject. The three best known theories of thunder-
cloud electrification, each involving one of the foregoing methods of
electrification, will now be described.

P SIMPSON’S BREAKING-DROP THEORY

Simpson’s °* breaking-drop theory of thundercloud electrification
is probably the best known and most generally accepted. In this
theory, a major role is played by violent upward air currents, which,
for reasons to be explained later in the section on ‘‘Causes of Thunder-
storm Formation”, exist in active thunderstorms. These upward
air currents carry up moisture which condenses as it rises. The con-
densing water vapor combines into drops. When these attain a size
and weight such that the force of gravity can cause them to move
against the rising air currents, they fall. Joining with other drops
as they fall, they grow larger and an increasingly greater number of
them are broken up by the action of the upward air currents. The

1 Evans, E. A., A study of the mechanism of the lightning discharge, Stanford Univ. thesis, October 1932.
2 Simpson, G. C., Electricity of rain and its origin in thunderstorms, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol.

209, pp. 379-413, 1909.
4 Simpson, G. C., The mechanism of a thunderstorm, Proc. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol. 114, pp. 376-401, 1927.

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 179

largest drops finally approach a limiting size, which according to
Lenard ° is about half a centimeter in diameter. Drops larger than
this are unstable and soon break up into many small droplets surround-
ing a rather large center drop.

In the breaking of rain drops lies the electrification process of
thunderstorms according to Simpson, for he believes (and has ad-
vanced laboratory experiments supporting his belief) that, when the
drops break, negative ions are released into the air while the water
drops become positively charged. The negative ions joining with
minute cloud particles are carried upward at the velocity of the air
currents and are thus quickly removed from the vicinity of the
positively charged rain drops. The rain drops are also carried
upward but at a slower rate until by recombination they again

/iilomelres.
~ ta Gn Na Gt Oe ae Ge ie

Royal Society of London.
FIGURE 1.—Distribution of electrical charge in a heat thunderstorm. (After Simpson.)

become large enough to fall. In falling they continue to grow until
they break up again. This liberates more negative ions into the
air and leaves a higher positive charge on the rain drops.

So the electrification process goes on. More and more negative
ions are liberated and transported to the upper and rear regions of
the thunderstorm. The rain drops acquire a higher and higher
positive charge and accumulate in the lower part of the cloud in a
restricted region. The location of this region is determined by the
velocity of the upward air currents; for, since the largest drop which
can exist can be supported by an air column moving upward at a
velocity of 8 meters per second, no rain can fall through regions
where the air movement is equal to or greater than that velocity.

Thus Simpson arrives at the thunderstorm model reproduced in
figure 1. In this diagram, positively charged water drops accumulate
in region B above the region where air velocities are 8 meters per
second or more (indicated in the illustration by an ellipse at the
base of region B). The negative charge is distributed as shown

5 Lenard, P., Ueber Regen, Meteorol. Zeitschr., vol. 21, p. 249, 1904.

180 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

over a much larger region of the cloud in the upper part and through-
out most of the body of the cloud.

Simpson’s measurements of the charge on rain drops are in agree-
ment with his conception in that they show that as storm clouds
pass overhead the falling rain consists first of large drops charged
positively; next of a mixture of negatively charged and positively
charged rain; and, finally, a steady downfall of moderate to small-
sized negatively charged drops.

ELSTER AND GEITEL’S INFLUENCE THEORY

Elster and Geitel®’ have postulated a very different theory of
cloud electrification, in which the upward air currents of thunder-
storms play as prominent a part as in Simpson’s theory. In arriving
at an understanding of their theory, one can visualize the carrying
up of atmospheric moisture by the upward air currents, the forma-
tion of drops, their combination and their fall much as described in
Simpson’s theory. Since the earth is normally negatively charged,
a separation of electricity will occur on each water drop by induction
even though it is remote from the earth. The bottom of the drop
will be positively charged and the top negatively charged. As the
large drops fall through the upward moving air stream, smaller drops
being carried upward come in contact with the lower surface of the
large drops. As the negative top of each droplet contacts the posi-
tive bottom of a larger drop, an exchange of charge occurs. The
smaller droplet gains a positive charge while losing an equal amount
of negative charge to the larger drop. The smaller drops continue
their upward journey gaining positive charge at each contact while
the larger drops proceed downward gaining negative charge as they
go. Thus an accumulation of negative charge occurs near the bot-
tom of the cloud while the upper region becomes positively charged.
This theory is of interest in view of the fast-accumulating evidence ®
that a very large majority of the discharges to transmission lines
are from negatively charged clouds.

Cc. T. R. WILSON’S THEORY

C. T. R. Wilson °° has suggested still another theory of thunder-
cloud electrification. He explains his theory by following the progress
of the water drops through the rising air currents of the thunderstorm
and attributes their electrification to contact with air ions.

6 Elster and Geitel, Bemerkungen Ueber den Electrischen Vorgang in den Gewitterwolken, Wied. Ann.,
vol. 25, p. 116, 1885.

7 Geitel, H., On the origin of precipitation electricity, Physik. Zeitschr., vol. 17, p. 455, 1916.

8 Lewis, W. W., and Foust, C. M., Lightning investigation on transmission lines: V, Amer. Inst. Elec.
Eng. Trans., vol. 54, pp. 934-942, 1935.

° Wilson, C. T. R., Investigations on lightning discharges and on the electrical field of thunderstorms,
Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol. 221, pp. 73-115, 1920.

10 Wilson, C. T. R., Some thundercloud problems, Journ. Franklin Inst., vol. 208, pp. 1-12, July 1929.

THH THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McHACHRON 181

There are normally present in each cubic centimeter of the atmos-
phere about 1,000 positive and 800 negative ‘‘small’” ions ' having
mobilities of about a centimeter per second under the action of a
field of a volt per centimeter, as well as 1,000 to 60,000 “large” ions
of much smaller mobilities. These ions are, according to Wilson,
greatly increased in number in thunderclouds by ionization attending
the strong electrical fields in such clouds. The positive ions travel
toward the negatively charged earth with a velocity dependent upon
the field strength in the region through which they are passing.
Similarly, the negatively charged ions travel away from the earth.

Wilson points out that the rain drops falling or rising in the air
currents of the thunderstorm must meet many such ions. However,
for the electrification to start it is necessary to consider, as in the
Elster and Geitel theory, the separation of charge in drops due to the
effect of the field of the earth. Since the earth is negatively charged
these drops must be polarized with their lower surface positively
charged and their upper surface negatively charged. Drops falling
toward the earth faster than the velocity of positive ions in that
direction will not be overtaken by them. They therefore cannot
acquire a positive charge through attraction of such positive ions to
the upper negatively charged surface of the drops. On the other
hand, the positive ions which the drop catches up with in its fall will
be repelled by the positive charge on the lower surface of the drop and
so cannot contact it. Negative ions, however, which the drop meets
will be attracted to the lower surface of the drop. The larger faster-
falling drops by repeated contacts with negative ions thus become
‘negatively charged. As they accumulate in the lower part of the
cloud, their field adds greatly to that of the earth in polarizing the
drops above them and thus aids in the electrification process. Drops
falling more slowly than the positive ions will be overtaken by them.
The positive ions will be attracted to the upper negatively charged
surface of the drops. By repeated contacts these drops will thus
become charged positively. Smaller droplets carried upward by the
air currents will likewise become charged positively. Thus Wilson
conceives that the upper region of a cloud becomes positively charged
and the lower region negatively charged.

Wilson explains the discrepancy between the apparent preponder-
ance of clouds with negatively charged bases and Simpson’s measure-
ments which show a preponderance of positively charged rain from
thunderclouds by reasoning similar to that just given. He points out
that water drops below the negatively charged base of the cloud will
be polarized with their tops positive and their bottoms negative.
This follows since the negative cloud field will be much stronger than

1! Hess, V. F., The electrical conductivity of the atmosphere and its causes, D. Van Nostrand Co., New
York, 1928.

182 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

that of the earth. Falling drops will thus attract to their negative
undersurfaces the upward moving positive ions. Drops which are
negatively charged when they leave the cloud therefore may become
positively charged during their passage to earth.

COMPARISON OF THUNDERSTORM THEORIES

To facilitate comparison of the three theories outlined, they are
summarized in table I. Of these theories the breaking-drop theory
appears to be the most attractive. Profuse breaking of raindrops
must occur in the violent convection systems known to be present in
thunderclouds. Laboratory experiments have proved that when
drops are broken up in an air stream they become electrified. It is
natural to infer that a similar action on a very large scale occurs in
thunderclouds. Yet there is one serious discrepancy. This is that
laboratory experiments indicate that the water drops become positively
charged in breaking, and that therefore the lower most active region
of the thundercloud should be a region of positive charge concentra-
tion. This is in direct disagreement with measurements of the polarity
of lightning-discharge currents through transmission-line towers,
which indicate that a very high percentage of strokes striking trans-
mission lines are from negatively charged clouds. While, as Lewis
and Foust” have suggested, there is a possibility that the trans-
mission towers and lines may exert a directive action on strokes when
the clouds are negatively charged and thus cause the high percentage
of negative strokes to towers, still the discrepancy is so great that for
the present the breaking-drop theory, in spite of its attractiveness,
cannot be completely accepted.

TABLE I.—Comparison of theories of the electrification of thunderstorms

Cloud polarity
Author of theory Electrifying process Agents
Upper | Lower
pole pole
Beas ta ee Breaking of raindrops_.__} Wind and gravity.-_.---.---------------]| — ==
Tistor era Geitel..| Contact and separation | Wind, gravity, earth’s electric field, a -
of polarized raindrops. electric: = bs due to charged regions in
e clo
G1) eS ee, Selective contact of po- | Wind, gravity, earth’s electric field, + —
larized raindrops with electric field due to charged region in
air ions. cloud, attraction and repulsion be-

tween airions and polarized raindrops.

It is probable that all three of the electrifying processes embodied
in the theories described account in part for the electrification of
thunderclouds. Which of them is the most important, however,
cannot be decided from our present knowledge. As R. A. Watson

44 Lewis, W. W., and Foust, C. M., Lightning investigation on transmission lines: III, Amer. Inst. Elec.
Eng. Trans., vol. 52, pp. 475-480, 1933.

THH THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 183

Watt ' has pointed out, the difficulties involved in obtaining accurate
information on the processes going on in thunderclouds are tremen-
dous, and it is probable that it will be a long time before sufficient
knowledge can be obtained to solve the problem.

BANERJI’S THUNDERSTORM MODEL

Banerji * © has proposed a thunderstorm model, shown in figure 2,
in which a region of high negative charge concentration precedes a

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FIGURE 2.—Distribution of electrical charge in a thunderstorm.
(After Banerji.)

region of high positive charge concentration, at the front of the
cloud. Jensen has photographed lightning discharges while recording
the instantaneous field changes caused by them. His results appear
to favor Banerji’s storm model. Plate 1, figure 2, is a composite
picture, taken by Jensen,'® showing two discharges half a minute
apart at the front of astorm. The cloud is moving from left to right.
The discharge to the right was from a negatively charged region in
the cloud, while the one to the left was from a positively charged
region, This is in agreement with Banerji’s prediction.

13 Watt, R. A. Watson, The present position of theories of the electricity of thunderstorms, Quart. Journ.
Roy. Meteorol. Soc., vol. 57, pp. 133-142, 1931.

14 Banerji, S. K., The electrical field of overhead thunderclouds, Quart. Journ. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., vol.
56, Dp. 305-331, 1930.

15 Banerji, S. K., The electrical field of overhead thunderclouds, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol. 231,
pp. 1-27, 1932.

16 Jensen, J. C., The branching of lightning and the polarity of thunderclouds, Journ. Franklin Inst.,
vol. 216, pp. 707-748, Dec. 1933.

184 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ELECTRICAL FIELD RECORDS

Measurements of the electrical fields of thunderstorms have added
considerably to our understanding of the operation of the thunder-
cloud as an electrical generator. Several investigators ? ® ™ -7! have
obtained records by different methods in the United States, England,
India, South Africa, Japan, and Sweden, all showing the same general
type of generation curve. A typical record obtained by Wilson ° is
shown in figure 3. This shows the regeneration of the electrical field
between a cloud and the earth after a stroke. The curve reminds
one of the charging curve of a condenser. In other words, the re-
generation of charge is much more rapid at the beginning and decreases
with increase in the amount of electricity accumulated in the charged
region. ‘This is contrary to what would be expected if the separation

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volts per meter
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+1000

Cloud-earth field strength

FIGURE 3.—Regeneration of the electrical feld between a cloud and the earth after a lightning discharge.
(After Wilson.)

of electricity by the air currents continued unhindered. In such a
case a straightline increase of charge, and therefore of electric field,
would be expected.

Wilson has advanced two reasons for the shape of the charging
curve. The first corresponds to the counter-electromotive force
principle which determines the shape of the charging curves of con-
densers. As the electrical field between the two charged regions of
the cloud increases, greater and greater opposition is offered to the
movement of the larger drops toward lower levels of the cloud and of
the smaller drops toward upper regions. This is obvious because the
negative charge in the lower regions of the cloud repels. the large
negatively charged drops while the positive charge of the upper

17 Schonland and Craib, The electric fields of South African thunderstorms, Proc. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol.
114, pp. 229-243, 1927.

18 Halliday, E. C., Polarity of thunderclouds, Proc. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol. 138, pp. 205-229, 1932.

1° Wormell, T. W., Currents carried by point discharges beneath thunderclouds, Proc. Roy. Soc., ser. A,
vol. 115, p. 443, 1927; also Vertical electrical currents below thunderstorms and showers, Proc. Roy. Soc.,
ser. A, vol. 127, pp. 567-590, 1930.

20 Norinder, H., Electric thunderstorm field researches, Electrical World, vol. 83, pp. 223-226, Feb. 2, 1924.

21 Nukiyama and Noto, Charges of thunderclouds, Japanese Journ. Astron. and Geophys., vol. 6, pp.
71-81, 1928.

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 185

regions attracts them. Similarly, the small positively charged drops
being carried up by the air currents are repelled by the charge at the
top of the cloud and attracted by that in the lower part of the cloud.
This opposition, of course, increases in proportion to the increase in
field as the centers of charge are replenished. The second reason
advanced by Wilson for the lower rate of field increase as the charge
builds up is the greater dissipation of energy due to local ionizations
in the intense fields about charged regions as their voltages are
increased.

Summarizing, electrical field measurements graphically show the
separation of charge and its accumulation in limited regions in the
cloud; show how this charge is removed or neutralized by a lightning
stroke; and show how after a stroke the electrification process builds
up the charge again to the value necessary to cause another discharge.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THUNDERSTORMS
SINGLE THUNDERSTORMS

Upon the approach of a thunderstorm, strong gusts of wind are
frequently experienced blowing from the storm toward the point of
observation. In the distance, heavy rain can be seen falling with
frequent lightning discharges occurring near the front of the rain area,
as in plate 2, figure 1. On the nearer approach of the storm, a scat-
tered fall of large rain drops or possibly a light rain occurs. This is
soon followed by a heavy downpour usually accompanied or imme-
diately preceded by the heaviest lightning of the storm, as the front
of the rain area and the lightning discharge center arrive overhead.
As the storm cloud is carried along with the general air movement,
lightning soon starts striking beyond the point of observation, rain
settles down to a steady downpour, and the observer realizes that the
worst of the lightning for that section of the storm is past.

Thunderstorms viewed from a distance frequently show several
prominent thunderheads resulting from the formation of several
convection systems within them. Each of these systems may produce
one or more lightning discharge centers. Therefore a succession of
conditions and events as described for a single center is often expe-
rienced during the passage of a thunderstorm.

It is apparent that in many storms the discharge centers are of
relatively limited dimensions. By knowing the velocity of travel of
the cloud, it would be possible to form a fair estimate of the length
of a center in the direction of storm movement. As an illustration,
assume 20 miles per hour for the velocity of a particular thunderstorm
and 1 minute as the time during which discharges were occurring

186 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

directly overhead. For the assumed conditions, the center would be
about 1,800 feet long. Some centers are obviously much greater in
extent.

Our present knowledge of the shape and extent of lightning dis-
charge centers is too meager to establish a ‘“‘usual”’ size for centers, if
such a size actually occurs. They must vary considerably from storm
to storm. It is important that their range be determined, for upon
their shape and size depends the nature of the electrical field near the
cloud. This electrical field in turn probably initiates the lightning
stroke.

When the discharge center is of limited dimensions compared with
its height above ground, the electrical field will be much more intense
near the cloud than near the ground. In such a ease, it would not be
expected that earthed objects would have much effect in initiating a
lightning stroke. If, on the other hand, the dimensions of the center
should be large compared with the height of the center above ground,
much more importance would have to be attached to the effect of
grounded objects in causing strokes. This information is obviously of
considerable importance in lightning protection problems.

The polarity of the discharge center near the front of a storm accord-
ing to Simpson’s theory should be positive, while according to Elster
and Geitel’s and Wilson’s theories it should usually be negative.
According to Banerji it should consist of a negative front center
followed by a positive center. Although it has been shown that
95 percent of the strokes to transmission lines are negative, yet meas-
urements of electrical field changes resulting from lightning strokes
indicate a more nearly equal distribution of positive and negative
strokes. Indirect measurements by Norinder * of the polarity and
magnitude of lightning currents, made by measuring the electromag-
netic fields caused by strokes, likewise show a considerably higher
percentage of positive strokes than is indicated by measurements of
currents in transmission towers. Further work seems necessary to
determine the relative frequency of occurrence and activity of positive
and negative discharge centers.

The measurements made of lightning strokes to transmission lines,
using magnetic links as a means of measurement, have indicated in
many cases reversal of current. These results, together with those of
Norinder, coupled with a consideration of the probable location of
cloud charges, strongly suggest the possibility of reversal of polarity
between successive discharges constituting a multiple stroke. This
reversal of polarity may well result from various tappings of positive
and negative accumulations of charges within the cloud.

2 Norinder, H., Lightning currents and their variations, Journ. Franklin Inst., vol. 220, pp. 69-92, July
1935.

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 187
SHIFTING OF DISCHARGE CENTERS

From the foregoing one might be left with the conception of a
thunderstorm proceeding over the country with one or more discharge
centers always maintained at the same locations in the cloud. This
conception must be modified because, as the storm travels, moisture-
laden air is not constantly supplied to the same part of the cloud.
Air is naturally stratified, and nonhomogeneous, so that conditions are
not constantly favorable in front of the centers for a supply of moist
air. Topographical conditions, the presence of rivers, etc., also affect
the position and amount of moisture-laden air supplied to a given part
of the cloud. As a consequence, the regions of greatest convection
shift about in the cloud as it travels. Old centers discharge their
electrical energy and, since the convection currents have decreased
greatly, fresh accumulations of charge occur more slowly. Dis-
charges therefore occur less often or cease. Meanwhile, a nearby
region in the cloud may be more favorably supplied with moisture.
A convection system of sufficient intensity to electrify the rain drops
and separate the oppositely charged particles then develops in that
region. Thus a new center is born, and lightning discharges occur
from it.

FAMILIES OF THUNDERSTORMS

When conditions over a wide area are favorable for the formation of
thunderstorms, a number of such storms may be formed and several
may pass over the same region within an hour or so of each other. If
these occur at night and people are not in a position to watch the
storm movement accurately, they frequently get the impression that
the same storm “hangs around all night”, paying them repeated visits.
Actually, the general air movement at the cloud level has carried
them a succession of storms. In the daytime several members of a
family of such thunderstorms can frequently be seen at one time from
good observation points.

CAUSES OF THUNDERSTORM FORMATION

The necessary conditions for the formation of a thundercloud are:
(1) the presence of sufficient moisture in the atmosphere; (2) the
presence of meteorological and (or) topographical conditions favorable
to the movement of moisture-laden air up to the condensation level;
and (3) conditions favorable to the formation of sustained strong
upward convection systems.

There are five general types of thunderstorms, the type depending
on the nature of the meteorological and topographical conditions.
These are the heat, the mountain, the cold-front, the ee
cold-front, and the rommncteaire fandemene

188 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

THE HEAT THUNDERSTORM

Hot humid days with little or no general horizontal movement of
air near the earth’s surface are favorable to the formation of heat
thunderstorms. Such days are likely to occur when horizontal pres-

Le.

ue:

@, cloudy; R, rain; [%, thunderstorm. (After Humphreys.)

Ficure 4.—United States weather map, 8 p. m., June 27, 1909, typical of heat thunderstorms: O, clear; @, partly cloudy;

sure gradients are weak and temperature is high over extended regions,
Typical meteorological conditions of this character are illustrated by
the weather map reproduced in figure 4 and described by Humphreys *
in Physics of the Air.

" Humphreys, W. J., Physics of the Air, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.,{New York, 1929.

|

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEHACHRON 189

Another important condition must be satisfied before a heat
thunderstorm can occur. This is the establishment, in the region
where the storm originates, of a dry adiabatic or superadiabatic
temperature gradient from the earth up to the cloud level. That is,
a condition must be established in which the temperature of the air
decreases with increase in height above the earth at the same or a
greater rate than unsaturated air, warmed at the surface, cools as
it rises and expands adiabatically.* This requires time, for nor-
mally the rate of decrease of air temperature with height is only
about half the required dry adiabatic temperature gradient. Fre-
quently a day or two of hot weather seems to be necessary before
such a gradient can be established by progressive convection and
mixing of the air.

When an adiabatic gradient is established, air heated at the sur-
face can rise to the condensation level. There its moisture will
begin to condense and in doing so will give off its latent heat of
condensation. This heat warms the rising column of air. The
resulting temperature difference between the rising column of air
and the surrounding air increases the upward air movement and
helps to produce the violent convection necessary to electrify clouds.

A heat thunderstorm will thus form if (1) a temperature gradient
equal to or greater than the dry adiabatic has been established be-
tween the ground and the condensation level, (2) the general hori-
zontal air movements are mild enough and other conditions are
favorable to the strong local heating of the surface air, and (3) if
this air contains sufficient moisture.

MOUNTAIN THUNDERSTORMS

Mountain thunderstorms are closely related to heat thunderstorms.
The slopes of the mountain are heated by the sun’s rays. They
reradiate this heat energy at a longer wave length which can more
readily be absorbed by the atmosphere than the sun’s direct shorter-
wave-length radiation. The air near the mountain slopes is thus
heated to a temperature above that of the surrounding air. This
relatively warm column of air can be compared to the warm air in a
huge chimney tipped at a considerable angle from the perpendicular.
In a chimney the difference in weight of the column of warm air
within the chimney compared with a column of equal area and height
outside of the chimney supplies the necessary pressure to force air up
the chimney. Similarly, the greater weight of a column of relatively
cool air in the free atmosphere at a moderate distance from a moun-
tain, compared with the weight of a column of the warm air near the
surface of the mountain, results in a pressure difference forcing the

44 By adiabatic expansion is meant expansion during which no heat is added to or subtracted from the
expanding system. This condition is nearly realized when air expands while rising rapidly.

190 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

warm moisture-laden air up the mountain side and toward the con-
densation level. This chimney action of a mountain thus aids greatly
in thunderstorm formation by making it unnecessary to establish an
adiabatic temperature gradient through the free atmosphere up to the
cloud level. An example of a thunderstorm forming over a mountain
is shown in plate 2, figure 2.

Mountains also aid in the formation of thunderstorms by deflecting
upward the air masses which are blown against them. The kinetic
energy of the moving air carries it up the slopes toward the condensa-
tion level.

COLD-FRONT THUNDERSTORMS

In many sections of the United States after a period of warm,
humid weather, thunderstorms frequently occur followed by clear,

'

tboetter '

TH: wie

yt '
Me

=
Pa 23745, 22Zoy wre Off
pie “G00 Gets, CT ASF =
Taginder- |. Thunder, 4-Siosste
le ee rm ieee
L 72, oe

FIGURE 5.—Horizontal (a) and vertical (6) cross-sections through a low-pressure system, showing
the cold-front and the warm-front. Ci., Ci-St., ete., refer to types of cloud. (After Bjerknes and
Solberg.)

cool, dry weather. These may easily be confused with heat thunder-
storms. Since before these storms the air is warm and moist while
after the storms it is cool, dry, and clear, it is perhaps natural to
ascribe the clearing of the atmosphere to the thunderstorm. Actually
a large mass of cool dry air has moved into the region and replaced the
warm humid air which was there previous to the storm, and in doing
so has caused the thunderstorm. The cool air is usually of polar or
near-polar origin and is responsible for the bright clear days following
the storm. The warm humid air which it replaces is frequently of
tropical or near-tropical origin.

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 191

As stated, these thunderstorms are caused by the action of the cool
dry air mass on the warm humid air mass. Cool air traveling from the
northwest along the rear of a Low (low-pressure area) overtakes warm
air moving from the south and southwest into the southern sector of
the tow. The surface along which the front of the cool air mass
makes contact with the warm air is called the cold-front. It is along
this ‘‘squall line” or storm line that the thunderstorms are formed.
Figure 5,”> ° reproduced from National Research Council Bulletin, no.
79, shows horizontal and vertical sections through the cold- and warm-
fronts attending a Low. In section (a) a view is shown looking down
from above the earth upon a Low. Referring to that part of the
diagram which lies to the left of the dashed vertical line, and disregard-
ing the part to the right of this line which will be described under
“Warm-front Thunderstorms’’, the cold front is indicated by the line
extending downward and to the left. A vertical section through this
cold front is shown in the lower left-hand side of figure 5. It will be
noted that the cold air mass has an overhanging front. The overhang
frequently may be 4 miles long.” It results from retardation of the
surface air layers by friction with the ground and consequent over-
running of these layers by the faster-moving higher air. Warm air is
trapped beneath this overhanging front. In the resulting instability
due to cold air above warm, the warm air rises rapidly and forms
strong convection systems which often are of sufficient magnitude to
produce thunderstorms. As the wedge of cold air advances, it also
underruns the warm air and forces it upward, contributing in this way
to thunderstorm formation. Thunderstorms formed by these causes
are called cold-front thunderstorms.

OVERRUNNING-COLD-FRONT THUNDERSTORMS

When, instead of the front of a cool air mass overrunning a warm
mass of air near the surface of the ground, it does so at a higher level
for a number of miles in front of the surface cold-front, the unstable
conditions of cool air above warm air may occur over a much larger
area. ‘Thunderstorms which occur because of this condition are
called overrunning-cold-front thunderstorms.

WARM-FRONT THUNDERSTORMS

It frequently happens that ahead of the warm sector of a Low
there exists a region of relatively cool air. The front of the advancing
warm mass of air is called a warm-front. Its location is shown in
figure 5, a, by the line extending downward and to the right. The
scale of the diagram causes the warm-front and the cold-front to

2% Bjerknes, J., and Solberg, H., Life cycle of cyclones and the polar front theory of atmospheric circulation,
Geofysiske Publikationer, vol. 3, no. 1, 1922.

28 Physics of the earth—III. Meteorology. Nat. Res. Counc. Bull., no. 79, published by Nat. Acad. Sci.,
Washington, D. C., 1931.

192 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

appear close together. Actually, the warm sector is frequently several
hundred miles across so that a day or more may go by after the pas-
sage of a warm-front before the cold-front arrives.

Referring to figure 5, 6, the warm air at the front of the warm
sector is forced upward over the cold wedge of air ahead of it. The
phenomenon is much more gradual than in the case of the cold-front,
and frequently several hours’ warning of its approach is given by the
changes in the nature of clouds as indicated in the diagram. An
observer at B would first see a few wisplike cirrus clouds high above
him. ‘These would increase in number until they formed a high
unbroken layer of clouds. As the warm-front approached nearer and
nearer, more and more moisture would be available for cloud formation,
and the clouds would gradually form at lower and lower levels. The
gradual change from scattered cirrus through cirrostratus, alto stratus,
snd stratus to nimbus or cumulo nimbus therefore gives ample warning
of a coming disturbance and evidence of the nature of the disturbance.
Thus, an observer familiar with cloud types can frequently predict
the coming of rain with possible thundershowers after observing the
first two or three transitions of the cloud types mentioned.

Application of knowledge of warm- and cold-fronts should be of
value to those interested in predicting the weather from United
States Weather Bureau maps. By remembering that the warm-front
line and the cold-front line meet at the center of a Low, and that the
warm sector lies to the south of the Low, the position of the fronts can
be approximated on the weather map. Knowledge of their locations
and indicated strength will aid considerably in making predictions
from the maps.

MAINTENANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS

Humphreys has suggested a plausible explanation for the manner
in which the electrical activity of a thunderstorm is maintained as it
travels over the country. Referring to figure 6, from Humphreys’ *
Physics of the Air, two main air currents are indicated. <A strong
relatively cold column of air, formed as the result of cooling by con-
tact with cold rain from high within the cloud and evaporation of this
rain, descends from a region near the front of the rain area and presses
forward near the ground in front of the advancing storm as shown by
the downward arrows. It acts as a huge moving wedge forcing warmer
moisture-laden air up toward the cloud as shown by the upward
arrows, and thus maintaining its supply of moisture. Without this
the storm would not be maintained after the original supply of mois-
ture had fallen in the form of rain.

The movement of cool air downward and outward from the rain
area of a thunderstorm, as described by Humphreys, is frequently
indicated by the shape of the rain line when a storm is viewed from

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McWwACHRON 193

the side. Thus, in the thunderstorm shown in plate 1, figure 1, the
downward and outward sweep of the rain line is undoubtedly due to
such air currents. In this particular photograph, which was taken
by one of the authors from a mountain top in northern Idaho, the rear
of the rain area is shown. Similar air currents blow from the fronts
of thunderstorms. By assuming that this photograph shows the
front of a storm moving toward the right, the shovellike action of the
air currents can be readily visualized.

The upward movement of warmer air, which is caused by the
shovel action of the cold air currents, is made evident by the upward

Mm rk inh }

tl 74 hae
mn ne a i ine ai \

i {
fi oath CE i {lf

ae ce
i ile i |

th ie in D’

FIGuRE 6.—Schematic cross-section of a thunderstorm showing adjacent downward and upward air currents
which help maintain the storm. A, ascending air; D, descending air; C, storm collar; S, roll scud;
D’, wind gust; H, hail; 7’, thunderheads; R, primary rain; R’, secondary rain. (After Humphreys.)

movement of small cloud fragments called scud cloud which frequently
are present below the main cloud base. At times these can be seen
moving up toward the cloud base at very high velocities. The
presence of the adjacent upward and downward moving air columns
is also shown by the rotation of a mass of condensed vapor (called the
roll scud) which is sometimes plainly visible just below the cloud base
at the front of the rain area. Its direction of rotation and location
are shown at S in figure 6. A roll scud rotating as shown in the
diagram has been seen at the front of a storm by one of the authors
during thunderstorm studies ? in Colorado.

THUNDERSTORM PREDICTIONS
FREQUENCY

An estimate of the number of thunderstorm days to be expected in
any part of the United States per month and per year can be made from
Alexander’s ” isokeraunic ** maps, shown in figures 7-11. These

17 Alexander, W. H., Distribution of thunderstorms in the United States, Mon. Weather Rev., vol. 52,

Dp. 337, 1924.
28 Equal frequency of thunderstorm days.

31508—38——14

194 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

FIGURE 7.—Monthly isokeraunic maps based upon the total number of thunderstorm days occurring each
month over the 20-year period 1904-23. Divide the numbers on the maps by 20 to obtain the average
number of thunderstorm days to be expected per month. (After Alexander.)

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McHACHRON 195

ye. Oe
! J

mee

FIGURE 8.—Monthly isokeraunic maps based upon the total number of thunderstorm days occurring each
month over the 20-year period 1904-23. Divide the numbers on the maps by 20 to obtain the average
number of thunderstorm days to be expected per month. (After Alexander.)

196 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

FiGurE 9.—Monthly isokeraunic maps based upon the total number of thunderstorm days occurring each
month over the 20-year period 1904-23. Divide the numbers on the maps by 20 to obtain the average
number of thunderstorm days to be expected per month. (After Alexander.)

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McHACHRON 197

FIGURE 10.—Monthly isokeraunic maps based upon the total number of thunderstorm days occurring each
month over the 20-year period 1904-23. Divide the numbers on the maps by 20 to obtain the average
number of thunderstorm days to be expected per month. (After Alexander.)

198 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

maps were prepared from United States Weather Bureau records of
thunderstorm occurrence at stations scattered over the United States.
The records covered a 20-year period. One must, of course, know the
United States Weather Bureau’s definition of a thunderstorm in
order to interpret the charts. Their observers were instructed to
report a thunderstorm if they could hear thunder. This probably
limits the range of each station to a roughly circular area frequently
not over 10 miles and probably never over 20 miles in radius, since
it is doubtful whether thunder can be heard farther than that. This
range would vary greatly from station to station. Stations in noisy
locations in large cities would probably report fewer than the actual
number of storms on account of the masking of the thunder by other
noises. While the data are subject to these limitations, still they are
the best available on thunderstorm occurrence in the United States.

Alexander has reviewed his monthly thunderstorm maps as follows:

During the winter months—December, January, and February—the center
of thunderstorm activity for the United States is in the vicinity of Vicksburg
(Miss.). In February, however, the general thunderstorm area tends to drift
southeastward, with a marked secondary over Pensacola (Fla.). In March the
center of activity is still over the lower Mississippi Valley, with the general storm
area spreading rapidly northeast over the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys. In Apnil
the center appears to be in the vicinity of Shreveport (La.), with the general area
spreading northeast over a large part of the Eastern States, but also north and west.

The interesting thing about the May chart is the definite appearance of the
primary center over Tampa (Fla.), and a strong secondary over the lower plains
States. Great thunderstorm activity now prevails over the entire eastern half
of the country, except in the Canadian border States, including the whole of
New England. There is also an increased activity in western Montana.

During June the thunderstorm area continues to spread northward and covers
the entire country east of the Rocky Mountains except possibly the extreme
northeast. The center of greatest activity is in the vicinity of Tampa. One of
the most surprising things revealed by the July chart is the increased activity
over the Rocky Mountain States, with a secondary over Santa Fe (N. Mex.),
almost as strong as the primary over Tampa. Marked activity also continues
in southwestern Montana and in the vicinity of Yellowstone Park. The distribu-
tion in August is very much the same as in July, but with a notable decrease in
intensity along the Canadian border and a marked weakening of the center over
Santa Fe. The two centers, at Tampa and Santa Fe, persist, though weakening
through September. In October the southeastern (Tampa) center seems to
have dropped a little south and is now over Key West, while the Santa Fe center
has disappeared or shifted to eastern Texas and the southern plains States, and
the general storm area is rapidly diminishing. In November, as during the
winter months, the active area is over the lower Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Chart 13 (reproduced as figure 11 in this article), which shows the average
annual number of days with thunderstorms during the 20-year period at a large
number of stations in the United States and Canada, has a number of interesting
features and is worthy of considerable study. Note that no part of the country
is entirely free from thunderstorms, although they are comparatively rare along
the Pacific coast; and that there are two centers of maximum activity, one over
Tampa, with an annual average of 94 days with thunderstorms in the 20-year
period, and the other over Santa Fe, with an average of 73 during the same period.

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 199

UNITED STATES WEATHER BUREAU PREDICTIONS

United States Weather Bureau stations scattered over the United
States make daily telegraphic exchanges of information on tempera-
ture, pressure, wind, rain, thunderstorms, etc. From these data,
weather charts are made up from which weather predictions for each
section of the country are made. These include the prediction of
thunderstorms and are the best available. It must of course be
realized that these stations predict for areas covering many square
miles. While each region is subdivided into sections for purposes of
prediction, it cannot be expected that all parts of each section will be

20 ar ites
e

FIGURE 11.—Isokeraunic map indicating the average number of thunderstorm days to be expected per
year throughout the United States; based on 20-year records covering the period from 1904 through 1923.
(After Alexander.)

subjected to the same weather conditions. Those interested in predic-
tions covering a very localized territory must then supplement the
Weather Bureau predictions by local observations. With the Weather
Bureau’s information on regional atmospheric conditions as a base,
and with an acquired knowledge of the significance of pressure,
temperature, humidity, wind direction, type of cloud, and degree of
atmospheric haze, it is frequently possible to predict the occurrence of
thunderstorms several hours in advance.

DIRECTION OF TRAVEL

Prediction of the direction in which thunderstorms will travel is
frequently very desirable. If general air movements at the cloud level
are extensive, as is usually the case for cold-front, and warm-front
thunderstorms, the direction of thunderstorm travel is easily pre-

200 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

dictable. The thunderstorms will be carried along with the general
air movement. Their movement will then be the same as the direc-
tion of cloud travel directly overhead (observations of cloud move-
ments at a considerable angle from the vertical may result in large
errors due to perspective).

In the case of heat thunderstorms, which occur most frequently at
times when the general air movements are minor, it is more difficult to
predict their direction of travel. Direction of cloud travel overhead
is helpful but not certain for local topographical conditions and air
systems generated by the storm itself may easily cause the storm to
take an erratic course.

SEVERITY

The severity of thunderstorms depends upon the extent and violence
of their convection systems. This in turn depends upon the magni-
tude of the temperature differences between the warm moisture-laden
air and the air through which it is carried by convection, upon the
moisture content of the warm air, and upon the velocity of the general
air movement. The intensity of cold-front, overrunning-cold-front,
and warm-front storms can thus be predicted qualitatively from the
magnitude of the atmospheric instability indicated by Weather
Bureau measurements. The intensity of heat thunderstorms can be
qualitatively predicted from the humidity, the temperature, and the
mildness of the general air movement. The occurrence of high humid-
ity, high temperature, and very little air movement is favorable to a
severe storm.

APPLICATIONS OF THUNDERSTORM KNOWLEDGE
TRANSMISSION-LINE LOCATION

While the number of routes by which a transmission line can be run
between two locations is limited, it is possible that under certain
conditions substantial decreases in exposure to lightning might result
from changes of a few miles in line location. This is particularly true
in regions where thunderstorms follow preferred paths. Whether
they do so in a given locality depends to a large extent on the chief
cause of storms there. If thunderstorms are usually of the heat type,
or the mountain type, they may well follow such paths, for their
formation depends on local favorable meteorological and topographical
conditions which tend to remain more or less the same. In the light
air movements prevailing when storms of this type are formed, local
land and air conditions have a much greater influence on their direc-
tion of travel. If, on the other hand, thunderstorms that visit an
area are usually of the cold-front or warm-front type, preferred paths
will be much less evident. Their formation depends on the inter-
action of adjacent cold- and warm-air masses often covering hundreds

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McEACHRON 201

of square miles. They may thus form in widely scattered locations
with comparatively little reference to local topographical conditions.
Their direction of travel will nearly always be determined by the
general air movement at cloud levels.

In regions where thunderstorms are of the heat or mountain type,
it may be desirable to consider ridge-top versus valley-side or valley-
bottom locations for transmission lines. These storms apparently
often tend to follow certain valleys and rivers. In traveling along
such valleys, many more strokes may strike into the valleys than to
the sides and top of adjacent mountains because lightning discharge
centers are often of limited dimensions. This condition has fre-
quently been seen by one of the writers in thunderstorm studies ? in
Colorado. Location of lines along ridge tops may then result in less
exposure to lightning.

In regions where thunderstorms are of the cold-front or warm-front
types, the haphazard formation of such storms over wide areas and
the fact that their direction of travel is usually controlled by the
general air movement at cloud levels greatly decreases the likelihood
of preferred paths being followed. Storms carried from west to east
by the general air circulation will travel over mountain ridges oriented
in northerly and southerly directions. The lightning exposure of
lines located on the top of such ridges would be greater than for lines
located on the valley sides in the lee of the ridge or on valley bottoms.

POWER-SYSTEM PROTECTION

The degree of protection economically justifiable for a given power
system depends to a considerable degree on the frequency of occur-
rence and severity of thunderstorms in the region in which it is located.
Alexander’s charts should be of value in determining the probable
thunderstorm frequency for any section of the United States. This
information should be supplemented by knowledge of local storm
severity in the region served by the system in order to evaluate the
potential hazard due to the storms to be expected there.

POWER-SYSTEM OPERATION

Despite many improvements in operation, lightning still represents
a serious source of interruption to many power systems. ‘To insure
continuity of service, many systems connect additional generating
capacity to their lines when thunderstorms are known to be approach-
ing. Knowledge of the occurrence, direction of travel, and severity
of thunderstorms is therefore of importance to them. Weather
Bureau reports serve as preliminary warnings of the probable occur-
rence of thunderstorms. Short-time warnings of the appearance of
an actual storm over the system are much more important, however.
Some power plants have installed “‘howlers’’ which warn the operator

902 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

that a storm is in the neighborhood. Usually, however, the first
warning must come from employees distributed over the system, who,
as part of their regular duties, report to the load dispatcher the
location, direction of travel, and severity of storms near the system.
The dispatcher can determine whether it is liable to affect his system,
and can then make the necessary changes in system set-up to minimize
the effect of the storm.

AMMUNITION STORAGE

Lightning is a real hazard to ammunition storage depots. Where a
choice of locations is possible, a study of thunderstorm conditions
should be of value in selecting a location offering minimum exposure.
Alexander’s charts of thunderstorm frequency should be of value in
determining the general region. The most favorable location in this
region can then be determined by a localized study of topographical
and meteorological factors, advantage being taken of knowledge
of the type of storm most prevalent, the location of topographical
features such as combinations of mountains and moisture sources
which are known to serve as thunderstorm ‘‘breeders,” prevailing
wind directions, preferred storm paths, etc. At times such depots
may be located in a position taking advantage of topographical
features offering natural shielding against direct strokes.

OIL STORAGE

Where a choice of location for the storage of oil is possible, a study
of thunderstorm conditions similar to that described for ammunition
depots should be worth-while. Here, again, comparatively minor
changes in storage location may result in a considerable decrease in
lightning exposure.

Although exposure to lightning may be reduced by proper location,
this reduction should not be construed to justify a reduction or elimi-
nation of lightning protective equipment where lightning is particu-
larly hazardous to the material to be protected. For example, while
Alexander’s charts show that California enjoys comparative freedom
from thunderstorms, still occasional severe storms do occur there
and the elimination of protective equipment would be unwise. In
1926, millions of dollars worth of oil and equipment in that State
were destroyed by fires set by lightning.

RESUME

In the foregoing, Simpson’s, Elster and Geitel’s, and Wilson’s the-
ories of the electrification of thunderclouds are reviewed. Experimen-
tal evidence and observations bearing upon these theories are given
consideration and the characteristics of actual thunderstorms are de-
scribed. Five types of thunderstorm formation—heat, mountain,

THE THUNDERSTORM—EVANS AND McHACHRON 203

cold-front, over-running-cold-front, and warm-front—are explained.
Humphreys’ theory explaining how thunderstorms are maintained as
they travel over the country is reviewed, and observational evidence
is advanced which supports it. Alexander’s charts, which indicate
the monthly and yearly frequency of occurrence of thunderstorm
days over the United States for a 20-year period, are given. Their
value in lightning protection planning is pointed out. Conditions
under which the occurrence, direction of travel, and probable sever-
ity of storms can be predicted are enumerated. The value of appli-
cation of thunderstorm knowledge to the location of transmission
lines, to the determination of economically justifiable power-system
protection, to maintenance of continuity of service, and to the loca-
tion of explosive and oil-storage depots is pointed out.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Evans and McEachron PLATE 1

U.S. Forest Service

1. A SEVERE COLD-FRONT THUNDERSTORM PASSING OVER NORTHERN IDAHO.

After Jensen

2. LIGHTNING DISCHARGES FROM ADJACENT POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CENTERS
AT THE FRONT OF A THUNDERSTORM.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Evans and McEachron PLATE 2

1. THE FRONT OF A THUNDERSTORM MOVING TOWARD THE CAMERA; LOCATION
OF THE DISCHARGE CENTER NEAR THE FRONT OF THE RAIN AREA IS TYPICAL.

oa]

2. A THUNDERSTORM FORMING OVER A MOUNTAIN.

THE ELECTRON:
ITS INTELLECTUAL AND SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE?

By Karu T. Compton
President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Within the past 5 years, centenaries, bicentenaries, and tercen-
tenaries have been much in vogue. Every town or institution or
event which has claim to distinction has sought the excuse of the calen-
dar to remind the world of its claims to greatness. Thus we have
recently celebrated the centenary of Faraday’s discovery of the prin-
ciples of electromagnetism and the bicentenary of Watt’s invention
of the steam engine—discoveries which have introduced the eras of
electricity and of mechanical power. The city of Chicago has sought
to tell us that the progress of mankind really began with the founding
of that community, and has led us to spend millions of dollars to gain
the impression that there is really some causal relationship between
Chicago and world progress. In my part of the country, the city of
Boston and its suburbs staged a succession of tercentenary celebra-
tions, as proud of their past as Chicago is of its present. Greatest of
all was last summer’s tercentenary celebration of Harvard University,
signalizing the firm basis of intellectual freedom and leadership which
is the prime requisite for a free people in a democracy.

Encouraged by the success of the Chicago Century of Progress and
the Harvard Tercentenary, I venture to feature my address as sig-
nalizing an anniversary of the discovery of the electron. To be sure,
it is only one generation old, and a generation is a sufficiently vague
unit of time for my purposes. Yet, in spite of its youth, it bids fair
to rival Chicago in its contributions to economic progress, and Harvard
University in its contributions to the understanding of this world in
which we live. SoI venture to assert that no institution or community
which has used one of these milestones to take stock of its achieve-
ments and plot its future course has stronger claims to intellectual
significance and practical utility than I will claim for the electron.

The history of science abounds with instances when a new concept
or discovery has led to tremendous advances into vast new fields of

1 Address of the retiring president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, delivered

at Atlantic City on December 28, 1936. Reprinted by permission from Nature, vol. 139, no. 3510,
February 6, 1937.

205

206 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

knowledge and art the very existence of which had hitherto been
unsuspected. The discoveries of Galileo, Faraday, and Pasteur are
such instances. But, to my notion, no such instance has been so
dramatic as the discovery of the electron, the tiniest thing in the
universe, which within one generation has transformed a stagnant
science of physics, a descriptive science of chemistry, and a sterile
science of astronomy into dynamically developing sciences fraught
with intellectual adventure, interrelating interpretations and practical
values.

I take particular pleasure in mentioning these practical values, for
even the most unimaginative and short-sighted, hard-headed, “practi-
cal’ business man is forced to admit the justification for the pure
research—of no preconceived practical use whatsoever in the minds
of those who led in its prosecution, and of all degrees of success and
significance—which has been directed at the electron. For out of
this research have come the following things which all can understand
and appreciate: a growing business in manufacture of electronic de-
vices which now amounts to 50 million dollars a year in America alone;
a total business of some hundreds of millions of dollars a year which is
made possible by these electronic devices; innumerable aids to health,
safety, and convenience; and an immense advance in our knowledge
of the universe in which we live.

THE BACKGROUND

In science, as in human affairs, great events do not occur without a
background of development. The electron had an ancestry which
can be traced back through the centuries. Its immediate progenitors
were the electromagnetic theory of light, spectroscopy, and the leak-
age of electricity through gases. First cousins were X-rays and radio-
activity and quantum theory, for, out of a background of long investi-
gation of bewildering and apparently unrelated phenomena, there burst
upon the scientific world the X-ray in 1895, radioactivity in 1896,
and the electron in 1897—all while investigators in the older fields
of heat radiation and thermodynamics were finding those bothersome
inconsistencies in these hitherto respectable subjects which led to that
unexpected extension of Newtonian mechanics now called quantum
mechanics. The concept of the electron, behaving according to the
laws of quantum mechanics, is now the basis of most of our interpreta-
tion of all that falls under the good old name of natural philosophy.

That only the pioneers of the scientific world were prepared for
these discoveries, however, is witnessed by the fact that a standard
textbook of chemistry widely used in my student days in 1904 stated
that, ‘‘Atoms are the indivisible constitutents of molecules,’ and so
late as 1911 a prominent physicist warned his colleagues not to be too
hasty in accepting these new-fangled ideas.

THE ELECTRON—COMPTON 207

The existence of electrons had been foreshadowed for a century by
the facts of electrolysis, which led Davy and Berzelius to conclude
that chemical forces were electrical in nature, and Faraday to conclude
that electric charges exist only in multiples of some fundamental unit.
For chemical acids and salts, dissolved in water, tend to split up into
ions, that is, atoms or groups of atoms which move in an electric field
in such directions as to indicate that they carry either positive or
negative electric charges. Furthermore, it is found that the amounts
of these ions which carry equal amounts of electricity are exactly
proportional to the chemical combining weights of the ions. Faraday
saw that this fact would be simply explained by assuming that every
ion carries a charge proportional to its chemical valency, that is, the
valency times a fundamental unit charge. But Faraday could not,
from these facts, deduce the size of this unit of charge; he could only
state the ratio of this charge to the mass of the chemical substance
with which the charge was associated. Hydrogen, being the lightest
of all ions, had of all known substances, therefore, the largest value of
this ratio of charge to mass.

The first real evidence of particles of larger ratio of charge to mass
than hydrogen ions came from the field of optics. Ever since Max-
well’s equations of electromagnetism had predicted the existence of
electromagnetic waves with the velocity of light, and Hertz, 17 years
later, had discovered them experimentally, physicists had felt sure
that light must be caused by some sort of oscillations of electricity
within atoms. But only the vaguest and most unsatisfactory specu-
lations, such as whirling vortices or pulsating spheres of electricity,
had been suggested.

In 1896, however, Zeeman tried the experiment of examining the
spectrum of a light source placed in a strong magnetic field, and dis-
covered that the spectrum lines thus became split into components of
slightly differing wave length, and that these components of the light
showed characteristic types of polarization depending on the direction
in which the light emerged from the magnetic field. Almost at once,
in January 1897, Lorentz showed that this experiment proved that
light is caused by the oscillation of electric charges, the motions of
which are affected by the magnetic field in the manner required to
explain Zeeman’s experiments. This much was not unexpected, but
what was startling was Lorentz’s proof that the Zeeman effect could
only have been produced by electrified particles whose ratio of charge to
mass is nearly 2,000 times larger than that of a hydrogen ion, and whose
mass is therefore presumably nearly 2,000 times lighter than hydrogen.

Almost at once this conclusion was confirmed in a more dramatic
and understandable way by J. J. Thomson, the then youthful director
of the Cavendish Laboratory. But let me first pick up this thread
of the story a little farther back.

208 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
DISCOVERY OF THE ELECTRON

All through the 1880’s and early 1890’s a series of most striking and
unexpected discoveries followed from investigations of electric ares,
sparks, and especially the glowing discharges of electricity at high
voltages through glass tubes containing various gases at pressures far
below atmospheric pressure. The striking color effects, mysterious
luminous streamers and entirely bizarre behavior of these discharges
made them the most popular, yet most elusive, subject of laboratory
research of those days.

It was these phenomena which led Crookes to postulate the exist-
ence of a mysterious ‘fourth state of matter,’’ different from the solid,
liquid, or gaseous states. (Of course, we now know that Crookes’s
fourth state is simply the ionized state of matter.) Once, while
attempting to photograph the appearance of a discharge at very low
gas pressure, Crookes was bothered by the fact that all the photo-
graphic plates in the room with his apparatus became fogged, as if
light-struck in spite of their opaque wrapping. He avoided the trouble
afterwards, however, by keeping his new supply of plates in another
room until, one at a time, they were wanted for use. Thus he solved
an experimental difficulty, and missed making a great discovery.

At about the same time Réntgen, in Germany, was trying the same
experiment, and he too was troubled by the fogging of his photographic
plates. But, as the story goes, his laboratory assistant directed his
attention to the peculiar fact that these fogged plates, when developed,
showed the image of a bunch of keys which had accidentally been
lying on top of the box of plates while the electric discharge experi-
ments were in operation. Réntgen immediately looked into this and
discovered that the fogging was due to penetrating radiations pro-
duced in the discharge tube where the cathode rays struck the target
or anode. Thus by accident were X-rays discovered—that type of
accident not uncommon in science when an observant experimenter
is at work.

While on the subject of accidents, I might digress to tell of another
accident which did not happen, also in connection with X-rays.
For more than 15 years after their discovery, disputes raged as to
whether X-rays were radiations, like light but of very short wave
length, or electrically neutral particles of small mass and high speed.
It was evident that they were not electrically charged, since their
paths were unaffected by electric or magnetic fields. The leading
advocate of the neutral particle theory was W. H. Bragg. In 1912, at
Princeton, O. W. Richardson tried an experiment to see if X-rays
could be refracted by a prism. A positive result would support the
wave theory of X-rays. People had tried this with X-rays through
glass prisms without success, but Richardson had an idea that an
iron prism might be more effective. So he passed X-rays for hours

THE ELECTRON—COMPTON 9209

and days through the tapering edge of a Gillette safety razor blade,
but without finding any refraction. If he had happened to try the
edge of a crystal instead of the edge of the razor blade, he would
undoubtedly have discovered the peculiar diffraction of X-rays in
passing through crystals, discovered a couple of years later by Laue,
Friederich and Knipping and developed by father and son, W. H.
and W. L. Bragg, which proved both the wave nature of X-rays and
the atomic lattice structure of crystals. If Réntgen’s discovery of
X-rays was an accident, then I suppose Richardson’s failure to dis-
cover diffraction of X-rays was a negative accident. I often wonder
how many important negative accidents slip past us week by week!
But to get back on the subject of the electron: it was the cathode
rays, which produce the X-rays, which finally turned out to be elec-
trons traveling at high speeds. These cathode rays had been observed
to shoot out in straight lines from the surfaces of cathodes in rarefied
gases through which electric currents were forced by high voltage.
Objects which they struck became luminous with fluorescent light,
and objects in their paths cast shadows. But their true nature was
disclosed when a magnet was placed near the discharge tube, for then
their paths were curved in a direction showing that cathode rays were
negatively charged. By measuring this curvature produced by a
magnetic field of known strength, and making a pretty sure assumption
that the kinetic energy of these rays was determined by the voltage
applied to the tube, J. J. Thomson in 1897 first showed that cathode
rays are negatively charged particles with a ratio of charge to mass
nearly 2,000 times that of hydrogen. He furthermore showed that
these particles are of the same type, as regards ratio of charge to mass,
from whatever gas or cathode material they are produced. He therefore
announced these particles, which he called ‘“‘corpuscles,” to be universal
constituents of all substances. Thus was the electron discovered.

MASS AND CHARGE OF THE ELECTRON

Quick and fast came experiments of ingenious design to study the
electrons more accurately. ‘They were pulled this way and that by
electric and magnetic fields. They were caught in miniature metal
fly-traps, called Faraday cages, to measure their charge and kinetic
energy. They were detected in their paths electrically, or by photo-
graphic plates or by fluorescence. Continually refined from that day
to this, we now know that an electron has a ratio of charge to mass
which is about 1,842 times the similar ratio for a hydrogen atomic ion.

It was also very desirable to know separately the charge and the
mass of an electron, and not just the ratio between these quantities.
So an even more interesting lot of experiments has been carried on
to measure the electron’s charge. They were begun in about 1900

31508—38——15

210 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

by J. J. Thomson and his colleagues, Townsend, H. A. Wilson, and
C. T. R. Wilson. I think a brief résumé of attempts to measure the
electron’s charge will throw an interesting sidelight on the versatility
of scientific attack on a difficult problem.

The first attempts were by Townsend, by measurements on the
motion and electrification of fog produced when electrolytic gas was
bubbled into a region of air which was slightly supersaturated with
water vapor, but too many uncertainties were involved to make this
work convincing. The first accepted results were by J. J. Thomson,
who, after an earlier attempt, employed a technique of producing fog
under controlled conditions, developed by his colleague, C. T. R.
Wilson, whose method was refined further by his pupil, H. A. Wilson.

It had long been known that water droplets of fog do not form in
air which is somewhat supersaturated with water vapor unless there
are nuclei, like specks of dust, on which the moisture can condense.
Later, Townsend found that fog will also condense on ions, and more
readily on negative than on positive ions. C. T. R. Wilson designed
an apparatus in which dust-free air could be supersaturated with mois-
ture sufficiently to permit condensation of fog droplets on negative
but not on positive ions, which were produced by some convenient
ionizing agent. So a fog was formed, in which each droplet of water
was condensed on a negative ion. Thomson employed this apparatus
in the following manner.

Of course, this fog gradually settled downward under the pull of
gravity—slowly because the drops were small compared with the
viscous resistance of the air through which they fell. It was like the
slow settling of dust on the furniture and floor of a room. But the
theory of the rate at which spheres move when a force drives them
through a viscous medium was already well known, owing to Stokes’s
law. From this law, measurement of the rate of fall of the fog in
centimeters per second as measured by a little telescope focused on the
top edge of the fog, combined with knowledge of the force of gravity
and the viscosity of air, enabled Thomson to calculate the size of the
individual fog droplets. Dividing the total amount of water in the
fog by the amount in one drop gave him the total number of fog drop-
lets, and therefore the total number of negative ions. H. A. Wilson
added the refinement of superposing an electric field on the gravita-
tional field which pulled the drops through the air. Then, as the fog
settled to the bottom of the apparatus, it deposited its electric charge,
which altogether, was large enough to be measured with an electrom-
eter. So, dividing this total charge by the number of ions composing
it gave, as the charge of one ion, 3.4107" electrostatic units. This
was the first real measurement of the charge of an electron, and was
the value quoted in the tables of physical constants when I became a
graduate student in 1910.

THE HLECTRON—COMPTON DARI

About that time Millikan, who has always had a flair for picking
strategically important subjects to which to devote his investigative
talents, undertook with his students a revaluation of the electronic
charge. Sources of error in the fog method were well recognized:
Fog droplets were not all the same size, though measurements could
only be made on those smallest ones which fell most slowly; also
droplets did not remain of constant size, smaller ones tending to
evaporate and larger ones to grow; also there were unavoidable con-
vection currents in the air which modified the rate of fall of the fog;
and some droplets might contain more than one ion.

Millikan cleverly avoided or minimized these difficulties by using
only a single droplet of some relatively nonvolatile liquid like oil or
mercury. By ionizing the surrounding air in an electric field he could
put various electric charges on the drop. Illuminating it by a powerful
light and viewing it like a star through a measuring telescope, he could
measure its rate of fall under gravity and its rate of rise when pulled
upward against gravity by an electric field, and keep repeating these
observations for hours. These measurements were so precise that, to
keep pace with them, he had to measure the viscosity of air with hither-
to unequalled accuracy. When all this was done, he had proved
conclusively that all electric charges are integral multiples of a funda-
mental unit charge, the electron, the value of which he set as 4.774
X107?° electrostatic units—about 40 percent larger than the earlier
estimates and believed by Millikan to be correct within one part in a
thousand.

Within the past half-dozen years, however, doubt has been thrown
on the estimated accuracy of this value from quite a different direction,
in work with X-rays. Originally, X-ray diffraction experiments in
crystals proved the geometric arrangement of atoms in the crystals,
but did not establish the scale of distances between atoms or the X-ray
wave length. These distances, once the arrangement of atoms was
known, were calculated from absolute values of the weights of the
atoms, which in turn were derived from electrochemical equivalents
and the value of the electronic charge. Thus X-ray wave lengths,
masses of atoms and distances between atoms in crystals all had values
dependent on knowledge of the charge of the electron.

Recently, however, A. H. Compton, Bearden, and others have
succeeded in making measurements of X-ray wave lengths by diffract-
ing X-rays from a grating ruled with 15,000-30,000 parallel fine lines to
the inch, and operating near the angle of grazing incidence. These
measurements involve only knowledge of the number of lines per inch
on the grating, and the angles of incidence and diffraction of the X-
rays—both depending only on measurements of length and capable of
high precision. X-ray wave lengths thus measured were a little dif-
ferent from the earlier accepted values, and this cast doubt on the

yr. ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

accuracy of the electron charge value which had been used in the earlier
X-ray estimates. The difference was not large, only about 1 part in
200, but it meant either that experiments had not been as accurate as
believed or that there was some unrecognized complicating factor.

So Millikan’s work has been repeated in various laboratories with
refinements, such as the use of a remarkably nonvolatile oil for the
drop. But the chief error was found to lie in the measurements of the
viscosity of air. During the past year Kelletrop, of Uppsala, has thus
published a revised ‘‘oil-drop’” determination of electronic charge as
4.800 10-!° E. S. U., which is in excellent agreement with the ‘“X-
ray” determinations. Bearden has just presented his own confirma-
tion of this agreement before the American Physical Society.

It is an interesting coincidence that this best value of the charge
of the electron is exactly the same as the figure given by Rutherford
30 years ago, though then determined with so much less precision that
not much confidence was placed in it, except as to order of magnitude.
It was then known that the alpha rays from radium are helium atoms
which have lost two electrons and are therefore doubly positively
charged. Rutherford caught a lot of these alpha rays in a metal
trap, measuring their aggregate electric charge with an electroscope,
and counting them by the scintillations which they produced on
striking a fluorescent screen or otherwise. Dividing the total charge
by the number gave him double the electronic charge, which he thus
calculated to be 4.8 & 107° E.S. U. Already knowing the ratio of
charge to mass with high precision, this value of the charge enables
us to fix the electron’s mass as 9.051 & 107-* grams.

ELECTROMAGNETIC MASS

When we speak of the mass of an electron, however, we enter a
whole new field of ideas. Some years before the discovery of electrons,
J.J. Thomson had pointed out that an electrified particle will possess
inertia, that is, mass, simply in virtue of its charge alone, irrespective
of whether or not it has any mass of the gravitational type which we
have been accustomed to think of. This “electromagnetic”? mass
comes about from the fact that any mechanical energy which is
expended in accelerating an electric charge is transformed into the
energy of the magnetic field surrounding the electrified particle in
virtue of its motion. In fact, the kinetic energy of a moving electric
charge is found to be simply the energy of its magnetic field and
depends only on the square of the velocity of the charge, the amount of
charge and the geometrical shape of the charge.

Making the simplest possible assumptions about the shape of an
electron, such as a solid sphere or a hollow spherical shell of electricity,
and assuming all its mass to be of electromagnetic origin, the diameter
of an electron was calculated to be of the order of 10-“ cm. It must

THE ELECLRON—COMPTON 213

be emphasized, however, that this estimate of size is not, like the
charge and mass, a definite measurement, but is simply an estimate
based on assumptions, at least one of which is quite uncertain. For
while we have both logic and experiment to back up the assumption
that all the mass of the electron is of this electromagnetic origin, we
must confess to utter ignorance regarding the shape of the electron.
Indeed, some facts suggest that it may have different sizes and
shapes in different environments, as in the free state or in an orbit of
an atom or in the nucleus of an atom. So our estimate of 10-" cm
for the size of the electron is, at best, very crude.

The idea of electromagnetic mass was strongly supported by the
fact that measurements of the mass of very fast moving electrons,
through measurements of the ratio of charge to mass of beta rays
from radium or cathode rays in high-voltage discharge tubes, showed
that their mass is not really a constant thing but increases with the
speed of the electron. The value of electron mass given above
applies, strictly speaking, only to an electron at rest. Practically,
however, it is accurate enough for practical purposes for electron
speeds below about one-tenth the speed of light. At this speed the
electron’s mass is about half of one percent larger than if it were at
rest. At still higher speeds, the mass increases more and more rapidly,
approaching infinite mass as the speed of light is approached.

These facts, experimentally determined, were shown by Abraham
to be of the type expected if the entire mass of an electron is of electro-
magnetic origin, due entirely to its electric charge. It was this
argument, which has since received confirmation from other directions,
which was the basis of the theory that all mass, that is, all matter, is
electrical. However, the simple electromagnetic concepts were not
quite adequate to give an accurate quantitative interpretation of
these experiments, and it required the additional introduction by
Lorentz of the concepts of the special theory of relativity to bring
about complete interpretation of the experiments.

THE ELECTRON AND QUANTUM THEORY

Just two things more do we know accurately about the properties
of electrons, in addition to their charge and mass. We know that
they are also tiny magnets of strength equal to the basic unit of mag-
netic moment generally called the Bohr magneton. Once the electron
had been discovered, it became natural to seek in it also the explana-
tion of magnetic phenomena, since it was only necessary to assume
that the electricity of an electron is whirling about an axis, and the
electron becomes endowed with the properties of a tiny magnet.
Parsons, Webster, and others examined the possibilities inherent in
various assumed configurations, with interesting results. But it was
only with the introduction of the quantum theory for the interpreta-

914 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

tion of atomic structure and spectra that the magnetic character of
the electron has, within the last dozen years, been put on a well-
established basis.

The other thing we know is perhaps the most unexpected of all the
electron’s properties—it behaves like a wave when it collides with
other objects. Davisson and Germer discovered this in the Bell
Laboratories, while examining the way in which a beam of electrons,
incident on a solid surface, was scattered or reflected by it. They
found, if the surface were crystalline, that the electrons were scattered
just like diffracted X-rays, but that, unlike X-rays, the wave length
of an electron is not fixed but varies inversely as its speed. J. J.
Thomson’s son, G. P. Thomson, has made very illuminating studies
of this phenomenon, which is the inverse of the Compton effect;
together they have given physicists two mottoes: “Particles behave
like waves and waves behave like particles” and ‘‘Here’s to the elec-
tron; long may she wave.’’ One of the triumphs of the new wave
mechanics (a brand of quantum mechanics) is that it offers a medium
of explanation of these strange phenomena. But my subject of the
electron is too long to let me attempt a digression on wave
mechanics.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ELECTRON CONCEPT

With this sketch of the electron itself before us, let us turn to some
of the more important directions in which the electron has given us an
interpretation of the physical universe generally. Immediately were
explained the phenomena of electrolysis and of ionization generally,
for ions were simply atoms or groups of atoms which had gained or lost
one or more electrons. Primary chemical forces were explained as the
electrostatic attraction between atomic groups which, respectively,
contained an excess or a deficiency of electrons. (The more refined
interpretation of chemical forces within the past half-dozen years, by
Pauling and Slater, has been based upon the quantum theory of
atomic structure. )

The three types of rays from radioactive substances were interpreted:
alpha rays as helium atoms which had lost two electrons; beta rays as
electrons; and gamma rays as X-ray-like radiations. In fact, Bec-
querel showed the magnetic deflection of beta rays in the same year,
1897, that Thomson showed the magnetic deflection of cathode rays
and interpreted them as electrons.

For many years two unexplained phenomena had been studied in
metals. When highly heated or when illuminated by ultraviolet light,
metals had been shown to emit negative electricity. It was the work
of but a year, after the discovery of the electron, for J. J. Thomson
and his pupils to show that both these phenomena consist in the
emission of electrons. But by what mechanisms are they thusemitted?

THH ELECTRON—COMPTON 215

That was a question the study of which has led to most important
theoretical and practical consequences.

Richardson, first as a pupil of Thomson and then as a professor at
Princeton in the early 1900’s, developed the theory of thermionic
emission of electrons, according to which the electrons are evaporated
from the surface of a metal at high temperatures by a process very
analogous to evaporation of molecules. The electrons are assumed to
have the same distribution of kinetic energies that molecules possess
at the same temperature in accordance with the principles of kinetic
theory. They escape from the surface, if they reach it, with enough
energy to take them away in spite of the attraction tending to pull the
electron back into the metal. This attraction is expressed in terms of
the now famous ‘‘work-function,”’ a sort of latent heat of evaporation
of electrons, which is the work that must be done to get an electron
clear of the surface. With these simple assumptions, an equation was
derived for the rate of emission of electricity as a function of tempera-
ture which has stood the test of perhaps as wide a range of experimen-
tation as any other equation of physics, a range of values of more than
a million-million fold in current without any detectable departure
from the theory, if this is properly applied.

Richardson’s measurements of the ‘‘work-functions” of various
metals showed that these values run closely parallel with one of the
longest known but least understood properties of metals, namely, their
contact potential properties. By contact difference of potential is
meant the voltage difference between the surfaces of two metals when
they are placed in contact. Richardson found that the difference
between the ‘“‘work-function” of two metals was, within the limits of
accuracy of the data, the same as their contact difference of potential.
He therefore proposed the theory that the contact potential property
of a metal is determined simply by the work necessary to remove an
electron from its surface.

As a beginning graduate student under Richardson in 1910, I was
given the job of undertaking a test of this theory through experiments
on the other electron-emitting phenomenon, the photoelectric effect.
Einstein a few years before had proposed his famous photoelectric
equation, which was a contribution to physical theory certainly com-
parable in importance and thus far more useful in its applications
than his more impressive and wider publicized general theory of rela-
tivity. According to it, an electron in a metal may receive from the
incident light an amount of energy proportional to the frequency of
the light—to be exact, an energy equal to Planck’s constant h times
the frequency v. If it escapes from the metal, it must do an amount
of work w to get away, so that its kinetic energy after escape from
the metal would be the difference hy—w. Obviously, by measuring
these kinetic energies of electrons liberated from various metals by

216 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

light of various frequencies, it should be possible to find out if the
“work-functions” w of different metals are indeed related to their
contact differences of potential in the manner predicted by Richard-
son’s theory.

In two papers, by me in 1911 and jointly with Richardson in 1912,
it was concluded first that the contact differences of potential are
related to the ‘“work-functions” as Richardson had predicted,
and secondly that Einstein’s photoelectric equation, rather than a
rival theory then under discussion, properly described the facts.
Practically simultaneously with this second paper, there appeared
the report of a similar verification of Einstein’s equation by A. L.
Hughes, then in England, though lacking the quantitative connection
with contact differences of potential.

This early work was not very accurate, partly because of lack of
good vacuum technique for maintaining untarnished surfaces in a
vacuum, partly through lack of constant sources of ultraviolet light
and partly because the ultraviolet spectrographs used to isolate the
various wave lengths of light gave a certain spectral impurity of scat-
tered light of other wave lengths. These sources of error were recog-
nized but not overcome when Millikan, in 1916, made a striking ad-
vanee by using doubly purified light or otherwise correcting for the
effects of impurity, and secured a verification of Einstein’s equation
which was far more accurate than the earlier work as regards the
value of Planck’s constant h. In fact, Millikan’s work remains to
this day as one of the best determinations of this important constant.
In regard to the ‘‘work-function,’’ however, this work of Millikan’s
was not so successful, for, after having apparently discovered facts at
variance with Richardson’s interpretation of the equation and its
relation to contact potentials, these differences were ultimately found
to reside in faults of experimental procedure or interpretation, so that
Richardson’s interpretation of Einstein’s equation still bolds.

In both thermionic and photoelectric effects, theoretical refinements
have been introduced by the recent quantum mechanics, and great
advances made in experimental technique. However, it is fair to
say that their interpretations on the electron theory have been among
the major achievements of this theory.

CONDUCTION OF METALS

While we are on the subject of electricity in metals, what constitutes
the phenomenon of easy flow of electricity that is the distinguishing
feature of metals? J.J. Thomson at once suggested that this must be
due to the existence in metals of electrons free from their parent atoms,
moving freely, except for collisions, whenever an electric field was
applied in the metal. The theory thus worked out was attractive,

THH ELECTRON—COMPTON I17

but it encountered inconsistencies. There was not even any real
evidence that electricity in metals was conducted by electrons.

Then along came Tolman with one of his brilliant ideas, skilfully
followed by experiment. It had earlier been suggested that, whatever
are the carriers of electric current in metals, it should be possible to
centrifuge them toward the periphery of a disk if this were rotated
very rapidly about its axis. To be more specific, if electrons are free
to move in metals and if a wire connects the center and the periphery
of the rotating disk through lightly pressing brush contacts, electrons
should be thrown out of the disk at its periphery and pass back into
the center of the disk through the wire. It would be rather analogous
to a current of water driven by a centrifugal pump through a pipe
circuit. But all attempts to detect such currents proved futile, be-
cause the currents produced by the friction of the contact against the
periphery were far larger than the currents to be expected from the
centrifuging of electrons.

But Tolman devised two methods of giving powerful accelerations
to metal conductors in such manner that he was able to measure the
feeble electric currents that were produced as the carriers of electricity
in the metal were shaken back and forth, and his calculations showed
that these currents were indeed of the size to be expected if the current
is carried by electrons. This is our direct evidence that electrons
carry the electric current in metals. The mechanism by which they
do this is now beginning to be disclosed by Slater, on the basis of an
application of quantum mechanics and spectroscopic ideas to metals,
and again is an example of the refining power of the quantum theory
to succeed where older classical theory was gropingly suggestive, but
inadequate.

STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM

Now that I come to the most basic of all the phenomena which the
electron has been called upon to interpret, I almost lose courage, for
the subject is too vast and complex for anything but encyclopaedic
treatment. I refer to the structure of atoms. Previous to the dis-
covery of the electron, literally nothing was known of the internal
structure or composition of atoms. With this discovery, however, it
immediately became evident that all atoms contain electrons and an
equivalent amount of positive electricity in some form. It was again
J. J. Thomson’s genius which began the investigation of the inner
atom. This was only about 25 years ago.

Thomson reasoned that, if X-rays were made to fall on any sub-
stance, the electrons in the atoms of the substance would be forced to
vibrate back and forth by the powerful alternating electric forces in
the X-ray waves. But, in thus vibrating back and forth, these elec-
trons would re-radiate secondary X-rays in all directions. He calcu-
lated just what fraction of the original X-ray energy ought to be thus

918 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

re-radiated by each electron, and then set his pupils to measure just
what this fraction was in specific cases. From the experimental
results he was thus able to calculate the number of electrons which
performed the re-radiation in each case. These results indicated
that the number of such acting electrons in each atom was about half
the value of the chemical atomic weight of the atom. Thus first were
counted the electrons in an atom.

Rutherford and his pupils, aided by the mathematical analysis of
Darwin, tackled the problem from a different point of view. They
studied the distribution of deflection of alpha particles, shot out of
radioactive materials, as these alpha particles traversed thin sheets
of solid materials. They found that this distribution was quanti-
tatively what would be expected if the deflections were produced by
ordinary electrostatic forces, varying as the square of the distance,
between the alpha particle and a very small object containing most
of the mass in each atom. They were thus able to show that this
small object is not more than one ten-thousandth of the diameter of
the atom, that it contained substantially all the mass of the atom and
that it carried a positive electric charge equal, in electronic units, to
about half the chemical atomic weight of the atom.

Thus arose the concept that the atom is composed of a positive
nucleus of small dimensions, surrounded by electrons to the number
of about half the atomic weight.

This had scarcely become established when it was brilliantly refined
and extended by Moseley, just before he went to his untimely death
in the Great War in 1914. Moseley had made a most ingenious study
of the spectra of X-rays of a large number of the chemical elements,
using a modification of the X-ray spectroscopy technique developed
by the Braggs. He found that the square roots of the frequencies of
the characteristic X-ray lines were numerically very simply related
to the number which gave the place of the element in the periodic
table of the elements, so useful to chemists but so entirely without
explanation. Thus this number acquired a definite physical signifi-
cance and is now well known as the ‘‘atomic number.”

For all the elements heavier than hydrogen, this atomic number is
about half the atomic weight and, to make a long story short, this
atomic number turns out to be exactly the number of electronic units
of charge on an atomic nucleus, or the number of electrons in the
atom outside the nucleus. At the same time, Moseley’s work proved
to be one of the greatest advances ever made in the basic interpretive
side of chemistry.

Now that the number of electrons in each atom was known, the next
step was to wonder how they were arranged, what held them in place
and what they were doing in their spare time. Suggestions were not
slowincoming. In fact, even before Moseley’s work, two rival theories

THE ELECTRON—COMPTON 219

had appeared, one devised by chemist Lewis and extended by Lang-
muir to explain the directional symmetries of atoms as indicated by
their molecular combining forms, and the other devised by physicist
Bohr to account for spectra. Gradually the Bohr theory has been
developed to include the symmetries of the Lewis-Langmuir theory, so
that both may be said to be merged, with many major additions too
numerous to mention.

It was Bohr’s bold genius to cast off some of the fetters of classical
mechanics, which had been fairly well proved inadequate to meet the
situation, and to devise a new mechanics frankly to meet the simplest
known facts of atomic structure and spectroscopy—the hydrogen
atom and the atomic hydrogen spectrum. In doing so, he at one
stroke brought into the same picture the quantum theory of radia-
tion, the electronic structure of the atom and the facts of spectroscopy.
He had his electron moving in a circular orbit around the nucleus
under the regular laws of electrostatic attraction and centrifugal
force. But he stipulated that only such orbits were possible in which
the angular momentum of the electron was an integral multiple of
Planck’s constant h divided by 27. He also stipulated that the
electrons should not radiate energy while revolving in their orbits,
but only when they jumped from one orbit to another. In this case
the frequency of light radiated was equal to the change of energy of
the electron between the two orbits, divided by Planck’s constant h.
With these assumptions, the spectra of hydrogen and of ionized helium
were quantitatively explained in their main features, but not in their
finer details.

Then came the Great War, and we heard little of atomic structure
in the United States. But in Germany, Sommerfeld was extending
Bohr’s ideas in most interesting ways. He showed that, by considering
elliptic as well as circular orbits, and taking account of the variation
of the electron’s mass with speed, the fine details as well as the main
features in the spectra of hydrogen and ionized helium were accurately
explained. He also showed how the theory could be extended to deal
with atoms where there were many electrons moving in orbits. He
showed that these additional concepts were in the right direction to
explain the more complicated spectra both in the visible and in the
X-ray regions.

SPECTRAL LINES

When this new work first was known in America, it started the most
feverish and earnest scientific activity that the country has ever
known, which is still in progress with undiminished zeal and with
increasing productive effectiveness. I well remember when the first
copy of Sommerfeld’s Atombau und Spectrallinen came to America
in the possession of Prof. P. W. Bridgman. Until later copies arrived,

220 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

he knew no peace and enjoyed no privacy, for he was besieged by
friends wanting to read the book—which he would not allow to go
out of his possession. I recall, too, the sudden popularity of the only
two or three men in America who knew what a spectral series was.
Heretofore, practically our only interest in spectra had been in the
culinary variety of spectroscopy used by chemists in identifying
chemical elements. No interpretive quality to speak of had hitherto
been attached to the peculiar numerical regularities which had been
discovered in the vibration frequencies of groups of spectrum lines.

I recall, too, the dismay with which we found only a handful of
mathematical physicists versed in the analytical dynamics underlying
the new atomic structure theories. In the summer of 1921, having
been taught by one of these few mathematical physicists, 1 went to the
University of Michigan to lecture on Sommerfeld’s theory, and found
there also F. A. Saunders, invited to impart his knowledge of spectrum
series. In the winter of 1926, Born and Jordan having just announced
a new development in quantum mechanics, I found more than 20
Americans in Gottingen at this fount of quantum wisdom. A year
later they were at Zurich, with Schrédinger. A couple of years later,
Heisenberg at Leipzig and then Dirac at Cambridge held the Elijah
mantle of quantum theory. In America, contributions are coming
rapidly, particularly in the fields of application to chemical inter-
pretations, metals and other complex situations.

From all this has come the situation which permitted Dirac, a few
years ago, to write: ‘“The underlying physical laws necessary for the
mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chem-
istry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that the
exact application of these laws leads to equations much too complicated
to be soluble.” But if any ambitious young scientist be discouraged
lest there be little left to do, let him consider the unexplored atomic
nucleus, or the fact that every attempt to apply these laws, which
look so satisfactory to us now, discloses new realms of knowledge still
unexplored.

Time forbids mention of the most interesting work which was done
to check and extend the theories of atomic structure, through direct
measurement of the energy states of atoms and molecules by carefully
controlled bombardment of these molecules by electrons. Begun by
Franck and Hertz in Germany, much of this work was done in America
by Foote and Mohler at the Bureau of Standards, by my students at
Princeton and by Tate’s group at Minnesota, all since 1920.

Before leaving the interpretive triumphs of the electron, however,
I cannot refrain from jumping from the atom to the universe, to the
interpretation of conditions on the stars. Spectra of stars had long
been known, and these were interpreted as indicating that some stars
consist principally of hydrogen, others of helium and others of many

THE ELECTRON—COMPTON 221

chemical elements like our sun. But in 1922, a young Indian physicist,
Meghnad Saha, first applied atomic structure theory and knowledge of
ionizing potentials to the sun and stars. He considered ionization in
the hot vapors of the stars to be like a chemical dissociation produced
by heat, in which the products of dissociation are electrons and the
positive ionic residues of the atoms, and in which the heats of dis-
sociation are given by the ionizing potentials of the atoms. In this
way was developed a rational quantitative interpretation of stellar
spectra which has thrown enormous light on the problem of conditions
of temperature, pressure and condition of the chemical elements in
stars. Russell in America and Milnein England have ably applied and
extended this theory.

THE ELECTRON IN INDUSTRY

Finally, I come to the last phase of my subject, the social signifi-
cance of the electron. By this I mean, of course, its useful applica-
tions. The first of these was Edison’s invention of a thermionic rec-
tifier, based on his discovery that negative electricity would flow
across a vacuum from a hot filament to an adjacent electrode, but
would not flow in the opposite direction. This was some years before
the electron was discovered as the responsible agent in this phenom-
enon. But within a few years after the discovery of the electron,
Fleming had shown that this same device will operate to rectify
radio wave impulses, and thus permit their detection with a sensi-
tive direct-current instrument. From this was patented the Fleming
valve.

Once the basic character of thermionic emission was understood,
and spurred on by the opportunities opening up in the radio field,
new inventions, improvements, and applications of thermionic devices
came rapidly. Of major importance was the three-electrode tube am-
plifier of De Forest. Industrial research laboratories in the com-
munications and electric manufacturing business took the lead in
developing techniques and in penetrating scientific exploration. Note-
worthy were the vacuum techniques and the monomolecular layers of
activating materials developed by Langmuir and the high-vacuum
thermionic X-ray tube of Coolidge. In the Bell Laboratories, oxide-
coated filament tubes of good performance were developed and applied
particularly to use in long-distance telephony. Let me give just two
illustrations of the marvelous powers of some of these instruments.

It has been calculated that the energy of a trans-Atlantic radio
signal caught by the receiving station in Newfoundland comes in at
about the rate required to lift a fly 7 inches m a year.

What is the largest number that has any physical significance?
This is impossible to answer, being largely a matter of definition.
But one common answer to this is 10°, or one followed by 110

9923 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ciphers. This is about the number of electrons (the smallest things
known) which would be required to fill up the universe to the great-
est distances discovered by astronomy, if the electrons could be
imagined to be closely packed side by side to fill up this whole space.
Yet this number, large as it is, is very small indeed compared with
the aggregate factor by which the energy of a voice striking a tele-
phone transmitter in San Francisco is amplified by electronic tubes in
the process of a long-distance telephone conversation to London.
This amplification factor is about 107°, or unity followed by 256
ciphers. If the universe were multiplied in size by the number of
times it is larger than an electron, it could still not hold as many
electrons as the number of this telephone amplification factor.

Then, mostly within 10 years or so, has come an active introduction
of thermionic devices which are not highly evacuated, but operate
with supplementary action of intense ionization of the gas in the tube.
First of these were the low-voltage arc rectifiers, like the tungar.
Most interesting and versatile are the thyratrons, which permit easy
control of powerful currents and machinery, and give a new means of
converting alternating into direct current, or vice versa. In this
group also are some of the new types of lamps, of high efficiency or
special color.

Not so striking, but equally interesting, have been the useful appli-
cations of the photoelectric effect. First was the use of sensitive
photoelectric cells to replace the eye or photographic plate in astronom-
ical telescopes. Then came sunshine meters, devices to open doors or
count people or sort merchandise automatically, or to register the
speed and license number of the unwary autoist. Most important
thus far are the current-producing mechanisms in the sound-movie
apparatus and in television equipment.

While, commercially, radio, sound movies, and long-distance teleph-
ony are at present of greatest importance, of no less importance,
especially to us as scientists, are the marvelous tools which have been
put into our hands for further research in practically every field of
science, from physics and chemistry to psychology and criminology.

So we see how, within one generation, the electron has been dis-
covered and examined, with its aid our intellectual outlook upon the
universe has expanded in content and simplified in basic concept, and
in its use mankind has the most versatile tool ever utilized. The
end of the story is far from told. Every fact or relationship of the
electron appears fuzzy with uncertainties when closely examined, for
it can truly be said that every discovery discloses a dozen new prob-
lems. The field of practical and commercial uses of electronic devices
is certainly still largely in its early stages of exploration.

This story illustrates in vivid manner a number of characteristics
of scientific work, some of which I shall simply enumerate: (1) prog-

THE ELECTRON—COMPTON 223

ress comes by spurts of advance as some big new idea opens up new
territory, alternating with periods of consolidation; (2) progress
comes not by revolution or discarding of past knowledge and experi-
ence, but is built upon past experience and is its natural extension
once the vision from new vantage points is secured; (3) there is
nothing so practical in its values as accurate knowledge, and the
pursuit of such knowledge has been most successful when not fettered
with the initial demand that it be directed toward practical ends.

I would not give the impression that it is only the electron which
has given new life to modern physical science. A story of similar
interest could be built around the new concepts of radiation and
atomic energy as expressed in the quantum theory, or about the
electron’s big brother, the proton, or his rather nondescript cousin,
the neutron. In the atomic nucleus is a field of further exploration
of enormous promise, now only beginning to be opened up by use of
radioactive materials, cyclatrons and high-voltage generators.

Although these things have happened very recently, no one has
better described the process and intellectual value of this type of
scientific research than did Aristotle in the quotation which is
inscribed in Greek on the facade of the National Academy of Sciences
building in Washington:

The search for truth is in one way hard and in another easy, for it is evident
that no one can master it fully nor miss it wholly. But each adds a little to our
knowledge of Nature, and from all the facts assembled there arises a certain
grandeur.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY POLARIZED LIGHT!
By J. W. McFarLanr

[With 6 plates]

We are blind to some of the most beautiful phenomena in the
domain of light. Our eyes respond naturally to differences in color
and in intensity of light, and it is by these differences that we are
able to see the world around us. There is another property in which
light rays may differ, but our eyes, unaided, cannot see those differ-
ences. This property is called polarization, and is concerned with
the manner in which the light ray vibrates. Were we able to see
unaided these differences in polarization, we would be conscious of
a dark wide band across the sky, normally invisible. We would also
see oblique reflections darken, and we would see beautiful color
effects in some common transparent materials.

WHAT IS POLARIZED LIGHT?

While the nature of light is not entirely understood, many of its
effects can be explained by assuming that light is a vibratory motion
which goes through space in the form of waves. Among these
effects is the polarization of light. The vibration of a light wave is
not along the direction of the ray, as in the case of sound, but is at
right angles to the ray and usually in all possible directions, that is,
up and down, sideways, etc. It is possible (by various devices
generally known as polarizers) to change the light ray so that only
one direction of vibration is left. The ray is then said to be polarized,
or strictly speaking, plane-polarized.

A number of polarizing devices have been known to scientific
workers for many years, but they have involved the use of prisms
having a very small field and unsuited to photography. The inven-
tion which makes the Pola-screen possible is a polarizing substance
in sheet form containing countless minute, rodlike crystals which
are parallel to each other. The Eastman Pola-screen type I incorpo-
rates this sheet material cemented between glass plates.

The vibration plane of the polarizer is parallel to the vibration of
the emerging rays. In the Pola-screen, the direction of the vibration

1 Reprinted by permission from the American Annual of Photography, 1937.
31508—38———16 225

996 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

plane is given by the engraved line on the indicator handle. In
figure 1 ordinary light is coming from the left. It is vibrating in all
directions. It then passes through the polarizer at the left, the
vibration plane of which happens to be vertical. The ray is polarized,
vibrating in a vertical plane only. If this polarizer had been placed
with its vibration plane horizontal, then the rays would vibrate in a
horizontal plane.

If a second polarizer is placed in the path of light which has left
the first polarizer, another interesting property is brought out. If the

FIGURE 1.—Light rays are polarized by the Pola-screen at the left, the vibration plane of which is shown
vertically. The amount of light let through by the second Pola-screen is cut down as the Pola-screen is
turned. When the vibration plane of the second Pola-screen is at right angles to the first, practically no
oblique light gets through.

vibration plane of the second polarizer is parallel to that of the first,
the ray is transmitted freely, still vibrating in the same plane, as
shown in the upper drawing of figure 1. The polarizers are then said
to be parallel. But if the second polarizer is rotated, the intensity of
the light is gradually cut down, and when the vibration planes of the
two polarizers are at right angles, as in the lowest drawing of figure 1,
practically no light is allowed through. The polarizers are then said
to be crossed.

These properties are summarized in terms of a Pola-screen thus:

1. Light transmitted by a Pola-screen vibrates in a direction
parallel to the indicator handle.

2. This direction of vibration rotates as the Pola-screen is rotated.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY POLARIZED LIGHT—McFARLANE 997

3. Light already polarized will pass through a Pola-screen most
freely if the ray is vibrating parallel to the indicator handle.

4. Light already polarized, which vibrates at right angles to the
indicator handle, will not pass through a Pola-screen.

We can appreciate these peculiar properties, if we arrange two Pola-
screens together, as in plate 1, so that the vibration planes are parallel,
as indicated when their handles are parallel to each other; we see that
light is transmitted freely. If one Pola-screen is turned so that its
handle is at right angles to the other, practically no light is transmitted.

THE SOURCES OF POLARIZED LIGHT

It is now evident that we have a tool possessing unique possibilities
in controlling light. As the photographer is very much concerned
in controlling light, this is naturally interesting to him. The value

FIGURE 2.—Ray polarized by reflection. A ray of ordinary, unpolarized light is almost completely polarized
when specularly reflected at about 32° to any nonmetallic surface, such as glass. This permits subduing
oblique reflections from glass and water by a single Pola-screen over the lens.

of this new device lies in the fact that there are two sources of polarized
light in nature: (1) Ordinary, unpolarized light, specularly reflected
from any nonmetallic surface at about 32°-37° to the surface, is
strongly polarized by the act of reflection, as shown in figure 2.
There is some effect at other angles, but none at 0° or 90°. (2) The
light from a blue sky, which comes from the region at right angles to
the sun’s rays, is strongly polarized, as shown in figure 3.

POLA-SCREEN AT THE LENS ALONE

Since light rays which are reflected obliquely are polarized, they can
be stopped with a Pola-screen, and we can photograph obliquely
through glass or water in such a way that we subdue the surface
reflections to show detail beyond. The light from the detail beyond
the surface is, in general, not polarized, and therefore will be trans-
mitted by the Pola-screen at the lens which at the same time will stop
the light reflected at the surface.

OBLIQUE REFLECTION CONTROL

This property has direct application to photographing store windows
where their design is such that an oblique picture is desirable, as
shown in plate 2.

998 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The photography of floorings is another sphere of usefulness. The
reflection of windows and light colored walls are frequently trouble-
some. The pattern in linoleum floors and the grain in wood floors,
as shown in plate 3, can be brought out in a very striking manner,
It so happens that the angle normally used by the photographer in
photographing a floor or floor covering is such that the Pola-secreen
is very effective.

The Pola-screen has a number of applications in architectural
photography. It occasionally happens that a building is to be photo-
graphed late in the day, and an undesirably bright oblique reflection
from the low sun partially hides detail in an exterior wall. The

CLEAR BLUE SKYLIGHT ARRIVING
AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE SUNS
RAYS IS POLARIZED.

FiGurRE 3.—The sky may be darkened by the Pola-screen without affecting the monochrome rendering of
foreground objects. The strongest effect is attained with the camera axis roughly at right angles to the
sun’s rays.

Pola-screen can subdue this reflection to show the detail desired.
Reflections from tile and slate roofs can frequently be subdued as
desired.

Another application concerned with oblique reflections is in sub-
duing reflections which are distracting or harmful to best composi-
tion. In photographing motor cars, it is generally desired to subdue
to some extent the glossy reflection from the sides and tops. As the
motor car is frequently photographed at an angle to the camera axis,
considerable control of such reflections is possible (pl. 4).

So far we have considered only oblique reflections over which con-
trol can be exercised with a single Pola-screen at the lens. ‘To sum-
marize—while many reflections are desirable because they reveal
texture, form, and position of objects, reflections should be and can

PHOTOGRAPHY BY POLARIZED LIGHT—McFARLANE 299

be avoided in the following cases, if a single Pola-screen is used at the
lens: (1) Photographing obliquely through glass or water; (2) photo-
graphing a surface the detail of which is obscured by oblique reflec-
tions; (3) photographing where bright oblique reflections interfere
with good composition. All these cases of oblique reflection control
apply to nonmetallic surfaces.

SKY CORRECTION

Controlling the brightness of the sky is another field of usefulness
of the Pola-screen as mentioned before. ‘There is a band in the sky
from which the light is strongly polarized. This band is at right
angles to the sun’s rays, as shown diagrammatically in figure 3. If
we imagine the line from ourselves to the sun as an axle, this band
forms a wheel in the sky around this axle, with us at its center.
Therefore, at sunrise the band is north, overhead, south; at noon,
near the horizon in all directions; and at sunset, north, overhead,
south again. The band swings from overhead west during the morn-
ing, from east to overhead in the afternoon, passing through every
part of thesky. The band is sufficiently wide to provide a background
in ordinary photography. Because the light from this band is polar-
ized, we can diminish the brightness of this part of the sky consider-
ably with a Pola-screen at the lens. The indicator handle of the Pola-
screen provides a simple means of setting the Pola-screen for maximum
effect. When this indicator handle points directly at the sun, that is,
when its shadow falls along itself, the darkest sky is obtained. No
effect is obtained when the camera points close to the sun or directly
away from it. Pola-screen control, of course, applies to a clear blue
sky, as the Pola-screen has no more effect on sky completely obscured
by clouds than does a color filter.

The question arises, how does this method of darkening the sky com-
pare with the use of yellow or red filters? Granting that the picture
to be taken is in such direction with relation to the sun that the Pola-
screen applies, the use of the Pola-screen has two advantages. The
sky only is affected, since the light coming from the foreground object
is not polarized. Therefore the monochrome rendering of the fore-
ground object is not affected, as shown in the photograph of the yellow
brick building in plate 5. This rendering can be very seriously
affected by the use of yellow or red filters. Yellow or red brick build-
ings, faces, and other objects reddish in color, photograph unnaturally
light; blue objects photograph unnaturally dark when deep yellow or
red filters are used. The second advantage in favor of the Pola-screen
is that the effect is variable. By merely rotating the Pola-screen at
the lens, any effect in the sky, from very light to very dark, may be
obtained.

930 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The Pola-screen may be used with a color filter. If we are willing
to sacrifice some color rendering, we can obtain sky effects similar
to those in infrared photographs, on ordinary panchromatic materials
by using the Pola-screen with a red filter. In some respects, such
photographs are preferable because the trees and grass are not ren-
dered extremely light as in the case of infrared photographs.

Pola-screen offers the only known way of obtaining dark sky effects
in color photography.

Perhaps the most beautiful results with the Pola-screen are ob-
tained with the dark blue sky as background when objects are photo-
graphed in natural color. When we look at objects, such as blossoms,
trees, buildings, etc., against the sky, ordinarily we cannot fully
appreciate their colors because the sky is very much brighter, and
our eyes tend to seek the lighter parts of the scene. When, however,
the sky is darkened, many things assume a new and strange beauty.
Many subjects are rendered actually lighter than the sky background,
so that our attention is no longer diverted from the subject but is
drawn to it for a full appreciation of its color and form. The Pola-
screen type IA rather than the type I is recommended for color
photography.

So far we have discussed what can be done with the Pola-screen over
the lens alone. For these applications the exposure increase is about
four times for the type I Pola-screen, and about two times for the type
IA. These factors apply irrespective of the angular position of the
Pola-screen. When used with a yellow or red filter, the type I Pola-
screen factor will be between two and four, which should be multiplied
by the factor of the filter.

POLA-SCREENS OVER LENS AND LIGHTS

We shall now turn to effects obtainable with a Pola-screen at the
lens and large Pola-screens at the lights. To understand these
effects, let us consider for a moment the nature of the light reflected
by most common objects. The light reflected from most surfaces
consists of two parts which are technically known as the specular and
diffuse components. The specular component forms what we know
as gloss and enables us to see more or less distinctly an image of the
source of light. Light reflected from polished metallic articles is
almost entirely specular, whereas that reflected from chalk is almost
entirely diffuse. The diffuse component is reflected without gloss in
all directions.

Now, if the ray of light which is illuminating the subject is polar-
ized, the reflected rays which form the specular component are still
polarized, but the rays reflected diffusely are not, as shown in figure 4.
If we look at the subject through a Pola-screen, we can turn the screen
so that practically all of the specular reflection is stopped, and see the

PHOTOGRAPHY BY POLARIZED LIGHT—McFARLANE 231

subject by diffusely reflected light. This fact, which is extremely
important, permits many applications. The use of Pola-screens in
front of the lights, illuminates the subject with polarized light.
Another such device at the camera lens permits photographing by
diffusely reflected light alone. This is desirable in many cases, be-
cause the specularly reflected light obscures more or less the detail
which it is desired to record. If the Pola-screen at the camera is
rotated, some of the specular light is allowed through, so that the
amount of reflections permitted is under the control of the photog-
rapher. When the camera Pola-screen is rotated so that its vibration
plane is actually parallel to that of the specular ray, the ray is trans-
mitted even more freely than is the diffuse ray, so that the subject

SUBJECT

——-— LIGHT DIF FUSELY REFLECTED

LIGHT SPECULARLY uy

CAMERA

FIGURE 4.—Photography by diffusely reflected light, using Eastman Pola-screens. Light reflected speeu-
larly retains its polarized form; it may therefore be cut out by a Pola-screen at the camera. I indicates a
Pola-screen, type I; II indicates a large Pola-screen, type II. ‘The indexes on the two Pola-screens show
their planes of vibration.

appears to have even brighter reflections and more glass than it
actually does have. The most important point about reflection
control with Pola-screens at both lens and lights is the freedom in
photographing-angle. The use of a Pola-screen at the lens alone
restricts the reflection control to surfaces oblique to the camera axis,
but the technique just described imposes no such restriction.

Possibly the most valuable application of this technique is in copy-
ing photographs and other subjects whose surfaces up to now have
been considered unsuitable for photographing. Much of the light
reflected from the blacks of a matte or rough-surfaced photograph,
for instance, is specularly reflected, and, therefore, can be cut down
by the Pola-screen technique, resulting in a much deeper black, as
shown in plate 6. Such photographs, when viewed or copied by polar-
ized light, are startling in their changes. The surface texture, which

232 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

is usually troublesome in the rough-surfaced print, practically disap-
pears. There is also a great improvement in the rendering of shadow
detail.

Oil paintings, ordinarily very difficult to photograph, become very
simple indeed. The reflections from the canvas texture, from varnish,
from age cracks, and from the pigments themselves disappear, so that
the picture is not obscured by rows of bright spots. We can now
record the painting instead of its surface.

The effect of this control on polished carved wood is remarkable.
If we go to the extreme, the grain is brought out in a remarkably
clear manner, and the gloss practically eliminated. Optically, we can
remove the varnish. If we go to the other extreme, that is, setting
the lens Pola-screen parallel to those at the lights, the polish is en-
hanced, and the grain subdued. The control in this direction is less
than that possible in subduing the reflections.

If it is desired, the reflections from transparent wrappings may be
greatly subdued. The effect on lacquer is quite remarkable. Glossy
lacquer may be made to appear matte or its glossiness may be appar-
ently increased.

Pola-screens should be particularly valuable to those coneaot in
clinical photography. The reflections from wet surfaces of clinical
specimens frequently hide detail which it is desired to record. These
reflections may be subdued to any desired extent to show up detail.
One of the effects of removing surface reflections is to show up very
strongly small differences in skin color. Slight skin discolorations,
incipient rashes, and so on, may be shown very well.

We believe that there are a number of unexplored fields for the
Pola-screen, for instance, in unusual lightings and unusual background
effects. As one example—if we place a light directly in front of the
camera, the lens flare normally resulting degrades the contrast of the
picture. If Pola-screens are placed at the light and the lens, the
brightness of the light itself may be very greatly subdued with very
little effect on the illumination of the subject.

A background of variable brightness is provided by the use of an
aluminized sheet (such as a cine or Kodascope screen), lighted by a
spotlight through a type IT Pola-screen. The sheet is placed to throw
a bright reflection into the lens. Rotating a type I Pola-screen at the
lens varies the background brightness from very dark to very bright.

Another effect of possible interest in motion picture title work in-
volves cellulose sheeting and transparent cellulose tape. When placed
between crossed Pola-screens, the sheeting can be made to appear
either light or dark, depending upon its angular position. Various
colors result from the use of varying thicknesses, so that patterns in
vivid color can be formed by multiple layers of the cellulose material.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY POLARIZED LIGHT—McFrARLANE 233

TECHNICAL DETAILS

The most suitable negative materials for use with Pola-screens are
the panchromatic materials now in general use. Although it is pos-
sible to use orthochromatic or even noncolor-sensitized materials, the

exposure increase is greater.

The Pola-screen for lens use must be screened from all extraneous
light by the proper lens hood.

The screens supplied for light source use are not suitable optically
for use over a lens. Neither can the Pola-screen for lens use be ap-
plied to lights.

WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH EASTMAN POLA-SCREENS

A. Pola-screen (type I or I A) at the lens only. Exposure increase required, four
times.

1. Photographing obliquely through glass or water.

2. Subduing oblique reflections which hide surface detail.

3. Subduing bright oblique reflections which interfere with good composi-
tion. This oblique reflection control does not apply to metallic
surfaces, unless Pola-screens are used over both lens and lights.

4. Darkening a blue sky when photographing at right angles to the sun.
The monocbrome rendering of the subject photographed is not
affected.

5. The Pola-screen type I A can be used to darken a blue sky when
photographing in natural color, as with Kodachrome.

B. Pola-screens (types I and II) at both lens and lights. Exposure increase re-
quired, 16 times and up.

1. Copying rough prints, matte prints, damaged prints, and oil paintings
which show strong reflections due to cracks, canvas texture, or brush
marks.

2. Copying any subject with the lights undiffused and quite close to the
camera.

3. Subduing the reflections in many studio subjects, whether or not these
reflections are oblique.

4. Creating unusual lighting and background effects.

The novelty of this subject makes it difficult to say just what ap-
plication will be most valuable. It is, however, a new tool, by which
new effects may be achieved, and its limits are imposed only by the
imagination of the user. It is opening our eyes and our cameras to
some of the unseen beauties of nature.

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MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME: ITS DIFFICULTIES
By Autrrep C. LANE

[With 2 plates]

In measuring anything, three things are necessary: First, a definite
starting point; second a unit of measurement; and third, a method of
counting those units. All processes may also be divided into three
kinds, which we have in the geologic story and which are variously
useful in measuring: The periodic, the progressive, and the
paroxysmal.

The periodic processes are not merely those that depend upon the
days and the yearly seasons, but also longer cycles, such as the 23-year
double sunspot cycle, and the 25,000-year precessional cycle. Others
mentioned by Clough have been diligently sought. The only one of
these of which there appears to be as yet indisputable geologic evidence
is the double sunspot cycle, which Abbot ! and Bradley ? have studied.
To this matter we will return later.

The progressive processes are the one-way activities, such as cooling
and the lowering of continents by rivers, which “draw down eonian
hills and sow the dust of continents to be.”

Finally, we have the paroxysmal processes, illustrated by the earth-
quake and the volcano. Whenever we have a progressive accumula-
tion of strain which relieves itself when a particular amount is reached,
we may have a periodic recurrence of paroxysms. The classic illus-
tration of this is the Old Faithful Geyser with its 65-minute period.

THE STARTING POINT

The starting point of measurement, corresponding to an engineering
datum plane, should be unique and not easily mistaken or confused
with some other point. It should also be at least as precise as the
unit, preferably more so. A cyclical process does not in itself give a
good starting point, since conditions are repeated over and over again.
A year must be labeled by reference to some unique event, such as
ve ott C. G., Solar radiation and weather studies. Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 94, No. 10, pp. 71-75,

2 Bradley, W. H., Nonglacial varves with selected bibliography. Exhibit (2) in Report of the National
Research Council Committee on the measurement of geologic time. May 1, 1937.

235

236 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the Declaration of Independence of the United States. Not only
the birth of a nation, but the birth of an individual is also a unique
event, and it is natural in writing the biography of an individual to
start with his birth, which is a paroxysmal and unique event. How-
ever, some other event—his accession to the throne, Mahomet’s
flight (the Hegira), or his death—may also be unique, precise, and
better known. The chronology according to the birth of Christ,
unique as that event was, was introduced long after his life, and his
actual birth was probably not the real starting point.

The same difficulty comes up if one wishes to measure geologic
time from the “birth time of the world,” which is the title of a book
by J. Joly. We know too little about it, and, in fact, it is hard to
define what we mean by it. It is therefore not the place to begin our
reckoning.

The same thing applies to other points in the geologic story. The
farther back we go the more difficult it will be to get a general agree-
ment as to what should be the starting point, how precise it is, and
what it means. To be sure, there are showers of volcanic ash (ben-
tonite) which must mark a rather precise epoch, but they are hard to
recognize and are more or less local. While they may well be used for
dating some small bit of geologic time, they can hardly be a generally
used starting point.

It is a trite saying in geology that the present is the key to the
past. The present is unique. It is also best and most precisely
known. It should be, therefore, and is, the starting point for any
general estimates of geologic time. From it and from what has hap-
pened within the history of man we work backward. The one diffi-
culty about the present is that it is changing, but for most of our
geologic time calculations it makes very little difference what historic
date we use as a datum, since few of the methods of measuring geo-
logic time can pretend to an accuracy of 1 percent, and most of them
deal in units of thousands or millions of years.

It may well be, however, that A. D. 1920 will, to the geologist a
million years hence, be marked to within 10 years by the abundant
relics of discarded internal combustion engines, the relics of the great
war close below, a line of fossils indicating a cosmopolitan flora and
fauna, and the widespread burning of coal, of which, to be sure, there
would be signs in the previous 100 years.

Our physical Jaws and scientific results tell us how two states are
connected, but in many cases it is a niatter of indifference with which
we start; one or the other must be arbitrarily given. The present,
then, is our starting point, and the baseline of our estimates is the
record of human observations, whether it be those recently described
so graphically by Ludwig in his book, The Nile, * such as the lower-

3 Ludwig, Emil, The Nile, pp. 26, 328-329. Viking Press, 1937.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANH 937

ing of the Nile bed 25 feet in 3,000 years, and, near its mouth, the earth
end raised 52 inches in 1,000 years; or those poetically described by
Alfred Noyes in his Watchers of the Sky:

* ¥* * The records grow

Unceasingly, and each new grain of truth

Is packed, like radium, with whole worlds of light.

The eclipses timed in Babylon help us now

To clock that gradual quickening of the moon

Ten seconds in a century. Who that wrote

On those clay tablets could foresee his gift

To futureagesE 3." *

THE UNIT OF MEASUREMENT

The unit must be identifiable in the geologic record, and must be of
uniform length. Of all the units of which one might think, the year is
preeminent. The periodic processes are obviously those which will
best give us the unit. The second and the day are obviously too short,
and, moreover, as yet no daily variations have been recognized in the
geologic record, whereas the changes of the seasons have left indelible
records. ‘These have been recognized not merely in tree rings, present
and fossil, in the growth lines of fish scales and stalactites, the bands
of anhydrite in the salt beds which show evaporation under changing
conditions of temperature, but also in a wide range of deposits.

To such bands the Swedish term ‘‘varves”’ is applied, since in Sweden
they have been worked by G. de Geer into a systematic chronology
of post-glacial time. The greater melting of the ice in summer is
marked by coarser clays. Finer deposits settled in the lakes on the
margins of the glaciers during the winter. Baron de Geer’s work has
been continued and extended by his pupil, E. A. Antevs,* and by
Chester A. Reeds and others. But beside these distinctly glacial
varves or bands there are also bands of more and less organic matter
which are almost surely seasonal, especially when layers with traces of
ephemerids (mayflies) or pollen distinctly mark the seasons, as De
Geer found. Some of the more important papers are cited by Brad-
ley,’ from whom we take plate 1.

One difficulty at once arises: How do we know that some of these
bands do not represent the two seasons a year that characterize
certain regions? ‘To this there isa two-fold reply. First, such regions
are exceptional and are not likely to occur in regions of glaciers and of
temperate flora; second, studies such as those of C. G. Abbot ° seem
to show the double sunspot cycle of years (fig. 1). Further study

4 Antevs, E. A., The last glaciation. Amer. Geogr. Soc., Research Ser. No. 17,1928. See also bibliography
in Rating the geologic clock, Rep. 16th Int. Geol. Congr., Washington, pp. 145-167, 1936.

5 Loe. cit., and esp. U. 8. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 158-E.
5 Loe. cit., footnote 1.

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vi

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE 939

should be made of all these banded deposits to see if this or other
identifiable cycles can be determined.

Another question is whether we can assume that the year has been
of the same length. In an expanding universe, unless the gravitation
constant also changes to match, the year would have been shorter
when the earth was nearer the sun.

While one might also think of the addition to the weight of the
earth by meteorites and their effect upon its orbit, there is such a
lack of meteoritic material in the rocks accessible to the geologist
that any such effect during the time they were laid down would be
an infinitesimal of the second order. The same description would
apply to the effect of the loss of mass by radiation from the sun.

But the year is a rather short unit for the longer geologic times.
Is there any practical longer unit? A number of longer periods have
been suggested by E. Huntington, Clough, and others,’ but only
three have been seriously applied. One is the precessional period of
21,000 to 25,000 years. In half the period the North Pole changes
from being inclined toward the sun when the earth is farthest from
the sun in her elliptical orbit around it, to being inclined toward the
sun when the earth is nearest it, thus making the two reasons for
summer heat reinforce each other in the Northern Hemisphere.
Moreover, since the earth moves faster the nearer it is to the sun,
there will be extra hot and short summers in the Northern Hemisphere
from the spring equinox to the fall. The difference is at present only
3 days, but when the orbit of the earth is more elliptic it may be as
much as 30 days.

As the two hemispheres are unequally balanced in proportions of
land and water, the northern having much more land, it seems quite
possible that this cycle should register itself in climatic changes.
Bradley’s bibliography (see footnote 2) cites papers by himself,
Gilbert, Korn, Stamp, and Wolansky, which discuss supposed signs
of such cycles in rhythmic alternations of strata. Oil geologists are
making further studies. Such cycles should be alternately more and
less conspicuous, depending upon a longer rhythm—that in which
the ellipticity of the earth’s orbit varies. However, the effect upon
climate is indirect and depends upon geographic arrangements of
land and water which may vary quite independently. The whole of
human history recorded in accurate measurements has only covered
a quarter of a cycle. The geologist who a hundred thousand years
hence has four or five such cycles to look back upon will be better
able to judge their worth as time units.

The longer cycle of varying ellipticity of the earth’s orbit has even
greater disadvantages. We have passed through so little of it that we

7 Lane, A. C., bibliography in Rating the geologic clock, Rep. 16th Int. Geol. Congr., Washington, pp.
158-167, 1936.

940 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19387

know little of its geologic effect, and, moreover, it is a complex cycle
built up from the cycles of the motions of the various planets, which
also affect the sun and, through the sunspot cycle, the earth.

Thus all these cycles are as yet unsuitable either as units, or, we
may add, to be counted in estimating geologic time. We say “as
yet,” for the cyclothems of R. C. Moore ® in the coal measures, the
rhythmic bandings of flint in the chalk of the Norman coast, and
similar rhythms in many other places suggest possibilities.

There is still another class of cycles deserving a word in this place,
since they are highly important in geology, even though not suited
for time units. It has been suggested that there is a steady and pro-
gressive accumulation of strain in the crust of the earth, to which it
yields, perhaps spasmodically, or perhaps periodically. One might
consider these as unit cycles. As we have already remarked, this is
quite conceivable. Not only the discharge of many geysers, but the
action of the violin bow and of the water clock is of this nature.
But when we examine a little more closely we see that at present,
at least, if we take the table given by Stille, figure 2 (after Bull. Amer.
Assoc. Petroleum Geol., vol. 20, p. 852, July 1936), such cycles
cannot be of use in measuring geologic time. The recognition of
such cycles, and the proof of their regularity, if such there be, is
rather a goal of geologic investigation.

There are two causes of the accumulating strain which have been
cited. The one is the shrinkage of the interior due to the loss of
energy, especially as heat, causing the crust to tend to collapse when
the strain thus produced surpasses its strength. This idea of the crust
wrinkling like an old apple has been accepted by a line of writers of
distinction, the present champion being Prof. H. Stille,® of Géttingen.
That there has been a cycle of sedimentation corresponding to each
great geologic period is widely accepted and goes back at least to
Newberry. The concept has been most systematically worked out
by Schuchert,!® who also believes that the periods are separated by
epochs of wide crustal disturbance. That these are relatively short
and sharp is also widely held, as has been recently emphasized by
R. T. Chamberlin." But this is not universally accepted, and the
idea has been vigorously opposed by E. W. Berry.”

In view of the facts that the voleanoes of Italy and Iceland and
other regions have been pretty continuously active since some time
in the Tertiary, which we shall find reason to believe was millions of
years ago, and that mountains like the Coast Range of California

8 Studies on the Carboniferous of the midcontinent region, Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geol., vol. 13,
HON acl Assoc. Petroleum Geol., vol. 20, pp. 849-880, 1936.
10 Nat. Res. Counc. Bulls. 80 and 85. See also Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 32, pp. 147-150, 1921.

11 Certain aspects of geological classifications and correlations. Science, vol. 81, p. 184, 1935.
12 Shall we return to cataclysmic geology? Amer. Journ. Sci., ser. 5, vol. 17, pp. 1-12, January 1929.

241

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE

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242 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

are also still growing and have been since the Tertiary, it is clear that
division by epochs of mountain building or the volcanic action associ-
ated therewith cannot be precise.

Nor is there such agreement among authors as to the strength,
number, and regularity of these epochs of mountain building (last
and best presented by R. C. Moore, C. Schuchert, and H. Stille) as
to make them available for geologic time measurement. Figure 2
is after H. Stille.”

Another cause of accumulating strain, to be regularly relieved, is of
exactly the opposite nature. It was suggested by J. Joly that if the
earth contained anything like the amount of radioactive material
that the rocks of the surface seem to, from its decay the earth would
be generating more heat than is discharged through the crust; that
thus heat would accumulate and the crust be melted from below
until it gave way and discharged the heat in lavas, etc. This idea
has been elaborately worked out by A. Holmes and H. Jeffreys, and
also discussed by Urry."

It is clear that these explanations of cycles are inconsistent and of
uncertain application. Moreover, we know far too little of what the
real normal geothermal gradient is under the land. The old assumed
rate of 1° F. for every 60 feet or so of depth proves much too rapid for
large areas in Canada and South Africa.” Finally, we know nothing
of the rate of loss under the ocean which covers three-fourths of the
surface. Thus both the rate of loss and the content of radioactive
elements as computed by Urry with the best available data are
hazardous extrapolations, though there are reasons for believing that
Urry’s curve is not far off. The meteorites are but very slightly
radioactive, and the basaltic rocks less radioactive than the granitic,
and the weight of the earth has made the belief general that the interior
is in composition more like a meteorite. Robley D. Evans suggests
that early data as to the surface rocks are questionable.

It is safe to say, therefore, that such cycles cannot serve as units
of geologic measurement, that the curve of rhythms and revolutions
with regular cycles such as Holmes gives is as yet an ideal,’® and that
what Kirsch says "’ is wise warning.

The theory of magmatic cycles permits one to draw a number of more or less

necessary consequences which may be compared with the facts of experience.
It is to be hoped that in the coming years its fruitfulness in guiding geologic and

13 Loc. cit. See also F. Nélkein, Scientia, vol. 1, No. 1, pp.19-30, 1933; and F. P. Shepard, Sealevel and
climatic changes relating to late Paleozoic cycles. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 47, pp. 1197-1206, 1936.

14 Holmes, A., Thermal history of the earth. Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 25, pp. 169-175, 1935.

Jeffreys, H., The earth, ch. 8, The thermal history of the earth, 2d ed. Macmillan, 1929.

Urry, W. D., The occurrence of radium, uranium, and potassium in the earth. Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
and Sci., vol. 68, No. 4, pp. 137-144, Mar. 1933.

15 Koenigsberger, J. G., Beitr. Zeitschr. Angew. Geophys., vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 68-83, 1937

16 Holmes, A., Ageoftheearth. Benn, London, 1927.

17 Kirsch, G., Geologie und Radioaktivitit, p.128. Springer, 1928.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE 243

geophysical research will be shown, although for the present the possibilities of
stretching it to fit various ideas are so great that it runs the danger of being treated
with mistrust on the physical side, as an india rubber theory.

In any case, cycles are always spoken of as millions of years long—
so long that we have no historic knowledge of more than a small
fraction of a cycle. They are not adapted for units of measurement.

The precessional cycle belongs to the solar system, as does the
sunspot cycle, and there are numerous other planetary cycles. Any
cycles of astronomic origin of greater sweep than the solar system are
much longer and would appear in the life of the earth possibly as pro-
gressive factors or cycles as long as any we have mentioned. Such
would be the great orbit which the whole solar system is describing
sidewise around the center of the Galaxy, some 3,000 light years
(5.84 X 10” miles) away at a velocity of about 300 kilometers (183
miles) a second, a cycle of some 20 million years. Such cycles are
obviously not suitable as time units. We must then fall back on the
year as the unit.

PROGRESSIVE PROCESSES

Leaving, then, the periodic processes and rhythmic cycles for the
moment, and accepting the year as a unit even though our accuracy
may be only expressed in millions of years, or ‘‘decamyriads’’ of
Vernodsky, we pass to those progressive processes, the type of which
is the hour glass, by which we measure time.

These are ‘‘one-way streets.’’ Among them are the processes of
degradation or lowering of the land, whether by wind or water or ice,
by the streams lowering the area of their basins or cutting back as in
waterfalls or cutting down, the erosion by glaciers, and along the shores
of the ocean. Of these activities, a host have been studied, such as the
retreat of Niagara Falls and of the Falls of St. Anthony at Minne-
apolis, the retreat of the cliffs of the Weald on which Darwin made esti-
mates, the recession of the English shores, and the shore from Chicago
to Milwaukee. Along Lake Huron, Gordon and I once found a road
and plow marks running off the bluff. The road came in again half
a mile farther on, and by comparing with old maps, Gordon was able
to compute the rate of retreat as 5.7 feet a year.

But what is eroded in one place must be deposited elsewhere, and
to match degradation there must be deposition. In all such calcula-
tions there is a fundamental “rule of three.’”’ So much has been done
in a given, historically known time, and so much has been done in
all. At the same rate this would have taken a proportionately longer
time.

In some cases we may be reasonably sure that the rate of change
is not the same. Many activities are asymptotic. They grow less
and less as time goes on, if no other factor interferes. For this we

244 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

sometimes can allow. If, for instance, a continent has an average
elevation of 2,000 feet and is being lowered at the rate of 1,000 feet
in a million years, then, if the elevation plotted relative to the time
may be represented by a hyperbola, the greater the time the slower
the lowering and, instead of being absolutely flat in 2 million years,
it will be reduced to half the height, and to one-tenth of the height
in 10 less 1; that is, 9 times 2 million years. This is the process known
as peneplanation.

We have said that there was deposition to match the degradation.
In general, the finer the sediments, the less the rate of deposition.
Here the cyclic annual varves may help us to estimate the yearly rate
of deposition. In the fine-grained sediments it is usually estimated,
according to the authors cited by Bradley, as something like 0.1 milli-
meter, or 250 years to the inch, 3,000 to the foot. In recent deepest
sea soundings a rate of deposition of 20,000 to 25,000 years to the
foot has been suggested. ‘The coarser the sediments, in general the
more rapid is their accumulation. Comparison of the thickness of
different rocks in different places formed during the same period gives
us some idea of the relative rate of accumulation.

Very elaborate calculations of deposition and denudation have been
made, as summarized by C. Schuchert * and H. P. Woodward. Such
estimates of time are, however, subject to large possible errors, since
it is nearly impossible to find exposures or sections of strata where
deposition has not been interrupted. If, during the interruption, the
lower strata were tilted or converted into land and deeply eroded,
such interruptions may be more easily noted, but the gaps (known
as diastems), if due simply to underwater currents, may be almost
unrecognizable. It is, however, fair to say that at least 300,000 to
400,000 feet of rather fine-grained beds containing characteristic
fossils are known, which might easily indicate a time of several
hundred million years. If that proved to be not enough, unrecog-
nized diastems could be assumed. On the other hand, it would not
be impossible to knock a cipher or two from the age if other methods
of estimating time pointed to such action.

When estimates of the composition of the average sedimentary rock
are compared with that of the average igneous rocks from which they
are supposed to be derived, it is found that there is a shortage of
sodium, even making allowance for all the salt beds known or rea-
sonably suspected. It is natural to compare the ocean with a great
salt lake, and, noting that all such lakes with no outlet become salt,
to suppose that that has also been the case with the ocean. Then,
if we can compute the amount of sodium added each year by the
rivers, and make allowance for the salt of the salt breezes, for the
cyclic sodium derived from the erosion of salt beds and beds contain-

18 Nat. Res. Counc. Bull. 80, pp. 10-64, 1931.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE 945

ing salt water, the sodium absorbed by sediments in base exchange,
and for the rest of the factors tending to increase his estimates of time
and those tending to diminish them which Joly listed, we can estimate
how long it would take at the present rate to accumulate the salt at
present in the ocean. This Joly first did, and his work, first published
in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Dublin, has already
received attention in the Smithsonian Report.’® F. W. Clarke has
gone over the figures with ampler data.”

Jones has estimated the time required to make the Lakes Truckee
and Winnemucca, shrunken remnants of the large lake known to
geologists as Lake Lahontan, as salt as they are in three ways: First,
by comparing the increasing saltness given by two analyses 30 years
apart; second, by studying the rate of evaporation and the time needed
to evaporate the water; and, third, by taking the analyses of the rivers
feeding these lakes and computing the time required to bring in the
salt?!

Of these only the latter method has been used to obtain the age of
the ocean, and even in that there are difficulties which prevent our
relying upon the figures. In the first place, the analyses of river
waters upon which estimates of the yearly contribution of sodium
were based do not give enough weight to the composition in time of
floods, at which most of the run-off takes place. In the second place,
there is no assurance that the present climate and run-off is a fair
average of that in past times. In fact, many geologists believe that a
period of extra uplift and glaciation, exposing a lot of rock to weather-
ing processes, has occurred in the immediate past, and that the present
state of things is not yet back to average. In the third place, if we
may trust Schuchert’s paleographic maps, the present continents are
in general larger than in the past.

All these factors would tend to make the estimate of time of accumu-
lation of oceanic sodium (about 100 million years) too low. On the
other hand, any original sodium in the ocean water, from whatever
source, would make the estimate too high.

Moreover, if we compare any other element than sodium in river
water and the ocean, we get very different results. Some of these
elements, such as calcium and magnesium, are promptly seized by
organisms to make shells. But chlorine offers a different story, and
there is reason to look for a volcanic source for much of the chlorine
and to suppose that it was more abundant in the early ocean. Indeed,
endeavors have been made ” to estimate geologic time from the change

19 Joly, J. Smithsonian Ann. Rep. 1899, pp. 247-288, 1901.
20 Clarke, F. W. Data of geochemistry. U. 8. Geol. Surv. (5 editions), especially chs. 1-5, and pp.
“Jones J. C., Geological history of Lake Lahontan. Carnegie Inst. Washington, Publ. 352, pp. 1-50

42 Lane, A. O., Geological column; France, Britain, Germany, United States. Lefax, pp. 9-357, October
1919, Philadelphia.

246 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

in the Na:Cl ratio in sea water, but the buried (connate) sea waters
have been exposed to change, and the rate of change of the ratio of
sodium to chlorine has been irregular.

GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT, THE COOLING EARTH

There is another progressive activity which has been used to estimate
geologic time which goes back to the great name of Kelvin (Sir William
Thomson). ‘This was so much discussed at one time that it should
be mentioned here, especially as it has recently been studied by
Spicer. This method depended upon the cooling of the earth.
Obviously, if the earth is losing energy from the interior, as it actually
is, and if we know the rate at which it is escaping—and this Kelvin
estimated from the increase of temperature with increasing depth in
mines—we can estimate how long it has been escaping, if we know the
initial condition.

Unfortunately, Kelvin made assumptions which are not likely to be
true. In the first place, he assumed a practically instantaneous drop
of the surface temperature at the time of consolidation of the crust to
practically the present temperature instead of the critical temperature
of water, which might have been the surface temperature if the ocean
was then all or mainly in the atmosphere. On the other hand, if there
were then no ocean and less temperature, the surface temperature
might have been down to 200° lower than at present, and have risen
slowly as water and gas emerged from the interior. In the second
place, he assumed a uniform temperature at the beginning from surface
to center. In the third place, he assumed an increase of temperature
of about 1° F. in 60 feet depth in the earth. Later observations in
Africa and Canada make it possible that the normal rate of tempera-
ture increase is only one-half or one-third as much, and we know noth-
ing of what it is under the ocean—that is, for three-quarters of the
globe. Finally, he made no allowance for the then unknown effects
of radioactive disintegration which in earlier time would have been
even greater than now. The result is that it is not difficult to select
possible geothermal data to fit a wide range of ages.”

However, the geothermal gradient has also been used to estimate
the time since the last ice age. For the wave of heat which started
down when the ice retired does not seem to have reached the bottom of
the deeper mines and wells. This is shown in such a well as that of
figure 3, after C. E. Van Orstrand. The decrease of temperature
toward the surface from the lower levels of Michigan mines would
indicate a temperature near freezing near the surface. The post-
glacial wave of heat seems to have reached a depth of only between

2% Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 48, pp. 75-92, 1937. -
* Lane, A. C., Schaeberle, Becker and the cooling earth. Science, n. s. vol. 27, pp. 589-592, 1908.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE 247

ox 2B SEN BEE DX @

1,000

i

2000

dJijeiodWa, [enuuy Ube

i:

\

Jaa4—Hidad
>
°
°
3°

8

7,000

=
Ni
aN
oes
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eae
aie
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a

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ia
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FIGURE 3.—Curve showing the temperatures of the rocks for various depths, increasing, but increasing
more rapidly at the bottom, indicating a heat wave which has not reached the bottom. (C. E. Van
Orstrand, On the nature of isogeothermal surfaces, Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. 15, p. 514, fig. 8, June 1928.)

248 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

3,000 and 5,000 feet. The variation in geothermal gradient as a
possible index of oil or gas has been studied by Van Orstrand and work-
ers with K. C. Heald for the American Petroleum Institute.

The difficulties in obtaining age results from temperature gradients
are to some extent the same as those inherent in all progressive proc-
esses—uncertainty as to initial conditions and as to how far results
have been affected by other factors. The change of rate of activity
in time is also uncertain, but usually we can know in what direction
itis. We also know little, accurately, as to the diffusivity of rocks as
they lie in the ground, saturated with water fresh or salt, or dry and
containing only oil or gas.

Minor methods of estimating geologic time, the accumulation of
meteorite material, of gases in the atmosphere, organic changes,
variation in the position of the pole, and others of the 40-odd methods
which geologists have tried, which are occasionally useful, may be
passed over to come to those which seem the most important and
widely useful—‘‘popcorn” methods of measuring geologic time by
atomic decay and the accumulation of the products thereof.

GEOLOGIC TIME RECKONED FROM ATOMIC DISINTEGRATIONS

If one watched a popcorn machine and noted the number of
kernels popped in a second, and noted how much was popped, one
could figure how long it had been running. If, after a few minutes in
the dark, one looks at a luminous dial or hands of a watch with a
pocket lens, one can generally see that the luminosity is not quiet, but
is due to a shower of sparks, each of which represents an exploding
atom. While in detail these explode irregularly, yet ordinarily in any
radioactive element there are many flashes per second per milligram,
and the number per hour is practically constant and characteristic
of the element, regardless of any variation of pressure, temperature,
or electric charge that is likely to occur naturally in the earth’s crust.

The study of these explosions has been the subject of many physical
investigations. Three rays are said to be emitted by the explosion,
none of them visible but causing luminosity in certain compounds.
The alpha ray is really a nucleus of the gas helium, and the residual
atom has its atomic weight lowered by 4. The Geiger counter is an
electric device for counting them, a method much more accurate than
visually counting them in a scintilloscope. A recent counting study
is that of Robley D. Evans and G. D. Finney.” The counting has been
continued by C. Goodman. The physical difficulties and the uncer-

28 See Recent geothermal measurements in the Michigan copper district, by James Fisher, L. R. Ingersoll’
and Harry Vivian, with discussion by A. O. Lane, P. Weaver, and L. Gilchrist, Trans. Amer. Inst. Min.
Met. Eng., vol. 110, Geophysical prospecting, pp. 528-535, 1934, and the papers referred to in Lane’s
discussion.

% Finney, G. D., and Evans, R. D., The radioactivity of solids determined by alpha-ray counting. Phys.
Rev., vol. 48, pp. 503-511, Sept. 15, 1935.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANB YAO

tainties produced by |the “background effect” of unwanted particles
are still great.

The beta ray is an electron. Its loss produces inconsiderable change
in the atomic weight but does change the place of the remaining element
in the periodic table, in other words changes it to another element of
practically the same atomic weight—a so-called isobar. For instance,
Hahn and Mattauch have recently discovered (and their results
are being confirmed in the chemical laboratory of the U. S. Geological
Survey) that the rubidium of which the atomic weight is 87 (about
25-28 percent of rubidium) changes to strontium of which the atomic
weight is also 87. Of this there is in strontium generally only 7.5
percent.””

Here we are brought face to face with two of the principal difficulties
in the measurement of the age of minerals and rocks by atomic dis-
integration. How do we know that the elements produced by disinte-
gration were not already there? If this is answered by saying that they
have a peculiar atomic weight, then the problem arises, how to find
that weight, especially when one has but very small quantities.

The third ray given off is the gamma ray, which is only an X-ray.
So far it has not been considered in geologic age determination. Yet
its work in penetrating the wrapping and darkening photographic
plates led to the discovery of atomic disintegration. But as such rays
are known to affect the formation and disintegration of elements they
may have to be taken into account sometimes, though preliminary
investigation would suggest that they are a very minor factor. Plate
1, figure 2, is a print of a polished piece of radium ore from Great Bear
Lake, Canada, made by its own light.

The methods of getting ages of rocks and minerals have been mainly:
For the rocks, the amount of helium (alpha-ray product) which has
accumulated from the explosion of the uranium and thorium. The
lead is very small in comparison even with the few grams per ton of
ordinary lead present, and until recently it has been impossible even
to attempt to get the proportion of isotopes in the rock lead, as it
would involve getting about a gram of lead from a rock which con-
tained less than 22 grams in a ton. Of this only a small portion would
be the lead derived from the explosion of the uranium and thorium
atoms, perhaps 10 percent.

For instance, Dr. Urry has computed for the ‘“whinsill,” a well-
known sheet of intrusive basalt that occurs in the British Carbonif-
erous, that the lead derived from the uranium and the thorium would
be about 0.049 gram per ton, whereas the actual amount of lead
present was 3 to 5 grams per ton. M. F. Conner found similar results
in concentrates which he analyzed.

In molten rocks the helium gas was mainly driven off at the time

” Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 25, no. 12, p. 189, 1937.

250 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

they were molten. Helium derived from the atmosphere can be
recognized by the neon which goes with it. The helium might, of
course, diffuse. But when the helium is present in such small quan-
tities as a few cubic centimeters per ton of rock, and especially as it is
right in the network of a crystalline structure, it does not seem to lose
enough to prevent determination of relative age, if work is done on
fine-grained basaltic specimens taken fresh and compact, and from a
considerable distance below the surface. Results on granitic rocks are
unaccountably low.

On the other hand, in radioactive minerals containing a consider-
able amount of a radioactive element, the lead ratio is the more signifi-
cant, and, if there is considerably more helium in the mineral than in
the surroundings, the helium diffuses.

The helium methods are then likely to give ages that are too low,
and the ratio of lead to the uranium and thorium, if the ordinary lead
has not been determined, ages that are too high. Insofar as they
check, we can be reasonably sure of not being far off, except for a pos-
sibility that the rate of change is markedly different now from what it
has been in the past. In the case of the Silver Leaf Mine-Huron
Claim region, the age by the Sr (87) : Rb (87) ratio also checks within
10 percent.

For instance, a number of ages of Triassic rocks later than the Car-
boniferous have uniformly given ages by the helium method less than
200 million years. On the other hand, there are over a dozen analyses
of minerals in pegmatites intruded before the Appalachian uplift, and
certainly not later than the Carboniferous, which would indicate ages
between 200 and 300 million years. Thus, the probability is very
great that 200 to 250 million years ago some at least of the Carbon-
iferous coals were being formed.

If a mineral or a rock contains a number of elements disintegrating at
known rates to different products, we have an excellent check, pro-
vided we can distinguish them and their products. Indeed, if we
know the proportions of the products and can be sure their production
began at the same time (as will be true, for instance, for the various
leads produced by the isotopes of which uranium is composed, of
which the most abundant have atomic weights 206 and 207) we can
infer the ages, since the lead from older minerals will have a larger
proportion of the products of the more rapidly disappearing isotopes.

Prof. A. von Grosse 8 has especially emphasized this, and John L.
Rose ”* has computed several ages from the relative strength of the
spectral lines of the different leads. Yet, as ordinary lead is a mixture
of the same isotopes, the isotope that comes from thorium Pb (208)
and a small quantity of an isotope Pb (204), unless we can find how

#8 Von Grosse, A., Journ. Phys. Chem., vol. 38, pp. 87-494, 1934; also paper before the Amer. Chem. Soc.,

Rochester, September 1937.
#” Rose, John L., Phys. Rev., vol. 50, pp. 792-796, November 1936.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE 951

much of it there is by the quantity of Pb (204), the results will be
uncertain until there is better agreement as to what isotopes and how
much of them uranium contains, and how fast they change. In this
field G. P. Baxter and A. O. Nier are actively at work.

Potassium is radioactive through giving off a beta particle—an
electron. As recently as 1933, when Aston wrote Isotopes, although it
was recognized that the radioactivity was due to an isotope heavier
than the common K (29), it was supposed to be caused by K (41)
changing to Ca (41). It has since become apparent that the radio-
activity was due to a K (40), not before recognized. This makes no
longer applicable some ingenious suggestions of A. Holmes, depending
on the recognition of the supposedly relatively rare isotope of calcium
Ca (41). The calcium isotope Ca (40) actually is very common. The
most that can be said now is that the ratio of calcium to potassium will
give a maximum age to rock and mineral and to the earth, as A. Keith
Brewer has recently pointed out.*® Of course, in all minerals that
contain potassium there must be calcium, and if there is very little
calcium, the maximum may be near the true age.

But to use potassium or rubidium changes, accurate analysis of very
small quantities will be needed. The methods of quantitative spec-
troscopy must be developed. We may look for similar developments
with other elements.

PLEOCHROIC HALOS

We are entitled to infer that the rate of disintegration of atoms has
not markedly changed during geologic times from the fact that the
value of pleochroic halos around minute crystals containing a radio-
active element are about the same in the older rocks as in the younger
ones, or as in recent artificial preparations. The halos to which I
refer have been noticed since the days of Rosenbusch and have been
recently studied by D. E. Kerr-Lawson* and G. H. Henderson; *?
they are illustrated by plate 2, after Henderson’s latest paper. They
depend upon the fact that the helium bullets flying off when an atom
explodes change the color of the surrounding mineral, which acts as
host for the minute specks of zircon or allanite or whatever radio-
active mineral may be their source. In particular they affect the
iron of the mica, so that, while they are hardly visible when the mica
is dark (that is, the light is vibrating parallel to the cleavage), they
are much plainer when the mica is light (the light which passes
through it is vibrating perpendicular to the cleavage). In other words,
the effect is much the same as that produced by these rays on a
photographic plate.

30 Radioactivity of potassium and geologic time, Science, vol. 86, No. 2226, p. 198, Aug. 27, 1937.
31 Kerr-Lawson, D. E., Pleochroic halos in biotite from near Murray Bay, P. Q., Univ. Toronto Studies,
Geol. Ser., No. 24, Contr. to Canadian Mineralogy, 1927.

32 Henderson, G. H., A quantitative study of pleochroic halos.—1, Proc. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol. 145, pp.
563-581, 591-598, 1934; vol. 158, pp. 199-211, 1937.

252 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Now the alpha particles are stopped by collision with other atoms
in a short distance (0.03 to 0.04 mm in the mica), and it is found that
they are most effective at the end of their flight. Thus they tend to
produce a ring of discoloration, if not much overexposed. Moreover,
each element gives off particles which have a definite range, or pene-
trating power; Holmes gives a table of these ranges.** The more
radioactive the element, the greater is this range; i. e., the more
rapidly it disintegrates.

If, as we have said, a mineral contains elements disintegrating at
different rates, and uranium is composed of two such elements, the
older minerals will contain on the average (or in case of isotopes,
certainly) more of the less stable, more rapidly disintegrating element
and of its products. Henderson has been trying to determine the
ages of halos by the relative strength of the rings, especially of one
due to a product, known as actinium C, of a uranium isotope to that
of a product of the uranium isotope which produces ordinary radium
and a shorter-lived element, which makes the outside ring, known as
radium C. He has also studied the thorium rings. It has been very
difficult to find mica in which the successive rings are distinct and
then to split it fine enough to get a section through the center of the
sphere of an alteration (which has a diameter of less than 0.04 mm)
instead of taking in a good part of the sphere, in which case the separate
rings are not visible. Joly * thought that the whole diameter was
slightly greater in the older halos, but it was only a thousandth of a
millimeter or so. The fact that the diameters of these halos are so
nearly the same as those of halos now artificially produced is an ex-
cellent reason (taken together with the fact that the more rapidly an
element sends off helium bullets—alpha particles—the farther they
fly) for believing that the rate of action has not changed substantially.

To be sure, if the few extra long-range particles were too few to
make a perceptible darkening during the time of our present experi-
ments but might in a million years, and in the older halos are respon-
sible for the outside diameter, then there might be a slight secular
quickening in the discharge of the alpha particles which had been
thus disguised.

In order to make any estimates of time, Henderson had to estimate
the relative strength of the rings made by the various radioactive
elements. This can be done by the microdensitometer, the same
kind of instrument which astronomers use in measuring the propor-
tions of elements in the spectra that come from the stars, and J. L.
Rose, estimated the proportion of isotopes by working upon a fine
line structure, that is, comparing the strength of the lines into which

33 Nat. Res. Counc. Bull. 80, ch. 2, pt. 4, p. 160, 1931; Age of the Earth, p. 135, 1937.
4 Joly, J., Pleochroic halos of various geological ages. Proc. Roy. Soc., ser. A, vol. 102, pp. 682-705, 1925.

MEASURING GEOLOGIC TIME—LANE 953

one line of the lead spectrum can be broken by sufficient magnification.

Aston * obtained the proportion of isotope, by using a mass spectro-
graph in which the atoms shot off from a target pass between magnetic
poles which deflect the heavier atoms from their course less than the
lighter ones. He registers the atoms on the photographic plate
which they strike. In Dempster’s* improved apparatus the atoms
are exposed to a continuous field which swings them around in a
great arc and gets them farther apart. But estimations of the
strength of lines are limited in accuracy and are likely to be interfered
with by lines for other compounds. A. O. C. Nier’s present appar-
atus for the cumulative record of the effect of these atoms promises
greater accuracy and uses smaller quantities.

A difficulty already mentioned is in getting the quantity required
to make an analysis, a separation of isotopes, and an age determina-
tion. Still the quantity needed has steadily diminshed until it is
surprising how complete an analysis F. Hecht and L. Kroupa, in
Vienna, can make with only 50 milligrams of uraninite, about the
weight of a postage stamp.*” Even with their methods, minerals
such as zircon and allanite that have only a little uranium or thorium,
often only 2 or 3 percent, offer difficulties, and if the lead in them
is only a hundredth part of that, which is the case for Tertiary or
younger minerals, it can readily be seen how refined and accurate
methods of analysis must be. Moreover, recent work on successive
zones of the same crystal have shown a change in composition due
to a transfer of material. In comparatively fresh material, that
appears to be satisfactory, the uranium seems to be the more soluble
as a uranous compound and at least films of secondary uranic yellow
compounds are found in radioactive deposits generally. Yet these
very studies tend to show that such changes are not often over 10
percent, and that the ages are in a general way correct.

ROCK AGES

As has been said, in rocks there is so much ordinary lead that
until the separation of small quantities of isotopes of lead and the
identification of ordinary lead, say by the 204 isotope, can be safely
accomplished with small quantities, no reliable age determinations
can be obtained. But helium has not the same difficulty, if we take
compact rocks containing no air and which have been molten. Melt-
ing drives out most of the helium and other gases as well. Helium
being a gas, is likely to escape, and until a few years ago it was gen-

35 Rose, J. L., and Stranathan, R. K., Geologic time and atomic composition of radiogenic lead. Phys,
Rev., vol. 50, pp. 792-796, 1936.
% Aston, F. W., Mass spectra and isotopes. Longmans, 1933.

37 Hecht, F., and Kroupa, L., Die Bedeutung der quantitative Mikroanalyse radioaktive Mineralien
fiir die geologische Zeitmessung. Zeitschr. Chem., vol. 106, pp. 82-103, 1936.

954 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

erally accepted that ages by helium would be only an uncertain frac-
tion of those obtained by lead ratios. Since then work by Holmes
and Dubey and Paneth and Urry has given results which seemed
more reliable and to fit the lead scale more closely.

But they are not beyond question, and more recent work by Good-
man and Keevil under Evans seems to show that while the helium
determinations and those of thorium are fairly close, all the previous
work on the amount of radium in the rocks may need substantial
correction. Specimens from the same dike and therefore of the same
age since consolidation, but showing considerable difference in uran-
ium and thorium, have, nevertheless, helium just right to give the
same age, within the limit of error of the work. Contamination with
atmosphere can be told by the presence of neon. The process requires
great skill, involving as it does determination of uranium in quantities
of grams per ton, of radium in ten-thousandths of a milligram per
ton, helium in cubic centimeters per cubic meter of rock, and thorium
also in grams per ton. Methods first developed by Paneth have been
perfected by Urry.®

If, therefore, we find Devonian traps giving ages between 265 and
300 million years by the helium method, while minerals in Devonian
pegmatites with isotopes determined give ages from 277 to 300 million
years, since the errors by the helium;method are likely to make the
ages too low and those by the lead method to make them too high,
we may be pretty confident that 275 million years ago was in Devonian
time, unless there is a general systematic error not yet located. Thus
the ages given by Stille in figure 2 must be somewhat changed.

Thanks to Urry, we thus have the geologic column roughly outlined
as far back as there are fossils. In fact, in the Noranda mine we find
rocks that seem to be twice as old. It remains to test the country
rock where the minerals in the pegmatite seem to be 1,800 million
years old, as near Winnipeg. In this region where Harwood writes
of very old ‘‘Prekeewatin tonalite,” the recent work of Hahn and
Mattauch on a rubidium-bearing mica and the change from Rb (87)
to Sr (87) leads to an age of 1,700 to 2,000 million years,*® which agrees
with the age determined by analyses by Ellsworth, Hecht, and Kroupa
of uraninite and monazite, all of which indicate an age of about 1,800
million years.

Thus, in spite of difficulties, progress is being made, as results are
obtained from smaller and smaller quantities, and as the methods of
separating and determining isotopes are improved.

3% Urry, W. D., Helium and the problem of geologic time. Chem. Rev., vol. 1, pp. 306-343, 1933. Ages

by the helium method. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 46, pp. 1105-1120, 1935; vol. 47, pp. 1217-1234, 1936.
39 Personal communication. See also Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 25, No. 12, p. 189, 1937.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Lane PLATE 1

Miia Ghd ahah oe St ete Cars Pa ae
er - tad
Man aS MK cots
_ "I by

Re ee

he

aM wt ae TS Se aes
Vie his ak : eS :
eye ages at _ ; “i “pea. we
ee ar Aaah es ony eer ; mad

>”
After Bradley
1. VARIATION IN YEARLY BANDS (VARVES).

Fine-grained limey sandstone of upper part of Green River formation. Enlarged 27 diameters.

2. RADIOGRAPH OF POLISHED PIECE OF GREAT BEAR LAKE RADIUM ORE
(PITCHBLENDE) MADE BY ITS OWN ACTION ON A PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATE.

Six days’ exposure.

PLATE 2

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Lane

PAPER.

1, 2. MICROPHOTOGRAPHS OF THORIUM HALOS AFTER HENDERSON'S LATEST
(Proc. Roy. Soc. London, vol, 158, opp. p. 208, pl. 9.)

The outside ring has a radius of 0.0418 mm.

After D, E. Kerr-Lawson
3. MICROPHOTOGRAPHS OF OVERLAPPING URANIUM HALOS.
Compare the halos D. E. Kerr-Lawson published in University of Toro nto Studies, Geological Series, No.
4, and No. 27, pls. 3, 4.

24, pls. 2, 4,

THE EARTH’S INTERIOR, ITS NATURE AND
COMPOSITION !

By Lrason H. Apams
Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington

[With 2 plates]

Two events in the last few years have made possible a noteworthy
advance in our knowledge of the earth’s interior, and have for the
first time extended our ideas on this subject definitely beyond those
of the early Greek philosophers. The two aids to progress were, first,
the precise measurement of the elastic properties of rocks and, second,
an improved technique in seismology which permitted the accumu-
lation of reliable data on the speeds of waves from near and from
distant earthquakes. Other researches in geophysics have played an
important, although secondary role, and have promoted a steady
improvement in our knowledge of the earth as a whole. It is the
object of this communication to summarize briefly the present notions
concerning the earth’s interior and the steps by which the information
has been obtained.

ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

A discussion of the interior of the earth should properly start with
a consideration of its origin and its place in the universe. Geophysics
begins with cosmogony. Our earth is a spherical body about 8,000
miles in diameter floating in nearly empty space. Its nearest neigh-
bor, the moon, is a quarter of a million miles away. Together, they
revolve around the sun at a distance of some 90 million miles. The
other planets of the solar system circle around the same sun, which,
although by far the largest object in the system, is merely a star like
countless others that dot the sky, and is, as stars go, a rather small
and insignificant one. Separated from the sun by enormous distances
are the other stars of our galaxy, which has a disklike form and an
extent of at least 50,000 light years, and is merely one of the innumer-
able spiral nebulae scattered irregularly through space at an average
distance of perhaps 1,000,000 light years.

On so vast a scale, our earth, a tiny planet accompanying a small
star, seems to dwindle into insignificance, but it is after all the place
where we dwell and have our being, and for us it has the importance

1 An address delivered at the Administration Building, Carnegie Institution of Washington, October 27,
1936. Reprinted by permission from the Scientifle Monthly, vol. 44, pp. 199-209, March 1937.

255

256 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

attaching to a great object, which, except for the surface layers, is as
yet unexplored.

It is now generally accepted that the earth was created from the
parent sun about 2,000 million years ago through tidal disruption by
a passing star. The subsequent liquefaction and solidification of the
detached mass of glowing gas formed the juvenile earth. This notion,
advanced by Jeans and Jeffreys, is quite different from that involved
in the nebular hypothesis of Laplace, according to which the sun was
originally surrounded by a rarefied nebula which rotated about the
central mass. As the nebular material cooled it was supposed to
contract and increase its speed of rotation, until finally the centrifugal
force was sufficient to detach a ring of material, which condensed to
form a planet. Although accepted for many years, the hypothesis
was finally discarded on purely mathematical grounds. The theory
now in favor also differs in many important details from another
tidal theory, the planetesimal hypothesis enunciated by Chamberlin
and Moulton. This was the first to account satisfactorily for many
of the major features of the solar system, and involved the formation,
from the tidal protuberances, of swarms of solid fragments (plane-
tesimals), which coalesced around various nuclei and thus produced
the planets. The significance of the modern theory, for the purposes
of this discussion, lies in the supposition that the earth for a brief time
after its creation was entirely molten, well stirred by convection, and,
to the extent that the component substances were miscible in the
liquid state, quite homogeneous in composition.

NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

The composition and state of the earth’s interior has long remained
a problem of great difficulty. It is at the same time a subject of
lasting interest, alike for the scientist and for the layman. ‘There is
always a certain fascination in the mysterious and unknown, especially
when it appears impossible to solve the problems that are presented.
If it should seem a hopeless task to learn anything about the interior
of the earth, we might profit by adopting that philosophical attitude
toward the origin of the earth and the nature of its interior which
was expressed by Barrell ? as follows:

The history of the earth is read in the rocks which have been thrust up by
internal forces and beveled across by erosion. The nearer events are clearly
recorded in the sequence and nature of the sedimentary rocks and their fossils.
But the oldest formations have been folded, mashed, and crystallized out of all
resemblance to their original nature, and intruded by molten masses now solidified
into granite and other igneous rocks. Fossils, the time markers of geology, if
once existent, have been destroyed, and, as in the dawn of human history, vast
periods of time are dimly sensed through the disordered and illegible record.

This crystallized and intricately distorted series of the oldest terrestrial rocks
tells of an earth surface on which air and water played their parts much as now.

1 Barrell, Joseph, ch. I in The Evolution of the Earth, by R. 8S. Lull and others. New Haven, 1919.

THE EARTH’S INTERIOR—ADAMS 957

But it was a surface repeatedly overwhelmed by outpourings of basaltic lava on a
vaster scale than those of later ages, and the crust was recurrently broken up and
engulfed in the floods of rising granitic magmas. Here the geologic record
begins, but the nature of its beginning points clearly to the existence of a pre-
historic eon. At the farther bounds of this unrecorded time, forever hidden
from direct observation, lies the origin of the earth.

But the mind of man will not be baffled. Since he may not see directly he will
see by inference. Convergent lines of evidence derived from various fields of
knowledge may be followed part way toward this goal, like those rays perceived
through the telescope on the full moon near the margin of its visible hemisphere,
which converge toward craters on the side of the moon that no eye shall ever see.

Developments in various branches of science during recent years
have enabled us to draw a picture showing, as yet none too clearly,
what the interior is like. Any progress that may have been made is
due to the joint effort of many investigators, in the laboratory and in
the field. The measurements and observations have been inter-
preted through the medium of physics, of chemistry, and of mathe-
matics. ‘The important part played by these exact sciences in the
study of the earth was recognized many years ago. For example, the
Advisory Committee on Geophysics of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington in 1902 stated in its report: ‘“The phenomena presented by
the earth are the historical products of chemical and physical forces.”

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

We now proceed to discuss briefly the various sources of informa-
tion concerning the earth’s interior and to list the more important bits
of evidence, which may be joined together to give us a notion of the
constitution of the earth as a whole.

The surface of the earth has been thoroughly explored, and what lies
just below the surface of the land masses has been carefully and
patiently studied by geologists for many years. ‘Thanks to the dissec-
tion of the surface by erosion, notably in deep canyons, we are able to
learn much about the materials down to a depth of several thousand
feet, so that we now have an accurate picture of the rock masses that
lie below the superficial layer of soil and sedimentary rocks. Under-
neath this thin veneer there is mainly igneous rock, that is, rock that
has solidified from molten magma. According to Clarke’s estimate,
the outer 10 miles of the earth consist of 95.0 percent igneous rock,
4.0 percent shale, 0.75 percent sandstone and 0.25 percent limestone.
The labors of the geologist have given us a store of information con-
cerning the structure and mineral composition of rocks and the
interrelations of the various formations. Although there are an over-
whelming number of rock types, with respect to composition and
texture, curiously enough a predominating amount of the visible
igneous rock is either granitic or basaltic. The land surfaces occupy
only about one-fourth of the area of the globe. Unfortunately little

31508—38——-18

258 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

as yet is known about the rocks of the remaining three-fourths,
although something may be inferred from the geology of the ocean
bottom by observations on oceanic islands. Direct sampling of the
ocean floor has been limited to a few inches in depth until quite re-
cently, the depth having now been extended to several feet.*

Supplementing the facts of geology, the phenomenon of volcanism
yields important information concerning what we may call the near
interior. The existence of volcanoes and the outpouring of vast
quantities of hot gases and molten lava furnish direct and striking
evidence of conditions many miles below the surface. Additional
information of value has been supplied by measuring the temperature
of lava lakes, of lava flows and of the gases emerging from fumaroles.
Further evidence of a hot interior is derived from the measurement of
temperature in deep mines and boreholes. The temperature in-
creases steadily with depth, but for reasons yet unknown the tem-
perature gradient varies within wide limits from place to place in
the earth. It may increase as much as 1° C. for each 18 meters or
as little as 1° C. for over 100 meters. According to Van Orstrand,‘
the greatest depth attained in any boring is 12,800 feet (in Upton
County, Tex.); the highest temperature that has been measured is
118° C. in California at a depth of 9,000 feet.

Astronomy yields data of high precision concerning the motion of
the earth, from which can be calculated its moment of inertia. The
precession of the equinox was discovered by the Greek astronomer
Hipparchus in 134 B. C. From the accurately known value of the
constant of precession, it follows that the moment of inertia of the
earth about the polar axis is 8.0610“g cm’. This is a quantity
that depends on the distribution of density within the earth. For a
given mass, and for a given mean density, the moment of inertia
depends on the distribution of light and heavy substances; if there is
heavy material at the center and light material at the surface, the
moment of inertia would be considerably less than if the central
density were smaller than that of the surface. The moment of inertia
of a body may be described qualitatively as its tendency to continue
spinning when once it has been set in motion. It is obvious that a
fly-wheel loaded at the center will spin less persistently than if the
same load were fastened to the rim. Similarly, the known moment
of inertia of the earth allows us to make important deductions con-
cerning the mass or density at various positions from surface to center.

By far the most direct and definite evidence concerning the interior
of the earth is supplied by earthquake waves, especially in combina-
tion with laboratory measurements on various rocks and minerals.
The story has been told before, but it will bear brief repetition. When
an earthquake occurs, elastic vibrations of various kinds are generated.

3 Piggot, C. S., Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 47, pp. 675-684, 1936.
4 Van Orstrand, C. E., personal communication.

THE EARTH’S INTERIOR—ADAMS 259

One variety travels along the surface and is responsible for the damage
caused by large earthquakes. More important for the present purpose
are the two varieties that pass through the body of the earth. One
of these ‘‘through-waves” consists of longitudinal vibrations, analogous
to ordinary sound waves in air; the other consists of transverse vibra-
tions, more nearly akin to light waves. Their formation is in accord
with the conclusion from the theory of elasticity that any disturbance
in an elastic isotropic material should give rise to the two kinds of
vibrations, traveling with velocities depending only on the density
and elastic constants of the material at each point. Earthquake
waves, which have passed through the earth, are recorded by the

eee cheery Ps a a cA pS, PEN ae eT
La tcl ESS Ga le ae a i 8
oy app fa

13.6
13.2
12.8
12.4
12.0
1.6

9.6

1.2

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oi al nl Fg YP WE

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7 EY St FN A OR dN a FD

200 400 600 800 1060 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200

VELociTY IN KILOMETERS PER SECOND.

DerTH From SuRFACE IN KILOMETERS.

FiGURE 1.—Velocity-depth curve (after Repetti). Such curves supply direct evidence concerning the
nature of the earth’s interior.

delicate instruments of the seismologist, who is able to distinguish
the several types of waves and to tell with high precision their time of
arrival at various stations. From the observations we may construct
for each kind of wave a “travel time’’-distance curve, which shows for
any distance the time required for the vibrations to pass from the earth-
quake center to the recording instrument. Tbe mathematician is
now called upon. After subjecting the curve to a remarkable and
intricate mathematical analysis he finds the shape of the path along
which the wave travels—it turns out to be curved—and finds also the
velocity at each point of its path, that is, the velocity at the various
depths to which the wave has penetrated in its journey through the
earth from focus to station. The recent careful determinations of
Repetti ° are shown in figure 1. The particular value of this velocity-

5 Repetti, Wm, C., Dissertation, St. Louis University. Printed in Manila, 1930.

260 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

depth relation lies in the fact that solely from laboratory measure-
ments of the elastic constants of rocks (to which reference will be made
later) we may calculate the wave velocity in various types of rocks,
and thence, by comparison with the known velocities at several depths
below the surface, make important deductions concerning the nature
and composition of the material within the earth. It is as if the
earthquake waves, upon arriving at the surface, carry with them a
message telling not only how long they have been on the way and
how deep they have penetrated, but slso how fast they traveled at
each point of their path, and finally the nature of the material through
which they have journeyed. To be sure, the messages are in code,
but happily the code has been deciphered by the ingenious devices of
the mathematician.

Turning now to those laboratory measurements that pertain to the
present subject, we note first the constant of gravitation, originally
determined by Cavendish in the eighteenth century. The most
recent published result, that of Heyl,’ is 6.67><10-° in absolute units.
From the measured constant of gravitation we know at once the total
mass of the earth, and thence by combination with its volume, the
average density of the globe. The value obtained, 5.52, is a very
important one to which reference will be made later.

The chemical composition of the rocks in or near the earth’s surface
has been subjected to exhaustive investigation. It is a striking fact
that, although about 1,000 different minerals are known, the im-
portant and essential igneous rock-forming minerals number only
about a dozen, and that although some 90 chemical elements have
been found in or on the earth, 11 elements make up 99% percent of the
earth’s layers. These elements in order of their abundance are:
oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, mag-
nesium, titanium, phosphorus, and hydrogen. The above conclusions
are based on the studies of Washington and others of nearly 10,000
chemical analyses of rocks, which show also that the average igneous
rock found at the surface of the earth corresponds to a granite or
granodiorite.

Of especial significance is the composition of meteorites. As a
result of many analyses of these strange visitors from outer space
we now know that they consist largely of impure metallic iron and
basic silicates approaching olivine in composition. Absent, or present
only in minor amounts, are the characteristic constituents of granite,
such as lime, alumina and the alkalis.

An indispensable item in the list of factors from which we hope to
reach definite conclusions concerning the earth’s interior is the com-
pressibility of rocks. One of the earliest grants of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington was to F. D. Adams, at McGill University,

6 Heyl, P. R., Bur. Standards Journ. Res., vol. 5, p. 1243, 1930.

THH HARTH’S INTERIOR—ADAMS 261

for the purpose of measuring the elastic constants of typical rocks.’
The results obtained were of great interest and value, although the
method used was an indirect one and the maximum pressure that
was applied to the rock specimens was only a few hundred atmos-
pheres. Subsequently attempts were made by several investigators
to measure the cubic compressibility of rocks subjected to pure hydro-
static pressure. This sort of measurement is beset with many
difficulties. The effect of pressure on the volume of solids is very
small. For most rocks it is between one and two parts per million
per atmosphere, and it is desired to measure this small effect with an
accuracy of 1 or 2 percent. Satisfactory results were obtained several
years ago at the Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory by the use of
high hydrostatic pressures—10,000 atmospheres or more. High pres-
sure, under hydrostatic conditions, has!three important advantages:
First, because the pressure conforms more nearly to the conditions at
great depths below the surface of the earth; second, because the volume-
changes, which are so small when only one atmosphere is available,
are multiplied 10,000 times; and third, because by the use of high
pressures we avoid the freee latices that appear at low pressures,
especially with coarsely crystalline materials.

For these measurements the so-called piston-displacement method
was used. The specimen, usually cylindrical in form, was placed
inside a thick-walled cylinder, or bomb, of special steel, where, entirely
surrounded by a thin liquid, it was subjected to the desired pressure.
A piston with a leak-proof packing was forced into the bomb by means
of a press and the pressure thus built up. A general view of the
apparatus used at the Geophysical Laboratory for measuring the
compressibility of rocks is shown in plate 1. The amount of movement
of the piston is obviously a measure of the volume-change of the
material within the bomb. Therefore, by recording the motion, or
displacement, for a series of pressures, and correcting for various
factors such as the compressibility of the liquid, we obtain finally the
compressibility of the specimen.

Although it would be desirable to have similar direct measurements
of the rigidity of rocks, a substitute is afforded by the above-mentioned
seismologic data, which show that the material at considerable depths
is sensibly isotropic and that the elastic constant called Poisson’s
ratio has the nearly constant value, 2.7. This justifies the use of a
simple relation in the theory of elasticity to calculate the rigidity of
rocks at high pressures from the compressibility measurements, and
thence to calculate the velocities of the transverse and longitudinal
vibrations.

Over a period of several years many such measurements and calcu-
lations have been made on numerous varieties of granite, diabase and

7 See Adams, F. D., and Coker, E. G., Carnegie Inst. Washington, Publ. No. 46.

262 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

other rocks, and on the common rock-forming minerals. Plate 2 is a
photograph of a portion of the specimens that have been investigated.
The immediate conclusions from the results were first, that typical
rocks had a much lower compressibility, and hence a much higher
wave velocity, than had previously been supposed; and second, that
except for very low pressures the compressibility of a given rock was
merely the average of the compressibilities of its component minerals.

The above-mentioned results were obtained at or near room temper-
ature. Quite recently Birch and Dow at Harvard have been able to
carry out measurements at elevated temperatures and thus to supply
information concerning the effect of temperature on elasticity and
wave speed in rocks.’

Brief mention will be made of one other experimental research,
which is pertinent to the general subject before us. This is an investi-
gation of the effect of high pressure on the critical temperature at
which iron loses its magnetism. It was carried out as a joint effort of
two branches of the institution, the department of terrestrial magnet-
ism and the geophysical laboratory. At or above 768° C., iron loses
its strong magnetic properties. Any masses of metallic iron within
the earth are subjected to the combined effect of high pressures and
temperatures. In order to learn something as to the possibility that
deep-seated metallic iron, despite a presumably high temperature,
should still be strongly magnetic, measurements of critical temper-
ature of magnetization of iron and other ferro-magnetic materials at
pressures up to 4,000 atmospheres were carried out. The final result,
that the effect of pressure on the critical temperature was practically
nil, or probably no greater than 0.001° C. per atmosphere (for pure
iron), will be referred to presently in connection with the core of
the earth.

THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH

The observations and experiments that have been described have
not been intended merely as a partial list of unrelated facts in the field
of geophysics. They are the main clues by which we are enabled to
solve, at least partially, the problem of the structure of the earth’s
interior. We are now quite certain that the earth consists of three
principal regions or zones, the core or central region, the crust or
superficial layer, and the intermediate zone.

That the material of the earth near its center must be very heavy
was one of the earliest conclusions and an excellent example of deduc-
tions concerning the interior. Since the average density of the earth
as a whole is 5.5, as determined from the measured constant of gravi-
tation, and since the average density of rocks found at the surface is

8 Birch, Francis, and Dow, Richard B., Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 47, pp. 1235-1255, 1936.
® Adams, L. H., and Green, J. W., Phil. Mag., vol. 12, pp. 361-380, 1931.

THE EARTH’S INTERIOR—ADAMS 963

only about 2.8, it is obvious that the central density must be much
higher than 2.8—perhaps 8 or 10 or 12—in order for the average to
come out right. This high density in the central region might be due
to either of two causes: (1) The squeezing of ordinary rock into a
much smaller volume under the enormous pressure due to the weight
of superincumbent material, or (2) the presence of some other, intrinsi-
cally heavier, substance such as a metal. The first alternative was
eliminated by using seismologic data to tell us the compressibility of
rocks at great depth and then computing the amount by which the
volume of silicate rocks could be reduced at depths well toward the
center. The maximum by which the density of the material could be
increased turns out to be surprisingly large, but entirely inadequate for
giving the required average density of the earth. We must conclude,
therefore, that it is impossible to account for the high density of the
earth by compression alone, and that at and around the center there
is a considerable amount of an intrinsically heavy substance. The
only reasonable choice is metallic iron. This element is the fourth in
order of abundance in ordinary rocks, it is also abundant in the sun
as shown by the spectroscope, and in both the metallic and combined
form it is the dominant constituent of meteorites. By analogy with
meteorites we should expect that the core would not be pure iron but
rather an alloy of iron with several percent of nickel. The notion of an
iron core is not a new one; it was suggested by Dana in 1873, and
developed by Wiechert and others in later years. Still earlier the earth
was considered to be a great ball of granite, chemically homogeneous
throughout, but we have now passed beyond what may be called the
granitic era in geophysics, and our present convictions are based on
quantitative evidence of the presence of some heavy material at
the center.

We may therefore speak with confidence of an iron or nickel-iron
core the diameter of which is fixed by seismologic data at 6,400 kilo-
meters, or a little more than one-half the diameter of the earth, and
confirmed by the moment of inertia determined by astronomical
observations. The core is plastic rather than rigid, since it does not
transmit transverse earthquake waves; it is nonmagnetic and there-
fore has no appreciable influence on the earth’s magnetism; and the
pressure at its center, as is easily calculated, reaches the enormous
value, 3,200,000 atmospheres. We know the core to be very hot,
but it has not yet been possible to arrive at an entirely satisfactory
estimate of the central temperature. From considerations connected
with the origin of the earth, the conclusion has been reached ! that
the temperature in the far interior is of the order of 3,000° C.

Although the existence of an iron core is generally accepted by those
who have interested themselves in the subject, a few investigators

10 Personal communication from Dr. Ross Gunn.

264 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

have doubted the validity of this conclusion. One, for example,
prefers to explain the high central density by the combination of
atoms under the conditions of high pressure and temperature to form
heavier atoms of various kinds. Others have inclined to the belief
that under sufficiently high pressures the structure of all solids will
collapse, leaving a material of the same chemical composition and
greatly increased density.

This reminds one of the heated discussion carried on some years ago
in the columns of a magazine devoted to popular science, as to whether
the water at the bottom of the ocean was as dense as cast iron. One
faction contended that engineering data showed that materials or
structures subjected to sufficient compression in a testing machine
invariably failed by crushing, and that at considerable depths in the
ocean the water would crush, or cave in upon itself, and thus become
as dense as a heavy metal. The principle that was overlooked in this
contention was that it is relatively very difficult for pure hydrostatic
pressure to make a structure collapse. It is true that we must be on
guard against applying the experience and conclusions pertaining to
a limited range of pressures and temperatures to the extreme con-
ditions prevailing in the interior of the earth.

On the other hand, various considerations indicate that the postu-
lated transmutation of elements and collapse of crystal structure will
take place only under pressures and temperatures of a higher order
of magnitude than those existing in the earth, that is to say, in the
interior of stars rather than planets.

Passing over the intermediate zone for the moment, let us turn our
attention to the outer layer, commonly called the crust. This term
dates back to the time when the earth was thought to consist of a
thin solid crust surrounding a molten interior. But the notion of a
true crust floating on a thin liquid is now abandoned, although the
word is still used to designate the outer layer, perhaps 40 or 50 kilo-
meters thick, with properties very different from those of the material
below it.

From geologic studies it has long been known that the accessible
part of the crust consists largely of granite. When the measurements
of the compressibilities of rocks, already referred to, were made and
the velocity of longitudinal vibrations in typical granites found to be
5.6 kilometers per second, it was therefore a source of gratification
to find that this was precisely the speed found by the seismologist
for the longitudinal waves in the outermost parts of the crust. From
seismologic data we know that this granitic layer varies in thickness
from place to place. In continental areas it may be as little as 10
kilometers or as much as 30 kilometers in thickness, while in the great
ocean basins it appears to be entirely missing.

THE EARTH'S INTERIOR—ADAMS 265

Underneath the granitic layer the crust, as indicated by the velocity
of earthquake waves passing through this region, is basaltic in com-
position. There is some evidence for a transition layer intermediate
in composition and position, but apparently the crust consists largely,
if not entirely, of the granitic and basaltic layers.

By the mathematical theory of heat conduction the temperature
throughout the crust may be estimated if three principal factors are
known. ‘These are (1) the age of the earth, (2) the average amount
of radioactive substances in the superficial rocks, and (3) the tempera-
ture gradient at the surface. The age of the earth—that is, the time
that has elapsed from the initial solidification to the present time—is
probably not far from 2,000 million years, since minerals have been
found, whose age as determined by the lead-uranium ratio is 1,500
million years, and since from astronomical considerations an upper
limit of 3,000 million years is indicated. The average amount of
radium in the rocks found at the surface is about 3 parts in a million
million and the average temperature gradient in undisturbed regions
is 0.03° C. per meter. Although these items are all subject to con-
siderable uncertainty, they allow us to construct a useful curve, show-
ing how temperature varies with depth. Especially striking is the
conclusion that below about 300 kilometers the temperature is nearly
the same as it was originally; the greater part of the earth is now as
hot as it was when solidification first took place.

The accessible portion of the crust is almost entirely crystalline.
Glassy or amorphous material is comparatively rare. Whether the
deeper parts of the crust are crystalline or glassy is a question upon
which there is not yet complete agreement. It is worth while to note
that the question cannot be answered by referring to the temperature-
depth curve already mentioned, because the only such curves that
have been constructed were based on the supposition that the termina-
tion of the era of free convection and the initial cooling of the earth as
a solid body were coincident with the freezing of the molten magma.

The intermediate zone 2,000 miles in thickness extends from the
bottom of the crust to the top of the iron core (see fig. 2). Its striking
features are the major discontinuities in the velocities of earthquake
waves at the upper and lower boundaries. Passing from the crust
down through the upper surface of this region, longitudinal waves
suddenly increase their speed to 8 kilometers per second. The labora-
tory measurements on the elasticity of rocks, mentioned above,
indicated that only two kinds of rock could support so high a velocity
at the moderate pressures appropriate at a depth of about 50 kilo-
meters. These are dunite and eclogite, rocks that are found in few
places at the surface of the earth. Weighty evidence pointed to the
first of these as the more probable constituent of the intermediate zone,
and the conclusion was drawn that the shell consisted of this olivine

266 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

rock and that therefore the whole earth, except for the iron core and
the relatively thin crust, was made up entirely of magnesium iron
orthosilicate. It followed that only four elements, silicon, oxygen,
magnesium and iron, composed the bulk of the earth’s substance, all
the other elements being present in minor amounts.

ThE EARTH "bance

B+2900. Kn —=
6+3,400.Km. .-——_

FIGURE 2.—Section through the earth. (After Mohorovitié.) A is the crust, B the intermediate zone, and
C the central core.

The force of this conclusion has been weakened somewhat by the
recent measurements of Birch and Dow, mentioned above, on a
specimen of diabase from Vinal Haven. The result obtained for the
compressibility leads to a wave velocity equaling that found in the
upper part of the intermediate layer, and thus appears to invalidate
the argument that the presence of dunite or peridotite in this region
is necessary in order to account for the observed velocities of earth-
quakes below the bottom of the crust. The method used was a linear
one, the cubic compressibility being inferred from the change in length
of a small rod exposed to pressure, whereas at the Geophysical Labora-

THE EARTH’S INTERIOR—ADAMS 267

tory the volume-change, being measured directly, is independent of
the degree of isotropy of the material. In view of the fact that the two
methods agree remarkably well for nonporous substances such as silica
glass and also for the porous rock, limestone, the writer prefers to accept
the results of direct volume-change measurement and the conclusions
based thereon, at least until measurements by the linear method are
made on specimens of diabase cut in three mutually perpendicular
directions, and until further measurements by both methods on the
same samples of rock become available."

From observations on the tidal deformation of the surface, the earth
has long been known to be as rigid as steel, and from seismologic
data we find that from crust to core the rigidity increases steadily
with increasing depth. It is very clear, therefore, that the earth as a
whole is ‘“‘solid”; but whether its substance, particularly in the inter-
mediate zone, is crystalline or glassy is more difficult to decide.
From what information we have it does not seem possible that any
silicate glass of a composition favorable for remaining permanently
in the glassy state can support the requisite wave velocities. Although
there may be, and probably are, shallow zones or limited regions of
glassy material, the weight of evidence, in the writer’s opinion, seems
to favor crystallinity for practically the entire silicate part of the
earth. This is a subject for which admittedly there are decided
differences in the viewpoints of various investigators. Lack of space
prevents a complete discussion of the subject at this time.

Many circumstances, concerning which there is at the moment
insufficient time for discussion, indicate that the early history of the
earth was as follows: The primitive molten magma consisting mainly
of magnesium iron silicates with smaller amounts of other oxides,
including water, together with a considerable amount of metallic iron,
first separated into two layers—molten iron below and silicate magma
above. The silicate layer then began to crystallize at the bottom.
As the solid layer increased in thickness, the minor constituents, in-
cluding water, were concentrated to a greater and greater extent in
the remaining liquid. Finally, when the liquid layer had been reduced
to a thickness of a few tens of kilometers, and was much richer in the
originally minor constituents, the crust of the earth was formed.

One of the most cogent reasons for believing that the earth is
crystalline is that in no other way can we easily account for the fact
that the crust differs so markedly from the interior. Granting that
the earth was once molten and well stirred, we apparently must admit
that the separation into zones on so large a scale took place either by
the falling of a heavy insoluble liquid to the bottom (thus producing
the iron core) or by the residuum of a process of crystallization, this
residuum becoming the crust.

1 Footnote added in proof. Recent measurements by Birch and Bancroft (Journ. Geol., vol. 46, p. 126,
1038) confirm the compressibility results obtained at the Geophysical Laboratory.

268 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
CONCLUDING REMARKS

The problem of the earth’s interior has not yet been solved.
Although much is known about conditions far within the earth the
interior still holds many mysteries. An explanation of the mechanism
by which deep-focus earthquakes occur is lacking, and we have no
clues as to the underlying cause of the numerous minor discontinui-
ties in the earthquake velocity-depth curves. Better knowledge of
the temperatures within the earth would be of great utility and,
especially, some basis for a more precise estimate of the original tem-
perature of the molten earth. A general understanding of the great
intermediate zone is essential before we can make satisfactory progress
in investigations of the crust.

But although much remains for the future, we are able to point to
a number of definite accomplishments during the past several years.
These are (1) precise measurement of the elastic constants of rocks
and the determination of the speeds with which elastic waves will
travel through them; (2) the identification of the upper half of the
crust as a granitic layer; (3) a demonstration that the core of the earth
contains a heavy material such as iron; (4) an explanation of the two
major discontinuities within the earth in terms of the elastic constants
of typical rocks; (5) the supplying of strong evidence that large masses
of iron may exist in the interior without influencing the earth’s mag-
netic field, and (6) the establishment of an improved temperature-
depth curve for the crust and the region immediately below it.

In attempting to paint a picture of the deeper parts of the earth,
the best we can do at present is to draw the outlines. Perhaps future
developments may enable us to make a bolder drawing and even to
fill in something of form and color.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Adams

SHOWING THE ‘‘BOMB"'

AT THE GEOPHYSICAL LABORATORY OF CARNEGIE
INSTITUTION.

This ‘‘bomb” consists of a cylinder of special steel, 6 inches in diameter and 14 inches high. It is solid
except for a tubular hole, 9s of an inch in diameter and about 10 inches long, which is fitted with a leak-
proof piston through movement of which a pressure equivalent to 240,000 pounds to the square inch can
be obtained. This apparatus was devised for investigating the behavior of rocks and solutions under
extreme pressures comparable to those that prevail at great depths in the earth.

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GQOHLAW LNAWS9VIdSIG-NOLSIid S3HL Ad SLNAW3SYNSVAW ALITIEGISSAYdWOD HOIHM NO SNAWIDSadS IVOINGNITAD AHL AO NOILHYOd Vv

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ORIGIN OF THE GREAT LAKES BASINS!

By Francis P. SHEPARD

University of Illinois

INTRODUCTION

The time-honored hypothesis of glacial excavation as the principal
cause of the Great Lakes basins appears to have fallen into disrepute.
Most of the latest textbooks of geology and physiography either fail
to mention a cause for these greatest of the world’s fresh-water lakes
or state merely that the basins are the product of land warping,
glacial erosion, and glacial deposition. A number of writers have
questioned the power of ice in continental glaciers to produce deep
basins ? and have given reasons for believing that other factors were
more important. However, for one interested in the ice-erosion
hypothesis the greatest surprise is to be found in a recent article
regarding the bathymetry of Lake Michigan.* The writer of that
paper boldly discussed the origin of the basin without even mentioning
the possibility that glacial erosion might have been a factor. It is
time that someone challenged this growing neglect of the glacial-
erosion hypothesis before it reaches an undeserved state of senility.
The present writer became interested in the problem through the
study of submarine topography and particularly through comparisons
made of the bathymetry of the Great Lakes with that of the conti-
nental shelves and inlets in glaciated territory.

OBJECTIONS TO ICK EROSION

In regard to the Great Lakes the best statement of the objections
of ice erosion is to be found in Thwaites’ Outline of Glacial Geology.*

1 Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Geology, vol. 45, no. 1, January-February 1937.

2 Fairchild, H. L., Ice Erosion Theory a Fallacy, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 16, pp. 13-74, 1905; Spencer,
J. W., Origin of the Basins of the Great Lakes of America, Amer. Geol., vol. 7, pp. 86-97, 1891; Taylor, F. B.,
Study of Ice-Sheet Erosion and Deposition in the Region of the Great Lakes, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol.
22, p. 727, 1911; Thwaites, F. T., Outline of Glacial Geology, 1st ed., pp. 42-44, 1927 (2d ed., p. 20, 1934).
This excellent treatise on all phases of glaciation provided much information used in preparing the present
article.

5 Evans, O. F., Bathymetric Studies of the Lake Michigan Basin, Geog. Rev., vol. 25, pp. 667-671, 1935.

‘Op. cit. The first edition contains 2 more complete statement, although the second edition is more
moderate in its condemnation of glacial erosion.

269

970 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

He calls attention to islands of weak rock in the Lake Superior Basin.
He notes that the basins are too wide to be properly described as
U-shaped, and he questions the existence of hanging valleys along
the margins. Furthermore, he refers to similar basins which extend
across the direction of ice movement and to neighboring basins in
Wisconsin which are “explicable only as depressed parts of river
valleys.” He calls attention to the numerous glaciated surfaces
where ice did not even remove the weathered material. Finally, he
expresses doubts on theoretical grounds of the capacity of conti-
nental glaciers to erode deeply. The objections of other geologists
are adequately covered by these same points.

ALTERNATE HYPOTHESIS

That glacial deposition blocking the outlet of preglacial depres-
sions is the principal cause of the Lakes has been suggested. Spencer ®
believed that the basins were cut below present sea level by streams
as a result of uplift prior to the glacial period. Attention has also
been called by Thwaites and others to the warping in the Great
Lakes region which might suggest a diastrophic origin. Other deep
basins, such as the Rift Valley lakes of Africa, the large lakes of
Asia, and the basins of Nevada and Utah have been caused by
diastrophism.

TESTS OF THE HYPOTHESES

Though it is recognized that in all probability several factors have
contributed to the development of the Great Lakes basins, the ques-
tion arises whether some one of them has not been of major impor-
tance. ‘Tests may be applied which should make a decision on this
point possible.

DRIFT-OBSTRUCTED PREGLACIAL VALLEYS

In the first place, if the basins are largely drift-obstructed valleys,
cut originally by river erosion, the bottoms of the basins should be
higher than the rock floors of the seaward extension of these old
valleys. Also, the basins should show cross-sections of a character
suggestive of river erosion and in keeping with the relation of the
valleys to the drainage divide.

These expectations are not fulfilled. It is well known that all the
Great Lakes except Lake Erie extend below sea level (for maximum
depths see fig. 1), and their rock bottoms may be at a much greater
depth than shown by the soundings because the retreat of the ice
may have left considerable drift coverings in these basins. Thwaites
notes that “well records fail to show any wide preglacial valleys
leading out of the basins of the Great Lakes,” and “* * * the
rock bottoms of the Mississippi and other preglacial valleys are much

5 Op. cit., p. 94.

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SHELF DEPRESSIONS ©
500 FOOT DEPTH CONTOUR
DEPTHS IN FEET

Figure 1.—Showing the basins associated with glaciation in North America. Depths are in feet. The principal basins on the continental shelves are shaded.
81508—38 (Face p. 270)

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GREAT LAKES BASINS—SHEPARD 271

higher than the bottoms of the Great Lakes.” * In order to assume
some gradient toward the Mississippi, which was probably the pre-
glacial outlet of the Great Lakes drainage basin, the bottoms of the
preglacial valleys must have been almost as high as the present sur-
face of the Great Lakes. Furthermore, the area in question, being so
centrally located, must have been close to the drainage divide. It is
hard to conceive of river valleys in such a location with floors as
wide as those of the Great Lakes basins (fig. 2). Nor do the sides
of the basins have the typical sinuous outlines of river valleys. Under
the circumstances it seems unwise to attribute the present deep
basins of the Lakes to preglacial river erosion although the proba-
bility that small river-valley depressions existed along the lines of the
Great Lakes must be recognized. As a corollary, glacial deposition
must be relegated to the unimportant role of helping to limit the
size of basins formed in other ways.

FIGURE 2.—Cross-sections of the Great Lakes. Note the relatively steep sides and broad base.

SIMILAR BASINS IN GLACIATED REGIONS IN GENERAL

A second test may be made of the relative merits of the hypotheses
of glacial erosion and diastrophism. If the basins were due to glacia-
tion, similar basins might be found widespread over the glaciated
territories of the world; whereas, if they are diastrophic, such a wide
distribution in glaciated regions would be most unlikely. In consider-
ing this criterion three things must be borne in mind—first, that some
of the basins do not appear as lakes because they are completely sub-
merged by the ocean; second, that the basins in areas glaciated in
early epochs would have been filled to a considerable extent; and,
third, that the greatest gouging action of the ice would be expected
around or close to the margins of ice sheets, so that the absence of
basins in the interior would not be significant. With these points in
mind we may proceed to an examination of the principal glaciated
territories.

A map of North America (fig. 1) shows a series of large lakes occupy-
ing basins in the soft rocks on the south and west borders of the
Canadian shield, and bathymetric maps show that a lowering of sea
level would leave similar lake basins in the gulfs and bays southeast

6 Op. cit. (1st ed.), p. 43.

272 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

and north of the shield. The Great Lakes basins are neither the
largest nor the deepest of these features. The Finger Lakes of New
York State and Lake Champlain are smaller than, but almost as deep
as, the Great Lakes. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is comparable to the
Great Lakes and contains large, deep, rimmed depressions.’ Along
the coast of Labrador a few inlets, notably Lake Melville, are also
comparable, but in general the inlets or fiords are too small to warrant
consideration.

North of Canada the series of straits and gulfs among the islands
have been charted only very crudely, and soundings are scarce.
Such information as is available, however, suggests that these bodies
of water are similar to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and probably con-
tain basins of a depth and size quite comparable to the Great Lakes.
Hudson Bay has been sounded sufficiently to show that it has basins
within it which compare in dimensions with the Great Lakes. Great
Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca, Reindeer Lake, and
Lake Winnipeg are almost as large as the Great Lakes. Their depths
are not well known, but soundings in Great Slave Lake show a maxi-
mum of 826 feet and in Great Bear Lake of 450 feet §—depths not
unlike those of the Great Lakes. On the other hand, Lake Winnipeg
does not have depths much in excess of 60 feet so far as is known.

In the European glaciated area (fig. 3) there are various large
lakes, and the seas and gulfs contain many basin depressions. The
Skager Rack, south of Norway, has a deep, rimmed basin.? The
Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, and the Gulf of Finland all contain
sizable depressions. Farther east in the Soviet Union are Lake
Ladoga and Lake Onega. The White Sea contains a deep basin, and
the continental shelf in the Barents Sea contains a series of deep,
rimmed depressions.

All these examples of large basins in glaciated regions of relatively
low relief show that the Great Lakes are features characteristic of
continental glaciation. The areas immediately outside the glaciated
regions, together with much of the area of marginal glaciated terri-
tory, where the glaciers were thin and of short duration, have few
basins both on the lands and on the continental shelves. Accord-
ingly, it appears that the Great Lakes are in some way related to
glaciation.

DIASTROPHISM IN GLACIATED TERRITORY

The possibility must be considered that the abundance of basins in
the glaciated territory simply means that this territory has also been
very active diastrophically. Tests will be applied to see whether this

7 Shepard, F. P., The St. Lawrence (Cabot Strait) submarine trough. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 42,
pp. 853-64, 1931; see also fig. 6, p. 860.

§ From information kindly supplied by F. Anderson, hydrographer, Canadian Hydrographic Service.
* Shepard, F. P., Glacial troughs of the continental shelves. Journ. Geol., vol. 39, fig. 9, p. 352, 1931.

Ficur.
31508—38 (Face p. 272)

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and of short , have few
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LACTATER..TERRMORY
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SHELF DEPRESSIONS
500 FOOT DEPTH CONTOUR

Figure 3.—Showin,
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ins associated with glaciation in northern Europe. Basin: th
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g1508—88 (Face p- 272)

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— f

GREAT LAKES BASINS—SHEPARD 273

is the case. First, let us consider the earthquake distribution in
relation to glacial territory. If we place the great seismic belts and
the glaciated territory on the same world-map, we find that the two
hardly coincide at all (fig. 4). Further consideration shows that
both the Scandinavian center in Europe and the Labradorian and
Keewatin centers in America are related closely to ancient shields
where stability has long been developed. Nor are there notable
fault scarps and fault troughs developed in these regions.

Now, if we consider the other areas of the world which contain
large basins, we find a very different picture. These areas are found
within earthquake belts in practically every case. The areas con-
tain a maze of fault scarps and all other indications of having been
active diastrophically in recent times.

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FIGURE 4.—Showing the lack of relation between earthquake belts and glaciated territory.

The argument that there has been warping in glaciated territory
in postglacial times requires some consideration since this may rep-
resent the cause of the basins. It is generally agreed, however, that
this warping is the result of readjustment of the earth’s crust fol-
lowing the release of the load of the continental glaciers. The com-
pilation of the data by Gutenberg ' shows that, so far as the Great
Lakes area is concerned, there is a progressive rise from the southern
boundary of the lakes to the north. The principal effect of such a
tilt would be to decrease the size of the basins, and it certainly should
not be considered as an important factor in their production.

MOVEMENT OF THE ICE

The various opponents of the idea that ice excavation is important
have made much of the presence of deep basins transverse to the
general motion of ice. This is true of many of the fiords along the
various glaciated coasts of the world. It does not, however, dis-

10 Gutenberg, B., Tilting due to glacial melting. Journ. Geol., vol. 41, p. 458, fig. 3, 1933.
31508—88 19

274 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

prove the glacial-excavation hypothesis. It is well known that in
areas of continental glaciation numerous glacial striations cross the
general direction of ice flow. Also, as has been pointed out by
Bretz," the present continental glacier of Greenland has a concen-
trated flow along the fiords which are buried beneath the ice of the
interior. This observation helps explain why there is such clear
evidence of excavation along certain valleys in formerly glaciated
regions whereas the uplands between the same valleys were not sub-
ject to much glacial erosion.

That the ice did move down the Great Lakes basins is clearly in-
dicated. The map compiled by Leverett shows the various lobes
of ice which occupied each of the basins. These lobes have been
demonstrated by the glacial striations and by the morainic belts
which surround the outer termini of the Great Lakes basins.

COMPARISON WITH FIORDS AND OTHER GLACIAL FEATURES

It is quite generally conceded that fiords are due largely to glacial
erosion. Also, the large lakes of Switzerland and other glaciated
mountain ranges are certainly glacial excavations.* The writer
called attention to the complete gradation which exists between
fiords and submarine troughs out on the open continental shelves
off glaciated coasts.“ The Great Lakes, likewise, can be shown to
be related to the mountain lakes of Switzerland with all gradations
between the two. All four of these features have many points in
common. Thus, while the Great Lakes are not strictly U-shaped,
their transverse profiles are trough-shaped with relatively steep walls
on either side (fig. 2). Also, the sides of the lakes are comparatively
straight as are the sides of many glacial valleys in the mountains
and the fiords of glaciated coasts. The unconnected depressions
which characterize Lake Superior (fig. 5) have their counterpart in
most fiords and in many large mountain lakes. The rocky islands
within Lake Superior, which were cited by Thwaites as an argument
against ice erosion, are matched by the rocky islands of most fiords
and are found also in some of the Swiss lakes.

In 1870 Andrews © called attention to certain subaqueous terraces
along the margin of Lake Michigan which he thought extended to
depths of 60 feet. Johnson! subsequently examined the evidence

1! Bretz, J. H., The flord region of East Greenland. Geog. Soc. Spec. Publ. 18, p. 239, 1935.

12 Leverett, F., and Taylor, F. B., The Pleistocene of Indiana and Michigan. U.S. Geol. Surv. Monogr.
53, pl. 5, opp. p. 62.

13 The attempts which have been made to explain flords and mountain lakes as diastrophic are not char-
acterized by the clear reasoning which scientific arguments should have. This point is well developed by
D. W. Johnson, The origin of fiords. Science, n. s., vol. 41, pp. 537-43, 1916.

4 Shepard, F. P., Glacial trough of the continental shelves. Journ. Geol., vol. 39, pp. 347-57, 1931.

18 Andrews, Edmund, The North American lakes considered as chronometers of post glacial time.
Chicago Acad. Sci. Trans., vol. 2, pp. 1-23, 1870.

16 Johnson, D. W., New England-Acadian shoreline, pp. 405-15, 428, John Wiley & Sons, New York,
1925.

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Depths in fathoms.

Ficure 5.—Contour map of Lake Superior.

276 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

for these terraces and concluded with good reason that the soundings
did not permit any such generalization as Andrews had made. He
suggested that the terraces and valleys on the lake floor at some
places were submerged land features. However, some of these val-
leys cited have been shown by the recent surveys to contain deep,
rimmed depressions so that they can hardly be ascribed to river ero-
sion, and near them are similar features more than 600 feet deep (fig.

fae
a,
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¥iGuRkE 6.—Contour map of the northern portion of Lake Michigan.

6, lower left corner). Is it not more reasonable to assume that these
features were produced by glacial erosion, especially as some of the
submerged valleys have distinct U-shaped transverse profiles?

The irregular topography of the lake bottoms, especially that of
Lake Superior, suggests that it has not been greatly modified by
postglacial deposition. The “rock bottom’ reported in surveys
from various parts of the lake floors and glacial till reported from
Lake Michigan * and from Lake Erie ™ corroborate this conclusion.

1” These may be largely boulders rather than bedrock.
18 Hough, J. L., The bottom deposits of southern Lake Michigan. Journ. Sed. Pet., vol. .5, pp. 57-80,

1935.
1° Kindle, E. M., personal communication.

GREAT LAKES BASINS—SHEPARD DAT Er4
THICKNESS OF GLACIAL DRIFT

One of the most convincing arguments favorable to glacial excava-
tion of the Great Lakes is the enormous quantity of glacial drift
found south of these basins. Despite postglacial erosion and the fact
that a large percentage of the debris was carried beyond the glacial
margins by glacial outwash, the surfaces are, nevertheless, covered
with drift which is commonly a hundred or even several hundred
feet in thickness. Furthermore, the nature of the drift is such as to
suggest derivation from adjacent lake basins as, for example, the
clayey till of lnois which was presumably derived from the shales
of the Lake Michigan basin. The freshness of a large part of the
drift, particularly the younger sheets, shows conclusively that the
glaciers were digging into solid rock rather than just removing the
mantle rock from old weathered surfaces.

CONCLUSIONS

The various tests which have been applied to the hypotheses of
origin of the Great Lakes appear to give overwhelming weight to
glacial erosion as the principal cause. Possibly such a conclusion is
not justified, but more significant evidence should be given before
assuming alternative modes of origin. If it is true that the Great
Lakes, the various other large basins in glaciated territory, and the
deep arms of the ocean along glaciated coasts are all largely the prod-
uct of glacial erosion, one is led to wonder whether the glaciers were
not much thicker than commonly assumed. An average thickness of
4 miles or more for the continental ice masses have been suggested
by the writer as a cause of great lowering of sea level to permit the
cutting of submarine canyons. If the ice was that thick, the cutting
of large basins might have been greatly intensified.

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THE BIOGRAPHY OF AN ANCIENT AMERICAN LAKE!

By Witmot H. BrapLey

Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey

[With 4 plates]

As in olden times, when Kublai Khan held absolute rule over a vast
domain and progressively amassed great wealth by reason of the
tribute that flowed in from outlying provinces, so in a far remoter
epoch, long antedating human history, a great lake held sway over a
vast area in the Rocky Mountain region and gradually accumulated
in tremendous volume a potential natural resource derived from the
sun’s unfailing supply of energy and from the mineral burden that
flowed in from adjoming lands through its tributaries.

So remote was this epoch that could we go back to it in time we
would be compelled to gage our progress by the slow evolution of
animal life and the gradually changing expression of the earth’s face.
We would have to go backward with undreamed-of speed past a
pageant of animals that inherited the earth in slow succession as
evolution molded them. So short is man’s history that it would flit
by too quickly to be perceived. Passing backward in a brief moment
through the silent ice age, we would see man’s primitive ancestors,
together with giant sloths, giant bears and beavers, and the woolly
mammoth. Farther back we would meet small elephants and, on the
plains, bands of horses, wild asses, and camels. Farther back in
time’s flight we would find their smaller and ever smaller precursors.
Suddenly would appear the hippopotamuslike titanotheres and a
host of other strange creatures, each leading a succession of smaller
and less specialized ancestors. Finally we would come to the time
of the diminutive four-toed horses, which dwelt in the forests and
grassy parks of that epoch of long ago when the ancient lake came
into its regency.

This great lake, known as “Lake Uinta,” occupied a long, shallow
basin or downwarp of the earth’s crust about a hundred miles south-
east of Utah’s present Great Salt Lake. The record it left is pre-

1 Published by permission of the Director, U. 8. Geological Survey. Reprinted by permission from the
Scientific Monthly, vol. 42, pp. 421-430, May 1936.

279

280 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

served in the form of an immense body of nearly flat-lying beds or
layers of fine-grained rock similar to lithographic stone. This great
body of rock is as long as Vermont but considerably wider, and in
places it is almost a mile thick. Deep canyons and wide valleys are
now cut through it in all directions, so that the whole record is accessible.

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eee ee ee Se

FIGuRE 1.—Index map showing the location and approximate extent of the ancient Lake Uinta.

The thin layers thus exposed bear a remarkably close resemblance to
the leaves of a book. Indeed, it is more than a superficial resemblance
for the layers are in fact pages upon which are impressed symbols that
portray events of that age so long past.

Modern books are so familiar that we take little thought of their
construction and have no difficulty in reading their meaning. But
when the earliest written records of man were found they could be

ANCIENT AMERICAN LAKE—BRADLEY 981

read only after learning how the symbols were formed and what rela-
tion each bore to modern language. So it is with the record left by
the ancient Lake Uinta. Geologists in the seventies of the last century
pried apart the stony pages and found that they contained a story
about an ancient lake. But the story could be read no faster than
the science of geology grew and provided the keys for interpreting the
symbols. Moreover, the reading was slow because fragments of the
record came to light only piecemeal as exploring geologists penetrated
more and more deeply into those parts of the arid West away from
established routes of travel. And finally, long passages in the text
remained obscure until the study of modern lakes revealed what was
taking place in them, for the characteristics of an ancient lake can be
understood only by analogy with the lakes of today. Thus only
recently, as more and more parts of the story have been assembled
and integrated into an ordered sequence, has it been possible to learn
how complex and varied is the history of Lake Uinta. That history
includes a wealth of information, not only about the plant and animal
societies that dwelt in the lake itself and on the adjacent land, but
also about the ways in which they changed to meet a gradually chang-
ing environment. It tells how for thousands of years the lake kept a
sort of calendar, by depositing each year a thin layer of peculiar
sediment that was sharply marked off from the layers formed the
year before and the year after. Though these annual layers do not
continue through the whole record it has been possible from them to
estimate that Lake Uinta was in existence for millions of years. The
history is more than a recital of elapsed years, however, for it tells
both of major catastrophes and of such trivial incidents as the migra-
tion along the water’s edge of a swarm of small, swollen-headed larvae
which, had fate been less harsh, would one day have split their skins
and emerged as adult gnats. From this emergence, however, they
were prevented by a drop in the lake level, which left them to perish
and dry in the sun until the water rose again and deposited on their
remains a shroud which it fashioned out of minute interlocking
mineral particles.

I

In the beginning the site of Lake Uinta was a broad, nearly level
alluvial plain—a sort of huge amphitheater, bordered on three sides
by mountains but open to the south. Streams from the mountains
wound listlessly across the plain and rested in the grassy marshes.
But this landscape was destined to change, for, beneath the plain,
the stony shell of the earth was beginning with subtle slowness to
warp downward. Thereafter the streams spread broadly over the
meadows, changing them to lakes. At first there were two large lakes,
but as the downwarping continued these soon expanded and coalesced

282 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

into a single sheet of water as long as Lake Ontario but much wider.
Thus Lake Uinta came into being.

Up from the north shore rose the great swelling bulk of the Uinta
Range, its flanks green with forest. This forest may or may not
have its counterpart living anywhere in the world of today; never-
theless, it must have been much like the forest that would develop on
the southern slope of a high mountain on the present Gulf coast of
the United States, could we but conjure up a mountain in that region.
Just as such a forest would have different kinds of plants growing at
successively higher levels, so it is probable that the forest which clad
the Uinta Range in that ancient epoch was also zoned according to
the altitude. Fossil leaves, flowers, seeds, and even pollen grains
collected from the bottom deposits of the ancient Lake Uinta enable
us to reconstruct the probable floral zones of a landscape that existed
during the Eocene epoch more than 30 million years ago.

At the water’s edge grew bur reeds, rushes, water milfoils, and the
familiar purple-spiked pickerel weed. But upon the shore and the
wide flats adjacent to it grew trees whose nearest relatives—japouica,
figs, and a variety of aromatic shrubs and trees—now live in the warm-
temperate parts of the earth. Vines, very similar to if not identical
with our modern grape, grew along with gourds, delicate climbing
ferns, and the less inviting cat briers. Where the bottom lands were
sandy, palm leaves cast their slatted shadows on the ground.

If we could have gone back through the swampy bottoms we would
have found, among others, mimosa trees and trees related to the
cinnamon growing with a large variety of ferns and evergreen shrubs.
Pushing farther into the drier foothills, we would have passed through
woods of oak, maple, hickory, and gum—woods nearly indistinguish-
able from the present hardwood forests of temperate North America.
Higher up, pine and hemlock supplanted these familiar hardwood
species, and in the highest parts of the range forests of spruce and fir
predominated. That the evergreen forests were remote from the
ancient lake is attested by the fact that only one seed and the tip of
one twig of these species have ever been discovered in the lake deposits,
though leaves of lower-zone types are found there by the hundreds.
Nevertheless, forests of pine and spruce flourished; their former
presence is manifested by an abundance in the lake deposits of their
odd pollen grains, each of which is fitted with two bulging air sacks
that aided it to float many miles from the parent tree.

The insects, too, resembled rather closely those now living. Cad-
dice-flies, whose larvae build about their bodies little masonry houses
of sand grains or well-joined “log’’ houses of tiny twigs, frequented
the shallow water at the lake’s margin, together with the more famil-
iar dragon flies. The wobbly-legged crane fly was there with his
diminutive cousins, the midges. Beetles, crickets, and the homely

ANCIENT AMERICAN LAKE—BRADLEY 283

grasshopper were common, but if there were butterflies and moths
they have left no trace. Animals coming to the lake shore must
have found it a disagreeable experience, for there they met clouds of
mosquitoes, black flies and gnats, and larger flies that bit savagely.
Spiders and the lowly cockroach have been found, and even one mite,
which, incidentally, has the distinction of being the most ancient mite
in North America—America’s oldest louse, if you will.

Crocodiles shared with various river turtles the sluggish parts of the
streams near the lake. Land tortoises, rivaling in size the famous ones
from the Galapagos Islands, plodded through the sandy lowlands.
Snakes, too, there were; indeed, the most nearly perfect fossil snake
ever found in the Western Hemisphere came from these lake beds.
Water birds, like the loons, sandpipers, and rails, must have been nu-
merous, for impressions of feathers are common on the slabs of rock
that were once mud flats bordering the lake. Of the birds themselves
we know next to nothing—fossil birds are rarae aves indeed. Oddly
enough, however, the one remarkably fine fossil bird that has been
found in these lake beds was a native of the uplands similar to our
ruffed grouse.

Despite the modern aspect of the forest that encircled ancient Lake
Uinta, the warm-blooded mammals that lived in it were decidedly
strange. Particularly striking was the ancestor of the modern horse,
for it stood no higher at the withers than an Airedale pup. Its back
arched somewhat, and instead of one hoof to the foot it had four slender
hoofs on each front foot and three on each hind foot. These hoofs,
however, bore less of the animal’s weight than did a pad at the base
of the toes. The teeth of this primitive horse, unlike those of its
modern descendant, were adapted to feeding upon leaves and soft,
lush plants, for the West at that time was green with forest and
meadow. Only through the following millions of years did it become
the semiarid region that we know today.

A fisherman peering down through the clear water to see what man-
ner of fish there were among the pond weeds would not have been dis-
appointed. Perch and other fresh-water fish inhabited the weedy
bays, but they were greatly outnumbered by varieties of herring. To-
day, most herring live in the sea, though a few go up rivers to spawn
and a few others live in rivers. Thirty million years ago more varie-
ties apparently went into fresh water to spawn, for those found as
fossils are of two sizes—fry that had not long left the spawning ground
and adults that had presumably returned from the sea to spawn.
Least to be expected so far from their usual marine environment were
the large sting rays. The occurrence of so many forms that spent
part of their lives in marine water implies that for a long time a per-
ennial river ran from Lake Uinta to the sea, even though the lake was
probably 600 or 800 miles inland. So great a distance from the sea

984 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

would not have precluded intermigration, for salmon are known to
travel more than 2,000 miles up the Yukon to spawn.

II

By the time Lake Uinta had become thus well stocked with fish it
was a mature lake, for it had already been in existence more than a
million years. Now as lakes grow old they, like men, acquire stores
of worldly goods. Soit was with Lake Uinta; as it advanced in age
its waters became increasingly rich in foodstuffs. And, like a benevo-
lent monarch, the lake gave all this increasing wealth for the good of
its subjects—the varied and extensive aquatic population.

The life of a populous lake is a complex society, the members of
which are interdependent. Most elemental are the microscopic plants
and animals that float freely in the surface waters and derive their
nourishment and energy directly from the sunlight and the dissolved
salts. Upon the abundance of these minute creatures depends the
very existence of other life in the community, for they are the ultimate
source of food. Successively larger animals—the fairy shrimp, the
water flea, and the highly mechanized wheel animalcules—feed upon
them and in turn are fed upon by small fish.

At this mature stage of Lake Uinta these tiny specks of life found
themselves in a congenial environment, where food abounded and the
temperature was most agreeable. They flourished in the midst of
plenty and, late in the summer, when the water had been thoroughly
warmed, literally took possession of the lake. Their numbers in-
creased at an astounding rate; they clouded the water, then turned it
a fulvous green, and finally covered it with a green scum, which the
wind parted into lanes where the water might ripple again and reflect
the blue of the sky. From beneath this surface stratum, filled with
life, those organisms that had grown weary of the struggle for exist-
ence floated gently downward and sought rest in the quiet depths. So
vast was the number of these weary motes that, despite their micro-
scopic size, they bulked large in the total volume of sediment that
reached the lake bottom. Indeed, these late summer epidemics gave
rise each year to a distinct dark layer of organic substance. It was
partly by means of these organic layers that the ancient lake recorded
the passing of the years. But there would have been nothing to mark
one layer off from another formed the following year or the year be-
fore, if it had not been for a different kind of sediment, which accumu-
lated more or less continuously throughout the year.

Streams brought to the lake not only fine mineral particles in
suspension but also the elements of other minerals in solution. Those
particles that rode in on the streams’ turbulence found nothing
buoyant in the quiet lake and hence settled placidly to the bottom.
But the elements in solution were dispersed through the whole water

ANCIENT AMERICAN LAKE—BRADLEY I85

body and, under the influence of the sun’s warmth and the breathing
of minute plants, combined with other elements to form tiny white
flecks of mineral—particles of lime carbonate. These settled to the
bottom as a gentle rain the year around, but most plentifully in the
early summer, and formed a light-colored granular deposit that sepa-
rated the dark organic layers from one another. Thus, because the
dark organic layers were formed at a certain time each year and
because the organic matter was then abundant enough to mask out
the light-colored particles, each dark layer told off the passage of a
year.

The ancient lake continued to serve as an annual calendar in this
manner for thousands and thousands of years, interrupted only at
long intervals by a fall of volcanic ash or by a storm of extraordinary
vigor that stirred even the deep bottoms. The layered deposit was
ultimately changed into rock, but the thin velvety dark bands still
stand out sharply from the light-buff matrix. These layers are very
thin—about 150 of them to the inch. This means that it required
about 1,800 years for enough material to accumulate on the bottom
of the ancient lake to make a slab of rock 1 foot thick. As might be
expected, the varieties of rock consisting of the coarser mineral
particles were built up somewhat more rapidly than this, and the
finer-grained rocks, those consisting predominantly of organic sub-
stance, much more slowly. The measured rates of accumulation
range from 250 to 8,200 years to the foot. By applying the rate at
which each kind of sediment accumulated to the quantity of that
kind of sediment throughout the body of material deposited in Lake
Uinta it has been possible to estimate that the lake was in existence
approximately 7,500,000 years. In this long period evolution had
time to remold some of the more impressionable races of animals
living in the neighborhood. For instance, ancestors of the horse
family that lived at about the time Lake Uinta vanished were larger
and had notably better grinding teeth than their forebears that lived
just before the lake came into existence; moreover, in that interval
evolution also altered somewhat the design of their toes.

In the record which the ancient lake kept year by year, we find the
suggestion that the lake’s volume and temperature varied in sym-
pathy with the changing face of the sun—that is, with the number of
sunspots. Admittedly this correlation is no more than a suggestion,
yet there is a fairly sound theoretical basis for believing it to be real.
Foregoing all effort to explain the steps, we may present the argu-
ment in its briefest form somewhat as follows: Sunspots are most
numerous at intervals of about every 11 years, and these cycles
signify changes in the amount of radiant energy that the sun emits.
It has been observed that the levels of lakes which lose most of their
water by evaporation and relatively little by overflow show a much

286 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

closer relation to the number of sunspots than to rainfall; in general,
the fewer the sunspots the lower the lake level. Lake Uinta at this
stage had no outlet and lost much of its water by evaporation—
therefore it must have had such a cyclic fluctuation of level. Next,
in general the temperature of lake water rises as the lake goes down,
and the higher temperature favors the growth of the minute surface-
dwelling organisms and also the precipitation of particles of lime
carbonate. This gives a further check on the ancient conditions, for
in the deposits of Lake Uinta the layers of organic substance and
lime carbonate differ in thickness from year to year and show maxima
at intervals that average about 11 years. Similar cyclic variations
have been observed in the thickness of annual layers formed in modern
lakes. It is also a suggestive fact that the annual rings of trees that
grew around Lake Uinta show even better the same 11-year cycle,
just like the growth rings in modern trees.

Much longer cycles, whose average length was about 21,000 years,
are also recorded in the deposits of Lake Uinta. By a somewhat
more involved line of reasoning we are led to think that these observed
variations in the lake deposits may be correlated with the resultant
of two astronomic cycles—the change in eccentricity of the earth’s
orbit and the precession of the equinoxes. It remains to be seen
whether these and other comparable cyclic variations in the climate
of the past can ever be used by meteorologists in their researches
into secular changes of climate.

Ill

Lake Uinta and the surrounding countryside did not always present
a picture of smiling beauty, with forests and green meadows. Instead
during the later half of its existence death and starvation laid heavy
hands upon the community. From time to time pallid blankets of
volcanic ash descended upon it and snuffed out the life. Animals
and plants alike were smothered, and the streams were clogged with
the harsh mud. Gradually, as rains washed off the slopes, the forest
renewed its growth and animals again sought its shelter. But it
was to no purpose, for again and yet again at long intervals the
volcanoes in the neighboring mountain chains belched forth devas-
tating clouds of pumiceous ash.

As if these recurrent disasters were not enough, the rains came less
frequently: the very life-giving source of moisture began gradually
but surely to dry up. Under the pitiless summer sun the more lush
plants withered and finally gave up, weary of waiting for the rain.
Animals wandered away in search of water.

The lake, too, suffered. For a long time it overflowed only during
the cooler rainy season, but as the years passed the thirsty air drew
more and more greedily from its surface until finally even at the

ANCIENT AMERICAN LAKE—BRADLEY 287

highest stage the water could not reach the outlet. Thereafter Lake
Uinta fluctuated greatly in size with the changing seasons and with
every change in the weather, for a lake that has no outlet and loses
by evaporation as much as it receives is extremely responsive to slight
variations in atmospheric conditions. As the water level varied, it
alternately flooded and left bare wide expanses of mud. Upon these
wet mud flats scores of fish were stranded and flopped until they
stiffened in the sun. Insects, dazzled by the reflected glare from the
wet mud, alighted only to have their wings and feet caught in the
drying surface film. When the water level rose again, perhaps only
by reason of an onshore wind that pushed a thin sheet of water far
up over the nearly level bottom, both fish and insects were sealed
beneath a new layer of mud and so were preserved and made part
of the enduring record.

As the lake retreated from its former shores it concentrated into
smaller compass the community of living things that had formerly
occupied a more spacious domain. The water was proportionately
enriched in dissolved foodstuffs, and the density of the population
increased manyfold. But conditions gradually became so congested
that many forms were unable to survive. Their place, however,
was immediately taken by a host of other organisms better fitted to
endure the foul environment. Indeed, after thousands of years of
slow dwindling Lake Uinta finally became, at its lowest ebb, a truly
horrid thing—a great festering abscess breathing its stench into the
shimmering summer heat. The water became bitter with salt, and
the decaying organic material in the shallowest places seethed with
fly maggots as they fed upon it. How abundant those maggots were
is plainly told by the fact that layer after layer of them was buried,
and today their overlapping flattened bodies make continuous paper-
like layers in the thinly laminated rock that was once the lake-bottom
mud.

This lowest stage in the history of Lake Uinta indicates that the
climate had changed from fairly humid to arid. The lake repeatedly
deposited salt crystals along its shores and in the wet mud, but never
were its waters so concentrated that continuous beds of salt were laid
down. As shown by the annual layers the salt crystals formed only,
at intervals of about 50 years, which indicates that the water level
even then rose and fell through a considerable range as the rates of
supply and evaporation varied.

While Lake Uinta had no outlet and its level was prevailingly low
the organisms lived in so great profusion that their remains accumu-
lated on the botton almost to the exclusion of anything else. But
that this material endured long enough to be covered and so preserved
means that it won a race with a host of bacteria and other scavenging
hordes eager to destroy it. In that race, however, it suffered partial

288 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

decay; the individual organisms lost their identity and melted away
into a jellylike ooze, which finally became so charged with the toxic
products of decay that it became intolerable even to bacteria. When
decay finally ceased, the ooze became an excellent preservative,
protecting from decay the delicate plants and animals that it acci-
dentally entombed. As the organic ooze or gel was covered by suc-
cessive layers and finally by thousands of feet of sediment it was
compressed and gradually hardened into a dense substance resembling
hard rubber. Geologists have examined this material under the
microscope by grinding small pieces so thin as to be readily translucent.
These thin plates of rock, suitably mounted on glass slides, show not
only finely preserved microorganisms but in addition an odd assort-
ment of wreckage, including the eyes of tiny insects, spatulate scales
from mosquitoes’ wings, and an abundance of pollen grains. When
this hardened organic substance is heated it yields a distillate of crude
oil from which may be obtained gasoline, fuel oil, and related products.
Hence this substance derived from the former residents of the ancient
lake is known as “‘oil shale’. So plentiful were the microorganisms
and so long did Lake Uinta persist that its deposits now contain locked
up the equivalent of more than 70 billion barrels of crude oil waiting
to supply the Nation’s needs when the supply of petroleum from wells
becomes inadequate.

Lake Uinta was blessed in its declining years by a return to con-
ditions more nearly like those that attended its youth and middle
life. Refreshing rain heartened the forest to make another stand,
and the gradually expanding lake finally purged itself by overflow.
Plants of the kinds that fared badly during the protracted drought
gradually spread down from the hills and resumed their former habi-
tats. But as the streams swelled and expanded the lake in this final
stage, they brought with them an unwonted burden of waste from the
land—waste that had accumulated during the dry epoch. Thus it
came about that the lake was commonly turbid and could not provide,
as formerly, the optimum environment for an immense population.

Moreover, the prime motivating force that brought Lake Uinta
into existence and that made possible its long life was beginning to
grow feeble. This force had been one of great magnitude, for it was
this that had warped the crust of the earth gradually downward
into the great basin-shaped depression which the lake occupied.
And now that this foree was weakening the streams were able to
bring sand and silt into the lake a little more rapidly than the down-
warping could make room for it. Hence the water became more and
more shallow, and stream-laid deposits pushed ever farther and farther
out into the basin until there remained only a vast alluvial plain
dotted with swamps and small ponds. The streams that had so long
paid tribute to Lake Uinta finally overwhelmed it and brought its
rule to an end.

ANCIENT AMERICAN LAKE—BRADLEY I89

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bravery, W. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 158, pp. 87-110, 1929; U. S.
Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 168, pp. 1-56, 1931.

Brown, R. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 154, pp. 279-291, 1928; U. S.
Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 185-—C, pp. 45-68, 1934.

Corz, E. D., U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 3, pp. 1-100, and pls.
1-14, 1888.

ScuppEr, S. H., U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 13, pp. 675-686,
and pls. 6-10, 1890.

WincuHEsteER, D. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull., 729, pp. 1-204, 1923.

Wopexousse, R. P., Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 60, pp. 479-524, 1933.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Bradley PEATE 1

LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND A SEED, EACH OF WHICH BELONGED TO A DIFFERENT
PLANT THAT LIVED NEAR LAKE UINTA MANY MILLION YEARS AGO.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Bradley PLATE 4

ext
MES.
rake
Sy ede estes eee
ET, ta eet

_

. AN ANCIENT FISH THAT ONCE SWAM IN THE WEEDY BAYS OF THE ANCIENT
LAKE UINTA.

The photograph is reduced—the fish was more than a foot long.

2. ONE OF THE LESSER FRY OF LAKE UINTA—A FISH ABOUT 4 INCHES LONG THAT
RESEMBLED OUR LIVING SUNFISH.

OUR WATER SUPPLY!

By Oscar E. MEINzER
United States Geological Survey

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Water in relation to physical processes—In the physical and bio-
logical evolution that has taken place on the face of the earth, water
has had a unique function as the principal vehicle for the transfer of
matter and energy. It appears that all evolution, whether physical or
biological, requires, on the one hand, sufficient rigidity to supply a
degree of stability and permanence, and on the other hand, sufficient
fluidity or plasticity to permit more or less gradual change in response
to applied energy. In the physical evolution of the earth there have
been two major complementary processes. One has been the repeated
raising of parts of the solid exterior of the earth to considerable eleva-
tions above sea level through deformation and the intrusion or
extrusion of fluid or plastic rock material; the other has been the
reduction and modification of the raised parts, chiefly, though not
exclusively, through the agency of the water acting in its role as the
transporter of matter and energy. Thus the development of the geo-
logic structure of the outer part of the earth and the creation and
re-creation of the land areas in all their characteristic detail, have been
accomplished chiefly because the earth is surficially rigid but funda-
mentally plastic, and because there is a supply of water which has
served as the principal agent in mechanical weathering, as the carrier
of oxygen and other elements that are active in chemical weathering,
and as the transporter of the weathered materials in suspension or
solution with subsequent deposition of these materials and forming
of the sedimentary deposits.

Although the poet may regard mountains as the symbol of eternal
permanence, the geologist knows that they are ephemeral features
which stand majestically for but a brief period, only to disappear
under the erosive work of the water. ‘To the geologist the work of the
water is almost everywhere in evidence—in the sculpture of the land,
in the character of the soil and subsoil, in the vast succession of sedi-

1 Address of the retiring president of the Washington Academy of Sciences delivered January 21, 1937.

Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 27, no. 3, March
15, 1987,

291

992 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

mentary formations with their numerous unconformities witnessing
to repeated cycles of uplift and erosion, in the texture of the rocks,
and even in the mineral deposits within the rocks.

Water in relation to life-—The work of water is no less evident in the
evolution of the plant and animal kingdoms. The Cambrian strata
contain the record of abundant marine life. In the half billion years
that have elapsed since the Cambrian period, both plant and animal
kingdoms have undergone vast evolution, with extensive and effective
adaptation for life on the land and even in the most arid regions.
However, in this long process of radical adaptation to different
environments, no species of plant or animal has escaped from the funda-
mental requirement of a water supply in order to carry on its life
processes. Deprived of water, all plants and animals would perish.
Deprived of water, the human race, with all its thought and emotion
and spiritual aspiration, would come to prompt oblivion.

When consideration is given to the narrow range of temperature
and other conditions that are required to provide a utilizable supply
of water to living creatures, it seems evident that relatively few
heavenly bodies are adapted to support life as it is known to us.
Nevertheless, in the inconceivably large multitude of heavenly bodies
there may be, in the aggregate, many that have the proper conditions
for a water supply and that support living creatures comparable with
those that exist on this earth, or that existed in the Cambrian period,
or that will exist in ages yet to come. Moreover, it seems reasonable
to believe that there is a spiritual character to the universe which has
a reality and means of expression that are not limited by the special
physical conditions found on this earth. But, however incidental
water may be in the ultimate plan of the universe, for life on our own
earth its need is fundamental and inescapable.

As the plant and animal kingdoms moved in large part from the
sea to the land, radical adaptations to their changed water supply
resulted. Thus it became necessary for both the land plants and the
land animals to adapt themselves to the use of fresh water instead of
salt water, and this adaptation has become so thorough that now salt
water means death to nearly all land life. Thus also was developed
the constant-temperature adaptation of the warm-blooded animals,
operated by means of water acting as the medium for transporting
energy in the form of heat, and this has led to parental care and pro-
longed adolescence, and ultimately to the fruition of intellectual and
social evolution in the human race.

Water in relation to human activities —With advancing civilization
the human race has found water to be a most convenient substance
for a large and ever enlarging list of uses. Indeed, its several proper-
ties, such as its solvent properties, its high specific heat, its occurrence
in the solid, liquid, and gaseous states within convenient temperature

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER 293

intervals and with high latent heat in passing from one state to an-
other, lend themselves so remarkably to the needs of civilized man
in his multitudinous domestic and industrial operations, recreational
activities, and therapeutic applications that it seems as if these prop-
erties had been providentially designed for the benefit of man. It is
an interesting exercise to make a list of the uses to which water is
put by man, many of which are analogous to the physiological uses
of water by living organisms, as for example, the conveyance and
storage of material and energy, often with resultant chemical changes,
the regulation of temperature, and the elimination of waste. It will
be noted that in most of these uses, water serves as the vehicle for
conveying either matter or energy. It is not surprising that water
has acquired a unique religious significance as the symbol, in the rite
of baptism, of spiritual cleansing and regeneration by the washing
away of all sin.

The average per capita consumption of water in the cities and
towns of the United States amounts to more than 100 gallons a day.
Some of this water is wasted but most of it is used for beneficial pur-
poses. In the future the volume so used will be increased and new
uses will be developed. Thus, the rapid advance in air conditioning
of buildings is producing an almost alarming increase in the demand
upon our public water supplies. It may therefore be expected that,
even with reduction in waste, the consumption of water will increase
with advancing civilization. One of the truly great achievements of
civilized man is that of providing, for human use, abundant, con-
venient, and reliable supplies of water of good quality. Indeed, the
improvement of the quality of the water supplies has been a major
factor in increasing the average length of human life. However, con-
sidering the less advanced countries of the world and the rural sec-
tions of our own country, it is evident that the task is still far from
being completed.

The ultimate water supply.—The great residual reservoir of water
is the ocean, which contains all except a small percentage of the
external water of the earth, the rest being on the surface of the land,
or in the interstices of the soil and rocks, or in the atmosphere. It is
necessary to distinguish between the external and the internal water,
for there is evidence that water is one of the constituents of the
magma that forms the interior of the earth, and the total quantity
of this internal magmatic water may be very great. The supply of
external water is apparently being augmented by the extrusion of in-
ternal water and possibly by acquisition from outer space. There
are also processes in operation which release water from chemical
combination, but these are compensated more or less by processes
which tie up some of the existing external water. Any attempt to
evaluate these several processes would be quite academic. It appears

294 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

that any changes which may have occurred in the total quantity of
external water have not had effects of major importance within the
period of definite geologic record. It also appears that no changes
are in prospect that will affect appreciably the future affairs of man.
Although the total quantity of external water has apparently not
changed significantly, fluctuations in sea level, probably due to other
causes, have been of primary importance throughout geologic history,
including relatively recent time. Indeed, many of the large cities of
the earth are at present situated below the levels of strands that have
been washed by the sea since the human race began to live on the
earth.

The hydrologic cycle——The water that is of principal concern to man
is the land water—the water in the lakes and ponds and in the brooks
and rivers, the water that forms the soil moisture, the water in the
rocks that supplies the springs and streams and wells. Any natural
or artificial change that increases the supply of land water where it
is needed, eliminates it where it is destructive, improves its quality,
or increases its availability is a distinct human gain; any change in
the opposite direction is human impoverishment.

The land water is not a stationary supply but forms a part of an
ever-recurring circulation of great complexity and variation, which is
known as the hydrologic cycle. The prime mover in this cycle is the
sun, which, in the last analysis, furnishes the energy that evaporates
water from the sea and conveys it as vapor to higher elevations on
the land, where it is precipitated, chiefly as snow or rain, with poten-
tial energy that tends, through the force of gravity, to carry it back
to the sea. The solar energy is also applied in causing evaporation
from the lakes, ponds, swamps, and streams, from the land surface,
from objects on the surface, from the soil, and, by transpiration, from
the leaves of growing plants, including the native and cultivated trees,
shrubs, and herbs. Indeed, the records of precipitation and run-off
show that only about a third of the water that falls as rain or snow
in the United States reaches the sea as run-off—about one-half in
the eastern part of the country, only a small percentage on the Great
Plains, and none in the Great Basin.

In its return course, the water flows over the land surface and
through the stream channels and percolates through the interstices of
the soil and the water-bearing formations. In its course it performs
work of great variety, some of which is beneficial and some injurious
to man, and much of which has been modified for better or worse by
the intelligent or unintelligent activities of civilized man.

Thus the hydrologic cycle consists of two phases—one phase includ-
ing evaporation, atmospheric movement of the water vapor, and ulti-
mately its condensation and precipitation upon the land; the other
phase including the movement and temporary storage of the precipi-

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER 295

tated water upon or under the land surface while on its way to the
sea or to points of re-evaporation on the land. Both phases are very
complicated.

FIRST PHASE OF THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

Natural fluctuations in humidity and aridity —Let us consider the
first of these two phases of the hydrologic cycle. The terms aridity
and humidity, as the opposite of aridity, are difficult to define in pre-
cise terms. In a widely accepted sense, however, the term aridity
relates to the deficiency of the precipitation in a given area for the
normal growth of mesophytic vegetation that is otherwise adapted
to the conditions of that area. In this sense the aridity of an area is
intensified by decrease in the amount of precipitation and also by
increase in the evaporativity of the area—that is, in the potential
rate of evaporation. Both precipitation and evaporativity vary radi-
cally from place to place and from time to time, largely because of
temperature variations, which are produced by a complex of different
causes.

The geologic record, covering some hundreds of millions of years,
seems to show that long ages of relatively warm and equable climate,
perhaps with a general tendency toward aridity, were at several times
interrupted by shorter periods of more variable climate including
some cold, humid stages. The latest of these variable periods began,
perhaps a million years ago, with the first of the Quaternary glacial
stages and is apparently still in progress. The geologic record shows
that the Quaternary, and perhaps also older periods of the same sort
consisted of several major glacial stages alternating with distinct
interglacial stages, and that the glacial stages, or at least the last one,
consisted of two or more substages involving considerable climatic
fluctuations. The greater humidity of the glacial stages was in large
part caused by decrease in evaporation. From biological evidence and
the evidence of marine terraces, it appears that we are at present in
an intermediate position, having receded only part of the way from
the last glacial stage. From intensive study of geologic, archeological,
and historical records it is, however, evident that recent time has not
consisted of a gradual change from glacial to interglacial conditions,
but rather of complicated fluctuations of climate, in part regional
rather than world-wide, between periods that were more humid and
periods that were more arid than the present.

All about us we have impressive evidence of climatic change, such
as the great sheets of glacial drift and trains of outwash gravel, the
scores of desiccated or partly desiccated lakes, including the extensive
Lakes Bonneville and Lahontan, and the great mantle of loess or
wind-blown silt that covers much of the interior of this country and
is largely responsible for its great fertility. Looking more closely at

996 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the evidence of fluctuations furnished by existing lakes, glaciers, tree
rings, etc., and the available records of measured precipitation and
stream flow, we stand impressed by the great and irregular climatic
variations of the immediate past.

Thus at the end of the disastrous drought year of 1936, we in this
country look into the future somewhat bewildered and almost afraid,
the more so because we recognize that much of the productive part
of our country is not very far from the margin of semiaridity. We
must frankly admit that in spite of all our investigation we do not
know in which direction we are trending—toward greater humidity
or more severe droughts—in the ensuing year, decade, or century.
We can, however, make some predictions, which are in part reassuring
and in part otherwise. It is virtually certain that drought conditions
are not permanent but will be followed by years of abundant rainfall
and bounteous crops; on the other hand, it is almost equally certain
that the recent droughts are not abnormal but that in the course of
time other droughts of equal and even greater severity may be
expected.

It is believed that the climatic fluctuations of the past have been
the underlying cause of much turmoil in human history. But it is
significant that the human race has not only managed to live through
the times of drought and the intervening cold and wet times, but also
that it has had its notable evolution in this Quaternary period of
strongly fluctuating climate. The climate of the present, as the
climate of the past, challenges man to greater effort and achievement.

The possible influence of artificial changes upon precipitation.—
When, during periods of wet years, the settlers moved into the semi-
arid region of our country and found to their delight that they could
raise good crops, they fondly developed the faith that rainfall follows
the plow. Now, after a series of years of drought and crop failure this
faith has been sorely tried; and we are tormented with the fear that
on account of the acts of man in plowing and draining, our country
is rapidly becoming a desert. In the presence of such intense public
concern it is difficult to maintain a wholly judicial attitude. It is
reasonable to expect that fluctuations in humidity such as are known
to have characterized the past, should also occur, through wholly
natural causes, in the present and future. This logical inference, how-
ever, does not afford any reason for assuming that the very extensive
and radical changes which have been made by the white men on the
face of our country have produced no effects toward greater humidity
or aridity. Neither may it be assumed that such effects can be of no
practical consequence if they are obscured by natural fluctuations.

If the average annual contribution to the precipitation upon a
continent from water evaporated out of the sea remains the same,
then the drainage of swamps should reduce the average annual pre-

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER 997

cipitation because some of the swamp water that would normally
be evaporated and reprecipitated is drained away into the sea. On the
other hand, the diversion of water from streams that flow into the
sea and the use of this water for irrigation should tend to increase the
precipitation. Moreover, any changes incident to cultivating and
cropping the land or to grazing the land should decrease or increase
the precipitation according as they increase or decrease the run-off
into the sea. It is generally believed that these artificially produced
changes in run-off cannot be quantitatively competent to produce
appreciable changes in precipitation. However, it is pertinent to in-
quire whether they may have significant effects in some critical areas.
It would seem that the subject deserves serious investigation.

SECOND PHASE OF THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

Return flow and storage en route.—The other phase of the hydrologic
cycle consists of the flow of the precipitated water toward the sea or
toward places of reevaporation from the land, and its storage en
route, chiefly as ice and snow, as surface water in the lakes, ponds,
and swamps, as moisture held by molecular attraction in the soil, and
as ground water in the subterranean reservoirs formed by the porous
rocks. To the extent that the storage facilities are inadequate, the
precipitated water is rapidly discharged into the sea through the
natural drainage channels as direct run-off, This direct run-off is of
little value to man and it produces most of the destructive floods and
most of the destructive erosion and sedimentation. If there were no
natural storage facilities there would be virtually no springs, no
perennial streams, and no trees, grass, or crops, and all stream chan-
nels would be subject to sudden and violent floods.

Near the close of the last century it became evident in this country
that accurate continuous records of stream flow were essential for
efficient utilization of the water resources and for effective flood con-
trol. Since that time a large amount of systematic stream gaging has
been done, with accuracy increasing from year to year. Intensive
studies have also been made to differentiate between the direct run-
off and the run-off derived from the several kinds of storage, and to
determine the laws of each and their relation to precipitation. Insome
of the coastal regions large quantities of ground water are also dis-
charged into the sea without appearing at the surface, such discharge
being controlled by the geologic structure, the permeability of the
water-bearing formations, and the balance between the head of the
eround water and the back pressure of the heavier sea water.

Civilized man has made a notable achievement by supplementing
the natural storage facilities with many artificial reservoirs, both
great and small. Unfortunately, this achievement is likely to prove
less substantial in the long run than is popularly supposed, chiefly

298 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

because of the rapid accumulation of sediment brought to the reser-
voirs by the turbid waters of the direct run-off. Much careful study
has already been given and much more is needed to determine the
rates of sedimentation under different conditions and to devise fea-
sible methods of prolonging the life of reservoirs by bypassing the
most turbid waters, by sluicing out the sediments, or by other means.
Much progress has recently been made in the appreciation of the
great value of the natural storage facilities and the importance of con-
serving and utilizing them. The whole complex subject affords a large
field for future study and constructive effort.

Ice and snow storage.—Ice and snow have recently come into the
scientific limelight in different ways. One of these relates to the in-
terest of geologists in the relation of the Quaternary and older glacial
stages to fluctuations of sea level and to the cyclic character of some
of the stratified rocks of marine origin. Thus it is now believed that
in some of the glacial stages enough water was locked up as glacial
ice to depress the sea level as much as several hundred feet, and that,
on the other hand, many of the ancient sea terraces, such as occur
on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, were formed during inter-
glacial stages when there was even lessice than at present. It has been
estimated that if all the ice that exists at present in the polar regions
were melted it would raise the sea level at least 100 feet and perhaps
200 feet or more. The advance and retreat of existing European gla-
ciers have long been recorded, but systematic observations on North
American glaciers have only recently been undertaken. Interest in
snow relates chiefly to the snow in the mountains, which supports the
summer flow of many streams, and to recently developed methods of
estimating the annual snowfall and predicting the resultant stream
flow.

Storage of water in the soil—A soil may be regarded as a water
reservoir, its water being in the form of moisture adhering to the soil
particles. This water is under complicated stresses produced by com-
binations of the molecular attraction of the soil, the downward pull
of gravity, the absorptive energy of the plants, and the energy in-
volved in the relation between the soil moisture and the atmospheric
vapor. The slow movements of the soil moisture in response to these
stresses are of much importance in plant growth and in recharge of
the water-bearing formations, and they have properly been the sub-
ject of much study.

The value of a soil for producing crops depends largely on its
capacity to hold its water supply against the pull of gravity and yet
to yield this retained water to the roots of the plants. A clean dune
sand retains so little water that even in a humid region it may support
only cactus and other drought-resistant plants; on the other hand, a
clay soil has a large water-retaining capacity but may hold most of

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER 999

its water in dead storage insofar as the roots of the plants are con-
cerned. Between these extremes are the productive soils of inter-
mediate texture, such as the loams formed from the loess, which hold
considerable water against the pull of gravity and yield it freely to
the plants.

Dry-farming methods consist largely in utilizing the reservoir
capacity of a soil by storing in it the rain and snow water of one or
more years and making it available to a crop that is grown in a much
shorter period. Unfortunately, soils do not generally have the
capacity to store the quantity of water that is needed to produce a crop
without replenishment by rains or irrigation at more or less frequent
intervals during the growing season. In the eastern and especially
the southeastern part of this country it frequently happens that the
soil moisture is fully replenished early in the winter and that for many
weeks thereafter water from the rain and snow percolates through the
soil without adding to its water content. In the ensuing summer,
however, the soil moisture may become depleted long before the a
have matured, and severe drought damage may result.

Agriculture is, from the viewpoint of this discussion, one of the
greatest of all achievements of man in the utilization of our water
supply, but soil erosion, like a dread disease, gnaws at its roots. The
erosion of the soil removes a part of the water reservoir that it utilized
in crop production, and especially the upper part, which generally
has the greatest capacity for holding water available to plants. Thus
the measures undertaken to check soil erosion are measures of water
conservation.

Storage of water in the rock formations.—The systems of rocks that
form the outer part of the solid earth are the products of all the
diverse and variable geologic processes that have been operative
through the ages. The description and interpretation of these rock
systems, with their almost infinite complexity, is the task of the
geologists. The rock systems constitute natural systems of water-
works with many reservoirs of great variety, some of which have very
large capacity. The study of these natural waterworks and their
operation is a task of the hydrologists. It is a task that has required
the development of a distinctive technique in the application of the
science of fluid mechanics and hydraulic engineering to the geologic
structure of the rocks.

The porous and permeable rock formations which constitute the
underground reservoirs are saturated below a certain level with water
that is under the control of gravity. In other words, theu nder-
ground reservoirs are filled to the level of the water table. In most
places the roots of the plants do not extend downward to the water
table or to the capillary fringe, which occurs directly above the water

300 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

table, and there is therefore an intermediate belt between the root
zone, or belt of soil moisture, and the zone of saturation.

Replenishment of the underground reservoirs —The underground
reservoirs are replenished, or recharged, with water from atmospheric
sources. Nearly all hydrologists believe that the recharge is essentially
all from rain and snow or from streams fed by rain and snow, but
there are still a few hydrologists who believe that subsurface con-
densation is a substantial source. The amount of recharge from a
given amount and kind of precipitation varies with the absorptive or
intake capacity of the soil or other surficial material and inversely
with the capacity of the soil to hold the water for plant use instead
of allowing it to percolate downward to the water table.

The intake capacity constitutes a large subject with many ramifi-
cations. It includes questions as to the effects of the vegetable mold
in the forested areas and of the natural sod, and, on the other hand,
the effects of grazing and of the cultivation of the soil. It includes
also the problems of artificial recharge by spreading stream water or
by other means, and of the silting up of the natural recharge channels
by surface storage or other manipulation. The surface conditions of
both forests and sod-covered prairies are favorable to intake by keep-
ing the rain and snow water clean and thus permitting it to percolate
downward through the available ducts and pores without clogging
them, whereas under some conditions the cultivation of the soil tends
to decrease the intake capacity, especially in heavy and prolonged
rains, by puddling the top layer of soil and choking the intake open-
ings. However, forests consume large quantities of water by transpira-
tion, which tends to offset their large intake. The conflicting results
obtained by different investigators as to the effects of forests on the
water table and on the flow of springs and streams, as compared to
the effects of cleared or cultivated land, are in part due to the fact that
in some places and at some times the balance is actually on one side
and in others on the other side. Relatively little investigation has as
yet been made of transpiration on the sod-covered prairies and of the
effects of breaking up and cultivating the prairie lands. It appears
probable that there is a basis in fact for the prevalent belief that the
advent of the white men in this country was attended by a certain
amount of lowering of ground water levels and of decrease in the flow
of springs and streams.

It appears that artificial recharge by water spreading, by impound-
ing of surface water and regulation of stream flow, and perhaps by
drainage into wells, has large possibilities for increasing the perennial
supply of ground water in certain specific areas of heavy consumption
in which the natural conditions are favorable. On the other hand, for
the country as a whole, recharge by such means will remain small in
comparison to the total natural recharge and the total discharge of

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER 301

ground water through stream flow and through evaporation and
transpiration. Greater aggregate increase in recharge is likely to
result from general improvements in agricultural practice and from
structures designed to retard soil erosion.

Great as are the variations in precipitation from place to place and
from year to year in the same place, the variations in ground-water
recharge are still greater. It is now known, for example, that per-
ennial supplies amounting to many millions of gallons a day are
available to wells through natural recharge of the sand and gravel in
the fill of the coastal valleys and the Great Valley of California, the
glacial outwash sands and gravels of Long Island, the Rhine Valley
and the plain of northern Germany, the dune sands of Holland, the
creviced limestone in the Roswell artesian basin in New Mexico, the
broken lava rocks of the Snake River Plain in Idaho and the islands
of Oahu and Maui, and the water-bearing rocks of various other areas.
On the other hand, there are areas in which ground-water recharge
is extremely small, either because the surface terrane is impermeable
or because the water absorbed from scant precipitation is nearly all
evaporated or utilized by plants before it reaches the bottom of the
root zone. Large areas in the arid and semiarid parts of this country
have only very meager recharge because the precipitation is light and
occurs largely in the growing season. Yet many of these areas are
underlain by water-bearing formations that contain large stores of
accumulated water which they will yield freely to wells so long as the
supply lasts. In the coastal region of California and in the Great
Valley the soil normally becomes desiccated during the long dry sum-
mers. In winters of subnormal precipitation the precipitated water
is here largely required to restore the soil moisture, and there may be
little ground-water recharge; in exceptionally wet winters, however,
the water-retaining capacity of the soil is satisfied long before the end
of the rainy season and very large quantities of water percolate to the
water table, either locally through the soil or through the channels of
the influent streams. In the relatively humid eastern part of the
United States there is normally considerable recharge not only in
winter and spring but also in wet periods in summer, but in the drought
of 1930-31 some localities were devoid of recharge for nearly a year.
In cold regions with only moderate precipitation nearly all the re-
charge may occur in a very short time in the spring when the snow
melts and the frost leaves the soil. In such regions there are also
great differences in the annual crop of ground water.

Relation of the water table to the plant kingdom.—lIt has already been
pointed out that in most places the roots of the plants do not obtain
their water supply from the zone of saturation. Throughout the
greater part of the extensive and productive interior agricultural
region of our country, the staple crops depend on the soil moisture

302 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

derived directly from the rain and snow and fail if that supply be-
comes exhausted, regardless of the quantities of water that are stored
below the water table. On the other hand, however, water from the
zone of saturation is utilized, either habitually or in times of drought,
by native and cultivated plants in many low places, including large
parts of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, the glaciated region, and
the stream valleys and structural valleys in other parts of the country.
Thus the relation of the water table to forest and fruit trees, staple
crops such as wheat, corn, and alfalfa, garden truck, and native
grasses is a subject of great consequence.

It is estimated that in the eastern part of the United States at least
one-third of the water discharged from the zone of saturation is dis-
charged by transpiration or evaporation, the rest being discharged
chiefly as stream flow. In some of the summer months the discharge
by transpiration and evaporation may greatly exceed the discharge by
stream flow. In going toward the less humid parts of the country
the total annual supply of ground water decreases but the proportion
discharged by plants increases, until in some of the arid sections
virtually all the water discharged from the zone of saturation is
through plants, and the phreatophyte vegetation, which taps the
zone of saturation, stands in striking contrast to the other desert
plants.

Probably the greatest deficiency in hydrologic knowledge, especially
in this country, is in the important practical subject of the relation
of the native and cultivated plants to the water table. Not enough
attention has been given to the water table by botanists, silvicultur-
ists, or agronomists, and adequate information is not available on
such important subjects as the phreatophytic habits of trees and their
relation to forestation in the arid and semiarid regions, the depth to
which different cultivated plants will extend their roots to reach the
water table, the optimum depth to the water table, and the increase
in crop production resulting from use by the plants of water from the
zone of saturation. The intensive drainage developments that have
been made in this country have been based too largely on the concept
that the water table is a detrimental feature, and not enough consid-
eration has been given to the value of the water table to plants under
proper conditions. On the other hand, the inadequacy of specific
information on this subject is largely responsible for exaggerated
statements that are made from time to time as to the disastrous results
to agriculture from general lowering of the water table.

Relation of underground storage to stream flow and to water supplies
from wells—The principal function of a reservoir is to store water
for future use. The underground reservoirs function naturally like
lakes and ponds in equalizing the stream flow, but they are more
effective because of the retardation of the ground water by the

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER - 303

friction of the rock interstices. Underground reservoirs of some sort
are almost universally present and are chiefly responsible for the
sustained flow of streams. The ground-water run-off carried by the
streams is relatively constant as compared with the very erratic un-
controlled direct run-off, but it is nevertheless sensitive to various
weather conditions and is generally greatly reduced by severe drought.
Streams differ greatly in the quantity and fluctuation of their ground-
water run-off according to the geology and other natural conditions
of the drainage basins. A subject that has received little investigation
but is of much scientific and practical interest is the relation of geology
to stream flow.

The underground reservoirs function like artificial reservoirs with
controlled outlets only when they are tapped by wells that extend
considerably below the water table. Shallow wells that merely skim
off ground water from the top of the zone of saturation are likely to
fail when the water table is lowered by drought, but the wells that
extend deeper into the water-bearing formations and have access to
their great stores of water are not appreciably affected by drought.
Reports of failure of such wells are commonly due to mechanical
defects in the wells or pumps, or to attempts made in times of drought
to increase the rate of pumping beyond the normal capacities of the
wells. By drawing water from wells in proper amounts the storage
facilities of the underground reservoirs are utilized and ground-water
recharge is increased.

Yield of the artesian reservoirs—aA problem of great practical sig-
nificance relates to the perennial yield of the underground reservoirs.
To what extent is the water that is annually being drawn from pumped
or flowing wells derived from annual recharge and to what extent is it
taken out of storage, with the prospect of ultimate serious depletion?
From which of the water-bearing formations can additional perennial
water supplies be developed and where can these developments be
made? These questions are more intricate for the artesian forma-
tions, which are under confining covers, than for the water-bearing
formations that have water-table conditions and hence have their
wells in or near their intake areas. They are also more intricate for
the extensive artesian sands and sandstones, which transmit their
water through small intergranular interstices and exhibit considerable
volume elasticity, than for the artesian limestones and lava rocks,
which have much larger water conduits and are more rigid.

Among the large artesian sandstones of the United States are the
Cambrian sandstones of the interior, the St. Peter sandstone, the
Dakota sandstone, and the series of thick sands or sandstones of the
Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain. In these sandstones centuries may
be required for water to percolate from the intake areas to the localities
of the wells. The total quantities of water that they hold in storage

304 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

are indeed very large, and the quantities that they will yield from
storage merely through the compression that results from the release
of artesian pressure of the confined water apparently may amount
to millions of gallons a day for many years. It is believed that the
phenomenon of compression with decrease in artesian pressure
has been demonstrated to be of primary importance in the study of
the perennial yield of these artesian sandstones, but the mode of com-
pression has not been given much investigation. Presumably com-
pression occurs largely in the strata of relatively fine grain which feed
into the strata of coarser grain that supply the wells. The phenom-
enon of reexpansion with increase in artesian pressure is also known to
occur to a considerable extent. It is more difficult to explain than
the compression but is probably also more characteristic of strata of
relatively fine grain than of the most productive water-bearing beds.

It appears that the spectacular discharge of artesian water from
the Dakota sandstone for more than half a century has been supplied
to a great extent from storage, largely as a result of the elastic or com-
pressive properties of the system. It remains to be determined
whether the more moderate withdrawals that are likely to be made in
the future will be replaced by recharge or will result in further pro-
gressive depletion. The 800-foot sand in the Atlantic City area has
yielded water freely for several decades and is currently yielding
several millions of gallons a day. It shows encouraging recovery of
head whenever the rate of pumping from wells is diminished. How-
ever, a 13-year record obtained by the investigators in that area
seems to show that the regional cone of depression is still expanding,
and that with the resulting compression some water is still being
taken from storage. Other great artesian sandstones, such as those
which for many years have furnished the water supplies of Memphis
and Houston, are known to have large annual recharge, but neverthe-
less further records are needed to determine definitely the source of
the current pumpage—to what extent the pumped water is replaced
by recharge and to what extent it is derived from storage by the
further development of the regional cones of depression.

About 6,500 public waterworks in this country are supplied from
wells. Many of these obtain their water from surficial formations
with true water-table conditions and many others from recognized
artesian formations. However, there is another large group of water-
works that are supplied from aquifers, largely in the glacial drift,
that are not usually regarded as artesian and yet underlie more or less
effective confining beds and are recharged by somewhat devious
percolation of the ground water. More attention ought to be given to
the problems of depletion and safe yield of these aquifers of inter-
mediate character.

OUR WATER SUPPLY—MEINZER 305
EMERGENCE OF HYDROLOGY AS A RECOGNIZED SCIENCE

The hydrologic cycle, being of major scientific and practical interest,
has received the study of a large number of scientists, most of whom
have not called themselves hydrologists. In this country the Weather
Bureau long ago established a comprehensive and systematic program
that has resulted in the accumulation of a great amount of base data
on precipitation and other weather conditions, the value of which
is beyond estimation. The Geological Survey has developed a
thorough technique for gaging streams and has accumulated a remark-
able body of systematic and exact data on stream flow. By sys-
tematic work through many years it has also made substantial
achievements in the chemical analysis of the natural waters, in a
general survey of the ground-water conditions, and in the development
and application of quantitative methods in ground-water investigation.

In addition to the work of these two scientific bureaus of the
Federal Government, there has been a vast amount of work by a great
number of governmental and private agencies and individuals that
has contributed in many ways to the base data and to the methods
and principles of hydrology. Thus, many hydraulic engineers have
devoted much of their time not to engineering work at all but to scien-
tific research relating to the natural waters; thus, also, many other
scientists, such as soil scientists, agronomists, geologists, botanists,
and foresters, have made distinct contributions to hydrology. There
has, however, been a lack of coordination, and developments have
been made which have had unfavorable effects that were not foreseen
because the scientists and engineers concerned did not have an ade-
quate appreciation of the unity and complexity of the hydrologic
cycle.

In recent years there has arisen a wholesome recognition of hydrol-
ogy as a comprehensive science, and a general effort has been made to
correlate the different aspects of the subject. This trend has found
expression and stimulus in the organization, 6 years ago, of the section
of hydrology of the American Geophysical Union. More recently
an attempt has been made through the efforts of the Mississippi
Valley Committee, the National Resources Committee, the State
planning boards, and other agencies to evaluate objectively the mani-
fold works of man that have affected the hydrologic cycle at some
point and to attain a clearer perspective for the future. Thus, progress
has been made in an appreciation of the sensitivity of our water supply
to many complex controls. Looking to the future, we must insist that
engineering works or other developments shall be undertaken only
after their hydrologic consequences have been fully studied, and we
must resolutely set ourselves the task of building a science of hydrology
that will be adequate for the responsibilities that are involved.

31508—38——21

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THE FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA !

By Lincotn ELLswortTH

[With 9 plates]

It is with a deep sense of the modesty of my own endeavors that I
appear before you tonight to tell you something about my recent
flight across Antarctica. It is 23 years since I last was in London.
I wanted to become an explorer, so came over here to buy the necessary
instruments, which at that age I thought would be the necessary
qualification, but found that I must also take instruction, which I
did, under Mr. Reeves, of your Society. Strangely enough, the
pocket compass with which I practiced route-surveying on weekly
excursions about the suburbs of London I carried and used on my
flight across Antarctica last season. I prize it highly because, after
all, it remains the memento of a visit that was to decide my whole
future career. Had it not been for that beautiful emperor penguin
which I visited weekly at the London Zoo and the memorial service
which I attended at St. Paul’s in February 1913 for Captain Scott
and his gallant comrades lost in the Antarctic, I should probably never
have chosen the polar regions as my field of endeavor. But so deeply
stirred was my imagination by what I had seen and heard that the
die was cast before I left London.

The dreams of youth are long, long dreams; yet despite all dis-
appointments and setbacks that were to ensue, the purpose held,
until a chance meeting with Amundsen made possible an airplane
flight over the polar sea. My meeting with Amundsen was in 1924.
Our flight the following year to within 120 miles of the North Pole,
from Spitsbergen, was the first penetration of the polar regions by
means of an airplane. It proved the value of aircraft as a future
means of polar exploration.

After my flight with Amundsen in the Norge from Spitsbergen in
1926, over the north polar basin to Alaska, restlessness and desire
nagged me until I was able to settle on the last great adventure of
south polar exploration: The crossing of Antarctica.

A crossing of the area between the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea
seemed to offer the best possibility of solving the major problem in

1 A paper read at the evening meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, November 30, 1936. Reprinted
by permission from the Geographical Journal, vol. 89, no. 3, March 1937,
307

308 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the Antarctic. Does the Andean massif which dips at Magellan
Straits, rises to form the grand mountain chain of Graham Land,
and dips at what is believed to be Stefansson Strait, rise again in
Hearst Land and continue until it joins the polar plateau and the
mountains of South Victoria Land; or, if it does rise in Hearst Land,
does it dip again to form a depression or a below-sea-level channel
connecting the Ross Sea with the Weddell Sea?

Numerous plans and many preparations had been made to carry
out a trans-Antarctic journey. Shackleton in 1914 lost his ship before
he reached the starting point. Wilkins was foiled 2 years in succession
by failing to find a suitable airplane field from which to start. Wat-
kins, after much preparation and endeavor, failed to get started from
England. Riiser Larsen was carried away from the barrier edge by
the breaking up of the ice, and did not get started on the actual
journey.

By the time I was able to turn my attention to the problem, a great
advance had been made in the machinery for aerial transportation,
and I believed that it was no longer necessary to risk the lives of
many men who by their sheer physical endeavor would fight their
way slowly through storms, starvation, blizzards, and snow blind-
ness, struggling for many weeks against tremendous odds across what
might prove to be a monotonous stretch of sastrugi-featured snow:
or, if mountains were found to exist between the Weddell Sea and the
Ross Sea, find themselves in a maze of overhanging glaciers, steep-
sided valleys, and faced with unscalable cliffs such as could be seen
in Graham Land.

I myself would have preferred to have been with the vanguard of
polar explorers, and am happy in the knowledge that neither the
North Pole nor the South Pole were first humbled by conquest by
airplanes. Nevertheless, it would not do for us to lag behind the
times. Change is the law of the world itself.

The hills are shadows, and they flow

From form to form, and nothing stands.
says Tennyson. And so our method of approaching the mystery and
romance of Nature’s last stronghold against man’s invasion had to
change.

My own experience with airplanes in high latitudes had given me
some knowledge of the possibilities of aircraft in polar conditions. I
knew that low temperatures would not be a great obstacle to flight.
I had experienced the fact of landing far from my base and setting
out again for a safe return. I knew that aircraft engines in 1932 were
reliable for many hours’ service without overhaul, and I had studied
carefully the Antarctic conditions as far as they might affect the use
of the airplane.

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH 309

In spite of the general impression created by the books on Antarctic
travel, which are filled with descriptions of bad sledging trails, hazy
outlines, sudden blizzards, and hard-lipped sastrugi, I found that even
the written accounts of previous expeditions really encouraged the
belief that machines might be landed safely on most of the surfaces
encountered in the past. A thorough search through the diaries of
Scott, Shackleton, Mawson, and Amundsen revealed that the surfaces
they found on their sledge journeys, both on the Ross Barrier and on
the polar plateau, would afford reasonably good landing fields for
modern airplanes, provided of course that the weather was such that
these surfaces could be seen.

For instance, in Scott’s published diary of his journey to the Pole
he mentions soft snow, heavy and rough surfaces, and some surfaces
distinctly good, but he actually mentions sastrugi on 5 days only
during the 30 days it took him to travel from the edge of the Barrier
to the foot of the Beardmore Glacier, which leads up to the polar
plateau. Only on one occasion did he mention sastrugi 12 inches high,
and then they were “widely dispersed.’”’ The other sastrugi seen
must have been lower and probably would not have interfered with
the safe landing of an airplane. From this it was clear that only a
small percentage of the actual Barrier surface would be unsuitable
for forced landings.

On the way up the glacier, Scott mentions sastrugi “not more than
3 inches high.” There were crevasses and undulations and soft spots
of course; one would expect to find these in the fairly steep-sloped area
leading up to an altitude of 9,000 feet. But it was hardly necessary
to consider the glacier surface in relation to Antarctic flight, for any
airplane flying over them would, in case of engine failure and a forced
landing, be able to glide above the glacier surface to the lower level
of the Barrier.

When once over the plateau and beyond the “third degree” camp,
Scott found the surface difficult for sledging, but not until after 5 days’
marching did he come to sastrugi which were rough and confused—it
was so rough, in fact, that Scott decided to abandon his skis, which
he had used up to that time. But the rough condition was limited in
area—a cross-section of probably less than 5 miles; for when they
came to the end of the sastrugi, Scott says they went back for the
skis, a trip which resulted in a delay of only 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Onward to the Pole, and between the dates January 7 and 17, sastrugi
are mentioned only four times, and then only in relation to the general
direction of the winds. He refers to rough surfaces only once, on the
15th, near the Pole, and there the sledges ‘‘bumped over the ridges.”

In Amundsen’s account of his journey from the Bay of Whales to
the Pole, he mentions sastrugi only five times, and only when on and

810 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

near the glacier, in the draw of the mountains, did he find the surfaces
exceedingly rough.

The general description of the surfaces encountered by Sir Douglas
Mawson and the members of his parties was not so encouraging; but
then Sir Douglas was traveling in comparatively low latitudes, between
69° and 70°, and his route lay over the sloping ice-sheet not far from
where it meets the open water; a condition likely to induce high winds,
crevassed areas, and sastrugi. Mawson’s Magnetic Pole party led by
Bage traveled farther from the continental edge, but was not more
than 120 miles from the sea. Bage mentions sastrugi only twice
during the first 75 miles of travel, and lists the snowy wind-drifts only
once as being 1 foot high; the others must have been lower. Later on
he remarks on sastrugi 6 inches high, then for 3 days very few. After
that they traveled for 5 days over fairly good surfaces, then he men-
tions ‘some old sastrugi’’, then “surface smoothly polished.”

Notwithstanding the difficulties which were actually encountered
by Mawson’s sledging parties in the Adelie Land area, Bickerton did
use an air-screw tractor, in reality an airplane minus its wings, and
taxied it several times over a route 10 miles long. The surfaces on
any part of that route if suitable for taxiing must have been suitable
for an emergency forced landing.

It is only logical to assume that conditions inland from the Adelie
Land coast would be somewhat similar to those found by Scott and
Amundsen farther south. Therefore, in spite of the general impres-
sion, and after a careful study of all conditions met by sledging parties,
it seemed that on a flight across Antarctica it would be possible to find
at least as many emergency landing fields as one would expect to find
on any transcontinental flight before the development of air routes.

The question, then, resolved itself not into one of safe landing fields,
but whether one could distinguish a safe landing field from the air.
There is no doubt about the difficulty of distinguishing the type of
snow surface when the sky is clouded or during snowdrift and blizzards,
but it is not difficult in sunshine. To avoid danger it would be neces-
sary to fly only in clear weather. So the weather problem was the
greatest to be faced in relation to the use of airplanes in the Antarctic.
It was, in fact, almost great enough to prohibit any attempt to make a
trans-Antarctic flight. Storms without warning had frequently over-
taken foot travelers, but it was obvious that when flying it would be
possible to see the approach of a storm at a greater distance than when
on the ground, and also possible to turn away from it if necessary.
The thing to do if a storm barred the way was to land and wait for
clear weather.

But the high winds had wrecked tents and almost smothered polar
parties, and, even before my plans were made, had ripped one of
Admiral Byrd’s planes from its lashings and carried it half a mile

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH 311

away. This was a high-winged type of plane, difficult to anchor, and
it had been anchored to shallow snow on a glazed ice surface. But
even had it been firmly made fast, its high wing would have left it at
the mercy of the wind.

It was certain that insufficient data could be obtained from the
Antarctic to allow reliable forecasting of the weather which might be
encountered on the entire route between the Weddell Sea and the Ross
Sea, and it was necessary, if I should attempt to fly over that area, to
prepare to land in the face of bad weather. This plan required special
attention to the type of plane to be used. First, I would need a plane
with high speed, so as to limit the time risk as far as possible, and to
overcome the high winds which would surely be met with in clear
weather. The machine would have to be of a type which could be
made fast safely to the ice or snow while riding out a blizzard. A low-
wing type would serve that purpose, and one without struts or wires
attached to the landing gear would best facilitate the lowering of the
skis into channels dug in the snow and the digging out of the plane
from the snowdrift when the blizzard was over.

In 1931, when my plans were first announced, there was no plane of
the type I required, but a canvass of the possibilities showed that a
development of the Northrop Alpha plane, a low-wing all-metal
machine with cantilever streamlined landing gear, would best suit
my purpose. At my request, the Northrop Airplane Co. built a
special machine, the Gamma, for my service. It was large enough to
carry sufficient fuel for a range of 5,000 miles if nothing but fuel and
oil was to be carried; but naturally some of my load would consist of
equipment and supplies. I intended to take enough for 2 months, so
as to allow for repeated landings, and enough to serve even if we had
in emergency to abandon the plane and walk to the nearest area which
would provide food in the form of seals and penguins. The fuselage
of the Northrop Gamma was large enough to accommodate a pilot and
navigator, a sledge, skis and showshoes, sleeping bags, tents, engine
covers, and heating stoves required for conveniently starting the engine
in cold weather. The machine was, of course, equipped with a two-
way wireless as well as an emergency radio outfit. The final design
incorporated a 600-horsepower Wasp engine, giving a possible speed
of 215 miles per hour. It had sturdy, short, and wide skis made of
wood, sheathed with metal. The skis were interchangeable with
wheels and pontoons, so that we might use the machine on any type
of surface. A unique feature was the flaps, a very new feature in 1932,
which permitted us to land at the comparatively low speed of 50 miles
an hour and take off in a short distance.

After the airplane was selected it was necessary to find a ship which
would accommodate the machine in the hold for safe transport through
the stormy waters we should cross to reach the Antarctic. My first

312 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

plan, based on the assumption that in the Ross Sea, at the edge of the
great Ross Barrier, was the only place where I could be certain of
finding an unloading point for the plane on skis, was to fly from the
Ross Sea to the Weddell Sea and return on a triangular course.

My ship would have to brave the stormy areas south of New Zea-
land, and have sufficient range to journey round the Pacific sector of
the Antarctic ice edge to pick me up, should I be compelled to land on
the Weddell Sea side or abandon the plane en route and walk to some
part of the coast. I finally selected a staunch, single-deck, motor-
driven Norwegian fishing-boat of 400 tons. She was built of Nor-
wegian pine and oak in 1919. I sheathed her with oak and armor
plate for service in the pack ice. Her engine was of the semi-Diesel
type, and I installed tanks for fuel sufficient for cruising 11,000
miles at a speed of 7 to8 knots. I named the ship the Wyatt Harp after
an unbelievably brave frontier marshal who more than any other man
of his time typified the empire builders of the western United States.

The Wyatt Earp could carry supplies for 2 years as well as the
airplane in the hold, where it was well protected from the weather.
This left our decks clear, except for the explosive gasoline, which was
carried in drums lashed to the deck rails. There was room, in fact, to
have carried another plane on deck, but I finally decided against
taking a duplicate machine for two reasons. First, by exercising
infinite care with the machine while preparing it for flight, and by
flying only in fine weather, landing only in clear weather, and in time
to lash it down before being overtaken by storm, I could be reasonably
sure of safety from damage. A skilled pilot, landing under such
conditions would protect us from the danger of accidents to the per-
sonnel and leave us in a position to walk away from the machine if it
was necessary to abandon it. Secondly, two airplanes would have
meant two or more pilots and other additional members of the expedi-
tion, and in all an extra cost far in excess of the actual and initial cost
of the machine.

Economy has not always been the first consideration in polar
exploration and while it is necessary to spare no expense in providing
adequate equipment, there is no reason why expeditions should be
absurdly expensive or luxurious. It is impossible, of course, to value
discovery in dollars and cents, but all attempts at discovery should be
organized with some consideration for the magnitude of possible
results compared with the amount of money involved. In this rela-
tion the use of airplanes has made it possible to lower the cost of
exploration and discovery.

An expedition equipped for flying needs less personnel, and can
expect to cover miles for less expenditure of energy and money than
could be done when using the dog-team method. For detailed scientific
research the dog-teams may be necessary, but my efforts were to be

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH 313

purely in the nature of discovery, to open the way for future research
to follow. To achieve my purpose I believed that, by carrying suffi-
cient food and equipment in the plane, we could, if required, spend
several weeks on the journey, and if by chance our plane was wrecked,
we could either hold out until my ship could return to civilization,
pick up another plane, and come to our rescue, or else meet us at a
predetermined point to which we might walk, and where we might
find additional native food.

Adequate radio precaution would assure us of communication with
our base at all times, and to cover this I prepared not only for two-way
radio communication from the plane but carried as well a complete
engine generator set for use when the plane was on the ground, and a
complete hand-driven set for use when sledging. This, we believed,
would take care of all emergencies. But we were wrong, for during
our flight a terminal inside the sending set, and which we could not
reach, burned out. While we were on the ground between flights we
maintained the prearranged schedules three times daily, but the
signals sent out by the engine generator set were never heard. The
oil in the hand-driven generator froze stiff and stripped its gears.

Believing that we had ample fuel, we did not conserve our supply
either when climbing to high altitudes over Hearst Land or during the
various landings, and this brought us to a landing out of fuel when
within 16 miles of our goal. There was no useful radio gear at Little
America, and with a frozen foot and considering the difficulties of
crossing the terribly crevassed area and pressure ridges which lay
between Little America and our plane, I did not think it possible to
haul equipment and fuel sufficient to bring the machine to Little
America, where in time it might have been possible to repair the
wireless set. So after the set failed, when we were about half-way
across the Antarctic continent, we were out of touch with our base.
We did, however, pick up time signals on three separate days from a
station at Buenos Aires, and this made it possible for us to check up
on our chronometers and establish our positions.

With the exception of our wireless, our equipment served its purpose
admirably. There was no difficulty with the airplane equipment
because of the cold. Wherever we landed on the plateau surface the
snow was smooth and hard packed. The skis sank less than an inch,
and we had no difficulty in landing or taking off, or in securing our
plane so that it was safe during the blizzards we experienced. This
shows that a carefully selected machine and suitable equipment, in
the hands of a skilled pilot, will serve for preliminary reconnaissance
in the Antarctic. Even in the mountainous areas we crossed in Hearst
Land, there appeared to be many places, which would be difficult to
reach by dog team, where we could have landed safely.

314 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

An airplane can carry more and bring back more specimens than a
dog team could haul and although much time might pass while wait-
ing for reasonably good weather, the speed of travel when the weather
is good and the excellent visibility to be had when traveling by plane
more than compensate for the delay. Therefore I think that with the
airplane we can reveal the last remaining unknown regions on the face
of the earth.

So much for our plans and the way in which they failed in certain
points. The details of the flight have appeared already in the publica-
tions of American societies, but a brief summary of them will still be in
place here.

In 1933 I had planned to make the flight in the opposite direction,
from the Bay of Whales to the Weddell Sea, and in January 1934 had
landed the airplane on the bay ice which, after a successful trial flight,
broke up in a gale and crushed the machine so extensively that we had
to abandon the attempt.

In September 1934 we were back in New Zealand ready for another
attempt; this time to make the flight from the Weddell Sea to the
Ross Sea, because an earlier start was possible in that direction owing
to earlier break-up of the pack ice about Graham Land. But the
weather was altogether against us, first at Deception Island and later
at Snow Hill Island on the east coast of the archipelago, where we
found a suitable flying base. We made a start on January 3, 1935,
but were soon driven back by bad weather. In the whole of that
season, and we were there for 3 months, we had less than 12 hours of
flying weather. Returning from Snow Hill Island, we were caught in
the pack and got free with difficulty, and for the third attempt we
chose a safer base, Dundee Island, some 80 miles north of Snow Hill,
which we had marked on the return from the previous attempt.
The Wyatt Earp reached Dundee Island again in November 1935 with
Sir Hubert Wilkins and five others who had been on all three expedi-
tions. For pilot on this flight I was fortunate in obtaining Mr.
Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, who had obtained leave from Canadian
Airways; he had much experience of flying in subarctic conditions.

At the summit of Dundee Island, about 500 feet above sea, there
was an almost unlimited snowfield with an excellent take-off slightly
downhill. Supplies and fuel were hauled up on sledges and personal
equipment carried by the plane during test flights. The weather was
favorable and we took off on November 21 in clear weather for what
we hoped would be the main flight, but after about 600 miles our fuel
gage clogged, so that we were forced to return, and landed after 10%
hours in the air. We had realized from our experience on the first two
expeditions that the only way to fly in the Antarctic is to start in good
weather, and, if it turns bad, to be prepared to land and await the

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH 315

return of better conditions. So this time we took no meteorologist on
our base staff, feeling that it is impossible to forecast in the Antarctic.

Next day the machine was refueled and the engine tuned up again
by the mechanics. The weather promised to remain clear, and
Hollick-Kenyon and I were called at 02.00 on the 23d. (All dates and
times are Greenwich Civil Time.) We ate a hearty breakfast and then
dressed in heavy clothing, with snowshoes. We purposely made slow
time walking the 5 miles to the plane, because we did not wish to get
our clothing damp with perspiration before taking off. After 2 hours
we reached the place where the Polar Star lay ready for flight. As
Kenyon busied himself with last adjustments I had only one thought:
“This time we must make it.”’

When we took off to the south at 08.04 on November 23, the weather
was clear, the temperature —3° C., and the sea a turquoise blue
which gave a marvelous reflection on the mountains. By 08.30, as
we flew along the coast of Ross Island, we had climed to 6,400 feet
and the temperature had dropped to —10° C. Weddell Sea was quite
open for the first 300 miles—unusual in the Antarctic springtime.
For 600 miles we flew along the eastern coast of the Antarctic Archi-
pelago, until we came to the frozen channel which we identified as
Stefansson Strait. It appears to be not more than 3 miles wide,
much narrower than is shown on the map of the American Geo-
graphical Society, and we could not see far enough to determine
whether it actually connected the Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas,
or was merely a deep fjord, though we had risen to more than 13,000
feet.

So long as we had landmarks for checking the plane’s ground speed
and position, we made careful notes of dead reckoning, and found
that our ground speed was lower than expected, but was 120 miles
per hour or more. By 09.30 we noted that there was some wind
and later that we were drifted too far to the east, and our course
was altered to aliow for this.

The low, black, conical peaks of Cape Eielson rose conspicuously on
our left, and with keen curiosity we gazed ahead at the great mountain
range to be crossed. Bold and rugged peaks, bare of snow, rose
almost sheer to some 12,000 feet above sea level. Impressed with
the thought of eternity and our insignificance, I named the new moun-
tains the Eternity Range, and the three most prominent peaks on
our right Faith, Hope, and Charity, because we had to have faith,
and we hoped for charity in the midst of cold hospitality. They were
in striking contrast with the flat low peaks of the Antarctic Archi-
pelago which we had followed south, peaks which dwindled into low
isolated nunataks as we neared Stefansson Strait. The range which
we were now crossing was loosely formed, with none of the crowded
topography of peaks and glacier-filled valleys with crevassed bottoms.

316 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

After 3 hours the mountains beneath us gave place to a vast polar
ice plateau from which emerged a few nunataks, the last relics of the
mountain chain just passed. We were flying at 10,000 feet, which
was the average altitude of our flight. During the first hours of the
flight we had constant two-way radio communication between the
ship and the plane. But at 16.15 I logged: “Transmitter out of
action. Only thing is to go on.” We had traversed 1,000 miles and
were yet 1,300 miles from the Bay of Whales. We sighted several
isolated mountain peaks, but these soon faded out on our right about
16.20. Forty-five minutes later other peaks showed on the same
skyline, and in another 25 minutes more mountains 120 to 140 miles
away appeared on our left horizon, and also a few peaks to the right.

Sun sights taken at 16.53 and 18.54 gave a fix which appeared to
show that we were more than 200 miles west off our course; as will be
explained later the bubble sextant had got badly out of adjustment.
At 17.00, when by estimation we had passed out of the Falkland
Islands sector, I logged: “Long. 80° dropped American flag and
named the land up to 120° west James W. Ellsworth Land. What
a thrill!’’ One hour and forty-five minutes later we came abreast of
a solitary little range about 25 miles away on our left, symmetrically
formed, with a central pyramid rising to 13,000 feet. I named it
Sentinel Range, and its central peak Mount Mary Louise Ulmer,
after my wife.

Fifteen minutes later, and 100 miles distant on the southern horizon
appeared a long, black, flat-topped range which extended visibly
through at least 1° of latitude. This looked like the last of the moun-
tains we were to see, for ahead lay only a vast plateau to the horizon.
At 20.30 I noted: ‘‘No landmarks visible. Only a limitless expanse
of white.” At 20.45 Hollick-Kenyon passed me the following mes-
sage: “I really have no idea where we are—but our courses carefully
steered should put us close in,’”’ and it proved in the end that we had
remained surprisingly close to our scheduled course, within 45 miles,
though our speed had been much lower than expected. We had
been in the air nearly 14 hours; visibility began to get poor, and we
determined to land and take sights of the sun for our position, for we
had no fuel to spare. We had no knowledge of what the surface
might be like, and it was misty on the ground, but we landed safely
at 21.55 on November 23, though we crumpled the fuselage in landing.

This was the first of our four landings during the crossing, and 12
of the 19 hours here were spent in taking observations to check the
position of this our first camp, which we will call Camp I. After
getting one position line, it was necessary to wait 2 or 3 hours to get
another line crossing the first at an angle sufficient to give a reasonable
intersection. I went out once to get exercise between the observa-
tions, but the monotony of the terrible expanse of endless white got

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH 317

on my nerves, so that I was glad to get back into the four walls of the
tent. There are 24 hours of daylight in this region at this time of
year, and that, too, wears on the nerves. The temperature was
15° below freezing. During our 19 hours here we strung up the
antenna wires on the bamboo sledge poles, worked the sledging-set
transmitter by hand, and kept on sending calls, both general and to
the Wyatt Harp, but we got only one response during the 22 days of
our journey across Antarctica, and that was: ‘We can’t hear you.”
The dead reckoning position of the camp was latitude 80°28’ S.,
longitude 141°02’, but our ground speed had been much overestimated,
for the position as determined by our observations was 80°20’ S.,
104° W. And we had not then overcome the trouble with the sextant.
When its index error was eventually discovered and the sights recom-
puted, it proved to be 79°15’ S., 102°35’ W. The snow on the high
plateau was granular and packed so hard that the skis of the plane
made little impression. The surface elevation was 6,400 feet, and the
plateau extended with slight undulations in all directions.

The Pole lay 750 miles south, Dundee Island 1,550 miles behind us,
the coast line of the continent several hundred miles to the north,
and the Bay of Whales 750 miles ahead. It was here that I raised
the American flag, and so far as that act would allow, claimed the
sector between longitudes 80° to 120° W. for the United States, having
already in my mind named it James W. Ellsworth Land after my
father. That part of the plateau above 6,000 feet I called Hollick-
Kenyon Plateau. We set up our balloon-silk tent and took repeated
altitudes of the sun with the sextant.

After 19 hours at Camp I, we again took to the air at 17.00 on
November 24 in calm weather, but looking thick ahead. We felt we
must push on, for our chances of a successful crossing were decreased
in proportion to the time we lost at any one place. We soon experi-
enced low visibility, and at the end of a short half hour we were finally
forced to land again, with a ground elevation of 6,000 feet. We were
surprised at the ease with which we could land or take off on a hard
surface. It required no more than 50 yards to rise from the snow
when we left the first camp on November 24. This is all the more
remarkable since we had no assisting wind, and since we were at an
elevation of 6,400 feet above sea level.

At Camp II, we waited 3 days for good weather, trying strenuously
and continually, but fortunately unsuccessfully, to fix our position,
I say fortunately because the number of observations we made here
were useful later in tracing the error of our sextant. After getting
only a very rough approximation to our position, we took off in great
uncertainty about the precise direction of Little America.

This was on November 27. After 90 miles, we landed in a fog, and
at 02.30 a blizzard was upon us. On November 28, 29, and 30 we

318 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

lay all day in our sleeping-bags with drift and gale reaching 50 miles
per hour. By November 30 there were huge drifts around the plane,
and the cockpits were full of snow. We were unable to get into com-
munication with the Wyatt Earp, although on November 30 we got
three time ticks from Buenos Aires. We were 600 miles from Little
America and probably had not enough fuel left to get there. I con-
sider this stay at Camp III as the low-water mark of our flight.

However, with our prospect appearing so dark, our situation was
improving. At Camp III we luckily thought of the simple expedient
of adjusting the bubble of our sextant on the snow horizon when the
index read zero. This showed that the sextant had after the first
observation developed an index error of 82 minutes of arc, and that
it had been apparently constant. We reduced it to an uncertainty
of about 4’, enabling us to fix our position and to set a direct course
to Little America. Once the sextant was put in approximate adjust-
ment, our navigation problem became a simple one. All observa-
tions, except the very first one, were corrected for the determined
index error of 82’ and the positions reworked with impressive results.

The second observation, taken in the air at 18.54 on November 23,
showed that the plane was behind schedule. The big discrepancy in
the estimated air speed of 145 miles per hour and the actual ground
speed is accounted for by several factors: (1) The substitution of
skis for wheels causing an unexpectedly heavy drag; (2) a slightly
crumpled fuselage which altered the streamline and thereby reduced
the speed; (3) unexpectedly heavy head winds; (4) low temperatures
which reduced the engine-power output; and (5) throttling down the
engine to save fuel. During the whole midsection of our flight,
from the time we left Eternity Range until we started on the down-
grade to the Ross Barrier, the prevailing wind blew from the east
and southeast. Only twice did we have a north wind, and then only
for a few minutes. We never had a west wind. But these factors
hardly account for the reduction of more than 25 percent in the speed
of the Polar Star. The measured speed at the beginning of the flight
when the plane was heavily laden, and the known speed of the plane
on the last two legs, was relatively much higher, so that an extremely
low ground speed of about 92 miles per hour was made on the first
and most dangerous leg of the flight.

On December 1 we spent the whole day clearing snowdrifts from
the plane, which was one solid block of snow. To crawl in among
the controls with a teacup and clear away dry snow as fine as flour
was the worst job of all. On December 3, we tried to start up the
machine, but the magneto burned out. It looked as though we were
650 miles from the Bay of Whales with no hope of getting there.
When the blizzard abated we were able to cut snowblocks to erect
a shelter to the windward of our tent. For 8 days, until December

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH 319

4, the storm held us prisoners in the camp. Our only excursions out-
side during the blizzard were to use the wireless three times daily and
to fill our bucket with snow for water. Our food ration was 34 ounces
a man each day, but we were not obliged to adhere to the allowance
as we ate only twice a day. Even then we were never very hungry.
In the morning we had a mug of oatmeal with chunks of bacon boiled
in it, milk, sugar, and oat biscuit with butter. In the evening we
had a mug of pemmican, oat biscuit, and butter. I thrive on this
simple diet, just as in 1925 with Amundsen I never grew tired of our
menu of hot chocolate morning and night, and pemmican at noon.

One morning we tried unsuccessfully to start the airplane motor
after warming it for an hour. The situation seemed bad, for we were
being buried deeper and deeper in the snow. We decided that we
must get out of that hole irrespective of the weather ahead, and after
8 days in the blizzard camp we put the canvas hood over the motor
and placed the fire pot inside for 45 minutes, as we always did before
starting. Then we cranked the engine. After a couple of weak
turns the propeller would stop with a choke. Kenyon connected the
stronger radio battery to the starter and had the propeller going in
no time. With the plane unloaded we pulled out of the drift, loaded
up again, and at 19.20 on December 4 we took off into a sky which
was anything but promising. But we had not been flying long before
the horizon became clear and the sky took on a beautiful golden
glow.

At 23:10 we came down to get a sight, which made Camp IV in
79°29’ S., 153927’ W. It was a beautiful calm night, the boundless
snow fields sparkling like diamonds. There was no wind, we had
left the high plateau, and were only 145 miles from the Bay of Whales.
Once more it was good to be alive. We were now on territory ex-
plored by Byrd and all we wanted was to get to our destination.

At 09.00 on December 5 we took off and at 09.50 reached the north
end of Roosevelt Island, only 16 miles south of the Bay of Whales,
but we did not know this at the time. From the air we saw the ice-
free waters of Ross Sea, the goal of my 4 years of endeavor. At 10.05
the Polar Star slackened her speed and came gently to the snow, her
466 gallons of gasoline completely exhausted. Here we made Camp V.

On December 6, we dug trenches to settle the skis in, waiting to
walk to Little America. On December 7, the southeast wind con-
tinued, with snow squalls and temperature round about freezing-
point. On December 8, standing on the wing of the plane and looking
northwest, we saw among a lot of irregular ice hummocks, that might
be snow-covered buildings, what Kenyon thought was a wind-generat-
ing tower. Was it Little America? We thought we would trek over
on our snowshoes, but after a 2 hour walk we appeared to be no
nearer and returned to the plane,

320 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

On December 9, we packed our hand sledge with 10 days’ ration
and started off, leaving our tent with the plane, and expecting to
find shelter in the huts. We traveled 9 miles of heavy hauling in
the soft snow, and as we neared the tower we saw that it was only an
ice pinnacle. Being without tent or sextant to fix where we were
we had to leave the sledge and return to the plane for both; rested
an hour, and got back to the sledge at 03.00 on December 10. We
made Camp VI here, and after 7 hours’ sleep took sights and fixed
its position in 78°38’ S., 163°20’ W. about 12 miles south of the head
of the Bay of Whales. The weather for 2 days had been perfect,
with no wind, the sun shining out of a cloudless sky and the tempera-
ture above freezing.

On December 11, we traveled 10 or 11 miles, sledging by low sun,
and had one bad pull over a crevasse. It was weary work, and it
seemed as though we must be going in the wrong direction, for the
never-ending expanse stretched on forever. The low night sun cast
a dull glow over the ice fields without warmth, although the sky was
cloudless. Suddenly I told Kenyon I could see a line of blue water
on the horizon. It was the Bay of Whales, and we had been traveling
much too far west.

On December 12, however, although we marched 12 miles, we were
unable to find the water which we had seen the day before. On Decem-
ber 13, traveling entirely by compass as before, in misty weather with
snow flurries, we made another 10 miles. We approached a ridge
and hoped to get an extended view. Topping it, we looked straight
down into salt water. We had heard the lapping of the waves and
thought it was the wind but it really was the sea at last.

On December 14, we reconnoitered and in the evening took a sight,
to find we had traveled about 10 miles too far north, and must go back
south. We judged that we were at the mouth of the Bay of Whales.
On December 15, we traveled 15 miles and came, at ‘‘Ver-sur-mer’’,
Byrd’s unloading place, upon two tractors half-buried in snow. This
gave us our position, so we dragged on up the east side of the bay,
topped a rise, and looked down upon the most desolate remains of past
habitation that I have ever witnessed: only a lot of masts and the
stove pipes of buildings sticking out of the snow. We broke though
a glass skylight, and were able to let ourselves down into what proved
to be the radio shack.

On December 16 we dug a tunnel and made steps down to the door
of our shack. We found coal, gasoline, and some welcome stores. We
cleaned up everything, and settled down to a routine to await the
arrival of the Wyatt Harp. Every day I walked 6 miles down to the
tractors where we had put up our tent, with two yellow streamers and
a note that we were at Little America, so that the Wyatt Earp could
know where we were.

FIRST CROSSING OF ANTARCTICA—ELLSWORTH Sot

On January 15, a month after we arrived at Little America, I was
awakened at 22.00 to see Kenyon standing over me with a note in his
hand. He had heard the roar of a motor overhead, although our
dugout home was 15 feet beneath the snow, and had crawled up to
the surface in time to see a parachute descending through the fog which
had enveloped us for 2 weeks. The parcel contained food, and the
note was from Captain Hill, commanding the R. R. S. Discovery II.
Within 10 days after the failure of our radio the Commonwealth of
Australia had sent a relief expedition, and had been seconded in this
by the Governments of the United Kingdom and New Zealand. As
I was laid up with an infected foot, Kenyon started off alone to meet
our visitors; but I could sleep no more that night, and started out in
snowshoes to learn what was up. A mile from camp I saw through the
fog, which magnified frightfully in these regions, what appeared to be
a whole army of men marching toward me; in reality there were six
of them. We packed the sledge and started for the ship, where I
was received with open arms, and learned that my own ship had been
delayed by the pack ice in the Ross Sea. Three days later a radio
message told us that the Wyatt Earp was approaching the bay, and
very soon the staunch little craft loomed up in the fog. While my
party was loading the Polar Star on the Wyatt Earp I went on the
Discovery II to Australia, where I was for 12 days the guest of the
Government.

31508—38

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v i wethed 6 fatertowt Sethe

with to gels siehaeee ape

- Nive r i that Bea j* patt Bory ata a
P ie 3s iti J ce

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 1

gegen neem

1. NOVEMBER 21, 1935, 12:19. BABE Lele RANGE AS SEEN ON THE FIRST
LIGHT.

2 NOVEMBER 25,9 19385,) (220. inate COAST OF GRAHAM LAND AS SEEN TO
IGHT.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 2

1. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 12:38. LEFT TOWARD CAPE EIELSON AND BEGINNING
OF ETERNITY RANGE

2. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 12:41. To RIGHT, ACROSS ENTRANCE TO STEFANSSON
STRAIT.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 3

1. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 12:45. THE SAME A LITTLE LATER, LOOKING FARTHER
WEST UP THE STRAIT OR VALLEY.

2. PROBABLY THE OFPOSITE FACE OF THE FEATURES IN MIDDLE DISTANCE OF
FIGURE 1, ABOVE, TAKEN ON FLIGHT NOVEMBER 21.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 4 g

1. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 14:37. TO RIGHT, OVER UNNAMED MOUNTAINS.

2. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 14:45. CONTINUATION OF MOUNTAINS TO RIGHT, OVER-
LAPPING FIGURE 1, ABOVE.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 5

1. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 14:53. CONTINUATION OF MOUNTAINS TO RIGHT, OVER-
LAPPING FIGURE 2, PLATE 4.

2. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 15:00. CONTINUATION OF UNNAMED RANGE TO THE
}Oy =) 9

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 6

1. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 15:05. CONTINUATION TO LEFT OVERLAPPING FIGURE
2; PLATE 5S.

2. NOVEMBER 23, 1935, 19:30. THE SENTINEL RANGE. TO THE LEFT

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PEATE 7

1. NOVEMBER 24, 1935, 17:29. THE AIRPLANE IN CAMP II.

2. THE AIRPLANE SNOWED UP IN CAMP III.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth PLATE 8

1. SLEDGE PACKED FOR DEPARTURE FROM CAMP V (DECEMBER 9Q).

2. DECEMBER 9, 1935. START FOR LITTLE AMERICA.

pace ar |

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Ellsworth

1. LINCOLN ELLSWORTH ON ARRIVAL AT LITTLE AMERICA.

2. HOLLICK-KENYON AT LITTLE AMERCIA.

PLATE 9

DECEMBER 15.

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY !
By W. N. Kazreerr

[With 12 plates]

For a long time the microscope served the purpose of observing
small animals, tissues, and cells without special preparation. The
desire to see more and to see better finally led the histologists to
invent all kinds of techniques of fixation and coloration. Then
scientists returned to the method of examination in vivo as more
certain. The perfection of optical instruments (homogeneous
immersion, black background, etc.), the progress of means for pene-
tration of the cells, such as the culture of the tissues in vitro and
micromanipulation, permits the experimenter of today to observe
the reactions of the cells during their life activities: Their direct
reactions, their movements, their divisions, and their difficulties.
Moving photomicrography lends to these new researches its clearness
and precision of analysis and also the possibility of making visible
all the movements of the cell even when they may be too slow or too
brief for our eyes to see. In other words, it raises microscopic space
and time to our own scale.

If moving pictures are the splendid achievement of the Lumiére
brothers, moving photomicrographs are that of another Frenchman,
Dr. J. Comandon. The actual realization is the termination of
painstaking research of more than 25 years. In these past 15 years
Dr. Comandon has found a valuable collaborator in the person of
De Fonbrune, who among other important discoveries in the domain
of moving photomicrography has invented the micromanipulator
described in No. 2967 of La Nature.

Little by little, the microscope and the apparatus for taking pic-
tures have been adapted to each other to result finally in the present
apparatus, a veritable little factory of very high precision.

The apparatus conceived by Dr. Comandon (pl. 1) is composed
of four parts made as independent of each other as possible to
prevent vibrations communicating between each part and in par-
ticular to the microscope. The different parts are as follows: (1)
A large table on which is placed the Zeiss optical bench for photo-

_ ! Translated by permission from La Nature, No. 2971, Feb. 15, 1936, and No. 2975, Apr. 15, 1936.
323

324 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

micrography. It supports the source of illumination a, the con-
densers, and the condensing lenses; (2) the microscope c¢ placed on
a socket resting on a platform free of vibrations; (3) a heavy metal
structure that supports the moving picture apparatus f; and (4)
a lateral steel table on which are fixed the movable parts and the
shutter d which periodically cuts off the light ray between the lamp
and the microscope. An electric motor e placed under this table
on the floor activates the different movements.

These four parts and the electric motor have their bases sealed
into a concrete block sunk into the floor. The vibrations produced
by the functioning of the apparatus as well as the vibrations of the
street and building are easily reduced by this large mass; no vibra-
tions whatever are transmitted to the optical part of the apparatus.

The large Zeiss photographic microscope ¢ with its different optical
combinations of objectives and oculars is generally used for the work.

The sources of illumination differ according to the photographs
taken; they are: An arc lamp with continuous current of 20 amperes,
or an incandescent lamp (automobile head light of 100 candlepower,
12 volts), or the Koehler apparatus—a spark between cadmium
electrodes, the prism and optics of quartz for making moving pictures
in ultraviolet light.

The upper part of the table, supporting the lamp and the optical
bench, is placed on a slide screwed into this heavy structure. It can
thus be shifted horizontally, parallel to the optical bench, especially
when it is desirable to photograph preparations in a vertical position;
the microscope tube is thus inclined about 90° horizontally to the
axis of the light ray projected by the lamp. A prism with total
reflection, fixed to the ocular, reflects the light ray forming the image
upward vertically to the center of the window framing the film.

Generally, the photographs were taken by means of the vertical
microscope as the photographs show in plates 1 and 2. The light
ray falls on the center of the mirror of the microscope, then is reflected
perpendicularly according to the optical axis of the microscope, and
terminates as in the preceding at the window of the apparatus.

The apparatus for taking the moving pictures f is a G. V. Debrie,
modified according to the directions of Dr. Comandon. This remark-
able apparatus of great speed (which was created by Labrély) permits
taking more than 250 views per second. At this speed, the system of
catches which pulls the film causes the substitution of one image after
another in less than one five-hundredth of a second. Such great
speeds are used in moving photomicrographs only for analyzing very
rapid movements; at lower speeds, this apparatus has the great ad-
vantage of increasing the length of time of pose for the usual speeds
of motion pictures.

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEEFF 325

By a slight modification of the G. V., a period of pose is obtained
which is five times longer than the period of juggling or closing, and
this is for a speed which can exceed 32 images per second (the normal
speed being 16 images per second). This result is attained by means
of a cog that raises the catches and prevents their taking up the
perforations of the film for a duration that would correspond to three
images if these catches were free to work. At the moment which
would correspond to the end of the pose of the fourth image, the
catches are lowered and drawn along the film the length of an image,
at a speed three times greater than that of a normal apparatus for
the same time. The time of pose is thus twice as long as in the regu-
lar apparatus. This is an important improvement in the photo-
graphic utilization of time and light flux. It permits making moving
pictures of delicate subjects that are sensitive to the light, by utilizing
a weak light source while keeping the rapid time that is necessitated
by the speed of their movements.

An accessory arrangement provides for a record of the time on each
image, which shows the exact speed of the photograph taken. This
record is obtained with the aid of a very small objective placed on
the left side of the apparatus which by means of a prism in a circle
of 3 millimeters diameter situated in an upper corner of the film,
gives the image of a chronometer with a transparent dial g, placed at
a determined distance in front of the objective and lighted by a little
incandescent lamp h. Each image records thus the minute and even
the fraction of second of the pose. By substituting a thermometer
or galvanometer needle in the chronometer, there can also be regis-
tered the temperature, the direction of an electric current, or any of
the other conditions of the experiment.

The moving-picture apparatus fixed solidly on a slide can be raised
or lowered along the cast-iron arm with a minimum of effort by
means of a regulating wheel 7. When it is raised to the maximum,
the experimenter can look into the microscope and observe the prep-
aration directly. At the moment of photographing, the apparatus
is placed at the desired distance for a determined enlargement indi-
cated by an index which slides on a metric rule 7 fastened to the iron
structure. The junction of the light between the microscope and the
film is obtained by means of a bellows with an extensible draft.

An important improvement applied by Dr. Comandon is a tele-
scope system / and a prism that not only makes possible direct focus
upon the film but also continuous observation of this while photo-
graphing. The moving objects can in this manner be maintained in
the field by adjustment of the microscope screw and observation can
be continued without interruption of the microscopic preparation re-
flected on the unexposed film, in the same manner that a photograph

326 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

shows the object or the subject to the photographer on a ground
glass placed in focus.

The apparatus is run by an electric motor of 0.7 horsepower sealed
directly into the concrete masonry. Normally it gives 1,500 revolu-
tions per minute, but this speed can be reduced one-half by means of
a rheostat.

The movement of the motor is transmitted by a belt to a horizontal
intermediate shaft supporting several pulleys. By means of this and
another belt, the rotation is communicated to another horizontal
shaft either directly or by means of speed reducers. This shaft
operates the camera apparatus and shutter; the operation is thus
maintained perfectly synchronous with that of the moving-picture
apparatus. The speed reducers are fixed very conveniently on the
slot of the steel table; they can be clamped one following the other
so that the first one receiving the movement by a belt of the inter-
mediate shaft transmits it, reduced in speed to a second reducer,
then if necessary to a third. Each reducer is characterized by its
coefficient of reduction and on combining these coefficients, the varied
speeds can be obtained.

The shutter d is a balanced sector that cuts the light ray as near
as possible to the microscope. In this manner, the microscopic
preparation is neither lighted nor heated during the time of closing,
thus taking care of the delicate micro-organisms.

The microscope can be enclosed in an electrically heated chamber
n, and in this way the preparation can be maintained at a constant
favorable temperature just as in a bacteriological chamber. The
front side of this chamber is of glass which permits passage of light
rays. The ocular emerges from the upper part of the chamber, and
at a convenient place on the side are knobs for regulating the focus
and the movements of the mirror (pl. 2).

To prevent a loss of several meters of film, since the apparatus
when started requires a certain time for stopping when the electric
current is cut, Dr. Comandon has added a brake to the shaft of the
motor.

Finally, a special operating part, invented by Dr. Comandon and
De Fonbrune, controlled by a chronometer, permits setting the
apparatus automatically into movement, stopping it, and starting it
up again at the end of a desired time. In this fashion the photo-
graphs can be made automatically at any moment fixed in advance
by the operator and also during his absence. The time recorded on
each image (in the upper corner of the film) shows the exact time at
which any modification or movement registered on the film is produced.

Another problem, not less complicated, consists of guarding in
good condition the life of the organisms and cells that are being
photographed. ‘Two accessory parts can be utilized for this purpose:

:

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEHFF 327

The improved moist chamber (of Ranvier) and the oil chamber. The
improved moist chamber (fig. 1) consists of a glass slide on which is
attached with sealing wax a flat glass ring about 15 millimeters in
interior diameter and 1 millimeter thick. This ring has an opening
2 to 3 millimeters wide. It is covered with a cover glass that is
sealed to the crown by means of a thin layer of vaseline. The medium
and the objects to be observed are introduced through the lateral

FIGURE 1.—Moist chamber.

opening of the ring by means of a fine pipette. When the pipette
has been removed, the lateral opening is closed up with a stopper of
vaseline.

The provision of enclosed air in this moist chamber is generally
sufficient even to satisfy the need of larvae during their hatching. If
necessary, the air and the medium can be renewed through the same
lateral opening.

FIGURE 2.—Oil chamber.

The oil chamber (fig. 2) consists of a large drop of oil of vaseline
placed on a cover slip held horizontally by means of a little support
placed under the microscope (figs. 2-A and D). The center of the
drop of oil just to the point of contact with the glass is pierced by the
point of a fine pipette containing the medium and the living organisms.
The pipette is connected to the mouth of the operator with rubber
tubing. By lightly blowing into the tubing, the aqueous liquid is
made to leave the pipette and spread out on the glass under the oil

328 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

(fig. 2-B). The thickness of the layer is then regulated by inhaling
the excess of the liquid until the cells are lightly compressed between
the cover slip and the surface of the oil (fig. 2-C). Certain motile
organisms, such as rotifers, larvae, or ciliated Infusoria can thus be
rendered immovable. In the same manner, excess of oil can be
removed. The aqueous liquid, thanks to its adherence to the glass,
forms a thin layer under the oil.

Owing to all these improvements, Dr. Comandon has made wonder-
ful moving pictures with the microscope. Our readers can readily
appreciate this by examining the few views reproduced here, although
they are inanimate on the pages of our article. The films on the
black background are made by using the ultramicroscope lighted by an
electric arc.

REPRODUCTION OF AMOEBAE

When numerous unicellular organisms find themselves in unfavor-
able conditions, they undergo a change of form. Certain bacteria
become deformed and go into involution; certain protozoa encyst.
When the medium returns to a favorable state, they come out of the
cysts and resume their customary shapes. Plate 3, figure 1, represents
five amoebae which have been encysted for several weeks. Their
protoplasm is in a state of complete repose. At their right can be
seen a wandering amoeba. The diameter of these cysts is from
0.013 to 0.016 millimeter.

Figure 2, which follows, taken at 4 0’clock, shows a cyst on the point
of breaking. The projection shows the very lifelike movements of the
protoplasm of the amoeba in its cyst and a contractile vacuole has
appeared. At 4:36, the amoeba tears open the cyst toward the right
(fig. 3), and at 5:32 the young amoeba escapes through this narrow
opening (fig. 4).

Figure 5 shows a young amoeba which is beginning to take nourish-
ment; it has already collected several bacteria with the posterior part
of its body. Finally, figure 6 represents the most usual mode of
reproduction of the amoebae—simple division.

DIVISION OF TRYPANOSOMES

The trypanosomes, among which are found species pathogenic to
man, such as Trypanosoma gambiense, which is the agent of sleeping
sickness, are Protozoa. They generally multiply by longitudinal
division as shown in plate 4, where trypanosomes are shown undu-
lating among the spherical red blood corpuscles in the blood.

THE LIFE OF AMOEBAE

Plate 5, figure 1, shows an amoeba taking nourishment which con-
sists of analga. It is 19 minutes 50 seconds past 11 o’clock; a pseudo-

— <i i eee

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEEFF 329

podium of the amoeba is on the point of engulfing the extremity of
an oscillating alga. The pseudopodium progresses slowly about the
algal filament as shown in figure 2, taken 55 seconds later. It finally
withdraws, carrying with it the algal filament which penetrates a
small distance into its protoplasm (fig. 3, taken at 11:22). It is by
similar movements repeated many times that the amoeba absorbs
the entire filament.

Certain amoebae are also nourished by the protoplasm of cells of
molds. In plate 6, figure 1, there are shown two amoebae braced
against the same plant cell and attacking the cellulose membrane;
the time is 11:25. At 11:28, the amoeba on the right has pierced
the wall and absorbed the cell contents which pass into the amoeba
and form a large vacuole. At the same time, the other amoeba
detaches itself from the support and moves away (fig. 2).

KARYOKINESIS

The following pictures were taken of the red blood corpuscles in the
mother cells of the Triton, the diameter of which is about 0.025
millimeter. The nucleus, which is very large, occupies almost the
entire cell, and like the cytoplasm of the rest of the cell, it is relatively
opaque. Plate 7, figure 1, taken at 7:36, shows a cell that is ready
to divide. The protoplasm is animated by very slow movements,
difficult to distinguish by direct examination, but clearly visible in
the projection because of the enlargement (about 50,000 times) and
the acceleration of the movements, the speed being multiplied,
according to the case, by 16, 48, 112, and even 480.

At this early stage, there may be observed a rotation of the nucleus
in the plane of the preparation. This rotation may be, in one case,
360° in 6 minutes, in another case, about 225° in 23 minutes, in a third
case, about 180° in 27 minutes. Probably this rotation results from
the efforts of the nucleus to embed itself into the cytoplasm before
division.

There then ensues the gradual formation of the nuclear spireme;
the disappearance of the nuclear membrane is very rapid (fig. 2
at 7:45). At this moment, the deformations at the periphery of the
cell cease abruptly. The spireme becomes loosened and forms
strands which are generally placed at the periphery of the cell and
in the plane of the preparation when the cell is lightly pressed with a
cover slip. The transversal division of the threads of the spireme
gives rise to the chromosomes which begin to form the equatorial
plate (fig. 3 at 8:27). In those chromosomes situated in the focal
plane, the phases of the longitudinal division can be followed, then
the migration of the new elements toward the poles of the diaster
(fig. 4 at 8:35). The chromosomes then group to form two daughter
nuclei (fig. 5 at 8:42). At the moment of the constriction of the

330 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

protoplasm, there can be distinguished fibers that run perpendicularly
to the plane of segmentation; these are the connecting filaments of the
spindle (fig. 6 at 8:51).

While the nuclei of the two daughter cells are being constructed, the
characteristic checkerboard arrangement taken by the chromatic
network may be observed, and there is also noticeable a progressive
darkening appearance of the cytoplasm caused by the hemoglobin
(fig. 7 at 9 o’clock).

The daughter cells directly after cell division takes place present a
very striking lobular appearance which progressively changes until
they return to their definite forms (fig. 8 at 11 o’clock). There
can be seen in the upper right of this latest picture a leucocyte trav-
ersing the photographic field.

HAEMOLYSIS OF THE BLOOD

The photomicrographs of the haemolysis of the blood give a basis
for judgment of the hypotheses and theories made regarding the
structure of the red blood corpuscles, which have been contradictory
up to this time because of the imperfections of the means of ordinary
investigations, such as the microscope and the ultramicroscope.

It should be remembered that the diameter of the human red blood
corpuscle is about 0.0075 millimeter. The red blood corpuscles of
several mammals when in contact with hypotonic solution first
become spherical, then undergo a slight shock and gradually become
pale, showing a contour that is scarcely visible (pl. 8, fig. 1).

The human red blood corpuscles in an acidulated solution (1/1,000 N
hydrochloric acid, for example) swell up, then burst; there may then
be observed a white turbidity that starts at one point of the periphery
near the exterior, progresses, and soon forms a circular region that
results in the flocculence of the proteins expelled from the globule
(pl. 8, fig. 3).

With the action of bile, the nucleated red blood corpuscles of the
Triton seem to soften, changing into a cylindrical or shuttlelike form;
then their walls disintegrate, commencing at a point on the periphery,
and this destruction proceeds very rapidly in all directions. It is a
sort of stripping of the blood corpuscle, the contents of which are
then dispersed. As to the human red blood corpuscles, the modifica-
tion of the membrane and the dispersal of the globular contents, in
the presence of the bile, take place so rapidly that there seems to be a
veritable explosion (pl. 9). In the red blood corpuscles of the
batrachians there may often be observed animated particles with
Brownian movement that are freely displaced.

The contents of the red blood corpuscle then seem to be liquid.
If there is a stroma in the interior, it must be composed of a few and
very fine filaments which are invisible even in the ultramicroscope.

eer Srl

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEEFF 331

After haemolysis no stroma can be detected, and observations disagree
regarding its presence. Thus in the preparation of the blood of the
hen containing Spirochaeta gallinarum, or blood of the rat infected
with Spirochaeta duttoni, the colorless, haemolized globules frequently
contain perfectly motile Spirochaetes which seem to be caught in a
trap (pl. 8, fig. 2) and which are unable to find the opening at which they
penetrated. This indicates that there was a membrane at the time,
and an opening, and that the stroma must be very loose if it does exist.

As may be judged from these few pictures, Dr. Comandon’s films
are extremely clever. They have excited the enthusiasm of scholars
in the congresses and scientific societies where they have been pre-
sented. They prove that moving pictures can add new and precise
observations to biological studies and that they can furnish irrefutable
records, the analysis of which furthers research, as well as projections
which facilitate instruction.

THE MEANS OF DEFENSE OF THE ORGANISM 2

When an infectious disease is raging, certain individuals perish,
others become sick and then recover, while still others are not attacked
by the disease. The resistance to infection is designated by the term
immunity. The mechanics of immunity are included among the most
complex problems of research studied by biologists.

PHAGOCYTOSIS

Metchnikoff, a student of Pasteur, made known in 1882 one of the
most active means for the defense of the organism against pathogenic
agents—phagocytosis. While observing the nutritional process of
amoebae, this scholar noticed that these very simple unicellular
organisms on arriving in contact with a food particle emit pseudopodia
that surround it and, after enclosing it, engulf it. A vacuole forms
about the particle thus ingested; a true digestion proceeds; at the end
of a variable period of time, according to the nature of the particle, it
disappears. A large number of amoebae feed on bacteria (pl. 10,
figs. 1-4). The same process is observed in other Protozoa.

But our own organism possesses white globules, called leucocytes,
which, by their morphological characters, present analogies with cer-
tain nonpathogenic amoebae. In the healthy human organism, there
are 5,500,000 red blood corpuscles and 6,000 to 8,000 leucocytes to the
cubic millimeter.

While observing the behavior of the leucocytes in the presence of
microbes introduced into the blood stream, Metchnikoff found that,
like amoebae, the leucocytes emitted pseudopodia, engulfed the

1 Epitor’s NotE.—The following pages, under the general heading ‘““The means of defense of the or-
ganism,”’ which formed a separate article by Kazeeffin La Nature, No. 2975, April 15, 1936, are here reprinted

by permission to show ths type of research that is aided by the new development of moving photomicrog-
raphy and its great importance to human welfare.

332 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

microbes, and digested them (pl. 11, figs.1-3). He therefore gave them
the name of phagocytes and called the phenomenon which he had just
discovered phagocytosis.

The phagocytes are endowed with motility and sensitiveness;
they direct themselves with certainty to the focus of the microbes.
Up to this time, science has not been able to solve the mystery of
how the phagocytes which are far from the point of introduction of the
microbes are informed of their arrival. All that is known, is that the
phagocytes move about (they traverse 2 mm in an hour by means of
their amoeboid movements, according to the moving photomicro-
graphic readings), and they can go out from the blood capillaries
(diapedesis) to slide between stationary cells, in their effort to reach
the point of infection.

Two categories of phagocytes are described: The smaller, or
microphages, and the more voluminous ones, macrophages. It is the
microphages especially that rush to the attack of invading micrboes
and absorb them. The macrophages intervene in the combat as the
rearguard of the microphages; when one of the latter succumbs without
having digested the absorbed microbes, the macrophage speedily
ingests the microphage crammed with microbian elements.

Almost immediately after the penetration of bacteria into a living
organism, the microphages rush to the point of infection (pl. 12, fig. 1)
and commence to engulf the intruders. A true battle takes place
(fig. 2). The reinforcements of phagocytes continue to congregate,
and their number generally attains its maximum after 10 to 24 hours
(fig. 3). The macrophages which arise in the spleen, the lymphatic
organs, and even the connective tissues arrive later, after 9 to 14 hours;
they engulf the damaged cells and the microphages that have suc-
cumbed. A single macrophage is capable of absorbing from 2 to 10
microphages crammed full of microbes. A polymorphonuclear leu-
cocyte (microphage) itself can absorb as many as 20 microbian spores.

The attacking microbes on their part attempt resistance. Certain
ones, such as the tetanus bacillus, secrete a toxin that removes or
destroys the phagocytes; others, by their prodigious multiplication
overmeasure the losses undergone; those which are armored with a
glutinous capsule (the pneumococcus and the tetrads, for example)
or waxlike capsule (B. tuberculosis), or those which have time to form
spores (anthrax bacteria) resist the phagocyte aggression. They
produce new generations of microbes among the phagocytes which
are already enfeebled and thus infection spreads.

The phagocytic defense is particularly active at the tonsil level,
because of the mucus of the digestive tube and the mucous secretions
of the digestive system, at the weakest points which are in contact
with the exterior environment.

It should be noted that there also exist in several organs fixed ele-
ments (nonmotile cells) such as the Kupffer cells of the liver and the

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEEFF 333

reticulocytes which are capable of destroying bacteria by engulfing
them in the same fashion as do the phagocytes.

To Metchnikoff belongs the great merit of bringing to light the
role of the phagocytes in the natural defense of the organism, but
contrary to his opinion, this means of defense is not the only one.
Its interpretation, which is too exclusive, raised numerous contradic-
tions, especially in Germany. It caused a true scientific war of 30
years. While Metchnikoff and his pupils insisted that the principal
factor of immunity is phagocytosis which engulfs the microbes and
digests them, Baumgarten, Ziegler, Ehrlich, Behring, Pfeiffer, and
others insisted that the principal factor of immunity rests in the
bactericidal action of the humors and the blood of the organism (the
humoral theory).

FiGuRE 3.—The Pfeiffer phenomenon. At left, motile cholera vibrios in the peritoneal exudation of a young
guinea pig; at right, agglutination and granulation of the vibrios in the exudation of an immunized guinea
pig.

HUMORAL DEFENSE

Pfeiffer contributed by the following demonstrations the first
experimental arguments supporting the humoral theory.

If the peritoneal exudation of a guinea pig is collected a half hour
after an emulsion of cholera vibrios have been injected into its peri-
toneum, these vibrios present their usual appearance; they are motile
and independent of each other. If a similar operation is made on a
guinea pig which some time before has received a nonmortal dose of
the same cholera vibrios, the vibrios become agglutinated, immobilized,
having lost their form and present a granular aspect. It is evident
that the blood serum of the organism immunized (in this case probably
vaccinated or artificially immunized) against the cholera bacillus has
acquired the power to destroy the microbes of this infection. This
is the classical phenomenon of bacteriolysis (fig. 3).

Buchner, pursuing these studies, discovered natural haemolysis.
If some red blood corpuscles of the sheep are introduced into serum

334 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of a rabbit, they are not dissolved; they are deposited little by little
in the bottom of the tube; the liquid floating on the surface becomes
clear and colorless. But if these same red blood corpuscles of the
sheep are introduced into dog serum, they do not fall to the bottom
of the tube; they are destroyed, and the liquid becomes uniformly
red and translucent. Buchner attributed this haemolysis to a normal
soluble principle named alexin (Buchner) or complement (Ehrlich).

Bordet has provoked artificially in the blood of the rabbit the forma-
tion of a haemolytic serum capable of dissolving the red blood cor-
puscles of the sheep. Having made four injections of red blood cor-
puscles of sheep into a rabbit, separated by intervals of 8 days, he
determined that, 5 days after the last injection, the rabbit serum had
acquired the power of haemolysis of the corpuscles of the sheep.
Bordet then demonstrated that haemolysis is specific. For example,
the serum of a rabbit immunized with the corpuscles of a sheep dis-
solves only the corpuscles of the sheep; the serum of a rabbit im-
munized with the corpuscles of the horse dissolves only the corpuscles
of the horse, etc.

These experiments show that there can be created artificially a
specific defense of the organism, that is to say, directed not only against
the bacteria but even against an alien cell. Bordet has demonstrated
also that haemolysis results from the combined action of two sub-
stances which he calls alezin and sensibilisatrice or amboceptor.
While alexin is fragile and destroyed by heating at 55°, the sensibilisa-
trice is destroyed only by heating at 60°-65°. The first-named pre-
exists in the normal animal; the second, specific, is lacking in the
normal animal. It originates in the organism into which alien cells
have been introduced.

Alexin, while being in principle able to destroy an alien cell, is in-
capable of filling this rule by itself alone, because it does not have the
power to do so. The sensibilisatrice plays the role of intermediary,
of mordant; it fixes itself on the alien cell and permits the alexin to
exercise its own destructive action. Alexin is a normal defensive
principle that is found in the blood of men and animals. Capable
of combating the enemies invading the organism, without any dis-
tinction, in particular the bacterial pathogens, it has to be aided by
the specific sensibilisatrice. This is secreted automatically by the
organism when it is invaded by an alien cell or by an infectious agent.

The microbic invasion of an organism either experimentally or by
disease provokes in the organism the elaboration of properties some-
times dissolving, sometimes agglutinating, sometimes both. Bacte-
riolysis is specific. The production of it can be determined experi-
mentally by the inoculation of the animal with weak microbes.

We have seen that in these experiments Pfeiffer had determined the
agglutination and the granular degeneracy of the cholera vibrios in-
jected into the peritoneum of an immunized guinea pig. The same

EAE Pp gfe LD ty

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEEFF 335

phenomenon was verified by other scholars for different microbes.
Bordet has shown that these bacterial agglutinins resist heating at
56°C, The agglutinins are thus independent of alexin. It should be
observed that the agglutinated microbes are not dead; sown on the
culture media, they grow like normal microbes.

The organism can thus defend itself against the invading microbes
by phagocytic action and by the elaboration of properties such as the
sensibilisatrices, bacteriolysins, agglutinins, precipitins, etc. These
substances may be united under the term antibodies. Other experi-
ments have proved that only the substances which are of a protein
nature, for example, those which are derived from animals or plants
(cells, red blood corpuscles, milk, albumins, serums, microbes, etc.)
provoke this elaboration of the antibodies. All the substances capable
of inciting the formation of these antibodies are grouped under the
term antigens.

BACTERIOPHAGE

There exists another principle of defense, mysterious because it
remains sealed against our natural means of microscopic investigation
and because agreement cannot be reached regarding its nature: It is
bacteriophage.

The definition of it as given by Dr. D’Herelle, who discovered it,
follows:

The lytic principle, which I term Bacteriophagum intestinale or Bacteriophage is
a particle that multiplies at the expense of the excretions of bacteria, capable in
consequence of assimilation, which is indefinitely cultivable in series, in vitro, in
its filterable form.

The bacteriophage is cultivable like the microbes but it only de-
velops at the expense of living microbes. Sown in a culture of
microbes, it provokes the clearing up of the cultures in liquid media
and the formation of clear expanses in the cultures on solid media,
phenomena that prove its power of bacterial destruction.

Its bactericidal action is manifested on a great number of microbes.
For example, the Shiga dysentery bacillus, submitted at 37° during
three-quarters of an hour to the action of the bacteriophage, shows a
bad color; at the end of an hour of action, there may be found only
eranulations, residue of the microbian action. After 10 hours these
granulations disappear and the bouillon becomes completely clear.

According to D’Herelle, the presence of the bacteriophage in the
organism is manifested especially at the moment of convalescence.
It resists heating at 75° and can be conserved in active culture for a
long time. D’Herelle considers it an ultramicroscopic organism spe-
cifically pathogenic toward living microbes. In other words, the
bacteriophage has the relation to the microbes that the microbes have
to the animal organism.

336 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Certain scholars share the views of D’Herelle; on the contrary,
Bordet and others believe that the bacteriophage in reality is only a
property acquired by the microbe itself; a nutritive vitiation which
issues from the hereditary lytic principle. He has advanced weighty
arguments in favor of this interpretation.

ANTITOXINS AND CRYPTOTOXINS

Roux and Yersin have been the first to discover that certain mi-
crobes are toxic to an organism because they elaborate poisons that
are called toxins. These toxins, injected experimentally, are capable
of provoking the same symptoms in the animals as does the illness of
which the microbe is the agent; they can cause death. Injected in
small doses, they stimulate the production by the organism of specific
antibodies which are called antitoxins.

H. Vincent discovered that certain fatty acids in combination with
alkalies have the remarkable property of neutralizing the most active
microbic toxins, in almost infinitesimal doses. He has demonstrated
that when some traces of these bodies are added to microbian toxins
of diphtheria bacillus, Clostridium tetani, dysentery bacillus, colibacillus,
Clostridium oedematis maligni, etc., they neutralize their pathogenic
action after a contact of from some hours to 4 days, at a temperature of
38 to 39°, according to the nature of the substance and that of the toxin.
The animals can support toxins thus treated up to doses of 500 to
1,000 times greater than one mortal dose not treated. At the same
time, H. Vincent has shown that toxins influenced by this treatment
are not entirely destroyed. They subsist in direct combination with
the micella of the soaps adsorbed by them. If some acid is added
to the tetanus toxin that has been treated and become inactive for
the animal, and when this mixture is immediately injected, the
animal has tetanus in a secondary weaker form. The toxin has thus
been simply immobilized, disguised in the complex toxin soap. Pro-
fessor Vincent has given to toxins in this state the name of crypto-
toxins.

If, to the neutralized toxin, there is added, 4 or 5 days later, one-
fourth or one-half cubic centimeter of fresh toxin, the mixture does
not become toxic, which proves that the pure toxin has been neutral-
ized biologically by an available surplus of the chemical antibodies.
It is evident that this surplus is detached from the molecules of
cryptotoxins to then fix itself on the micella of fresh toxin, because
of the law of molecular attraction.

These researches have led this scholar, because of the similarity of
mode of action of the antitoxins with that of the cryptotoxic agents,
to formulate a theory of the general constitution of the antibodies
founded on the laws of physical chemistry and of molecular attraction.

2, eee ee eee

MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHY—KAZEEFF 337

A diagram (fig. 4) synthesizes this theory of the constitution of
the antibodies. 7’ represents the toxin and A the antibody. The
initial nucleus 7’A, neutral and irreducible from the antitoxic, be-
comes the center of attraction for the other free molecules of the
toxin 7. The whole (TA) + A’ + A’ + A’”’ .. . thus constitutes
an accumulation of antitoxic energy capable of neutralizing, thanks
to the excess of A’, A’’, A’’’ ... the new toxic micella 7’, T’’,
T’”’ . . . with which it comes in contact. It is to this supersatura-
tion that the fact should be attributed that the serum of an immu-

FIGURE 4.—Constitution of the antibodies, according to Prof. H. Vincent. TJ, toxin; A, antibodies.

nized animal returns in antibodies to the hundredfold, that which this
animal has received in antigens, that is to say in toxins (diphtheria,
tetanus, etc.). This theory gives, according to Prof. H. Vincent, the
interpretation of the therapeutic effects of the serums as well as the
neutralizing action in vitro. It also explains, it goes without saying,
the production of immunity in sick people.

CONCLUSION

Just as there have been objections directed against phagocytosis
being considered as the unique process for the defense of the organ-
ism, in the same manner, objections can be made to the theory of
antibodies being considered as the explanation of all immunity. In
effect, if the multiplication of the microbe is very rapid, if this microbe

31508—38——23

338 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

is too virulent, the organism does not have time to produce anti-
bodies and it succumbs.

The existence of the sick person is the stake in the battle between
the pathogenic microbe and the natural defensive elements (alexin)
or the acquired defensive elements of the infected organism (phago-
cytes, bacterial antibodies, specific antitoxins, bacteriolysins, etc.).
However, in a war, all the means of defense or attack should cooperate
according to the plan of the whole. One can suppose that it is the
same for the organism when the antibodies serve as auxiliary to the
normal alexin to determine the destruction of the pathogenic microbes,
while the antitoxins neutralize the microbian poisons. The role of
the phagocytes is to bring about the definite disappearance (by en-
gulfing and digesting) of the microbes thus attenuated or destroyed;
but they can also destroy by themselves alone certain pathogenic
microbes.

Good functioning of all of these elements of protection, either innate
or acquired, is often determined by the general condition of the
organism. Hygiene, healthy living, fresh air, physical exercise con-
tribute to the strengthening of this state. On the contrary, lack of
hygiene, alcoholism, excess, in a word, everything which causes the
weakening of the organism, undermines the resistance and contributes
to the victory of our enemies, the microbes.

Finally, in conclusion, let us recall that bacteriological science has
discovered methods for reinforcing, by vaccination, by serotherapy, or
by the introduction of various diverse chemical substances, the
natural resistance against a certain number of pathogenic agents.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 1

Se

a

THE INSTALLATION OF DR. COMANDON’S MOVING PHOTOMICROGRAPHIC
MACHINE.

1. Heavy table holding the light source a and the optical bench; 2, microscop2 platform c; 3, apparatus
for taking the pictures; 4, steel table on which is the shutter d; ¢, electric motor; m, micromanipulator
of de Fonbrune.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 2

BO aE

7 rire
n~ ae ae

The microscope c placed in a controlled temperature chamber 7.

PLATE 3

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeft

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7
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‘ Ps
4
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PS
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SUCCESSIVE PHASES IN THE OUTBURST OF AN AMOEBA FROM ITS CYST.

PLATE 4

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@ A S2-o) 22,
a ‘ant: dir s ‘a= @& 4
DIVISION OF A TRYPANOSOME IN THE MIDDLE OF RED BLOOD CORPUSCLES IN
THE BLOOD

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 5

AN AMOEBA FEEDING ON AN ALGAL FILAMENT.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 6

TWo AMOEBAE ON A MOLD FILAMENT WHICH ONE OF THEM PERFORATES.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 7

KARYOKINETIC DIVISION OF A RED BLOOD CORPUSCLE OF A TRITON.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 8

1. Haemolysis of the blood of a rat. In a, red blood corpuscle, scarcely visible. At left, a leucocyte that
has burst.

2. Blood of a rat invaded by Spirochaeta duttoni. In a, spirochaete lodged in a globule.

3}. Haemolysis of a human red blood corpuscle with 1/1000 N hydrochloric acid.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeefft PLATE 9

HAEMOLYSIS OF THE HUMAN BLOOD WITH BILE.
In a, globule rapidly disappearing.

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SUOMBUISBAU! oY} OJU! MvNemed seqor1orUT oy} JO JoquINU UIB}I00 B ‘g Serpodopnosd sit WILMA Uey] PUNOLINs 04 SooUVMTUTOD 41 *Z fsaqosorUr JO ssBUr B JO OIBMR SOULOdOG BQVIOWIE WY *T

“VESAOWV NV AS SASONDIW AO NOILSSON]

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Ol 3LV1d poazey—"7¢6| “oday uetuosyyiwig

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeft PLATE 11

Moving photomicrograph by Dr. Comandon and M. de Fonbrune

INGESTION OF CARBON BACTERIA (B. ANTHRACIS) BY PHAGOCYTES OF
nie BEOOD:

1. Some bacteria have been introduced into the blood (elongated rods in the center of the photograph); a
leucocyte arrives (at the top) among the red globules (dark disks); 2, twenty-two minutes later, the
leucocyte has ingested the bacteria; another appears at the top; 3, an hour later, other leucocytes are
grouped about the first phagocyte.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kazeeff PLATE 12

Moving photomicrographs by Dr. Comandon and M. de Fonbrune

A MASS OF STREPTOCOCCI HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED INTO THE BLOOD (AT LEFT)
AND A MASS OF DIPHTHERIA BACILLI (AT RIGHT).

1. The leucocytes (little white points) commence to arrive and surround the microbian mass; 2, six hours
later, the masses are completely encircled and st illjother leucocytes continue to arrive; 3, six hours later,
the diphtheria bacteria are destroyed, the streptococci still resist; the mass at the right is dislocated.

FRESH-WATER FISHES AND WEST INDIAN
ZOOGEOGRAPHY

By Gxrorce 8. Myers
Stanford University

[With 3 plates]
INTRODUCTION

Since time immemorial man has enjoyed looking backward, but it
is only within the last century that the researches of the geologist
and paleontologist have allowed him to see the earth as it was before
he himself existed. Nowadays the strange creatures that peopled the
past even appear in the Sunday supplements and the cinema, and
the fact that what is now dry land may have been under the sea is
common knowledge. To the student of plant and animal distribu-
tion, or biogeography, the long-gone past is of particular interest.
We know that many living things could not be found where they are
if the land and sea had always been exactly as they exist today, and
only a study of paleogeography, or the geography of ancient times,
will enable us to understand how plants and animals moved about
over the face of the earth and reached the places where we now find
their living descendants.

Students of both phytogeography, or plant distribution, and zoo-
geography, or animal distribution, must depend largely on the geolo-
gist to tell them how the land and sea were bounded in the past,
but often they can help the geologist in this very matter. Studies of
the relationships of living things, both recent and fossil, frequently
point out that two islands or continents must have been connected
by dry land at a certain geological time, for example the connection
of Alaska with Siberia across Bering Strait. In the same way the
close relationship or identity of various species of fishes and other
marine animals on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Panama show
that the two oceans were once connected over what is now the isthmus,
and at no very distant period, geologically speaking. In fact, the
geologist often depends to a considerable extent on the fossil remains
of once-living creatures for information about his rock formations,
their age and the climatic and other conditions under which they

339
31508—38——24

340 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

were deposited, as well as for hints as to probable land and sea con-
nections in the past. Biogeographical studies, then, interlocked as
they are with geology and paleontology, contribute to two different
fields, primarily to a knowledge of how living things evolved and
migrated and secondarily to a better understanding of the changes
of land and sea areas and of climate during geological time.

For many reasons, biogeographical problems are often difficult to
solve, although some workers have been slow to realize this difficulty.
The classical distributional researches of Darwin, Wallace, and their
contemporaries threw a bright light on subjects that had been little
thought about, and many of their followers lost sight of the fact that
the most brilliant of the first results were drawn from those instances in
which plain evidence was lying fallow to produce richly for those first
in the field. Year by year the literature of biogeography grows, and
as vast new stores of precise facts pile up, problems that formerly
seemed simple become increasingly difficult to solve. Indeed, it is
apparent that the data of the science are already too vast for any
single person to digest, even in relatively circumscribed problems.
Most biogeographers of today are of necessity narrower specialists
than their predecessors; each has a large and growing body of fact
in his own specialty to master and less time to acquire the geological
background and knowledge of the literature of other fields that would
enable him to see distributional problems in true perspective. It
would seem that general biogeographical results of lasting value can
be reached nowadays only through the cooperation of a group of
competent specialists who can weigh apparently contradictory evi-
dence and reach conclusions in accord with the soundest bodies of
biological, ecological, paleontological, and geological fact.

ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS OF THE AMERICAS

Biogeographical problems are legion, ranging from questions of con-
tinental and oceanic relationships to minute details of the distribu-
tion of single species, but at this time I wish to speak only of a very
few of the broader problems of the animal geography of North and
South America.

Generally speaking, zoogeographers, like Gaul, are divided into
three parts—those who build bridges, those who do not, and the pro-
ponents of continental drift. To begin with the last first, it may be
explained that Wegener and his followers believe that all the conti-
nents once formed a more or less compact land mass floating upon the
deeper, heavier rocks of the earth’s crust, and that sundry pieces of
this land mass broke off from time to time and drifted away to form
what we now call Australia, the Americas, and Africa. Despite the
fulminations of those opposed to this theory, there is a considerable
body of weighty evidence in favor of it, and I for one, should not be

O_O

~

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 341

surprised to see it finally prevail. However, there is just as weighty
authority against it, and since the fishes might be construed as favoring
either side of the argument, I shall not now consider it further.

The bridge builders are those zoogeographers who are prone to
postulate vast continental connections, which they believe existed in
what is now the deep sea, in order to provide bridges over which the
land faunas could march to destinations to which they obviously got
somehow. The more radical of this school frequently sink (in theory)
whole halves or quarters of continents to the deep sea and raise vast
areas of ocean bottom into new continents to explain their ideas of
how living things evolved and migrated. Unfortunately, there is
little geological evidence for the more bewitching of these schemes,
and zoogeographers are coming to depend on them less and less. To
my mind, the most sensible of these ‘‘bridges” are the narrow and not
at all startling ‘‘isthmian links” of Willis (1932) and Schuchert (1932);
they have the unique backing of what appears to be sound geological
and bathymetric support, and in addition, some of them are still in
existence either as true continental connections (Panama) or chains
of islands (West Indies).

Those who do not build bridges are the zoogeographers who, since
the time of Wallace, have held sternly and perhaps a little too tena-
ciously to the theory of the “‘permanence of the ocean basins.”” They
do build bridges, but very modest ones. They hold that, by and
large, the only areas that have ever been dry land are those either
now dry or a part of the continental shelves, that parts of continents
have been flooded but never deeply, that no major portion of the really
deep-sea bottom has ever been upraised into dry land, and that the
small land bridges they postulate can account for all the migrations
of land animals that have occurred. It must be admitted that this
school has been the most cautious in examining the available evidence
and the most erudite in its researches; of late years it has also been
the most stiff-necked in considering contrary opinion. Its foremost
recent exponent has been the late W. D. Matthew, whose Climate and
Evolution (1915) has had a profound and overwhelming effect on
nearly all recent American vertebrate zoogeographers, and but little
on anybody else. There is no doubt, however, that Matthew’s
views deserve the most careful consideration, and it is unfortunate
that he did not live to write the proposed enlarged and revised edition
of his work.’

Matthew’s thesis was, briefly, that “secular climatic change has
been an important factor in the evolution of land vertebrates and the
principal known cause of their present distribution’ and that, in
later geological epochs, most continental groups of animals have origi-
nated in the great northern land mass of Eurasia and North America

1 For which I had gathered the ichthyological information.

342 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

(the Holarctic region) and migrated outward, radially, into South
America, Africa, and the Indo-Australian region. On a globe, or a
north-polar projection of the world, such evolution and migration is
easy to visualize; Eurasia and North America, which have frequently
been connected, form a preponderating land unit, from which the
other continents radiate. I think no serious zoogeographer can dis-
agree radically with Matthew’s view that secular climatic change has
had an enormous effect on animal distribution, but it is questionable
that climate has directly influenced evolution itself.2 In regard to
his postulation of a northern origin of the faunas of South America
and other southern continents, however, it should be observed that
von Ihering (1907), Eigenmann (1909), and other eminent men have
come to a directly opposed conclusion, which emphasizes the relation-
ships of certain African and South American animals that they believe
did not originate in the north, and which, therefore, would demand
some sort of South Atlantic land bridge to account for their evident
community of origin. The necessity for a South Atlantic bridge has
also been strongly advocated by so eminent an authority as Regan
(1922), whose thoroughly sound data on the ostariophysan fishes are
of the greatest importance.

In reviewing the distribution of American continental faunas in
connection with some recent studies of West Indian fresh-water
fishes, I have been struck with the amount of misinformation that
passes as sound ichthyological evidence among zoogeographers. Part
of this is the fault of the ichthyologists themselves. Papers on fish
distribution written by competent ichthyologists and based on
modern paleontological and ichthyological data are scarce, and the
distributional information in two recent general textbooks on fishes
(Kyle, MacFarlane) is scarcely to be relied on. On the other hand,
the recent dependable papers that do exist have been neglected by
most students of zoogeography. I have come across no modern
paper that summarizes the broader geographical aspects of the fresh-
water fishes of North and South America, and, in the belief that such
may be of some general interest, I shall attempt to supply this want
in very brief form. At the same time I shall speak about some of
the implications of fresh-water fish distribution im the controversial
question of West Indian paleogeography, but, in compliance with my
thesis that biogeographical problems cannot be solved on the evidence
of one group, I shall not pontify on matters I know I am not competent
to settle.

WHAT ARE FRESH-WATER FISHES?

The importance of fresh-water fishes to students of geographical dis-
tribution depends primarily on two facts. Firstly, certain families of
fishes possess an ancient physiological inability to survive in salt sea

2 Except as one of the factors of natural selection.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 343

water, which binds them to the land as securely as any known animals
Secondly, on the land, they are inescapably confined to their own
particular drainage systems and can migrate from one isolated stream
basin to the next only through the slow physiographical change of
the land itself (stream capture, etc.). Throughout the world the
migrations of fresh-water fishes over extensive continental areas have
generally been excessively slower than those of almost any creature
that can creep, crawl, walk, or fly, however closely that creature
may have been bound by its ecological tolerances. This is exception-
ally well illustrated by Central America, where the interpenetration
of North and South American faunas has proceeded in many groups
practically to the limit of climatic tolerance, but where no truly
Neotropical (South American) fresh-water fish has gotten farther
north than Texas or New Mexico, and none truly Nearctic (North
American) farther south than Nicaragua.

There are, of course, exceptional methods by which fishes may be
transported. ‘‘Rains of fishes’ are sufficiently well known and
authenticated to make it certain that cyclonic winds, in passing over
bodies of water, sometimes pick up small fishes and deposit them at a
distance, still alive. It is possible, too, that a fish eagle or gull might
drop or disgorge alive a newly caught fish after having carried it over
a divide between two distinct river systems. But the frequently
made statement that the eggs of fishes are dispersed by adhering to
the feet of wading birds in flight should cease to trouble zoogeographers;
such a method of transportation is possible, but almost no fish eggs
are sufficiently resistant to survive drying in the air more than a very
few minutes. The main fact to keep in mind is that fish distribution
is much more regular and understandable than it would be if these
unusual methods of transportation were of much importance.

One fact that some zoogeographers who have dealt with fishes have
neglected is that the fishes to which the adjective “fresh-water’’ is
applied differ widely in the extent of their tolerance of salt water.
There are fresh-water fishes which never swim into salt water, some
which occasionally do but can survive it only for a short period, some
which habitually frequent estuaries and other brackish waters and
frequently enter the sea, and some which migrate back and forth
between river and sea either continually or periodically. It is plainly
evident that a fish which can swim through sea water from one river
mouth to another is not of much use in studies of terrestrial zoo-
geography.

The only fresh-water fishes that need especially concern us at
present are those of the first two of the categories I have just men-
tioned. These two categories I shall distinguish as a primary division
whose members are very strictly confined to fresh water, and a second-
ary division whose members are generally restricted to fresh water

344 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

but occasionally enter the sea voluntarily for short periods. The
other groups not specifically placed in divisions grade off into wholly
marine forms. Finally, there are a number of species and genera of
salt-water families that have taken up more or less permanent resi-
dence in fresh water. Most of them return to the sea to spawn.

THE GROUPS OF FRESH-WATER FISHES

The fresh-water fishes of the primary and secondary divisions tend
to group themselves on natural family lines. In other words, all or
nearly all species of one family usually show a similar tolerance to salt
water. This, together with the fossil evidence available, leads us to
believe that most of the families of the primary division have carried
down their physiological inability to survive in the sea, as family
characters, from early times and probably since the origin of the groups
concerned.

The fresh-water fishes of the primary division are of diverse relation-
ships among fishes generally. A few of them are small, relict groups
of primitive organization, such as the two living families of lung
fishes (Ceratodontidae, with one surviving species in Australia, and
Lepidosirenidae, with three surviving species of the genus Protopterus
in Africa and one of the genus Lepidosiren in South America). Of
similar relict distribution are the two living genera of the primitive
paddle-fishes, Psephurus in the Yangtse River in China and Polyodon
in the Mississippi. Higher on the scale of fish evolution are the
paleoniscidlike bichirs of Africa and the family of bowfins, with one
living North American species. Somewhat similar to these last are
the “ganoid” garpikes of North America, a family which I place,
somewhat hesitantly, in the secondary division of fresh-water fishes.

The bulk of living sea fishes are of more specialized organization
than these primitive families, and belong to the great subclass of
bony fishes, or Teleostei, and this is true of the fresh-water families as
well. The lowest order of teleosts is that of the herringlike fishes —
(Isospondyli) and to it belong several families of my primary fresh-
water division; among them the hiodonts or mooneyes of the Missis-
sippi; the strange phractolaemids, pantodonts, kneriids,’ and mormy-
rids of Africa; and the ancient osteoglossids, which were probably
well-nigh cosmopolitan in Eocene fresh waters.

More than half of the true fresh-water fishes of the world belong to
a single order, the Ostariophysi,* distinguished from the herrings by
the peculiar chain of Weberian ossicles connecting the air-bladder with

3 The Nilotic Cromeriidae seem to be larval Kneriidae.
4See Regan (1922). A few characins, carps, and fresh-water catfishes enter brackish water in estuaries,
but none is known to be able to survive in the sea for more than a few hours; none could breed there. The

only exception of which I know is the carp Acahara hakonensis, which Prof. J. O. Snyder tells me is occa-
sionally taken in the open sea off southern Japan.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 345

the auditory apparatus. The ostariophysans are primarily a fresh-
water order and must have been since their pre-Eocene origin; out
of nearly 30 families and 4,500 or more species of them only 2 special-
ized families (the ariid and plotosid catfishes), comprising not over 150
species, are marine, and these beyond reasonable doubt are descended
from ancient fresh-water ancestors. To the Ostariophysi belong the
hordes of carps or minnows, suckers, loaches, characins, gymnotid
eels, and bewhiskered catfishes that swarm throughout the rivers and
lakes of all the continents except Australia. The only fresh-water
Ostariophysi of Australia and Madagascar are ariid and plotosid
catfishes that have reinvaded the rivers from the sea.5

The remaining fresh-water groups of the primary division are quickly
enumerated. The rather herringlike order Haplomi contains the
pikes or pickerels, the small mud minnows, and the Alaskan and
Siberian blackfish. To some extent transitional from the foregoing,
more primitive, bony fishes to the more highly developed, spiny-
rayed types, are the strange percopsids and pirate perches of North
America. Of the cyprinodonts I consider that only one family, the
North American cave fishes, belongs to the primary division. Of the
fully developed, perchlike groups we have the North American sun-
fishes or basses, the true perches of North America and Eurasia, and
the tropical nandids. Ending the series are the Old World tropical
labyrinth fishes and the isolated spiny-eels.

The secondary division of fresh-water fishes is composed of families
which, in general, behave like true fresh-water fishes, but whose
members show a less sharp restriction to fresh water. Among the
more important of them are the North American garpikes, the syn-
branchid eels, the cichlids, and the various families of topminnows or
cyprinodonts. Garpikes are known to enter the sea along the Gulf of
Mexico coast. Most cichlids can survive several hours or days in the
sea, and one species of Tilapia, collected in brackish water in Mozam-
bique, has been kept for months in sea water at the New York Aquar-
ium. Many cyprinodonts do not seem to be inconvenienced greatly
by salt water. Mollienisia latipinna enters the sea freely and multiplies
in brine ponds about Manila Bay, where it was accidentally introduced.
Metzelaar reported Rivulus from tide pools on Curagao, and certain
species of Fundulus and Cyprinodon live permanently on the seacoast
beyond reach of estuaries. The Challenger even caught a Fundulus
in a mid-Atlantic pelagic haul! It is evident that many species of this
secondary group might easily survive a short sea journey. This is
borne out by distributional fact. It is only members of the secondary

5 It seems probable that the supposed Bourbon catfish Laimumena, close to certain South American
trachycorystids, is based on mislabeled type specimens.

346 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

group that have succeeded in crossing to the east of Wallace’s Line °
in the East Indies, and in reaching Madagascar.’

After this second group comes a succession of families of catadromous
or anadromous fishes such as the fresh-water eels, the salmon and trout,
the sturgeons, the galaxiids and the aplochitonids, and others which,
for one reason or another, enter the sea freely and are in most cases not
of use in studies of the distribution of fresh-water fishes. Lastly we
find primarily marine families such as the sharks, herrings, gray
mullets, sea basses, and gobies, a few of whose members have invaded
the rivers and sometimes developed into purely fresh-water species.

THE FRESH-WATER FISH FAUNAS OF THE AMERICAS
1. LIMITATION TO TERTIARY

In the mammals, the history of many of the modern orders has
been traced back to their very different Eocene ancestors and consider-
able has been done in connecting these up with Mesozoic forms. The
story of the continental fishes is very different. The Ostariophysi, as
well as nearly all other groups of fresh-water bony fishes, are known
only as far back as the early Tertiary, and the few known Eocene
fossils usually turn out to belong to still living genera or their very
close relatives. It would seem that the evolution, from very primitive
types into practically modern forms, of a whole series of the major
groups of fresh-water (and marine) bony fishes occurred between the
end of the Cretaceous and the earlier Eocene. What little we know of
Paleocene fishes is mostly from marine deposits, and the derivation
and evolutionary lines of the Ostariophysi and most other fresh-water
groups remains a closed book. The locating of early Eocene and
Paleocene fresh-water beds and the working out of the history of the
fishes remains one of the greatest untouched problems in vertebrate
paleontology, and one in which American paleontologists, at least,
have taken strangely small interest. It is evident that we can draw
no definite conclusions regarding pre-Tertiary geography from the
fresh-water bony fishes, and but little about post-Mesozoic from such
primitive relicts as the lungfishes and bichirs.

2. NORTH AMERICA

The greater part of the Tertiary and recent fresh-water fish fauna of
North America is divisible into two sections. The first forms the old,
endemic fauna composed of paddlefishes, garpikes, bowfins, osteo-
glossids, suckers, ameiurid catfishes, primitive cyprinodonts, and

® It seems probable that the presence of the air-breathing climbing perch (Anabas) east of Wallace’s Line
is due to human introduction. Anabas is much carried about as a food fish. As to the osteoglossids, see
further on.

7 Etroplus, the only Indian cichlid, is confined to the southern Indian Peninsula and is closely related
only to certain Madagascan species; it perhaps arrived in India by sea via the Seychelles-Chagos-Maldive
chain.

ee oe

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 347

pirate-perches. All of them are known to have been present in the
Nearctic Eocene and all survive in North America today save the
osteoglossids and primitive cyprinodonts; the last are probably
represented by the existing cave fishes. The paddlefishes are recorded
from the English Chalk and now exist in China; the bowfins are as old
as the Jurassic and are found in the Mesozoic rocks of Europe, Brazil,
and North America; and the garpikes occur in the Cretaceous of
Europe and the Lameta beds of India. All three groups are too old
to enter decisively into our discussion of the Tertiary fishes. The
suckers are found in the Eocene of Wyoming, and Hussakof (1932)
has reported isolated gill covers from the Eocene of Mongolia; there is
one specialized genus now living in China and one North American
species has invaded Siberia, probably recently. The ameiurid cat-
fishes are represented in the Green River Eocene by Rhineastes and
appear to be a purely North American group related to the Old World
bagrids.2 A supposed living Asiatic species based on a Chinese paint-
ing is almost certainly mythical. ‘To the old section probably belong
the North American sunfishes or basses,’ and the peculiar percopsids,
the geological history of which is nearly or quite unknown. The bulk
of the North American fresh-water fish fauna of today is made up of
the members of the carp or minnow family. Fossil carps are unknown
in North America until the Miocene, at which time the family evidently
arrived from Kurasia to form the second or younger section of the
fauna. This invasion was made up entirely of the second most primi-
tive (Leuciscinae) of the three great subfamilies of Cyprinidae (Regan,
1922). Lack of clear paleontological evidence does not allow us to say
whether or not the Kurasian-American true perches are autochthonous
North Americans. Genera supposed to be perches are recorded from
both the American and European Eocene. If Voigt (1934) and
Berg (1936) are correct in associating the short-jawed middle Eocene
Palaeoesox with the pikes and mud minnows, the order Haplomi
probably originated in Asia and may have invaded America with the
carps. The mud minnows,’® unknown as fossils, have two genera and
three American species. The pikes have several North American
species ! and have existed in Eurasia at least from the Oligocene to the
present.

8 Regan (1922). Hussakof (1932) records fin spines of Rhineastes from the Pliocene of Mongolia. If these
are really generically identical with the skulls from the Bridger and Green River, they indicate that the
ameiurids were a Holarctic group.

9 Since this paper was written, Schlaikjer (1937) has described a sunfish from an unplaced Tertiary forma-
tion in Alaska. His attempt to see similarities to the sunfishes in certain Asiatic fresh-water serranids is
scarcely convincing, and his supposed fossil sucker, of which practically no description is given, is probably a
earp. If Regan (1916) is correct in referring Priscacara to the sunfishes, the family has existed in North
America since the Eocene.

10 For the present purpose I include in the Umbridae the peculiar relict Novumbra, recently discovered by
Schultz in western Washington. The Alaskan and Siberian blackfish is of little importance to our discussion.

11 T have examined a large jaw of Hsoz lucius or E. masquinongy from the Pleistocene of Florida (specimen
in U.S. National Museum).

348 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTI®UTION, 1937

8. SOUTH AMERICA (AND AFRICA)

In South America we have a very different picture.” The known
fossil record is so fragmentary as to be of no particular importance,
but the living fishes are exceedingly instructive. Of the living true
fresh-water fishes of South America, not a single species, genus, or
family is identical with truly North American groups. In fact the
South American fishes show greater dissimilarity to those of North
America than they do to those of any continent except Australia,
which has no fresh-water fishes at all of my primary division save
for one lungfish and one osteoglossid.

Certain apparent similarities are at once disposed of. The primitive
bony fishes of the family Osteoglossidae, which appear to have become
extinct in North America in the Eocene, exist today in South America.
But they also exist in Africa, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia,
and, as I shall show a little later, I believe that their mere presence
loses any great significance in Tertiary zoogeography. Single species
of the South American characins and cichlids have reached Texas,
but in each case the migrant is a generalized, aggressive fish, the
recent migration path of which is clearly evident. ‘The cyprinodonts
form a different type. The viviparous cyprinodonts of the family
Poeciliidae are common from Delaware, Illinois, and Arizona to
western Ecuador and northern Argentina. Unknown as fossils,
they may have developed in Central America, possibly from ancestors
similar to the goodeids, which are autochthonous in the Mexican
plateau. The oviparous cyprinodonts of the family Cyprinodontidae
likewise occur from central North America to Argentina, but it has
recently been shown (Myers, 1931) that the dominant South American
genera are closely related to African rather than to North American
forms.“ At any rate, all the cyprinodonts except the North American
cave fishes belong to the secondary class of fresh-water fishes.

South America is the richest of all the continents in fresh-water
fishes. The largest section of the fauna is formed by Ostariophysi.
Five families of characins are found of which only one, the most
generalized, is shared with any other continent (Africa). There are
11 families of catfishes, as well as the gymnotid eels, none of which
are found anywhere else save for a few aggressive migrants which

13 The peculiar, depauperate, Patagonian fauna is not here considered. Its only close relationship, as
shown by the lampreys, galaxiids, and aplochitonids, is with New Zealand and South Australia, and this
points to either an Antarctic connection or sea migration, which I do not think impossible for any of the
wie Be the semimarine subfamily Cyprinodontinae of southern North America and the Caribbean,

of which Carrionellus is known from the Tertiary of Ecuador. The exact relationship of the autochthonous
Orestiatinae of Lake Titicaca is unknown.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 349

have pushed up into Central America. The only other South
American fresh-water fishes of the primary class are the lungfishes
(one species)'* and the nandids (two genera and two species).

Of the secondary class of fresh-water fishes, the most numerous
in South America are the cichlids; the genera seem to be more diverse
than the African ones, though the number of species is smaller. The
cyprinodonts have already been mentioned.

In order that the reader may appreciate the evident relationship
with Africa displayed by many South American fishes, it is necessary
to add a few words on the Ethiopian fish fauna. This is definitely
composed of two main elements, one a group of primitive and un-
doubtedly ancient fish families that are unknown outside Africa either
fossil or recent and that in all likelihood evolved there, and a pre-
ponderating fauna of migrants which reached and flooded the conti-
nent in later times. To the old group belong the bichirs, pantodonts,
phractolaemids, kneriids,!® and mormyrids. Undoubtedly existing
there with them were the old ubiquitous osteoglossids, which may
have given rise to the pantodonts and of which a single species still
persists today. To the later invaders belong the teeming present-day
African characins (of two families, one held in common with South
America), cichlids, labyrinth fishes, carps, and certain catfishes. The
carps undoubtedly arrived only in the middle or late Tertiary from
southern Asia; their many species have mostly not yet become gener-
ically distinct from their Asiatic relatives. The characins and most
of the catfishes were undoubtedly present in Africa before the arrival
of the carps. Some of the families of catfishes (electric catfishes,
mochokids, and amphiliids) and one of characins (citharinids) prob-
ably evolved there, the latter certainly out of the Characidae. The
Characidae, cichlids, nandids, rivuline cyprinodonts, lungfishes, and
osteoglossids are held in common with South America, but it has
already been noted that the last-mentioned family is probably of no
great importance in this connection, and the same is possibly true of
the lungfishes. It is of especial importance to note that not one of
five primitive, autochthonous, African families, that were in all prob-
ability in Africa before the characins, cichlids, and carps, are held in
common with South America.

14 Lepidosiren. The only other living species of Lepidosirenidae are the three Protopterus of Africa.
The Australian Neoceratodus is very different.

18 Polycentrus and Monocirrhus are closely related to the Nigerian Polycentropsis and the Indian Nandus.
The Indian Badis is very distinctive and probably should form a separate family. It is close to neither
Nandus nor Pristolepis.

16 Following up Pellegrin’s recent comparison of the peculiar Nilotic cromeriids with larval albulids, and

his hesitant suggestion of kneriid relationship, I shall be greatly surprised if Cromeria is found to be any-
thing but a larval Kneria.

350 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

4. CENTRAL AMERICA

The Central American fish fauna is a strange mixture of North and
South American types.'’ Of the purely North American fishes, the
garpikes have gone farthest south, having reached Lake Nicaragua,
and their invasion was likely a fairly old one. The ameiurid catfishes
and the suckers have gotten as far as Guatemala, the carps to central
Mexico, and the perches and sunfishes only to northern Mexico. Of
the South American families, the loricariid, astroblepid, callichthyid,
and pygidiid catfishes, and four of the five families of Neotropical
characins have gotten only a slight hold in Panama and Costa Rica.
The gymnotid eels range north to Guatemala, the pimelodid catfishes
to southern Mexico and Yucatan, the cichlids to Texas and the fifth
family of characins to New Mexico. None of these northern or
southern invaders save the cichlids has produced many startling
endemic forms in Central America. The genera are few in number,
almost all identical with those in North or South America, and rep-
resent merely a few of the most aggressive frontiersmen of dominant
families.

In the cichlids, however, there has been an extremely rich flower-
ing of species of the South American genus Cichlasoma, some of them
distinct enough to be placed in different genera. But the cichlids are
probably among the youngest of the coterie of fresh-water fish families,
and their active recent evolution in the African lakes makes it seem
probable that their numerous, closely related, Central American rep-
resentatives are rather young. Certain it is that the South American
Cichlasomas are less specialized than the Central American.

It is among the top-minnows or cyprinodonts that we find the most
distinctive Central American fresh-water fishes. The most primitive
living genus of the oviparous family Cyprinodontidae (Profundulus)
is confined to southern Mexico and Guatemala, and from ancestors
not very different from it probably arose the peculiar viviparous family
Goodeidae, which is practically confined to the Rio Lerma Basin in
Mexico. Returning momentarily to the Cyprinodontidae, a peculiar
genus (Garmanella) related closely only to a Florida form (Jordanella)
occurs in Yucatan, and the remarkable Oxyzygonectes is found only in
Pacific Costa Rica; both are related to northern types, as is Profundu-
lus. Of the southern rivuline group, Rivulus alone is found, as far
north as Yucatan. Of the more advanced viviparous cyprinodonts
(Poeciliidae), Central America has a great profusion of endemic species
and genera, many of them very peculiar. At least one subfamily
(Poeciliopsinae) is practically confined to the region, overflowing
slightly into Arizona and Colombia. The most highly specialized
genera, as well as some of the most generalized, occur in Central

17 See especially Regan (1908) for a discussion.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 351

America, and the poeciliid fauna is richer than either the North or
South American. I suspect the family to be of fairly recent origin
and it seems probable that the forms now present in the southern
United States are late immigrants from the south. They like warm
water too much to have enjoyed Pleistocene Florida in the company
of pike or muskellunge.

5. GENERAL

There is not a scrap of factual evidence, fossil or recent, on which to
postulate a North American origin of the present South American
fresh-water fishes. At this seemingly pontifical pronouncement, I can
see some of the proponents of the northern-origin-for-everything
theory cast their eyes toward that good old standby, the Green River
Eocene of Wyoming. I am perfectly aware that the common occur-
rence of representatives of the existing South American family Osteo-
glossidae, and of the percomorph genus Priscacara, in that and other
Eocene formations, has been held time and again to denote where
South America got its osteoglossids and cichlids.“ I have already
said that I do not believe the osteoglossids can give us much informa-
tion on the Tertiary distribution of the bony fishes, because of their
age and probable wide Eocene or pre-Eocene distribution. Australia
was cut off from Asia before the origin of any of the families of domi-
nant fresh-water bony fishes, yet it has a still living osteoglossid which
is closer to the Green River Phareodus than the latter is to the living South
American genera. This single species of Scleropages forms the total
living true, fresh-water, bony fish fauna of Australia and Papua and it
finds its only very close relative in another living species of Scleropages
west of Wallace’s Line—and this genus is the only example of the
primary division of fresh-water fishes that exists on both sides of this
ancient barrier. Both species of Scleropages are extremely ancient
relicts of the days before Ostariophysi existed. This will, I think,
make it clear why I reject the mere presence of an osteoglossid in a
North American Eocene formation as evidence of a northern derivation
of the South American Ostariophysi.”

Priscacara of the Green River Eocene was described by Cope as a
cichlid and is considered to be one by two students of South American
fishes (Haseman, 1912; Pearson, 1937). Our foremost authority on
the cichlids (Regan, 1908, p. xiv), however, decided that Priscacara
was not a cichlid, and I agree with him. To me it seems most likely
that the priscacarids were either sunfishes, as Regan (1916) decided

18 See especially Matthew (1915, p. 298). Matthew’s reasoning, and information, is here very faulty.
Lepidosteus, which he in some way imagined to be a Neotropical group, is Holarctic. Arius is a marine
arlid not related either to the South American pimelodid Phractocephalus or to Rhineastes of the Bridger,
which belongs with the living North American Ameiurids (see Regan, 1922).

19 Fossil osteoglossids are known, outside the Green River, from the probably Eocene Mergelschiefer

(Sanders, 1934) of Sumatra (Musperia and Scleropages). Brychaetus is known from the marine Eocene
London Clay and may not be an osteoglossid.

352 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1987

they were, or a parallel group, now extinct, that possibly arose from
the same marine ancestors as the cichlids. Moreover, even if Prisca-
cara was a cichlid, it should be remembered that even today this group
is not particularly averse to sea water. The genus had for its com-
panions in the Green River lake some fishes of marine groups like
Diplomystus,® gonorhynchids, and rays that frequently come up
tropical rivers today. In any event, the Green River shales give us a
pretty picture of the early North American fresh-water fauna before
the Miocene invasion of carps.

If the South American fishes did not come from North America,
where did they originate? The Ostariophysi in particular certainly
had a common origin somewhere. I must confess that I do not know,
nor do I believe that anyone can unravel the history of this order
without the fossil evidence still locked in pre-Tertiary rocks. With-
out this evidence, speculations on the earlier dispersal of the order
are useless. Naturally, it can be argued that all we have against the
early presence of South American groups in the north is negative
evidence, but if the southern families never existed in the north,
negative evidence is all we can expect to find there. Moreover, the
Tertiary record of North American fishes is not a blank, and if chara-
cins and similar old and aggressive groups were present in North
America during any part of the Tertiary, it is exceedingly strange
that not a single fossil has come to light. There is every probability
that most of the dominant endemic South American ostariophysan
families are at least as old as the Eocene, and if they were present
in North America at one time, some remnant of them ought to show
up in such formations as the Green River. The European and
Asiatic fossil evidence of the northern origin of the older African
fishes is as nonexistant as the North American.

Eigenmann, the most eminent student of the South American
fishes, believed that there was a very definite pre-Tertiary conti-
nental connection between South America and Africa, to account for
the similarities plainly seen in the characins, cichlids, nandids, and
others, but I cannot accept his gigantic land bridge (or some of his
South American paleogeography) without better geological evidence
than I have seen. Regan (1922) postulates a somewhat similar
bridge.

One fact alone prevents me from believing in a wide, open, conti-
nental connection across the South Atlantic during the life of the
present South American and African families of fresh-water fishes.
I have mentioned the occurrence in Africa of a most remarkable
assemblage of undoubtedly old families of isospondylan teleost fishes,

20 The rough-backed Eocene herrings of the genera Diplomystus and Knightia have living marine relatives

on the coasts of Chile (Ethmidiuwm) and Australia (Hyperlophus). Diplomystus should not be confused with
the Chilean fresh-water Diplomystes, the most primitive known catfish.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 353

to say nothing of the vastly more primitive bichirs; I cannot but
believe that these were probably present in Africa before the cichlids,
carps, or characins. If there has been a wide Tertiary or even late
Cretaceous bridge across the South Atlantic, why do we find not a
single, solitary representative of any of them (save again the osteo-
glossids) in South America? I refuse to believe that competition in
South America could have killed them off; they have survived just
as acute competition in Africa.

If we are to have a South Atlantic bridge in the late Cretaceous
or earliest Tertiary, the only kind I can conceive as fitting the re-
quirements of the fishes is one like Willis’s (1932) Brazil-Guinea
isthmus in the Atlantic, and from Schuchert’s data, it may have
still been partly in existence up to the very end of the Mesozoic.
If our fishes were present in the earliest Eocene, they may have been
there at the end of the Cretaceous. Such a narrow isthmian con-
nection, with its short, swift rivers, would not provide a broad high-
way for all the fresh-water fishes, but it would allow to pass the
very same aggressive types that are now held in common by Africa
and South America. The lowland, slow-water mormyrids, panto-
donts, kneriids, and bichirs might very well be kept out of South
America while more active, swift-water fishes passed. Again, the
isthmus may not have been connected at both ends at the time the
teleostean fishes came on the scene, and the transfer may have been
alternate, or only one-way, but this seems unlikely. Any way one
looks at it, the weak little lowland nandids, present in both conti-
nents, are problematic if one supposes a bridge that excluded
mormyrids.

In any event, the fish evidence indicates there has been no South
Atlantic connection since the Eocene. I have carefully compared the
entire external anatomy and osteology of the African and South
American characins that are supposed to show the closest intercon-
tinental relationship (the African Brycinus and Alestes and the
American Brycon). My conclusion is that both the African and
American fishes are closely similar only because each is a generalized,
dominant, and aggressive animal of a type that has probably changed
little since the more modern types of characins originated. Moreover,
in my studies of the cyprinodonts (Myers, 1931) I have compared the
difficult-to-separate South American Rivulusand African Aphyosemion,
They both belong to a rather specialized group of genera (the tribe
Rivulini), and are undoubtedly closely related, but it should not be
overlooked that they belong to the secondary division of fresh-water
fishes, and that a fortuitous marine dispersal of one or more species
at some time in the Tertiary is not impossible, particularly if a Brazil-
Guinea ridge remained for a time as an island chain.

354 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

What I have said will, I believe, make it clear that our present
knowledge of the fishes very distinctly favors a late Mesozoic or very
early Tertiary South Atlantic land connection and makes a direct
northern origin of at least the South American ostariophysans seem
exceedingly unlikely. But I refuse to take a definite stand on these
questions. It would be extremely presumptious, on the basis of the
fishes alone, to attempt a flat contradiction of the Holarctic dispersal of
the mammals, reptiles, and amphibians so ably advocated by Matthew
(1915), Noble (1925), and Dunn (1923 and 1931). Our knowledge of
fossil fresh-water fishes, especially in South America and Africa, is
very meager and I realize how quickly the discovery of critical fossil
evidence might change the picture. However, I do believe that,
fossils aside, the real fresh-water fishes offer better, clearer, and vastly
more conservative continental zoogeographical evidence than any one
of the classes of quadrupeds, and their basic classification is far better
understood than that of the frogs and perhaps of the reptiles. The
mammals take precedence only because of the more abundant fossil
record. My chief contention is that the proponents of Holarctic
dispersal have given too little attention to contrary conclusions in
other groups and have, perhaps, ridden along on the coattails of the
mammal evidence a little more easily than the evidence of their own
groups actually warrants.

The true explanation of the apparent conflict between the fish and
quadruped evidence may lie in a direction that I have not seen pointed
out. If the epi-Mesozoic interval were a time of great uplift and
denudation, of longer continental duration than generally supposed, it
may have been long enough for the differentiation of characins and
other primitive ostariophysans in the north, the southward dispersal
of a few types of ancestral bagrid-pimelodid catfishes and generalized
characins into Africa and South America, and the extinction of these
in Holarctica. We do know that much of the record of this period
has been lost. But this is pure speculation, and, in the words of
Regan, “The * * * view that Ostariophysi originated in the
north and spread southwards, involves so many improbabilities as to
be almost unbelievable.”’

Returning to the North American fishes, it may be said that there is
no particular argument about them. They, at least, seem to have
originated in the north, either in North America or the often-con-
nected Eurasia. The South American ones are a problem, and I
leave them thus, up in the air, so to speak, for it will be remembered
that I promised to come to no conclusions.

WEST INDIAN ZOOGEOGRAPHY *

The geological history of the land and fresh-water vertebrate
animals of the West Indies before the Pleistocene is still almost

21 I am entirely incompetent to handle the invertebrate evidence and have not referred to it.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYHBRS 355

unknown. It is therefore pertinent to point out that finely spun
schemes of distribution based entirely on the living (or Pleistocene)
fauna are likely to receive rough treatment when and if good fossil
evidence is found. What is known of the fresh-water fishes of the
islands, though instructive, will of itself answer no important question
conclusively, and I shall therefore give only a brief and very sketchy
summary of one or two of the problems which the fishes may help us
to solve.

Much has been published on West Indian zoogeography. For my
purposes, I refer only to Matthew (1915 and 1916), Barbour (1914 and
1916), Anthony (1918), Scharff (1922), Schmidt (1928), and Dunn
(1934). From the bibliographies of these papers some idea of the
other literature may be gained.

Except for Matthew, most of these writers are rather definitely in
favor of a union of the Greater Antilles at some time during the
Tertiary, and a continental connection of this mass or one of its ele-
ments with the North, Central, or South American mainland at some
period from the late Mesozoic to the middle Tertiary. I admit that
the evidence these men present is both enticing and impressive. The
distribution of the amphibians is the most impressive to me, perhaps
because I am more familiar with that group than with other quad-
rupeds. Since the time of Darwin the natural occurrence of amphi-
bians on an island has been almost universally accepted as incon-
trovertible evidence that that island has had a continental land
connection. Amphibians are delicate creatures, extremely sensitive
to desiccation and to salt water, and since they do not possess wings,
it is difficult to imagine how they could possibly cross a body of sea
water by any natural means. The West Indies, especially the
Greater Antilles, are extremely well supplied with several genera of
amphibians. Indeed it would seem that one of the chief diversions of
contemporary American herpetologists is the describing of new West
Indian Eleutherodactyli! If I am not believed, I would refer my
questioner to Dr. Barbour’s recent list (1935).

Against this evidence, the late Dr. Matthew has stood out prac-
tically alone in maintaining that the West Indies are true oceanic
islands in that they have never had a continental connection. He
holds that the entire terrestrial fauna of these islands is a waif fauna—
one gained entirely through fortuitous methods of dispersal such
as winds and drifting debris. It may be said that many biologists
are coming to appreciate that an island can pick up an astonishing
number of vertebrate and invertebrate animals in this manner.
Great tropical rivers continually carry floating masses of vegetation,
sometimes of considerable extent, out to sea, and all sorts of creatures
are known to have been floated away to no one knows what fate on
rafts of this type. It is certain that the populations of these rafts

31508—38——25

356 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

usually meet their end in rough water or storms soon after leaving
the rivers, but undoubtedly in rare instances natural rafts are de-
posited on distant shores with at least some of their crews in a viable
state. It is entirely conceivable that even tree frogs, which form
the greater part of the West Indian amphibian fauna, might occasion-
ally become unwilling sailors. Nor is it only rafts from rivers that
need be considered. Almost any kind of flotsam or jetsam of any
size is liable to be tenanted by some land creature, hanging on grimly,
if he is able, until the sea swallows him up. The millions and millions
of years of geological time surely allow enough for the (comparatively)
frequent washing up of rafts on distant shores and it is beyond
question that many islands have gotten their present faunas in this
way. But, I will remind you, nobody has ever attempted to explain
the distribution of freshwater fishes by the raft method!

Great paleogeographical interest attaches to the fresh-water
fishes of the West Indies. Let us see what they tell us.

WEST INDIAN FRESH-WATER FISHES

The most striking feature of the fresh-water fish fauna of the
West Indies is the complete absence of members of the primary
division of fresh-water fishes, in particular the Ostariophysi, which
swarm in all the waters of North, Central, and South America.
Every West Indian fish to which the adjective ‘fresh-water’? could
possibly apply belongs to my secondary division or to groups still
more partial to sea water. In this, the West Indies closely parallel
Madagascar, where not only is the primary division entirely absent,
but also the secondary ones that are present belong largely to the
same systematic groups as do those of the West Indies.

To begin with, the rivers of the West Indian islands harbor a
number of fishes, belonging to purely or partly marine families,
which come up from the sea. There are gobies and eels and silver-
sides and gray mullets, some of which enter fresh water only occasion-
ally and some of which live in the rivers most of the time, returning
to the sea only to spawn. One of the most conspicuous and widely-
known of West Indian fresh-water fishes belongs to this category.
This is the mountain mullet (Agonostomus), known in the Spanish
islands as dajao or lisa. There are three West Indian species, the
largest reaching a length of a foot, and others occur along the Carib-
bean coasts of South America, in Central America, and the Gala-
pagos.” A related genus (Joturus) lives in Cuba and Central Amer-
ica. It is not known whether the mountain mullets return to the
sea to spawn, but we do know that they belong to the marine family
of gray mullets, and that they and their companions, the eels, gobies,

32 Regan (1908) has revised the American species.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 357

and others, do not obey the distributional rules of true fresh-water
fishes. They are of no use to us in our present problem. Neither
are the two blind brotulids of the Cuban caves. They are the only
known fresh-water representatives of a primarily deep-water marine
family.

The fishes which really belong to our secondary division of fresh-
water fishes are referable to five families, the garpikes, the syn-
branchid eels (Synbranchidae), the viviparous cyprinodonts (Poe-
ciliidae), and the cichlids (Cichlidae). It may be best to survey
them briefly to make clear our discussion of the faunas of the particular
islands.

One large garpike, Lepidosteus tristoechus, occurs in Cuba. It is
generally. supposed to be identical with the alligator gar of the
southern United States, but this is questionable. If the Cuban gar
is really different, it has probably been in the island a long time, but
garpikes are reported to enter salt water.

Of the synbranchid eels, only one species (Synbranchus marmora-
tus) is West Indian. It is the only American form of the family
so far known and it ranges from Veracruz to Argentina on the
mainland. A single species of the same genus occurs in Africa and
another in India; the Indian one, at least, is known to frequent
brackish water.

I have already mentioned the cichlids in connection with South and
Central American fishes. Three Antillean species are known, all
closely related species of Cichlasoma (Myers, 1928; Tee-Van, 1935).

If the two records of West Indian Fundulus are mythical, as I
believe they may be, the oviparous cyprinodonts of the Antilles belong
to only three genera. Cyprinodon is a genus of the southern and east-
ern United States, northern and eastern Mexico, and certain Carib-
bean islands. The seaboard continental species always occur in
brackish or salt water, and the inland ones are partial to the alkaline
waters of desert pools. The same habits are exhibited by the island
forms. fivulus, on the other hand, belongs to a South American
group * that has a general inland distribution as far north as Yucatan
and the Rio Papaloapan. It has been taken in tide pools at Curacao.
The peculiar Cubanichthys is found only in Cuba.

The viviparous cyprinodonts form by far the largest proportion of
the Antillean fresh-water fish fauna. They belong to two subfamilies,
Gambusiinae and Poeciliinae, and of the first, Cuba possesses an
endemic tribe composed of five distinctive genera.* The other
Antillean Gambusiinae are all members of the widespread Central and
North American genus Gambusia. Of the Poeciliinae there is one
endemic West Indian genus, Limia, and three others (Poecilia,

33 Sea Myers (1931).

#4See Hubbs (1924). The new Puerto Rican genus and species, Neopoecilia holacanthus, described in
this paper, was later synonymized with Poecilia vivipara by Hubbs.

358 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Lebistes, and Mollienisia) that are shared with the mainland of South
or Central America.

The Lesser Antilles may be said to possess no fresh-water fishes at all.
I hasten to say that I do not include Trinidad. That island is merely a
recently separated part of the mainland. Most of its many fresh-
water fishes are specifically identical with Orinoco and Guiana species,
and those that now appear to be peculiar may confidently be expected
to turn up when the Orinoco delta is carefully fished. All the Lesser
Antilles that have sizable streams seem to have the semimarine moun-
tain mullets and gobies but the only fishes that we could really call
fresh-water ones in the whole chain are two poeciliids, the “guppy” or
‘‘millions” (Lebistes) and Poecilia vivipara. The latter is recorded
from Martinique and the “guppy” from St. Lucia and Barbados. It
is probable that both occur in other islands of the Leeward group, but
I am not wholly convinced that these two tiny and very prolific fishes
were not introduced by man. In late years the “guppy” has been
spread far and wide in antimalarial work. Both are admirably
fitted for waif distribution through windstorms or even actual naviga-
tion of small stretches of ocean. They are tiny lowland fishes of the
fresh-water tidal belt, and on the continent never occur far from the
coast. I have observed their hardiness in strong salt water in aquaria
on several occasions, although they cannot exist for any very extended
period in sea water. The deposition of one pregnant female in an
island stream would soon fully populate that island. It is therefore
evident that there is no fish evidence to support a claim of continental
union of the Lesser Antilles, or to give us a hint of the histories of
individual islands.

The Virgin Islands, so far as fresh-water fishes go, belong zoologically
with the Lesser Antilles; there are no fresh-water fishes. A Fundulus
has been described from them by Fowler from the old van Rijgersma
collection, but the specimens are only doubtfully distinct from a com-
mon North American brackish water killyfish (Fundulus hereroclitus).
If a Fundulus of this type were really present, it should have spread
throughout a good part of the Antilles.

Cuba has the most distinctive fauna. There are the garpike and
Synbranchus, neither of which is known from any of the other islands.
A distinctive cichlid, related rather closely to several species in
southern Mexico, is very common. Among the oviparous cyprino-
donts there is one Rivulus, related to Central American forms, and
one or two subspecies of a Cyprinodon which is common in brackish
water in Florida. The most interesting member of the group is the
little endemic Cubanichthys cubensis which finds its only near rela-

25 See especially Eigenmann (1903). Eigenmann’s several forms of Cuban cichlids have been synony-
mized by Hubbs (see Myers, 1928). Hubbs (1924) has revised Eigenmann’s classification of the viviparous

poeciliids ,and more recently (1934) described the peculiar Quintana, now known from both Western Cuba
and the Isle of Pines. Further revisional work by Dr. Hubbs and Dr. Howell Rivero is in preparation.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 359

tive in the Florida fresh-water cyprinodont Chriopeops goodei. With
the gar and Cyprinodon, this forms the only element in the entire
West Indian fresh-water fish fauna that points toward a North
American connection. Cyprinodon certainly came by sea or wind,
and the gar is not really good evidence until we know more about
it. I consider that the weak little Cubanichthys and Chriopeops,
forming by themselves a group not particularly close to other genera,
may have had relatives, now extinct, in Central America. The
most striking element in the Cuban fish fauna are the five genera
which form the poeciliid tribe Girardinini.* They form a very dis-
tinctive group, distantly related to Central American types, and
must have arisen in Cuba a long time ago. Gambusia, with two
Cuban species, belongs to the same subfamily, but to a widespread
tribe. There is one Cuban Limia, a West Indian genus of another
subfamily.

Hispaniola (Haiti and Santo Domingo) has only cichlids and
cyprinodonts.” The single well-known cichlid is almost identical
with the Cuban one; a doubtful species (not yet named) is known
from a single specimen. But there is a fossil cichlid from the Mio-
cene differing from the common living one only by a couple of verte-
brae—the only fossil of the present Antillean fresh-water fishes yet
discovered. It would seem, therefore, that cichlids have been in
Hispaniola since the Miocene. The only oviparous cyprinodonts
reported from the island are a large Cyprinodon, living in the Haitian
salt lakes, and a Rivulus based on one specimen captured under
peculiar circumstances on Saona Island off the southeast coast. The
viviparous forms belong to the ubiquitous genus Gambusia, to Limia,
which is known outside Hispaniola only by the Cuban and Jamaican
species, and to Mollienisia, a genus known elsewhere only on the
mainland. There are three Gambusias, related to Cuban and Jamai-
can species. Limia, with eight species in the island, probably orig-
inated there; it is close to Poecilia. The Hispaniolan Mollienisia
is an isolated form, not at all close to the Florida one, and perhaps
finds its closest relationship in the species of the coast of Colombia
or Panama.

Jamaica has only viviparous cyprinodonts. Single old records of
a South American catfish and a Central American cichlid are prob-
ably mistakes, but I should not be surprised to see a real cichlid turn
up there. The cyprinodonts are four Gambusias and two Limias
related to Hispaniolan ones.

Grand Cayman has one Gambusia.

28 Hubbs (1924 and 1934).
47 See Tee-Van (1935) and Myers (1928 and 1935).

360 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Puerto Rico is the most remarkable of the Greater Antilles. In spite
of the fact that its higher vertebrate fauna is very comparable to that
of Hispaniola, its sole and only fresh-water fish is the viviparous
cyprinodont Poecilia vivipara, which is common in South America
and the Leeward Islands. That this strange absence of anything we
might expect is real and not merely apparent is shown by Dr. Hilde-
brand’s recent extensive survey of the Puerto Rican streams.** I am
strongly of the opinion that the Poecilia got there by fortuitous means,
or by the hand of man. Many years ago Cuvier and Valenciennes
described a Fundulus from Puerto Rico, but it has remained known
from the single type specimen in Paris, since the other type specimens
were shown to be a Gambusia. I do not believe that a Fundulus
exists in the island. Where Nichols (1929) got his figure of it I cannot
say.

WHAT DO THE ANTILLEAN FRESH-WATER FISHES INDICATE?

It is difficult to say just what the fishes indicate. The distribution
of several of them is so peculiar as to suggest that their arrival has
been fortuitous and not dependent on dry-land connections. Mollieni-
sia in Hispaniola, Poecilia in Puerto Rico and the Leewards, and
Cubanichthys in Cuba are examples in point. The arrival of one
Timia in Cuba and the presence of scarcely different cichlids in Cuba
and Hispaniola might signify ocean navigation by these fishes, and I
think this not unlikely. However, the presence of girardinine
poeciliids in Cuba, their absence in Hispaniola and Jamaica, and the
close relationships of the Gambusias and Limias of the last two islands
is instructive. I do not think Cuba and Hispaniola have been united
during the probably long existence of the girardinines, but Jamaica
and Hispaniola may have been. Puerto Rico, from the fish evidence,
seems to have had a long separate history.

Of course the most remarkable thing of all is the entire absence of
Ostariophysi in the West Indies. On the face of it, the fish evidence
therefore points strongly toward a lack of any mainland connection
during a considerable part of the Tertiary. Personally, I am of the
opinion that some northern and a number of southern Ostariophysi
have been in the process of penetration of Central America for a long
time, and that their absence in the islands is significant. But another
alternative must not be lost sight of. Scharff, Schmidt, and others
have mentioned the fact that the land area available seems to have a
direct bearing on the survival of at least parts of a land fauna—in
other words that an island, through partial submergence, might become
too small to permit the survival of certain species. I do not at the
moment recall having seen this idea applied to the fresh-water fishes
of islands, and I think it will repay us to digress a bit to discuss it.

28 Hildebrand (1935).

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 361

Although ichthyologists have never particularly remarked it, it is a
fact that all of the primitive, relict forms of fresh-water fishes that have
persisted to modern times are inhabitants of relatively sluggish (and
usually large) lowland water systems. The late Professor Kigenmann
overlooked this when he journeyed to the Guiana plateau in 1908 to
search for possible survivors of the fish fauna of his “Archiguiana’’;
he found none. Changes in the physical features of mountain areas
are too swift to permit survival of any except fishes that have become
peculiarly adapted to life in swift water, and the few relicts of a dying
race are not the ones that become adapted to such a hard life. Pene-
plaination of a mountain range means the extinction of the highly
adapted hill-stream fishes, since (despite Regan’s case of the astro-
blepids) evolution is not exactly reversible and specialized swift-water
fishes could scarcely be expected to revert to a slow-water habitat
deficient in oxygen.

The only instances I know of true relict fishes living in mountainous
areas concern species existing in mountain lakes that have been
elevated bodily, or which are part of a once extensive plateau lake or
river system, and where the certain draining of the lake in the not far
distant geological future will sound the death knell of the relict. An
especially good example is seen in the remarkable fish Chaudhuria in
the Inlé Lake, Burma.

It may be expected that a considerable proportion of a mainland
fish fauna living on land masses (islands) subsequently cut off from a
continent will be lowland fishes not particularly well adapted to swift
water. If the island were to be partially submerged within a com-
paratively short geological period, the lowland fish fauna might be
entirely annihilated. This would be all the more likely if the original
continental connection had been so low as to permit the entrance only
of lowland types and the submergence occurred before these lowland
fishes had had time to evolve hill-stream types.

We do know that many of the Antilles have experienced con-
siderable changes of elevation. Barbados in particular appears to
have been very badly treated by orogenic or other forces. If we can
believe the evidence of its sedimentary deposits, it sank 6,000 to
10,000 feet below the sea between the Eocene and Miocene, and in
the Pliocene bobbed up again as an island. Naturally, complete
subsidence below the sea would destroy the fresh-water fauna, and
the Greater Antilles have experienced no such devastating changes
of level, but even relatively slight subsidence might have a profound
effect on the river fishes.

In spite of this, I feel confident that had aggressive Ostariophysi
ever been able to reach the Greater Antilles, nothing short of almost
complete submergence of the larger islands would have entirely
destroyed them. Characins and carps in particular would have been

362 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

especially adaptable to hill-stream life, and their vigor and fecundity,
especially in the absence of competitors, would have ensured their
survival under almost any natural conditions short of complete
desiccation or immersion in sea water.

If this view be granted, the only conceivable continental connection
of a Greater Antillean land mass is one with Central America, at a
time when neither the North American nor the South American
Ostariophysi had invaded much of Middle America. I have already
shown that we cannot date these invasions. Finally, if we are to
suppose that all the South American Ostariophysi originally wended
their way southward through Central America, I believe we should
have to push any such continental bridge back into the Mesozoic,
if indeed it ever existed at all.

LITERATURE

AnTHONY, HaroLtp Emer.

1918. The indigenous land mammals of Porto Rico, living and extinct.
Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., n. s., vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 331-435, figs.
1—55, pls. 55-75.

Barsour, THOMAS.

1914. A contribution to the zoogeography of the West Indies, with especial
reference to amphibians and reptiles. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zéol.,
vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 209-359, 1 pl.

1916. Some remarks upon Matthew’s “Climate and Evolution.” Ann.
New York Acad. Sci., vol. 27, pp. 1—10.

1935. A second list of Antillean reptiles and amphibians. Zoologica, Sci.
Contr. New York Zool. Soc., vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 77-141.

Bera, Lno SEMENOVITCH.

1934. The suborder Esocoidei (Pisces). Izvestia Perm Biol. Sci.-Invest.

Inst. Perm State Univ., vol. 10, nos. 9-10, pp. 385-391.
Dunn, Emmett REID.

1923. The geographical distribution of amphibians. Amer. Nat., vol. 57,
pp. 129-136.

1931. The herpetological fauna of the Americas. Copeia, 1931, no. 3,
pp. 106-119, figs. 1-6.

1934. Physiography and herpetology in the Lesser Antilles. Copeia, no. 3,
pp. 105-111.

EIGENMANN, Cart H.

1903. The fresh-water fishes of Western Cuba. Bull. U. S. Fish Comm.,
vol. 22, pp. 211-236, 17 figs., pls. 19-21.

1909. The fresh-water fishes of Patagonia and an examination of the Archi-
plata-Archhelenis theory. Repts. Princeton Univ. Expeds. Pata-
gonia, Zoology, vol. 3, pt. 3, pp. 225-374, 1 map, pls. 30--37.

HASEMAN, JOHN DIETRICH.

1912. The relationship of the genus Priscacara. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat.

Hist., vol. 31, art. 8, pp. 97-101.
Hay, OLIverR PERRY.

1902. Bibliography and catalogue of the fossil Vertebrata of North America.
Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., no. 179, 868 pp.

1929. Second bibliography and catalogue of the fossil Vertebrata of North
America. Carnegie Inst. Washington, publ. no. 390, vol. 1, 916 pp.

FRESH-WATER FISHES—MYERS 363

HILDEBRAND, SAMUEL FREDERICK.

1935. An annotated list of fishes of the fresh waters of Puerto Rico. Copeia,

no. 2, pp. 49-56.
Husss, Caru LEAvItTtT.

1924. Studies of the fishes of the order Cyprinodontes, I-IV. Misc. Publ.,
Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan, no. 18, pp. 1-31.

1934. Studies of the fishes of the order Cyprinodontes, XIII, Quintana
atrizona, a new poeciliid. Occ. Pap., Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan,
no. 301, pp. 1-8, 1 pl.

Hussakor, Louis.
1932. The fossil fishes collected by the Central Asiatic Expeditions. Amer.
Mus. Novit., no. 553, pp. 1-19.
von InreRING, HERMANN.
1907. Archhelenis und Archinotis. 350 pp., 1 map. Leipzig.
MatTrTHew, WILLIAM DILLER.

1915. Climate and evolution. Ann. New York Acad. Sci., vol. 24, pp. 171-
318, 33 figs.

1916. Supplemental note. Ann. New York Acad. Sci., vol. 27, pp. 11-15.

Myers, GEQRGE SPRAGUE.

1928. The existence of cichlid fishes in Santo Domingo. Copeia, no. 167,
pp. 33-36.

1931. The primary groups of oviparous cyprinodont fishes. Stanford Univ.
Publ., Univ. Ser., Biol. Sci., vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 2438-254.

1935. An annotated list of the cyprinodont fishes of Hispaniola, with descrip-
tions of two new species. Zoologica, Sci. Contr. New York Zool.
Soc., vol. 10, no. 8, pp. 301-316, figs. 273-279.

NIcHOLs, JoHN TREADWELL.

1929. The fishes of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. New York Acad.
Sci., Sci. Surv. Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, vol. 10, part 2,
pp. 161-295, figs. 1-174.

Nose, GLADWYN KINGSLEY.
1925. The evolution and dispersal of the frogs. Amer. Nat., vol. 59, pp.
265-271.
PrARSON, NATHAN EVERETT.
1937. The fishes of the Beni-Mamoré and Paraguay basins, and a discussion
of the origin of the Paraguayan fauna. Proc. California Acad. Sci.,
ser. 4, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 99-114.
REGAN, CHARLES TATE.

1908. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Pisces, xxxii+203 pp., 2 maps, 26 pls.

1916. [Remarks on South American fishes and on Priscacara.] Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1916, pp. 546-547.

1922. The distribution of the fishes of the order Ostariophysi. Bijdr. tot de
Dierkunde, Leiden, vol. 22, pp. 203-207.

Sanprrs, MARGARETHA.

1934. Die fossilen Fische der Alttertidren Siisswasserablagerungen aus Mittel-
Sumatra. Verh. Geol.-Mijnbouwk. Gen. Nederland en Kolon., Geol.
Ser., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-144, pls. 1-9.

Scuarrr, Ropert FRANCIS.

1922. On the origin of the West Indian fauna. Bijdr. tot de Dierkunde,

Leiden, vol. 22, pp. 65-72.
ScHLAIKJER, Ericu M.

1937. New fishes from the continental Tertiary of Alaska. Bull. Amer. Mus.

Nat. Hist., vol. 74, art. 1, pp. 1-23, figs. 1-7, 1 map.

364 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Scumipt, Karu PATTERSON.
1928. Amphibians and land reptiles of Porto Rico, with a list of those re-
ported from the Virgin Islands. New York Acad. Sci., Sci. Surv.
Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, vol. 10, part 1, pp. 1-160, 62
figs., 4 pls.
Scuucuert, CHARLES.
1932. Gondwana land bridges. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 43, pp. 875-916,
pl. 24.
TrxE-VAN, JOHN.
1935. Cichlid fishes in the West Indies with especial reference to Haiti,
including the description of a new species of Cichlasoma. Zoologica,
Sci. Contr. New York Zool. Soc., vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 281-300, figs.
269-272.
Voret, ERHARD.
1934. Die Fische aus der mitteleozinen Braunkohle des Geiseltales, mit beson-
derer Beriicksichtigung der erhaltenen Weichteile. Nova Acta
Leopoldina, Halle, Neue Folge, Bd. 2, Heft 1-2, pp. 21-146, pls.
1-14.
Wiuuis, BarLny.
1932. Isthmian links. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 43, pp. 917-952, pls.
25-29.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES

PuaTe 1,
Typical North American fresh-water fishes.

Fria. 1. A carp or minnow, Semotilus. (From Girard, Pacific R. R. Rep.)
2. An ameiurid catfish, Ameiurus. (From Evermann and Kendall, Bull.
U. 8. Bur. Fish.)
3. A sunfish, the warmouth bass, Chaenobryltus. (From Girard, Pacific
R. R. Rep.)
4. A true perch, the darter, Hadropterus. (From Forbes and Richardson,
Illinois State Nat. Hist. Surv.)

PLATE 2.
Typical South American fresh-water fishes.

Fic. 1, A generalized characin, Brycon. (From Giinther, Trans. Zool. Soc.
London.)
. A gymnotid eel, Adontosternarchus. (From Ellis, Mem. Carnegie Mus.)
An armored catfish, or loricariid, Plecostomus. (From Starks, Stanford
Univ. Publ.)

ow no

PLATD 3.
Typical West Indian fresh-water fishes.

Fic. 1. A mountain mullet from St. Vincent, Agonosiomus microps. (From
Giinther, Trans. Zool. Soc. London.)
2. A viviparous cyprinodont, or poeciliid, from the Artibonite System,
Haiti, Mollienisia dominicensis, female. (From Myers, Zoologica.)
3. The same, male. (From Myers, Zoologica.)
4. A cichlid from Source Trou Caiman, Haiti, Cichlasoma haitiensis. (Drawn
by Mary Wallach.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Myers

PLATE

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TYPICAL NORTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES.

(FOR EXPLANATION, SEE PAGE 364.)

PLATE 2

3
TYPICAL SOUTH AMERICAN FRESH-WATER FISHES.
(FOR EXPLANATION, SEE PAGE 364.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Myers

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Myers PLATE

TYPICAL WEST INDIAN FRESH-WATER FISHES.
(FOR EXPLANATION, SEE PAGE 364.)

THE BREEDING HABITS OF SALMON AND TROUT

By Lreonarp P. Scuutrz

Assistant Curator, Division of Fishes, United Staies National Museum

[With 5 plates]

Although salmon and trout are of the greatest economic importance
in the Northern Hemisphere and have been introduced into scattered
areas south of the Equator, authentic information concerning their
breeding activities is not generally available. Many volumes have
been written on the life histories of salmon and trout, including
several popular books, nearly all of which incorrectly portray the
spawning habits of this great group of fish belonging to the family
Salmonidae. The technical selection and breeding of domestic
animals, such as cows, horses, pigs, and chickens, is a highly specialized
science now, but the selection and development of similar brood stocks
of trout received little attention until recently.

The spawning migration of salmon is anadromous, or from the sea
to fresh-water streams. This is the reverse of that of fresh-water
eels, Anguilla, which have a catadromous migration, or from fresh-
water streams to the sea. Those eels which live in the streams tribu-
tary to the region of the North Sea migrate westward in the North
Atlantic Ocean a distance of about 3,000 miles to a location a little
north and east of the West Indies. This long migration is no greater
a distance than the king salmon of the Pacific travels to deposit its
eggs. In the Yukon River some salmon go up the river 3,000 miles
(Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 38, p. 318, 1921-22 (1923)), in
addition to a long migration while still in the sea. The migration of
the king salmon is probably the longest of all salmon and trout; the
pink salmon migrates least of all of the Pacific salmon (genus Onco-
rhynchus), since it spawns near the mouths of streams or upstream but
a few miles above salt water.

In trout, genera Salmo and Salvelinus, the migratory instinct is
also definitely developed, but these forms spend most or all of their
lives in fresh water and thus there is no necessity of migrating so far.
Other closely related families of salmonidlike fishes, such as white-
fishes (family Coregonidae) and smelt (family Osmeridae), make

365

366 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

similar migrations. Some of the smelt, however, do not enter fresh-
water streams, but deposit their eggs in the fine gravel of the ocean
beach among the breaking waves. But the habits of fish spawning
in the ocean surf cannot be told here—that is another story.

The salmon, in their great urge to reach the proper habitat for
deposition of their eggs, often wear themselves out in their attempt to
navigate waterfalls or fish ladders placed in dams (pl. 3). It is said
that Pacific salmon will jump vertically as much as, or more than,
five to six times their length in an attempt to go over waterfalls.
Sometimes this is fatal to the fish as it falls backward and strikes
sharp rocks. If he is not seriously injured, upon recovery he will
continue to leap until either successful in going over the obstruction
or until he is completely exhausted and falls prey to birds, bears, or
other predators, as he drifts downstream. The urge to go upstream
is so great in both salmon and trout that they expend a great amount
of their stored energy by the time they have spawned, leaving them
weakened and emaciated.

This worn-out condition is not the chief cause of the death, after
spawning, of the five species of Pacific salmon. Instead, they have
reached the end of their life cycle, and even those fish in good condi-
tion die shortly after their reproductive period is completed (pl. 4).
Trout, steelhead, (pl. 1, fig. 2) and the Atlantic salmon may spawn
for several successive years before completing their life cycles.

Finally, after traversing great distances or but a few miles, all
species of salmon and trout attempt to locate a particular type of
stream bottom in which to lay their eggs. Their nests are built only
in the gravelly or stony sections of a stream which has nearly clear,
rapidly flowing water of a rather low temperature. If the fish are
unsuccessful in locating these conditions, they seldom lay their eggs
and may die instead. There is evidence, too, that the great majority
of Pacific salmon, as well as some species of trout, seek and usually
find the stream in which they grew up as babies, even though a few
intervening years were spent in the far-away sea and entirely outside
the influence of the “parent stream’ (Davidson, Science, vol. 86,
pp. 55-56, 1937). This is known as the “homing” instinct of
salmon and trout and is often referred to under the name “parent
stream theory.’

The time of the year when salmonids migrate and lay their eggs is
highly variable. Pacific salmon spawn any time from March to De-
cember, depending on the locality and the species. Steelhead, or
rainbow trout, spawn in late autumn and winter, or in certain regions
in the early spring. Cutthroat trout typically are spring spawners.
The Atlantic salmon, eastern brook trout, western dolly varden, lake
trout, and brown trout, all breed in the autumn.

SALMON AND TROUT—SCHULTZ 367

These species may be observed to build nests and perhaps spawn
by anyone who has the patience and time to study such activities.
The observer should cautiously approach the gravel riffles in which
saucerlike depressions, 1 to 4 feet in diameter, have been excavated
and where trout occur during the spawning season. If he remains
very still, in 5 to 20 minutes the breeding salmon or trout will swim
back over the riffle where they were when the observer first made his
appearance. These fish may stay a moment, then leave for the deep
hole again, usually above the riffle, where they hide for some time
before again venturing out. However, if all is still and quiet after
one or more such attempts, the spawning salmon or trout will remain on
the riffle, nearly oblivious of the presence of the spectator. If the
observer should make sudden movements they dart away, and then
he must wait for them to return and again become accustomed to his
presence. It is possible to become so much a part of the environment
that the observer ‘‘can even stand astride one of the nests, while the
male and female redfish pursue their normal activities” (Schultz and
Students, Mid-Pacific Magazine, January—March 1935, p. 69).

The spawning salmon and trout usually segregate themselves in
pairs, although an extra male may be present in certain species
(rainbow) during the spawning act. Each of these pairs remains
over a certain area in the stream bottom which it defends. This area
becomes the nest, or redd, in which the eggs are laid. Since the
nest-building activities are practically the same for all species of salmon
or trout, the following account of the activities of the little redfish,
the landlocked sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, is given from
personal observations (pl. 1, fig. 1).

NEST-BUILDING ACTIVITIES

A pair of redfish usually engage in normal nest building when un-
molested by other fish. If the pair is alone, the female may let herself
drift over the lower center of the redd, where she will turn over on her
side and vigorously flex her tail four to six times against the bottom,
as this motion carries her a foot or more upstream. The tail of the
fish during these movements comes in contact with the bottom, and
vigorous hydraulic forces are set up by the upward movement of the
tail, which lift the gravel and sand off the bottom. The material thus
disturbed is carried by the swift current downstream, the smaller
particles farthest and the larger stones but a few inches before they
settle. The female may return to the starting point and repeat this
nest-building act (fig. 1). If undisturbed, she may in 20 minutes
complete as many as 70 separate nest-building acts with an interval
between them of as little as 4 seconds or as long as 14% minutes. On
the average, females turn, with almost equal frequency, either their
left or right side toward the stream bottom.

ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

368

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SALMON AND TROUT—SCHULTZ 369

A review of the literature describing the nest-building activities of
salmon and trout indicates that practically all the older accounts
have confused it with the spawning act, the latter an entirely different
behavior. The following authors, among others, have given the same
interpretation to the nest-building act as described above: White
(1930, pp. 103-107) on eastern brook trout; Greeley (1932, pp. 242—
243) on brook, brown, and rainbow trout; Hazzard (1932, p. 345) on
eastern brook trout; Schultz and Students (1935, pp. 71-72) on land-
locked sockeye salmon.

The process of nest building, the most obvious activity over the
nest, is done mostly by the females, although now and then certain
males flex their bodies three to five times, while other males never
participate in the construction of the nest. Usually during the 2 to 4
seconds that it takes the female to flex her body for purposes of dis-
turbing and lifting the gravel so that the current carries it downstream,
the male, if present, stands by inactively near the lower part of the
nest. The time that it takes to construct a single nest-pit varies
considerably with the individual, taking but a few hours or a few days.

In the case of breeding salmon and trout, the careful observer has
little difficulty in distinguishing the two sexes, because the breeding
male is usually more highly colored than the female, and his body is
compressed (sides flattened), that of the female more rounded. Often
the snout is somewhat arched in the male trout and definitely hooked
(pl. 1, fig. 1) in the male of Pacific salmon; the female’s snout is normal.
Experienced fish-culturists are able to tell the sex of spawning salm-
onids by feeling of them with their hands, the males having on the
underside of the abdomen two hard ridges which are lacking in females.

The completed nests of salmon and trout are saucerlike depressions
with a small mound of sand and gravel on the downstream side. Their
depth and size depend on the size of the individual that constructs the
nest, and their shape on the rate of flow of the water over the nest.
Nearly round depressions occur in slowly moving water and oblong-oval
nests where the current is rapid. A fish about a foot long builds a
nest from 2 to 4 inches deep, depending on the type of stream bottom.
In moderately flowing water the width of the nest is one or two times
the length of the owner, and the length of the nest is two or three
times that of the female which excavated it. The mound of sand and
gravel at the lower end of the nest lies from 1 to 3 inches above the
average level of the stream bottom and extends downstream below the
depression 2 or 3 feet. Several of these nests, or redds, may occur in
the same riffle of a stream. In the case of large king salmon, a single
nest may occupy several square yards of the stream bottom.

The nests are continually changing, because after the female deposits
a portion of her eggs, she covers them with gravel, and as she pro-

370 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

gressively excavates one or more new nests upstream, some of the
excavated material of the new locations covers the eggs in the older
nests deeper and deeper—a real conservation of energy. Several
batches of eggs may be deposited before the female has completely

deposited all of her ova; sometimes, however, a female may select an
entirely new location for her next nest.

wae

i
~~

FIGURE 3.—A diagram illustrating the escorting act of the male redfish, Oncorhynchus nerka. Note that
the female, 2? (dotted) remains over the nest while the male, co’, drives the invader (solid black) away.

The male and female are shown in their positions over the nest. Drawn by Dan Merriman. Courtesy
Mid-Pacific Magazine.

DEFENSE OF THE NEST

Both male and female defend their nest against invading fishes by
rushing at them or by the male escorting the intruding male upstream
or to one side. Sometimes the defender in his rush at an invading fish
catches his teeth in the abdomen near the pelvic fins of the invader,
and before he can loosen himself the two drift downstream some
distance. The defender usually returns to his nest and immediately

SALMON AND TROUT—SCHULTZ 371

takes up his position over, a little behind, and to one side of the female.
The female usually defends the upper portions of the nest, while the
male defends the nest from invaders coming in from any direction.
Both drive away either a male or female upon their approach unless
fish much larger than themselves swim into the nest. When this
happens, often a new male takes possession, and breeding activities
continue with little interruption.

Sometimes when an invading male approaches, he is escorted away
by the male owner of the nest (fig. 3). In the case of the little red-
fish, a landlocked salmon, the defending male may swim out to
meet him, often elevating his dorsal fin. If the intruder does not
retreat, the defender will swim slowly toward him, and when about a
foot or so away, he will turn so that the two fish are nearly parallel,
and they then proceed slowly upstream, sometimes as far as 10 feet
before the invader either goes his own way, or makes a dash for the
nest. Should the latter happen, the escorting act might occur again.
In general the male occupies much of his time in driving away other
males, and the female drives away invading males or females. Should
the invading male be successful in driving away the original owner, the
former now takes possession. Several males usually pair off with the
female owner of a nest before she has laid all of her eggs.

Other activity besides the defense of the nest may occur in the
immediate vicinity, since unpaired and paired males continually chase
each other about both below, among, and above the area occupied by
the redds, or nests.

COURTSHIP ACTIVITIES

Between many of the nest-building acts of the female redfish as
she drifts back into the center of the nest during recovery and assumes
a normal position over the center of the nest, the male usually ap-
proaches her from behind and a little to one side. He will just
touch his head or snout to her body in the region between the adipose
fin and the pectorals, gently move his body toward and against hers,
at which moment he will vibrate, or quiver, vigorously for a second
or two. He will partially erect his dorsal fin near the end of this
act (fig. 2). The female usually remains perfectly still, although
once in a while she too will quiver in unison with the male. No
eggs or milt have ever been seen in the water during this courtship
act, thus indicating that no actual spawning occurs. Time and time
again the male repeats this courtship act, if no intruder interrupts,
as often as every 5 to 10 seconds or at longer intervals. Other court-
ship acts occur, too. Frequently the male will swim back and forth
over the female when she is resting near the bottom of the nest,
often touching her dorsal fin with his body and fins. Another recog-
nizable courtship behavior is an act of nudging. The male gently

31508—38——26

372 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

swims up to the midside of the female while she is over the bottom
of the nest and nudges her in the side with his snout. These acts of
courtship of the salmon and trout have been observed by various
authors among whom may be mentioned: Milner (1874, pp. 52-54),
vibratory courtship act in brook trout; Hazzard (1932, p. 345), nudg-
ing and side-to-side swimming over the female for brook trout;
Greeley (1932, pp. 242-243), nudging and side-to-side swimming
over female for rainbow trout; Needham (1934, pp. 334-335), nudg-
ing and quivering in steelhead trout (pl. 5). Similar courtship activ-
ities have been observed by the author in the landlocked sockeye
salmon, silver salmon, king salmon, and cutthroat trout (pl. 2).

SES, .

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——
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FicurE 4.—A diagram of the spawning act of the little redfish, Oncorhynchus nerka. Male (lower) and
female (upper). The positions of the fins were not seen, but it is supposed that they were spread against
the rocks below, enabling the fish to maintain their positions in the current. Drawing made by Arthur
Welander from preserved fish placed in the approximate spawning positions observed by Dan Merriman
and Arthur Welander. Courtesy Mid-Pacific Magazine.

THE SPAWNING ACT

Among the large number of papers written on the habits of salmon
and trout, but few authors have definitely described the spawning
act and those only within the last 10 years. All others have either
not seen it or have more or less confused it with the nest-building and
courting acts, from which it may be concluded that the true spawning
act is seldom seen. No doubt this confusion and the lack of accurate
observation for so many years was caused by the great authority and
weight of opinion of certain older ichthyologists, who perhaps exerted
too much influence on their students and blinded their eyes to the
exact methods of egg laying and fertilization. Recently, observa-
tions by Greeley on rainbow trout, Hazzard on eastern brook trout,
Belding on the Atlantic salmon, Schultz and Students on the little
redfish, a landlocked sockeye salmon (fig. 4), and Needham on the

SALMON AND TROUT—SCHULTZ 373

steelhead, all indicate that the details of actual egg laying are essen-
tially the same for the various species. The spawning act or egg-
laying act may be summarized as follows from Needham’s (1934,
pp. 334-335) account for the steelhead:

The female dropped back in the center of the pit with her vent and anal fin well
down in the deepest part. The male instantly moved into position parallel to her.
Their vents were opposite and, since he was considerably shorter, his head came
only about to her pectorals. Both fish opened their mouths wide, the female
particularly was seen to arch her body, raising her head so that the tip of her
snout was out of water. Eggs and milt were exuded with a quivering motion by
both fish at exactly the same instant. The snout of the female, where it pro-
truded from the water, was seen to cause ripples on the surface from the quivering
motion as the eggs were deposited. The white cloud of milt partially obscured
the eggs from our view, but we could clearly see the stream of bright pink eggs
dropping into the bottom of the nest. They appeared to stay in a very compact
group and none were observed floating from the nest. The milt settled in a more
or less compact way about the eggs, though some of it was carried away by the
current. The whole process did not require much more than 2 seconds. The
male during this process was on the left side of the female as she faced upstream.
The female remained in a vertical position. The male inclined slightly toward
and appeared to be in definite contact.

FERTILIZATION AND WATER-HARDENING

Both eggs and milt are discharged at the same time during the
spawning act, and Nature has so beautifully coordinated each step
in the breeding activities of salmon and trout that the eggs or ova are
fertilized the instant they are shed; otherwise they would probably
not be fertilized at all because the sperm would be carried by the
current downstream away from the nest. The millions of spermatozoa
making up the milt are inactive until they enter the water, then for
about 45 seconds they swim about with great rapidity, but by the
end of 1% minutes all have become inactive and probably many have
died. The eggs, once they enter water, change rapidly too. For
about 1 minute after the eggs are in water it is possible for nearly
100 percent of them to be fertilized when active spermatozoa are
present, but at the end of another 4 minutes in the water the shell of
the egg has so changed that it is nearly impossible for a spermatozoan
to enter. All spermatozoa must enter fish eggs through a single
minute pore, the micropyle, in the egg membrane or outer shell of the
egg and after one spermatozoan has entered (it takes but a single
spermatozoan to start the development of the egg) it is impossible
for another one to do so. Should no sperm enter the egg within the
first few minutes that the egg is in the water, the micropyle closes, and
that egg can never be fertilized because ‘‘water-hardening” has
already begun.

“Water-hardening” is a physiological process by which water
passes through the egg membrane (outer shell of the eggs) into the

374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

space below it. This space between the yolk and the egg membrane is
called the perivitelline space. The eggs of all salmon and trout swell
up about one-third larger in size than when first laid (fig. 5), and the
outer shell becomes so tightly stretched that the eggs are rigid and,
when dropped, may bounce like rubber balls. The egg membrane is
adhesive when first laid, but at the end of about three-quarters of an
hour, after the completion of water-hardening, it is smooth and no

IN GRAMS

AVERAGE WEIGHT PER EGG

0 5 10 IS 20 25 30
NUMBER OF MINUTES IN WATER

FicuRE 5.—The rate of increase in weight (water-hardening) of the eggs of the little redfish, Oncorhynchus
nerka. The eggs from six females were used in six different experiments. All weights were converted
into comparable terms and are expressed as the average initial weight of all eggs from the six females.
This was necessary because the eggs in different females vary greatly in size and weight. Each black
spot on the graph represents an average determined from about 70 eggs. The average initial weight was
0.0645 gram per egg.

longer sticky. This adhesive quality causes grains of sand to adhere to
the eggs which helps to keep them in the bottom of the nest until they
are covered with gravel by the female.

POST-SPAWNING ACTIVITIES

Within a few minutes after the eggs are laid and fertilized during the
spawning act, the female turns on her side and begins to cover them in
the same manner that she excavated the nest. This is accomplished
not by digging into the pit where the eggs occur, but slightly upstream,
so that the current sweeps the disturbed material over the eggs.

SALMON AND TROUT—SCHULTZ 375

Usually the eggs are well covered within an hour or two to a depth of
2 inches or more. This post-spawning behavior offers distinct advan-
tages for the protection of the eggs and recently hatched fry, as
pointed out by Needham (1934, p. 336) who says: “Eggs laid in the
first portions of the nest are gradually buried deeper and deeper by
materials being washed downstream from pits dug above as she works
upstream.” The eggs remain in the nests covered with gravel until
hatched. The oxygen supply needed by the eggs and young trout
during their development in the gravel is supplied by the seepage of
water through the loose material of the stream bottom. The time
required for the eggs to hatch depends on the species as well as on the
water temperature. Eggs laid in cold water take longer to hatch than
those laid in warmer water, the time varying from 2 or 3 weeks to 6 or
8 months. The baby salmon or trout after hatching remain in the
gravel until their yolk sack has been absorbed, then they gradually
make their way through the gravel into the water of the stream.

DESTRUCTION OF EGGS

The eggs, after being covered by the female, are relatively safe from
predatory animals. However, when first laid, some may be swept
from the nest pit by the current. Should any of these escape the
mouths of fish lurking in the vicinity ready to eat them, they would
never develop for they would be carried to the pools below, where the
eggs would settle to the bottom, gradually becoming covered with
sediment that would cause them to be suffocated. Other hazards
await the eggs. Fungus often attacks them and may spread through
the nest when the eggs are too crowded, but it can make little headway
when they are well separated. Freshets often wash out the eggs of the
salmon and trout, and once they are removed from the nest they have
little or no chance of survival. In certain areas the streams recede
after the trout have spawned, leaving the nests high and dry, which
soon kills the eggs. These, among other dangers, take their toll of
the new crop of eggs and young fish planted so carefully by the
mother.

LITERATURE CITED

Davipson, FREDERICK A.
1937. ‘‘Migration” and “homing” of Pacific salmon. Science, vol 86,
pp. 55-56.
GILBERT, CHARLES Henry.
1923. The salmon of the Yukon River. Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish. 1921-1922,
vol. 38, pp. 317-332, figs. 274-300.
GREELEY, JOHN R.
1982. The spawning habits of brook, brown, and rainbow trout, and the
problem of egg predators. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc., vol. 62. pp.
239-248.

376 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Hazzarp, ALBERT S.
1932. Some phases of the life history of the eastern brook trout Salpelinus
fontinalis Mitchell. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc., vol. 62, pp. 344-350.
Mitner, JAMES Woop.
1874. Habits of the brook trout during the breeding season. Rep. U. S.
Comm. Fish. 1872-1873, pp. 52-55.
NEEDHAM, Paut R.
1934. Observations on the spawning of steelhead trout. Trans. Amer.
Fish. Soc., vol. 64, pp. 332-338, figs. 1 and 2.
Scuu.itz, LEONARD PETER, AND STUDENTS.
1935. The breeding activities of the little redfish, a landlocked form of
the sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka. Mid-Pacific Magazine,
pp. 67-77, figs. 1—4.
Wuirtr, H. C.
1930. Some observations on the eastern brook trout, S. fontinalis of Prince
Edward Is. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc., vol. 60, pp. 101-138.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Schultz PLATE 1

1. Oncorhynchus nerka, male red salmon or dees salmon. From Bulletin U. S. Bureau of Fisheries,
vol. 26.

2. Salmo gairdnerii gairdnerii, steelhead or rainbow trout. From Bulletin U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, vol. 26.

FISH PORTRAITS.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Schultz PLATE 2

1. Salmo clarkii clarkii, large adult of sea run coastal cutthroat trout. From Bulletin U. S. Bureau of Fish-
eries, vol. 26.

2. Salmo clarkii lewisi, Yellowstone black-spotted cutthroat trout. Reproduced by permission of Depart-
ment of Fisheries, Ottawa, and the Biological Board of Canada from the Trout and Other Game Fishes
of British Columbia, by J. R. Dymond.

FISH PORTRAITS.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Schultz PLATE 4

U.S. Bureau of Fisheries

A PHOTOGRAPH OF SALMON THAT HAVE COMPLETED THEIR LIFE CYCLE IN THE
ALEE RIVER, CHIGNIK, ALASKA.

These spawned-out fish, which have died, were carried downstream by the current of the river until
stranded on gravel, rocks, or sand bars. Their bodies will gradually decompose, furnishing food for
aquatic organisms that later May serve as food for the baby salmon.

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WHAT IS ENTOMOLOGY?!

By Ler A. Strone

Chief, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine,
U. S. Department of Agriculture

[With 16 plates]

What is entomology? Webster says, “Entomology is the depart-
ment of zoology that treats of insects; also a treatise on that subject.”
How does the particular department of zoology referred to treat of
insects? Treating of insects takes on many forms. It has many
ramifications. It affects many people. It affects the health, the
comfort, the well-being, and fortunes of as many individuals in the
world as perhaps any other applied science.

In species and kinds insects outnumber most, if not all, groups of
living organisms. There are known more than 700,000 kinds of
described and named insects in the world. There are 75,000 kinds
so reported from North America north of Mexico. Of the 75,000
kinds in North America there are estimated to be 6,500 kinds of insects
which are so injurious to agriculture in the United States that records
of their occurrence are consistently reported to the Insect Pest Survey.
It is obvious, therefore, that while entomology treats of insects, an
entomologist can in reason treat only of a comparatively few species
of insects. In schools the teachers can teach the students only the
principles of the science and general fundamentals of insect structure,
classification, physiology, habits, and general distribution, leaving
the student to specialize in the group of insects or branch of entomolog-
ical work desired after graduation in the securing of degrees, in teach-
ing, or in employment.

First, in our work we must know what insects are, and taxonomy
is really one of the important points in treating of insects. The study
and interpretation of structural characters for the purpose of classi-
fication and identification have a most important place in the science
of entomology. For example, the species of Cochliomyia look much
alike, particularly the forms commonly called screwworms. Cushing,
while working on this group with Patton in England, found that
what had been considered as one form, C. macellaria, was really

1 Address given at the Second Florida Entomological Conference, Gainesville, Fla., March 19, 1937.

377

378 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 -

two species readily distinguished by structural differences. Later
studies showed that their newly described americana is the primary
pest, the one which feeds on living tissue. This, although complicating
the whole screwworm problem in a certain sense, simplified it in other
ways and demonstrated again the value of taxonomic studies. Such
studies make it possible to differentiate control measures in the field,
to dispose properly of infested shipments moving in commerce, and to
apply appropriate quarantine measures.

Life-history studies and studies in the laboratory and in the field to
find out how the insect lives, how it propagates, how it feeds, how it
damages or benefits crops or food or materials, teach us not only about
the insect but also what to do about it, a large part of the program of
treating of insects. After several years of experiments in the effort to
control wireworms, the immature form of the click beetle, physiologi-
cal studies in connection with the life-history studies developed that
the particular poisons being used were not being taken into the
system by the insect but were being thrown out before reaching the
stomach.

Spraying with lead arsenate has long been a standard form of
control of insects that bite and chew. Until the human health
hazard involved in the use of lead arsenate was fully realized, it was
the accepted standard method of control for codling moth, that almost
universal pest of apples and pears. Studies on the life history and
habits of the Oriental fruit moth made shortly after its discovery in
this country revealed that the larva, although a biting and chewing
form somewhat similar to that of the codling moth, has a habit of
spitting out the first one or two mouthfuls of food and thus escapes
the effects of the poison sprayed on the surface of the fruit or twig;
hence in this case lead arsenate is not effective.

As is well known, the fecundity of insectsisremarkable. Taking the
classic example of the ordinary vinegar fly as computed by Maxwell-
Lefroy—if the offspring of a single pair lived for 1 year and none of
the young died and none of the bodies decomposed, the total mass of
ponderable material produced would bury the entire earth a million
miles deep. Of course, there is nothing to worry about in this direc-
tion, because it never would happen. In the first place, comparatively
speaking, almost all the offspring die and those that die do decay, so
there is no ponderable mass of sufficient size left to bury any
part of the earth. Despite the fact that such a large proportion of the
offspring of insects do die, however, there is a tremendous increase in
the population of destructive insects from year to year. Notwith-
standing these tremendous populations of insect pests from time to
time which take a huge toll in crops and which spread disease and
annoy human kind in other ways, there is no such thing as the insects
of the world wiping out civilization. However, if crops and foods are

WHAT IS ENTOMOLOGY ?—STRONG 379

to be produced in sufficient quantity for our needs and at a cost
making it profitable to so produce, insects must be controlled. Control
depends upon research; research means to study, get the facts.

The science of entomology is fighting insects on many fronts, and
every possible known advantage is being taken even to the use of
insects against insects. The first importation of insect parasites into
the United States was that of a wasp from England in 1883 to aid in
the control of the cabbage worm. Since that date 403 species of
insect parasites and predators have been imported from Europe,
Africa, Australia, Japan, and other countries, and 73 of these have
become established. When Koebele introduced the Vedalia into
California and it cleaned up the cottony cushion scale, an insect which
threatened the very existence of the citrus industry in that State,
there was furnished an early and graphic example of the value of the
use of beneficial insects. A beetle which feeds upon mealybugs was
imported into the United States from Australia in 1891, and since that
date has been distributed to 33 other countries. A parasitic wasp
which is native to North America and which attacks the woolly apple
aphid and brings it under control has been sent from the United States
to 40 countries throughout the world since the first shipment to France
in 1920. When, at the suggestion of the officials of the Florida State
Plant Board, Clausen was sent to Malaya to take parasites of the
citrus blackfly to Cuba, the results were far-reaching and important.
Not only did this action reduce the citrus blackfly in Cuba from a pest
of first importance to one of minor rank, but it also reduced the risk
which had been present in marked degree of introduction of the pest
into this country. Moreover, it was a demonstration of far-sighted
planning and of good neighborliness. The work now going on in the
collection of beneficial insects, their exchange between nations, and
their colonization and study certainly enter into the program of
treating of insects.

It will thus be seen that along with the effort to destroy injurious
forms of insects, opportunities have not been entirely overlooked to
make more helpful to the human race beneficial insects; and among
these, of course, one of the outstanding examples is the honeybee.
Entomologists have determined that bees are more effective in gather-
ing honey and pollinating plants if they can reach farther with their
tongues into deeper flowers for the nectar. Hence an effort has been
made with substantial progress in developing bees with longer tongues.
Since bees in nature mate on the wing only, this recourse to the
practice of eugenics in the bee family has been fraught with difficulty
but has been successfully accomplished.

Notwithstanding these efforts we are told from time to time, even
by outstanding entomologists, that in our zeal to control or kill injurious
insect forms we have too little regard for the well-being of the beneficial

380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

forms upon which we depend for pollination of plants and other useful
functions. We are frequently told of the killing of colonies of bees
through the use of sprays for the control of fruit and crop pests, and
we are consequently urged to have more regard for the life of the useful
insects even though the injurious forms may in some instances do
more harm. These warnings and admonitions are, of course, well
meant and should be given every possible consideration. There are
as usual two sides to these arguments. A recent article in one of the
leading bee publications referred to the warning given by entomolo-
gists of the possible grasshopper outbreak the coming season and
indicated that grasshoppers were very abundant in most of the sweet-
clover regions the past season. It was pointed out that the sweet-
clover is one of the favorite honey plants for the honeybee and that
the invasion of grasshoppers might well prove serious to the beekeeper
since sweetclover is attractive to the grasshoppers as a food and is the
sole source of surplus honey in a large area. Of course, the obvious
answer is to heed this particular warning and poison the grasshoppers
to save the food for the bees, and since grasshoppers can be poisoned
with a material which is not attractive to the bees, there can be no
argument as to what should be done.

It is necessary to treat of insects when controlling and eradicating
many of the plant diseases. The Dutch elm disease, introduced from
abroad and now constituting a serious threat to the elms of this
country, is spread by at least two insects and possibly by more.
Sugarcane mosaic is carried by insects. The most important disease
of sugar beets, curly top, is spread by leafhoppers. It is suspected
that phony disease of the peach may be spread by insects, although
definite information on this point is lacking. It has recently been
found that peach yellows is spread by an insect vector, and no doubt
insects enter into the general program of plant-disease spread and
control more than we know. Insects themselves are affected by
diseases, and attempts are being made to develop and culture the
diseases with a view to using them in the fight against injurious insects.

Treating of insects through studies of plant resistance has its place
in the picture. Man is limited in his consumption of many members
of the plant kingdom because of their bad taste, poor quality as food,
fibrous composition, poisonous character, or possibly even because
they present an unattractive appearance. Investigations by ento-
mologists have revealed that insects such as the hessian fly also
have food preferences and limitations in selection of varieties of wheat
or even the individual wheat plants for food. Some plants are entirely
unsuited for the support of the flies, even when the variety is generally
suitable, and parent flies selecting such plants for egg laying doom
their offspring to an early death. Other plants may be quite un-
attractive for egg laying and thus escape infestation. Study of these

WHAT IS ENTOMOLOGY ?--STRONG 381

food and egg-laying peculiarities of the Hessian fly and of other species
of insects has indicated the possibility of developing resistant strains
of plants entirely suitable for human or livestock consumption but
immune or partially immune to insect attack.

In the chemistry of developing insecticides and fungicides it is es-
sential to treat of insects. Knowledge of the insect habits, the meth-
ods of fighting, and the character of injury is an essential part of the
chemist’s approach to the problem of developing a killer. Fungicides
must be compatible with insecticides, and vice versa; hence plant
diseases must be taken into account. No more attentive listeners
will be found at entomological meetings than the chemists of the
Division of Insecticide Investigations in the Bureau of Entomology
and Plant Quarantine.

In studying and fighting insects it must be remembered that many
of the most injurious forms spend a large portion of their lifetime in
the ground as larvae or worms. The Japanese beetle, for example, a
serious pest on the Atlantic seaboard, spends 9 months of the year in
the soil as a larva. Many of the wireworms are in the soil 3 years in
the worm stage and, as is well known, the periodical cicada spends 17
years in the soil. Entomologists are thus dealing with species which
are not able to give expression to the reaction of the various insecti-
cides and other control measures used, and observations are difficult
and necessarily infrequent. So when entomologists are asked why
after many years of study on a certain insect they are not able to
immediately outline adequate control measures, there is a real answer.
And at that the progress made probably does not suffer in comparison
with the progress made by other branches of science in the study, for
example, of many human ailments, even that most ordinary thing, the
common cold.

Conservation of natural resources involves treating of insects; and
to a far greater degree than is now practiced if it is to be real conser-
vation. You may find thousands of square miles of forested areas in
this country where the best of the timber has been killed by insects.
In large areas in the high forests of the West the losses occasioned by
insects exceed the combined value of timber cut for lumber and burned
by fire. Does this suggest treating of insects? Our range lands are
denuded over large areas by the feeding of grasshoppers and Mormon
crickets. Not only do we lose the range but an erosion problem is
created. Does not real conservation suggest something here? What
about the conservation of animals? Consider the fever tick, the
buffalo gnat, the screwworm, the insects that prey on wildlife. How
about the health of humans? What of yellow fever, malaria, spotted
fever, tularemia, all transmitted by insects; and consider for just a
moment merely the comfort of humans; is it not affected by the house-
fly, the mosquito, the sandfly, or the eye gnat, as well as other

382 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

forms not usually mentioned above a whisper? Think of the furs,
the clothing destroyed by clothes moths, the furniture destroyed by
carpet beetles, and the furniture and buildings wrecked by termites.
Does not all this suggest some of the reasons for the treating of insects?

Treating of insects includes also consideration of their distribution
and spread. Man, by his means of communication and desire for
products, plants, and materials found in other sections, has provided
many ways to spread insects into new areas. Examples of this are
numerous; that there are not more of them is surprising. But the
entomologist has not overlooked the importance of this and the serious
consequences that may arise if no restrictions are imposed. It has
been the entomologist who was, and still is, the prime mover in the
establishment and enforcement of laws and regulations to prevent the
spread of plant pests. This has led to the development of another
specialized field in this science of treating insects, a field touching
many activities, at home and abroad; activities which affect the com-
merce of the country and the world, requiring the examination of
ships entering our ports, inspection and treatment of products, fumi-
gation of railway cars; and many others too numerous to mention.
Specialization in this phase of the work of treating of insects, one of
the newer aspects of the science, has come into importance so recently
that its principles and fundamentals receive only inadequate consider-
ation in the preparatory instructions offered by many schools of
higher learning. This, despite the fact that the work of quarantine is
carried on by Federal and State forces in as close cooperation as any
work in the treating of insects that can be mentioned.

What facilities are available for treating of insects? In the Bureau
of Entomology and Plant Quarantine research work on insects is
going on outside of Washington and outside of the National Agricul-
tural Research Center at Beltsville, Md., at 92 stations in 34 States,
and at any one station several divisions of the Bureau may be located,
as for example, Orlando, Fla. Research work including parasite studies
is also going on at stations in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone,
France, and Japan. Quarantine and control work is being carried
on at 166 permanent stations in 41 States and in Hawaii and Puerto
Rico. These are manned by permanent employees and do not take
into account the large number of seasonal or temporary employees
used in various features of the work.

When entomological work in the United States Department of
Agriculture attained the status of a bureau July 1, 1904, the appro-
priation was $82,450. This fiscal year it is $5,317,675, with 1,621
permanent employees. In addition there have been made available
during the past year $12,000,000 in emergency funds, and last summer
the peak employment figure was 27,000 people on pest-control projects
paid with emergency funds exclusive of regular appropriations.

WHAT IS ENTOMOLOGY ?—STRONG 383

Industrial and commercial concerns have also entered the field of
treating of insects, studying and developing facts as well as producing
materials used for control and applying treatments developed. This
commercial and industrial aspect is additional recognition of the science
‘of entomology. The science that treats of insects must not overlook
its importance, for in its application industry has an essential part.
What is the practical importance of knowing the toxic effect of a
chemical on the insect unless industry can make it available for use?

Entomological work has grown rapidly in colleges and universities.
State experiment stations are accomplishing things of great impor-
tance to agriculture and to humanity. The State of Florida, for
example, has profited more than is realized from such work. The
eradication of citrus canker in this State saved the citrus industry.
It was accomplished by men trained in entomological and eradication
work. The eradication of the Mediterranean fruit fly was accom-
plished only because men trained in entomological work and in
eradication practices were in Florida and available; not only available
but unafraid and with that vision which is necessary to great accom-
plishments. In these two programs alone major catastrophes were
averted.

So, finally, what is entomology? That branch of zoology that treats
of insects, as Mr. Webster said? Undoubtedly, and much more. Itisa
science that contributes materially and without ostentation to the
health, comfort, welfare, and happiness of the human race and of a
large part of the animal kingdom.

31508—38——27

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 1

ENTOMOLOGICAL LABORATORY
BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND.

TAXONOMIST IDENTIFYING INSECTS.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 2

STUDYING THE EFFECT OF POISON ON THE HEART OF AN INSECT.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 3

FIELO HEADQUARTERS.

EXAMINING MATERIAL TO DETERMINE THE
RESULTS OF AN EXPERIMENT.

INVESTIGATIONS TO DEVELOP CONTROL METHODS.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 4

HANO SPRAYING IN THE HOME GARDEN. MUNICIPAL POWER OUTFIT SPRAYING
SHADE TREES.

roeh x yn:

POWER SPRAYING OF A COMMERCIAL ORCHARD.

KNAPSACK DUSTING OF TRUCK CROPS. POWER DUSTER IN USE ON COTTON.

METHODS OF SPRAYING AND DUSTING.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 5

SECTION OF A PARASITE CAGE.

SHIPMENT OF PARASITES EN ROUTE TO STEAMER IN
JAPAN AND THENCE TO THE UNITED STATES.

“t.

SHIPMENT OF PARASITES ON DECK OF STEAMER FROM
MALAYA TO UNITED STATES.

THE IMPORTATION OF PARASITES.

PLATE 6

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong

EQuiPMENT USED IN REARING TIPHIA PARASITES.

SORTING PARASITES FROM ABROAD.

IN THE FIELD,

LIBERATING JAPANESE BEETLE PARASITES

IN COLD STORAGE

PARASITES

REARING PARASITES.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PEATE 7

Bee Hives PLacep in OrcHARD TO
IMPROVE SET oF FRuiT.

BEE
KEEPING

Bees SHowING LADEN POoLLeN BASKETS.

APPARATUS FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF QuEEN BEES. INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING LENGTH oF
Bee's TONGUE.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 8

DUSTING A SWAMP TO CONTROL MOSQUITOES.

DUSTING COTTON TO CONTROL BCLL WEEVIL.

Use of Airplane in Entomology.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong

AT TIME OF ATTACK

A Few DAyS LATER.

STILL LATER.

GRASSHOPPER DAMAGE TO A CORNFIELD.

PLATE 9

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 10

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A SMALL PATCH OF RANGE PROTECTED FROM GRASSHOPPERS

GRASSHOPPER DAMAGE TO RANGE.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong PLATE 12

CORN LEAF APHID EUROPEAN BARK BEETLE
CARRIER OF CARRIER OF
SUGARCANE MOSAIC. DUTCH ELM DISEASE.

THREE SPOTTED LEAFHOPPER BEET LEAFHOPPER

CARRIER OF CARRIER OF
PEACH YELLOWS. SUGARBEET CURLY TOP.

INSECT CARRIERS OF PLANT DISEASES.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Strong

PEATE. Uo

Trees KiLtLeD BY Bark BEETLES.

FOREST

Bark of TREE REMOVED TO SHOW BARK-
Beetce GALLeRies. INSET: A BARK BEETLE.

INSECTS.

PLATE 16

Strong

Smithsonian Report, 1937.

INSPECTION TO EXCLUDE PLANT PESTS

eT

MAIZE—OUR HERITAGE FROM THE INDIAN

By J. H. Kempton

Botanist, Division of Cereal Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry,
U. S. Department of Agriculture

[With 30 plates]
INTRODUCTION

All of our cultivated crops were domesticated in prehistoric times,
some of them in the Old, others in the New World. When the
Europeans discovered the New World, they found a highly developed
agriculture extending over most of the two Americas and the outlying
islands. This agriculture was based on plants unknown in the Old
World, and the cultural system followed made no use of beasts of
draught and burden. Aboriginal American agriculture was wholly
manual, and the crops raised were consumed directly by the producers.
The only domesticated animals of the prediscovery Americans were
the dog, the turkey, and the llama.

The key crop of the New World agriculture and the chief basis
of Indian economy was the noble grass we know as corn, as Indian
corn, or as our derivative of its Arawak name—maize. Although the
European races have largely displaced the Indian population of the
Americas, corn has retained its place as the principal crop of the New
World. It is grown in every State of the United States and is by far
the most valuable single crop produced in the Western Hemisphere.
It is the only domesticated plant that can be grown over the entire
range of climate, soils, and day lengths found in the territory extend-
ing from the Canadian border through the Central American tropics
to southern Chile, and from sea level to an altitude of 12,000 feet.

No other cereal is as useful to man in so many ways. Not only
are the seeds borne in handy packages of from 500 to 1,000, but they
are edible and nutritious long before maturity. The ears of
corn lend themselves well to storage, and the seeds, being naked,
require no threshing or winnowing. The crop produces more food
value per unit of area than any other grain, though of course less per
man-hour than the Old World cereals such as wheat, which require
no care after planting. The American agricultural system, based
on hand labor and involving either irrigation or the clearing of forests

31508—38-——_28 385

386 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

every few years, required a cereal giving maximum returns for the
land used. And in maize the American Indian developed a food
plant capable of supporting a family of five for an entire year on the
production from 4 acres.

Not only are the seeds of corn edible scarcely 3 weeks after fertili-
zation, but other parts of this plant were eaten. The Indians made a
palatable soup from the corn pollen which is produced in such great
abundance, and they also prepared a food from the tassels. Even
the fungus parasite—the common smut—furnishes a food highly
appreciated by certain Indian tribes of Mexico, much as the Chinese
value the smutted shoots of wild rice. Maize, however, supplied
more than mere food to the Indian. It was an important part of
his religious life, and quite early the element of art entered his breeding
of this grass, for in no other way can we account for the highly decora-
tive features of this majestic plant. The seeds run almost the entire
gamut of colors, and red, blue, black, brown, pink, yellow, striped,
banded, and spotted are common among the corns of the Indians.
The various combinations of colors and patterns and of seeds upon
the ear afford an almost endless variety of arrangement.

Although we have settled largely on yellow and white seeds in our
commercial varieties, the rejected colors are still appreciated for their
ornamental qualities, and the Indians retain a preference for the blue
seeds in the preparation of their corn cakes or tortillas.

In addition to seed colors there is a great variety of seed shapes and
sizes, ranging from the diminutive pointed popcorn seeds, some smaller
than a kernel of wheat, to the giant disk-shaped seeds of the Cuzco
corn. These latter are so large, often approximating the diameter
of a quarter, that after being boiled they are eaten singly like grapes,
the endosperm being squeezed out of the outer skin or pericarp, which
is then discarded (pl. 1).

Aside from the seeds there is a great range of plant colors. In our
commercial fields of corn we are accustomed only to green plants but
there are various kinds of red, purple, and variegated corn plants,
some of which at one time were listed in the flower catalogs and were
used as ornamentals in the circular flower beds common during the
cast-iron deer era.

Corn was an object of veneration to the Indians and figured in their
art no less than in their diet. The plant was skillfully formalized
for pottery decoration without sacrificing its distinctive characteris-
tics (fig. 1). This feeling for the decorative possibilities of the corn
plant was shared by the peoples of the Old World. In far Nippon
where the arts are close to the land, the immigrant corn plant was used
as early as the seventeenth century to achieve a strikingly beautiful

effect as is shown by the handsome screen now in the Freer Gallery of
Art.

MAIZE—KEMPTON 387

In our country before our agricultural antecedents were swamped
by the industrial era, the corn plant had begun to find its place in the
decorative arts. Benjamin Latrobe, who had so much to do with the
building of the Nation’s Capitol, made use of ears of corn in a design
for column capitals used in that structure at the entrance to the old
Supreme Court library (pl. 2). These capitals are the oldest known
replicas of maize wrought by Europeans. They have stood in their
present location since their installation, having survived the burning
of the Capitol by the British. Most of the other adornments of the
Capitol have been shifted around, altered, or rebuilt, but these corn
columns, like the living plant in our civilization, have remained perma-
nent. Our southern planters, too, carried their devotion to agriculture

FIGURE 1.—Formalized corn plants in ancient pottery decoration: a design on a clay vessel from the Valle
de Chicama, Peru. (Copy by Lehmann.)

with them when they built their town residences, and several styles
of attractive iron corn fences still enclose some of the gardens in New
Orleans (pl. 3).

At the present time with the shift of our population from the farms
to the cities, the close connection between corn and our prosperity
is not appreciated. Indeed, many persons have only a vague idea of
just what a corn plant looks like (pl. 4). Yet we are today very much
of a corn civilization, with an annual per capita consumption of ap-
proximately 16 bushels. The agricultural Indians subsisting prin-
cipally on corn—so much so that in some places this grain comprises
85 percent of the diet—do not consume more. It is true, corn does not
enter directly so completely into our diet as it does that of the Central
American Indians, but it is an important part of oureconomy.

Aside from its materialistic value, maize has also become important
to our intellectual development, for this plant has proved to be
almost uniquely fitted for determining the facts of heredity. Students

888 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of genetics, the science of heredity, have described and analyzed
several hundred mutations in maize and in so doing have advanced
our knowledge of how traits are transmitted from one generation to
another. By means of the maize plant they have solved many of the
problems of the cell mechanics involved in reproduction.

Despite its importance in ancient and in modern times, nothing
certain is known as to the origin of corn. What little knowledge we
possess of this subject results from studies in the diverse sciences of
morphology, genetics, and cytology. ‘The attempts thus far made to
reconstruct the probable past of this perplexing cereal, to the satis-
faction of all students of the problem, have not met with success.
To a large extent the difficulty of drawing a faultless picture of the
origin of maize results from the contradictory evidence supplied by
the plant itself. This can mean only that some of the essential pieces
of our puzzle are missing or perhaps are being overlooked. In any
event the lack of accord among corn experts is an indication of a sus-
tained and healthy interest which should lead eventually to a happy
ending.

HISTORY

In comparison with its antiquity as a domesticated plant the re-
corded history of corn is brief, being limited, of course, to the years
following the discovery of America. The first definite date in the
history of maize is November 5, 1492, when two Spaniards, dispatched
to the interior of Cuba on October 28 by Columbus, returned to report
that the ground was sown with “a sort of grain they call maize, which
was well tasted, bak’d, dry’d, and made into flour.” No record has
been found of maize having reached the Old World previous to the
voyages of the Spaniards, and the botanical evidence is conclusive
that maize originated in the Western Hemisphere. After the voyages
of Columbus maize spread rapidly throughout the Old World, reaching
China probably early in the sixteenth century.

Corn, of course, is referred to in early colonial documents, all the
accounts showing it to be a completely domesticated plant nurtured
by the Indians. The Indians, whose welfare depended upon this
plant, attributed its origin to the gods, and some of these legends
orally preserved through the centuries have been recorded. Many
elaborate ceremonies were evolved to insure the welfare of this cereal,
but neither the legends nor the ceremonies afford any clues as to how
corn came to be the plant it is.

The first written records, then, show that corn 400 years ago was as
it is today and the Indian accounts of its origin, though poetic, are
but fanciful myths. Fortunately, the archeological record is more
extensive and embraces a much longer period of time than the printed
accounts. Excavations in Bolivia and in Peru have disclosed ears of
corn perhaps 2,000 years old, and in our own country, Basket Maker

MAIZE—KEMPTON 389

burials in Utah, roughly a thousand years old, have yielded perfectly
preserved ears (pls. 5 and 6). From the mounds of Ohio and the caves
of the Ozarks have come charred specimens of grain and cobs that
show corn in no wise different from the kinds that must have been
grown by the Indians of the same region within historic times.
The ears of corn from the Peruvian graves interred about the begin-
ning of our Christian era cannot be distinguished from the ears pro-
duced in the same region today. Similarly, the ears of corn buried
by the ancient Basket Makers are duplicated today by the ears
harvested each fall by our Southwestern Indians.

In addition to the actual ears preserved by interment under the
exceptionally favorable conditions in the southwestern United States
and western South America, there is the record left by the ancient
potters who chose the ear of corn for ceramic decoration. Excellent
replicas of ears are found on the pottery of the Aztecs and the Incas
(pl. 7). Indeed, so excellent was the replica of one ear that for a
number of years it passed among us as a truly fossilized ear of corn.
These pottery replicas and exhumed ears all attest that corn as we
know it today was a finished product at least 2,000 years ago, so far
as its distinctive botanical characteristics are concerned.

Although these prehistoric ears are small according to our standards
and give the impression that the corn of the American Indians was
diminutive, as a matter of fact the longest ears known were produced
by Indians. Indeed the longest ear, one measuring 18 inches from
the basal to the apical seeds, was produced by a Navajo Indian (pl. 8).
Ears 16 inches in length are not infrequent among the corn of the
Indians of Guatemala and Mexico. Eighteen inches, however, is
about the limit in length, as the pollen tubes which must reach the
ovary for fertilization cannot travel much farther than the 2 feet
necessary to reach the lowest seed on an ear of this length.

The corn of the primitives is not primitive corn, and although none
of these ears of exceptional size has been preserved in ancient burials
there is little reason for doubting that such ears were produced long
before the Discovery. Certainly they are grown now by a people
little influenced by European culture. Indeed, the cornfields of the
Tarahumare Indians of Mexico—cave dwellers and bow-and-arrow
people—would be a credit to many of our farmers.

The charred cobs retrieved from Indian mounds and kitchen mid-
dens are indeed small, and it is easily understood why they suggest a
primitive form of maize. From their size it is unreasonable to believe
they bore kernels as large as those of our commercial varieties, and
kernels commensurate with the size of the charred cobs would be no
larger than grains of wheat. However, when cobs of our commercial
varieties are burned they shrink in size until they are indistinguishable
from the excavated ancient remains except that the prehistoric cobs

399 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

have become flattened by the pressure of the overlying soil during
their centuries of burial (pl. 9, fig. 1). Not only do we not hold the
record for the largest ears, but all the other records are held by the
Indians. The smallest ears are produced by the Indians of Peru as are
also the largest and the smallest seeds (pl. 9, fig. 2, and pl. 10). So
too with the plant itself; the tallest corn plants known are grown by
Indians in Mexico and Central America, where stalks 18 feet in height
are not uncommon with the ears borne far above the reach of the
grower (pl. 11, fig. 1). The archeological record and the present-day
culture of the primitives then shows corn fully developed but affords
no evidence as to how it might have originated.

In none of the Indian burials nor among living plants has anything
been found suggesting a primitive pre-corn. No plant or plant remains
that could be classed as directly involved in the ancestry of maize has
been discovered. Maize as we know it today extends backward in
time to the earliest graves with no stages intermediate between our
corn and some less highly domesticated plant.

This highly domesticated cereal furnished the foundation of the
three remarkable Indian civilizations—Maya, Inca, and Aztec—yet
even today it cannot be said with certainty where, how, or when corn
originated. Definite answers to any one of these uncertainties would
go far toward solving some of the perplexing questions of the antiquity
of man and his civilizations in America, for maize and man are
inseparable.

Since the historical and archeological record sheds no light upon the
origin of corn, the inquisitive must turn to the botanical and genetic
evidence. Like ourselves and our animals, all plants must have
had ancestors, and corn is no exception. To reconstruct the origin of
corn it is only required that the ancestors be found, but so far has this
plant progressed beyond the horde of untamed grasses that experts
cannot agree upon its probable parentage nor the manner of its
creation.

Corn is never found in the wild nor, indeed, can it survive without
the care of man. The very quality that makes it such a useful
domesticated plant, the tight adherence of the kernels to a cob
wrapped in multiple layers of husks, unfits it for survival as a wild
plant. In having this characteristic it lacks the means to distribute
its progeny—a fatal failing for an annual plant forced to survive
unaided in competition with readily diffusing wild species.

No other cereal has so completely lost the ability to sow the next
generation. Indeed, shattering of seed is still a problem among all
grains but corn, so that in this respect maize must be classed as the
world’s most highly domesticated grain.

That corn cannot persist as a wild plant, even under favorable condi-
tions, is accepted by all botanists. Even with competing species

MAIZE—KEMPTON 39]

eliminated, the hundreds of young seedlings that spring from a buried
ear of corn, all within the space of a few inches, struggle with each
other for the available water and nutrients to the end that none suc-
ceeds in producing seed (pl. 11, fig. 2). Maize, in its present form,
therefore—a form it has been seen was attained at least 2,000 years
ago—must have survived wholly as the result of man’s solicitude. To
the American Indian must go the credit for developing corn from its
wild ancestors, bringing it to its present high degree of perfection, dis-
tributing it over two continents, and maintaining it for several thou-
sand years.

Unlike most domesticated plants of the Old World, whose ancestry
is not so beclouded, no one knows what sort of wild plant the American
Indian had out of which he fashioned corn. Botanists have placed
corn in the tribe of grasses called Tripsaceae, the members of which are
differentiated from all other related tribes in having their sexes in
separate spikelets. The separation of the sexes is considered to be a
fundamental distinction in plant classification, though in the case of the
corn tribe it oddly enough produces a strange grouping. On the
formal systematic classification, in addition to its American members,
the maize tribe includes a group of Asiatic grasses, the best known of
which is Job’s tears (Coiz lachryma jobi) (pl. 12, fig.1). To Occidentals
the seed-bearing part of Job’s tears is familiar as beads, but to the
Burmese, who have developed many soft-shelled forms, this plant is an
important cereal. The other Asiatic members of the maize tribe have
not appealed to man and remain as wholly wild plants under the for-
midable names of Sclerachne, Polytoca, Chionachne, and Trilobachne.

It should be kept in mind that these Asiatic grasses have been
placed in the same tribe with maize largely because of the fact that
their sexes are borne in separate spikelets. In appearance they do not
suggest maize, and in some respects they occupy a position inter-
mediate between the Tripsaceae and that group of gigantic Old World
grasses, the sorghum tribe (pl. 12, fig. 2).

The American relatives of maize fall into two distinct groups or
genera, known to botanists as Tripsacum and Euchlaena. The former
is commonly known as gama grass (pl. 13, fig. 1) and the latter is
becoming familiar under the Aztec name, teosinte; a name which may
be translated as “‘god grain” (pl. 13, fig. 2, and pl. 14).

The group of gama grasses is widespread in North America and the
most ubiquitous member of this group, Tripsacum dactyloides, common
in the United States, has been found in South America (pl. 15). How-
ever, the center of the genus appears to be in Mexico and Guatemala.
In those countries this genus is represented by several species and inter-
specific hybrids, several of which are quite cornlike in general aspect,
chiefly because of their large broad leaves and many branched tassel-
like terminal inflorescences. The commonest member of this genus,

392 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

T. dactyloides, and among the least cornlike, has been hybridized with
corn, thus proving a definite relationship, though from the fact that
such hybrids are self-sterile it is concluded that the relationship is
remote.

The grass known as teosinte has been found only in Mexico and
Guatemala. As yet, botanists recognize but two species of teosinte:
an annual form designated EHuchlaena mericana, and a perennial form
called E. perennis. This latter species has been found only in a very
restricted area in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, whereas the annual
species ranges from Southern Chihuahua, Mexico, to the Department
of Jutiapa in southern Guatemala (fig. 2).

Both species of teosinte hybridize with corn, not only through
manual manipulation but also when growing naturally in the field
(pl. 16).

Hybrids between corn and the perennial species of teosinte are only
partially fertile and are perennial in habit. Morphologically they re-
semble teosinte much more closely than corn. This failure of the two
parents to share equally in the characteristics of their mongrel off-
spring has been explained by a study of the hereditary mechanism of
the two grasses.

The qualities of every individual, be it animal or plant, are deter-
mined primarily by the inheritance derived from the parents out of
whom it was fashioned. This inheritance, since the rediscovery of
Mendel’s epochal work on hybrids, is known to be particulate in
nature, the parents passing on to their offspring definite particles now
named genes. ‘These particles are carried in the cells in strings called
chromosomes, and for every species there is a characteristic number of
such strings. In corn it has been found that the genes or hereditary
particles are carried in 20 strings or chromosomes, and such is the num-
ber found in all annual teosinte, but the perennial species of teosinte
possesses 40 chromosomes. This double number of chromosomes is
presumed to have come about by the failure of a sex cell to divide its
chromosomal content or by a doubling following fertilization—a proc-
ess that would give the resulting plants an extra set of genes. Thus
the hybrids between perennial teosinte and corn receive twice as many
hereditary particles or genes from the teosinte parent as they do from
the corn parent and this disparity accounts for the resemblance such
hybrids bear to the grass, teosinte.

The annual form of teosinte hybridizes more freely with maize, and
the hybrid offspring are more nearly intermediate in morphological
structure between the two grasses. These hybrids are self-fertile, a
fact that establishes a very close relationship between the two parental
genera.

Natural hybrids between teosinte and corn found in Mexico were
mistakenly interpreted once as wild maize, and in more recent times

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seed of these hybrids was utilized by Luther Burbank in his widely
publicized derivation of corn from teosinte in 18 generations. In
both Mexico and Guatemala the Indians appreciate that teosinte
hybridizes with corn and that the early generations are unsuitable
as grain. Observation has taught them, however, that repeatedly
backcrossing the hybrids with the maize parent will in a short while
eliminate the characteristics contributed by teosinte. It is com-
monly stated that if the hybrid seed is sown for three generations
with corn it will then become a sort of corn with small ears—a fact
which may account for the Aztecs having used the designation
teosinte.

In several regions of Mexico these hybrids of various generations
and of backcrosses are found around and in cornfields in great
profusion.

BIRTHPLACE OF MAIZE

As it happens, the place of the origin of maize may be located
with more certainty than the manner of its origin. The exact region
of origin of any cultivated plant is not known, but botanists have
formulated two guiding principles which, when judiciously applied,
produce reasonable results. It has been noted that, other things
being equal, a species is less variable on the periphery of its distribu-
tion than near its center. Presumably, in wandering from the site of
origin, only a part of the inherent variation is carried along any one
path, so that at any point on the outer circle of distribution only a
part of the variation is represented. If the whole circumference of
distribution be traversed, probably the entire range of variation
possible to the species would be encountered, but this range would
be found all in one place only at the center of origin for the species.

Applying this principle to locate the origin of maize would put the
beginnings of this cereal in Peru, for in the region of Peru and
Bolivia occur the greatest number of maize varieties. As with many
broad generalizations, there are exceptions to this one. Other things
besides germ plasm in a flux and the random selection of genic com-
plexes influence the variation of a species. Thus the very nature of
the Peruvian terrain would explain the multiplication of maize vari-
eties. Cut up into narrow valleys intercommunicating only at the
seashore and extending from sea level to great altitudes, even though
a single kind of corn started its way up all of the Peruvian valleys,
the necessary selection for adaptation to different environments and
the lack of ready interchange of seed would result in time in each
valley having corn differing from that of the others. The rugged
Peruvian terrain would be expected to produce the multiplicity of
corn varieties now found there even though a single kind of corn had
been introduced.

MAIZE—KEMPTON 395

Although the principle of greatest variation at the center of origin
may be discounted, Peru has another claim to the origin of maize in
that it had a prehistoric population of exceptionally skilled plant
domesticators. All the evidence points to the Incas and pre-Incas
as being very able agriculturists, and these people regularly culti-
vated some 70 species of plants. The archeological evidence also
points to the origin of pottery in Peru and its dissemination north-
ward through Central America into Mexico. With clear evidence
that Peruvian pots moved into North America, it would seem logical
to conclude that their grain might follow the same route.

The real stumbling block to looking upon Peru as the center of
origin of maize lies in the unmistakable fact that corn relatives are
not now found there. It is difficult to see how corn could have been

Ficure 3.—Pottery whistle made by the Maya Indians of Yucatan showing a replica of a well-developed
ear of corn.

developed without some plant to begin with, so that proponents of
the Peruvian origin of maize are forced to adopt the position that the
wild ancestor of maize has been completely eradicated. Until all
other hypotheses have been exhausted this sterile conclusion should
be held in abeyance, though there is undoubted evidence that much
of the original flora of Peru has been profoundly altered by human
occupation.

All of the known wild relatives of maize are found in Guatemala
and Mexico, and these Republics are second only to Peru in the
number of maize varieties. At the present time the largest area
covered by the closest wild ancestor of maize is in the Department of
Huehuetenango, of northwestern Guatemala. This region is now
occupied by descendants of that highly civilized group of agricultural
Indians, the Maya, and the area is dotted with the masonry ruins

396 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of the early Maya peoples. Since this region embraces the maize
ancestors, the maize variability, and had a people fully capable of
developing maize, it is something better than an idle guess to place
the origin of maize within the territory now covered by the Mexican
State of Chiapas and the Guatemalan Department of Huehuetenango,
with the emphasis on the latter. On this view maize migrated south-
ward as well as northward, the movement southward possibly in
exchange for the pots of Peru.

The present-day descendants of the Maya living in the region of
teosinte do not use the Aztec name for this plant, but have the Maya
name Salic or Salicim, the latter suggesting an affinity to the Maya
word for corn—izim. Farther south in Guatemala the Aztec name
of this grass reappears in the Department of Jutiapa, but the Aztecs
are known to have controlled this region of Guatemala through a
route along the coast extending even into El Salvador as far as Santa

Ana.
THEORIES OF ORIGIN

There are several theories current as to how maize may have been
derived from its existing American wild relatives. All of these
theories have their merits and no one of them offers a definite solu-
tion of the mystery. To understand something of the difficulties
involved in the transition from the known wild relatives of maize
to the cultivated cereal it is essential to understand some of the
principal differences between corn and its relatives.

The most familiar part of the corn plant is the ear which botanically
constitutes a conundrum and a monstrosity. No other grass pos-
sesses such a seed-bearing organ. Naturally, confronted with such
a fascinating problem as the origin of the ear of corn, botanists have
proposed several theories as to how this structure could have been
derived. These theories are not in agreement, and several of them,
though plausible, do not take into consideration all of the morpho-
logical facts.

All authorities recognize that the ear of corn is a transformed ter-
minal inflorescence of a lateral branch and that its covering of husks
came about through a shortening of the internodes. The husks are
in reality leaf sheaths that in some varieties, especially of sweet corn,
still bear well-developed leaf blades and still retain buds in their axils.
Occasionally an ear stalk loses the brachytic features of its internodes
and the result is an ear at the end of a vegetative branch (pl. 17, fig. 1).
Or at times the buds develop between the ear-bearing nodes and the
vegetative branches or suckers, in which case the resulting branches
are seen to be intermediate between ears and suckers.

In the wild grass, teosinte, there is a bud in the axil of every leaf
except the uppermost, and well-grown plants have a herringbone
branch pattern with a branch in the axil of each leaf except the upper-

MAIZE—KEMPTON 397

most (pl. 17, fig. 2). These branches are borne in a two-ranked or
distichous arrangement. Each branch beginning with the uppermost
and descending has one less node than the one next below. In plants
not so well grown the internodes of these branches often do not
elongate, thus leaving the entire branch structure enclosed in the
sheaths much as the husks enclose the ear of maize. In these cases
the number of sheaths is that corresponding to the position of the
branch on the main axis.

In most types of corn there are no buds in the axils of the leaves
above the ear and the ear is borne in the axil of the fifth or sixth leaf
from the top, a position that in teosinte would give a branch with
seven or eight nodes. If, therefore, the ear of corn has come about
through the telescoping or shortening of a branch at this position the
ear should be enclosed in seven or eight husks. Actually in most
commercial varieties the husk covering is much greater than this.
Hither several nodes above the ear have been lost or extra nodes have
been intercalated on the ear branch.

The terminal panicle of maize, or the tassel, is characterized by
having the branching region well defined with branches borne more or
less at right angles from the axis, and the panicle terminates in an
erect organ known as the central spike. In maize this organ is a con-
tinuation of the axis of the panicle or rachis and is covered with paired
spikelets arranged in eight or more rows (pl. 19).

In teosinte and in gama grass the rachis does not continue beyond
the branching region, and the panicle terminates in a branch in no
wise differing from all the other branches (pl. 18). On it, as on all
the other branches, the spikelets are in four rows, i. e., two rows of
paired spikelets.

The tassel of corn with the central spike removed would be similar
to the tassel of teosinte. It was early realized that the ear of corn
was the homologue of the central spike of the tassel and there is no
disagreement on this score. The ear is envisioned as having arisen
through a transformation of male into female spikelets with the sup-
pression of one flower in each spikelet, loss of the lateral branches, and
shortening of the internodes. By this means an ear of corn could
be derived from the terminal panicle of a lateral branch (pls. 20 and
21).

Although this picture of how the ear could be derived from a corn
tassel is satisfactory, it fails to take into account that the organ of
the tasse!—the central spike—from which the ear is to be derived is
as much in need of an explanation as the ear itself. The problem of
the origin of the ear thus becomes the problem of the origin of the
central spike of the tassel.

The earliest explanation suggested for the origin of the ear was
that it came about through a fusion or fasciation of the branches of

398 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the panicle. Although the idea of branch coherence was proposed
for the ear it would account equally well for the central spike of the
maize tassel. This theory is supported by the recurrence of bifurcated
and fasciated ears and central spikes but has obtained no histological
confirmation (pl. 21).

A second suggestion has been made that the central spike came
about through the suppression or reduction of tassel branches into a
simple pair of spikelets, thus leaving the central axis surrounded by
paired spikelets. This theory derives plausible support from certain
peculiar branched forms of maize where the branches extend in an
unbroken series of ever-decreasing lengths from the base to the tip
of the tassel. In this form of maize, known as ramose, and in certain
other similar types, such as branched silkless, all stages between
true branches and paired spikelets are found. Where these forms
have been hybridized with normal maize there often is, in the genera-
tions subsequent to the first, a great variety of intermediate forms
showing all degrees of transition from tassel branches to paired
spikelets (pl. 22).

Then, too, among the podded forms of maize it is not uncommon
for a pair of spikelets to develop into a branch. The process is also
seen on both ears and tassels in a variation where the flowers are
proliferated.

A third method of deriving the ear has been suggested from a
study of the hybrids between corn and teosinte where it has been
shown that a yoking of spikelets takes place. In some plants these
yokes fit together at right angles, thus constituting an eight-rowed
ear (pl. 23), while in others the yokes occur in more complicated
figures, giving ears with higher numbers of rows. This theory,
while necessitated by the behavior of corn-teosinte hybrids, does
not easily account for ears with rows of kernels in multiples of two.
This same objection has been raised to the theory of branch coalescence
because each branch is a 4-rowed unit and the union of two such
branches would give an 8-rowed ear; three would give a 12-rowed
ear, etc. The objection, based on the undoubted fact that ears
having 10, 14, 18, and 22 rows are common, is pertinent but not
insurmountable, for the commonest feature of corn and its relatives
is one of abortion or suppression of parts. Leaf blades, branches,
spikelets, and flowers are regularly aborted or rather suppressed,
and the suppression of a single row of paired spikelets is sufficient to
reduce a 12- to a 10-rowed ear. This suppression of rows of paired
spikelets is a commonplace in most cornfields. Indeed, ears that
begin with eight rows often through poor growing conditions end as
six-rowed ears and even as four-rowed ones (pl. 24). The phenomenon
is common in ears haying higher numbers of kernel rows.

MAIZE—KEMPTON 399

Although wholesale abortion is not a very satisfactory explanation
on which to base theories, it cannot be ignored in considering the
origin of the ear. Those who reject the fasciation, branch suppression,
or yoked spikelet explanation of the origin of the ear are left with the
theory that the ear, like Topsy, just developed.

In the present state of knowledge of the corn plant the idea of the
origin of the central spike of the tassel by the suppression of branches
offers the most reasonable explanation of this organ, and once given
the central spike, the ear can be derived without further controversy.

What caused the suppression of the branches of the tassel, if in fact
that is what happened, snd what species of grass had the branches
suppressed is an entirely separate problem. Nor is there any solution
of why in maize both members of the paired female spikelets develop
while in all other members of the tribe one member of each pair is
suppressed. Here, too, there are several theories. One school of
thought has corn derived from teosinte by gradual evolution aided in
its later stages by man. Allied to this explanation is the suggestion
that maize originated from teosinte by mutation or a series of muta-
tions. The essential difference between origin by mutation and origin
by evolution and selection is one of the magnitude of the stages.
If the mutations were many and of small effect there is no difference
between the two, but if maize sprang fullfledged as a single mutation
from teosinte the two theories are quite divergent. A second group
holds that corn and teosinte developed from a plant something like
gama grass, the two genera splitting off from this common stem.
The proponents of this theory hold that the line which developed into
maize consisted of plants more maizelike than teosinte but still able
to survive as wild plants. Their usefulness to man stimulated selec-
tion, and eventually the wild plants disappeared presumably to con-
found the students of maize. A third suggestion has been made that
maize has been developed from a chance hybrid of teosinte and some
other grass not specified but indicated as probably belonging to the
sorghum tribe. Each of these theories has merit though none offers
a satisfactory explanation of all the facts.

The floral unit of the grass family is the spikelet, and in the tribe of
which maize is a member, the male spikelets are borne in pairs, one
stalked, or pediceled, the other without a stalk, or sessile, each spike-
let containing two flowers. The female spikelets of all the maize
relatives are borne singly and are one-flowered—one whole spikelet
and one flower having been suppressed, but in maize the female
spikelets are still paired, though normally each develops but a single
flower, which explains why the number of rows of kernels on an ear
are found in multiples of two.

The seeds of most kinds of maize are naked, the glumes of the fe-
male spikelets having become greatly reduced in size and membrana-

400 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ceous in texture. There is one exception to this condition—the kind
of corn called pod corn where each seed is enclosed in glumes which
in some strains are grotesquely enlarged (pl. 25, fig. 1). It was
thought at one time that this type of corn represented the ancestral
or primitive maize. When moderately developed, the glumes of pod
corn represent a less specialized condition, and hence a more primi-
tive form, than the membranaceous glumes of the ordinary types of
corn. However, it does not follow that pod corn is the primitive maize.
It has been shown that this peculiar type does not breed true and can
only survive as a hybrid with the normal form. Apparently the pure
form of pod corn is sterile—not a very satisfactory condition for an
ancestor. It is true that the podded condition is dominant to the usual
form, in hybrids between the two, and most wild types are dominant
to the derived forms. Also the cobs of pod corn easily become broken,
tending to separate the protected seeds, thus aiding somewhat in their
distribution. Despite the possession of these attributes of a wild plant,
pod corn seems no more able to persist unaided than the familiar
nonpod forms. Further, when it is crossed with a form of maize
having the primitive condition of branched ears, the combination, in-
stead of reconstituting a type of maize suitable for survival in the
wild, gives rise to a sterile monstrosity aptly called cauliflower (pl.
25, fig. 2). Pod corn therefore, though possessing a few primitive
features, must be classed with that host of misfits and abnormalities
of which there are scores in maize brought about by changes in the
ordinary heritable elements or genes.

All of the relatives of maize have the seeds enclosed in glumes, and
in some the outer glume has been thickened to cover the seed, which
is deeply embedded in a cavity, or alveolus, in the rachis. Other
maize relatives such as Coiz, have the seed completely enclosed in a
greatly modified leaf sheath, shell-like in texture. These modifica-
tions place the relatives of maize farther up the evolutionary tree than
maize itself and offer serious obstacles to the theory that corn has been
developed from its existing relatives by selection.

Further, maize is much less stable than its relatives in the separa-
tion of the sexes—the basic characteristic of the tribe to which it
belongs. The development of female flowers in the tassel or of male
flowers on the ear of maize is a commonplace, and many true breeding
forms of this sort are known (pl. 26, fig. 1). In the relatives of maize
such aberrations are practically unknown, evolution in these relatives
of maize apparently having progressed to the point where the sexes
are completely separated.

The characteristics that differentiate maize from its relatives are
all in the direction of fashioning a plant useful to man. The large
seeds, much larger than is required for the full nourishment of the
young seedling, the ear of kernels whereby all the seeds are securely

MAIZE—KEMPTON AQ]

fastened in one or two packages, the loss of a dispersion system extend-
ing even to the male panicle, the brachytic lateral branches and sup-
pression or total loss of buds, in the axils of the leaves other than at
the ear nodes, are all features fitting the plant to man’s requirements
and unfitting it for independence. Clearly then it is logical to con-
clude that these attributes are the result of man’s efforts. It would
be as unreasonable to ascribe them to fortuitous variation as to
accredit them to a beneficent providence.

Before man could initiate the selection which some authorities
believe eventually led to maize there would have to be some encourag-
ing characteristic, some useful part, on the plant with which he started.
Now no more useless grasses from the standpoint of human consump-
tion could be devised than the American relatives of maize. The
seeds of teosinte, the most maizelike relative, are no larger than a
No. 4 shot, are firmly embedded in a brittle articulated rachis and are
further protected by a hard shell-like outer glume (pl. 26, fig. 2).
They have the added disadvantage of being distributed throughout
the plant in spikes of only six or seven that ripen over an extended
period. The labor of gathering and the difficulty of separating
enough seeds from their covering to furnish a day’s food supply
would be disheartening, especially with other more promising grasses
from which to choose a cereal food.

There is no evidence among the earliest burials that teosinte was
ever used despite the fact that the “seeds” are almost ideally adapted
to long preservation. Further, had this plant served as human food
the changes that would have been wrought by selection can be visu-
alized. Almost certainly the seeds would have increased in size,
probably to the point of extending beyond the outer glume and pro-
truding from the rachis cavity. The spike would have been stiffened,
and the rachis segments would have become firmly united. The
outer glume might have become soft, and the number of seeds in a
spike would have increased. None of these changes would have led
to maize but to a domesticated form of teosinte clearly exhibiting its
mode of origin just as the domesticated forms of the Asiatic maize
relative, Coiz, resemble their wild ancestor. Such a hypothetical
cereal as the domesticated teosinte we have sketched would be further
removed from the wild plant than are the domesticated forms of
Coix, which gives some idea of the time factor required.

Of course, given time enough, it must be granted that maize could
arise from teosinte by selection just as the troupe of monkeys pound-
ing at random on the keys of the typewriter would in time reproduce
the works of Shakespeare. This period of time, however, is believed
to be excessive.

402 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The mutation theory affords an easy means of overcoming the time
factor since by assuming a single mutation it is possible to originate
maize from teosinte or for that matter from any other grass within a
single year. Of course, no one proposes that maize arose in quite
this abrupt fashion. However, it has been suggested that maize
arose through a series of mutations, each leading to a more maize-
like plant. Thus,if a mutation took place in teosinte such that
seeds of useful size were produced, man would immediately enter the
picture to preserve such plants. In time a second mutation might
produce paired female spikelets such as are found in corn, and by
further mutations a cob could have been derived, and so on until
all the differences between maize and teosinte were obtained. These
mutations need not have been gross changes but each one preserved
must have increased the value of the plant to man.

The evidence against anything approaching the origin of maize
through the preservation of relatively large mutations is threefold.
First, none of the intermediate stages, none of the halfway corns,
have been found in the earliest burials. This is a minor objection
if the mutations took place in remote times but it is well to bear in
mind because perforce it places man in the New World in very an-
cient times. Not so ancient it is true as would be required if corn
were derived from teosinte by the orthodox means of selecting small
variations or small mutations, but measurable in thousands of years.

Second, corn everywhere is botanically identical. The corn of
North America is indistinguishable in the features which make it
corn from that of South America. For those who hypothecate a
relatively few major mutations this hemispheric identity of corn is
unfortunate. The first mutation making teosinte or any other corn
ancestor useful to man would have started the plant upon its jour-
neys, and the succeeding mutations that led to the building up of
maize would have occurred at widely scattered points and over cen-
turies of time. Each would spread from its point of origin but dif-
ferent combinations of these mutations would be expected at different
points on the periphery of corn distribution. Widely separated
regions of the New World would have had widely different species
of corn. We have seen that such is not the case. To account for
the obvious fact that corn is corn wherever found we must assume
either that enough time has elapsed since the last important muta-
tions to permit them to have become thoroughly incorporated in the
species or the less likely assumption can be made that all the muta-
tions eventually occurred at some one place and the plant was dis-
tributed from that point.

Although mutations have not been found in teosinte today, no
doubt they do occur but not of an order of magnitude that would
suggest a development into maize.

MAIZE—KEMPTON 403

In maize, mutations are almost the rule, the germ plasm being in a
highly unstable condition as compared with that of its wild relatives.
Within the past 20 years over 300 heritable variations or mutations
have been discovered and the nature of their inheritance determined.
Some of these affect the structure and appearance of the entire
plant, and if considered strictly from a systematic botanical point
of view, plants possessing certain ones of these mutated genes could
not be classed as maize but would fall more naturally into the sorghum
tribe. Indeed the mutation known as teopod, the result of a change
or mutation in a single gene, is of sufficient magnitude to give to the
origin of maize by mutation strong superficial support in that it
illustrates what profound modifications can occur as the result of a
single gene change (pl. 27).

The most serious objection to the hypothesis that maize originated
from teosinte by mutation is found in a study of the hybrids between
these two genera. The characters that differentiate the two genera
do not behave in inheritance like mutations. The ear of corn does
not segregate as a unit or a few units from teosinte-corn crosses
and so with the other characters (pls. 28 and 29). These hybrids
show clearly that the two genera differ by hundreds if not thousands
of genes or on the mutation idea that corn differs from teosinte not
by a few major mutations but by a multitude of small ones. This
fact reduces the mutation theory of origin to that of the selection
of small variations. In reality there is no difference between the
two theories for mutations vary in their effects, some gene changes
leading to gross modifications of the plant, others leading to infin-
itesimal effects, and the two theories become theories regarding
the length of time involved in the process of changing teosinte to corn.

If corn has been developed from teosinte by the selection of hun-
dreds of favorable fortuitous gene changes the period of time involved
is such that the complete interfertility of the two genera needs
explanation, for in such vast periods of time incompatibilities should
have arisen in chromosome configuration such as translocations,
inversions, deletions, polysomics, and polyploids that would have
limited conjugation and resulted in sterility. The first explanation
of the persisting fertility of these genera when hybridized is that they
have remained an interbreeding group from the beginning with
man ever preserving corn, nature preserving teosinte, while the
intermediates fell by the wayside. Aside from the fantastic nature
of this assumption, it finds a contradiction in the morphology of the
chromosomes of the two genera.

When observed at the appropriate stage of cell division the chro-
mosomes of both teosinte and of corn are seen to have distinctive
enlargements, globose in shape, distributed along their length.
These swellings have been termed ‘‘knobs” and they are becoming

404 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

very useful in the identification of individual chromosomes as they
pass from one parent to another in hybrids (pl. 30, fig. 1).

In teosinte, knobs are found only on the ends of the chromosomes,
or, as in the perennial species (Huchlaena perennis), they may be so
small and indistinct as to be practically nonexistent. In maize, these
knobs occur at various locations along the chromosome but they are
not found on the ends.

These two closely related genera, then, are differentiated by the
one having terminal knobs and the other having internal knobs on
their chromosomes. Now there is no known mechanism whereby
the chromosomes of corn can mate with those of teosinte, generation
after generation, without exchanging segments. If such exchanges
have taken place over the years, then no such differences in chromo-
some morphology as have been observed should be found. The con-
clusion must be reached that no such widespread interbreeding has
been taking place unless it is assumed that all of the qualities that
constitute a teosinte plant as distinct from those that make corn are
located in or very close to the knobs. To be even remotely reason-
able this assumption would require far more knobs than are found.
Further, such repeated interbreeding even with strict selection would,
in time, have made the members of the two genera much more alike
than they are.

The third theory of the origin of maize through the hybridization
of teosinte and some unspecified grass having some of the character-
istics of the sorghum tribe composes some of the conflicts met in the
other theories of origin, but raises additional ones. It derives its
support from the obvious fact that the nearest known wild relatives
of maize possess only some of the features of maize, lack others en-
tirely, and are more highly specialized in stil other characteristics.
Thus the seed spike of teosinte with its single instead of paired spike-
lets and its hardened shell-like outer glume protecting the seed hidden
in the hollowed stem, or rachis, is in these respects more highly
specialized than the ear of corn. Then, too, maize flowers in the long
days of summer and is insensitive to alterations in the length of day,
whereas teosinte is extremely responsive to day length and flowers
promptly when subjected to a short period of daylight.

Given a parent which would bring into a hybrid some of the char-
acters possessed by maize and not by teosinte it would be possible to
derive maize within a period of time such that the interfertility of
the hybrid derivative with its parents was not lost. It would also
be possible to account for some of the chromosome morphology and
would explain the great variation and unstable germ plasm of corn.
Undoubtedly corn possesses many characters that relate it to the
sorghum tribe, many more in fact than any of its relatives, but the
possession of these obvious affinities with the Andropogoneae does not

MAIZE—KEMPTON 405

establish a parent and offspring relationship. These two great tribes
of grasses are clearly related, so that for the members of one to have
some characteristics of the other is no more than is to be expected
even though the relationship is distant.

The chief objection to the origin of corn by the hybridization of
its known wild relatives with some other grass lies in the uncertainty
of what grass constituted the other parent. The sorghum tribe is
made up largely of Old World grasses, none of which were known to
have been introduced into the New World until quite recently. So
far as is now known none of the members of the sorghum tribe has
chromosomes that resemble those found in maize, though the two
tribes have identical chromosome numbers. Further attempts to
hybridize corn and sorghum and sorghum and teosinte have failed
repeatedly.

This failure to obtain hybrids, however, may merely mean that
the proper conditions or the proper parents have not been tried.
Hypothecating an unknown parent, is not greatly different from con-
cluding that maize developed from a wild form now extinct except
that it does not close the door so effectively against the possibility of
recreating maize. The time factor required to stabilize the hybrid
and distribute the finished product throughout the New World would
probably be somewhat less than that required on the rejected hypo-
thesis of major mutations but either would require a very long time.

Aside from the fact that it begs the question, the belief that maize
was domesticated from a pre-maize species by selection leaves wholly
unexplained the interfertility of maize and teosinte, if the relationship
of these genera is so remote they would not be expected to produce
fertile offspring when crossed. It also has all of the defects of the muta-
tion theory in respect to the lack of evidence of primitive maize in
the earliest burials. Further, teosinte so far as tested seems to have
allelomorphs of the identified genes of maize. In some cases not only
are the dominant allelomorphs of the maize genes present in teosinte
but they are accompanied by modifying genes and in other cases
teosinte possesses genes recessive to those dominantin maize. Clearly,
the relationship of these genera is intimate, but whether they stand
in the relation of parent and offspring cannot now be determined.

If teosinte and maize are on widely different branches of the corn
family tree, as the hypothesis of the development of corn from an
extinct cornlike ancestor requires, it would be expected that hybrids
between the two genera would be intermediate in nature. Genes
which in maize have a clear-cut dominant and recessive reaction
should behave as intermediates without clear-cut dominance when
mated with their allelomorphs in teosinte. This expectation follows
from the explanation of the origin of dominance through the accumu-
lation of genes tending to transform the intermediate condition

406 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

exhibited in organisms heterozygous for mutated and unmutated
genes into that produced by the most favorable gene combination.
Thus, if a tall plant mutated to a short one and the combination of
the two was intermediate and less favorable than the short, then in
time, through the gradual accumulation of supplementary genes, short
plants would come to be dominant to tall ones. If, on the other hand,
tall was the favorable size then in time tall would become dominant
and the two genes, tall and short, that in the beginning gave in the
segregating generations a ratio of one tall to two intermediate to one
short would give three tall to one short.

For selection to operate to accumulate conditioning factors for
mutated genes the two gene forms must be brought together. If a
gene change occurred within a species this changed gene when intro-
duced into another species where no such change had taken place
should give an intermediate first generation and exhibit a 1-2-1
segregation in the second generation. However, if the two species
were not widely separated and intercrossing had occurred permitting
both species to accumulate the necessary conditioning factors then
the reaction should be one of clear-cut dominance.

As is often the case when promising leads reach an impasse, a com-
bination of all of them offers hope of further progress and the origin
of maize may involve all the processes suggested—selection, mutation,
hybridization—and also an extinct plant having characteristics com-
plementing those of teosinte but not of sufficient merit from the stand-
point of man to have entered into his diet. By the accidental hybridi-
zation of teosinte or some mutations of teosinte with some such grass a
plant useful to man could result. This hybrid need not have occurred
often but selection of the fluid germ plasm resulting could produce a
new cereal relatively rapidly.

Even under this combination of processes maize stands as having
been created and fixed botanically at such a remote period that one
and only one sort of maize became established over the Americas
leaving no trace of its intermediate forms. Naturally, if hybridization
was an important factor in the development of maize, the center of
origin was very circumscribed, for presumably such chance hybrids
were not of common occurrence. Under this limitation the new hybrid
may have been fashioned into maize rapidly by means of selection
without starting a chain of distribution of pre-maizelike plants. The
distribution would not have begun or would not have gone far until
the main characteristics of corn were fixed. This would accord well
with the evidence on the distribution of maize.

Whatever explanation is finally proved to be correct, everyone
agrees that in the form we know it today maize is the result of man’s
skillful efforts. Whether it was derived from a hybrid, an extinct
plant, a mutation from teosinte, or by orthodox selection, generations

MAIZE—KEMPTON 407

of patience and of plant genius went into its formation. The American
Indian molded his plant material to a higher degree of perfection than
the plant domesticators of the Old World did their cereals, possibly
because his interests were not divided between plants and animals.
Whatever the secret of his success, he created the world’s most highly
developed grain, and that his task was well done is proved by the
wealth added annually by his creation not only in the New World but
in the Old World as well.

Since the occupation of the Americas by the Europeans no real
change has been made in corn except to discard the gaudy colors of the
seeds and to establish a greater uniformity by the preservation of the
best of the Indian’s product. True, the dent type of corn which forms
the basis of our Corn Belt varieties probably has arisen through hy-
bridization of the flint and gourd seed types, the latter known to the
Indians as She corn. We have not even modified the Indian’s cultural
system of growing the plants in hills though we have adapted his
system to our machines.

With the stimulus to experimental heredity that came at the begin-
ning of the century, on the rediscovery of Mendel’s principles, corn
rapidly assumed a leading role as a subject ideally suited for the study
of inheritance in plants.

Had the Indian creators of corn anticipated such studies they
hardly could have fashioned a more satisfactory plant. Controlled
pollinations are made with the greatest of ease because of the separa-
tion of the sexes, the complete receptiveness of the stigmas over their
entire length, and the vast quantities of pollen produced by a single
plant. Common grocer’s paper bags and string are the only really
essential technical equipment necessary to embark upon the fascinat-
ing analysis of the transmission of traits from one generation to the
next. Of course, the experts have added frills to this equipment
chiefly as a means of labor saving in the interests of greater speed and
better controlled pollinations. Not only is the technic of crossing most
simple but the number of offspring obtained from a single pollination
reaches as many as a thousand or more, a very great advantage for
studies of this nature.

Added to the advantages of numerous offspring there is the ad-
ditional feature that the seeds came supplied with numerous readily
classified characters to which may be added a host of seedling traits.
The possibility of obtaining numerous progeny from a single mating
embracing many readily classified characters almost offsets the one
great disadvantage of but a single generation in a year. By the time
the characters already awaiting study had been analyzed, the amazing
corn plant had obligingly provided a host of new mutations until at
the present time the inheritance of some 350 genes is known and the
end is not in sight. The flexibility of this plant is nothing short of

408 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

astounding, and each year finds more mutations awaiting analysis.

The heritable units thus far studied affect all parts of the organism
ranging from genes that exhibit their reactions only in the pollen
grains, through seed and seedling characters, to those that alter the
entire plant. There are genes that change all the female flowers to
males (pl. 30, fig. 2), others that reverse this process to the same end
and change all male flowers to females. Others undo the separation
of the sexes and make the plant perfect-flowered.

These changes, interesting from the standpoint of heredity, are
also of interest in view of the uncertain antecedents of corn. The
possession of numerous genes that profoundly modify sex expression
suggests that maize may have, not far back in its descent, a perfect-
flowered ancestor. From existing knowledge of inheritance it has
been possible to create true breeding strains having male and female
plants in equal numbers and capable of self-perpetuation. It is also
possible to develop a perfect-flowered form of maize with the seeds
borne on the familiar tassel instead of on an ear and which, if com-
bined with some of the genes for dwarf stalks, would produce a crop
that could be harvested with a combine just as is wheat or the dwarf
forms of grain sorghum.

The possibility of improving upon our heritage from the Indians
is very real and is commanding the attention of an active group.
Even now, through the stimulation derived from a purely theoretical
extension of our knowledge of inheritance, hybrids far surpassing the
best varieties have been obtained and a system devised for their com-
mercial use. That the future holds even greater things for corn with
the increase in knowledge of gene interaction is a certainty.

PLATE 1

TIT aunts wD) }
dh an OD mn

SST ais 3

AN EAR OF CUZCO CORN. (NATURAL. SIZE.)

PLATE 2

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton

IN THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON DESIGNED BY LATROBE SHOWING
MAIZE MOTIF.

COLUMN

PLATE 3

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton

a

at

Siac ate
4 Sune Or: Oe Fe

“CA, « S wo

CAST IRON CORN FENCE IN OLD NEW ORLEANS.

In designing this fence the planters were careful to include the curse of Southern corn growers—bindweed—that will be seen twining around the cast iron stalks.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 4

‘ S| P

A NORMAL CORN PLANT SHOWING THE CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THIS
SPECIES, THE PRONOUNCED CENTRAL SPIKE OF THE TASSEL AND THE EAR
BORNE IN THE AXIL OF THE FIFTH LEAF FROM THE TOP.

The leaves above the ear have no buds in their axils and the buds in the axils of the leaves below the ear
are suppressed.

Cozs [BInjeN) “jod Juoloue ue UOT Se[ B ATquqoid seM JJ “UIOd JO 1d [ISSOJ B SB OUIT} B IOJ possed yey} Ivo ue Jo RoTTdor Ava B
SI Jo] O44 4B Joolqo OY, “958 JO sBOA Y0N'Z 01 DON'T WLOIJ SI pu [eIING voUy-o1d B WOT] POUINYXS SEM 10}T0D OY} UT yey} -sivod OT Jsvd OY} UIGJIM WMOIS SBM JUST oY} 4B IGO OT,

NYS3ad WOYSA NYOD 4O SYHVqA

G 31V1d uojdwiaxy—"¢6| ‘40day uRtuOsyqIWIG

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 6

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G. Ge Heye Museum of the American Indian

1. COBS OF MAIZE FROM THE CAVES OF 2. EAR OF CORN FROM CAVE DU
THE OZARKS. PONT, UTAH.
(Natural size.) These ears were grown by the Basket

Makers who preceded the Cliff Dwellers.
They may be a thousand years old.

“SLNAISNY SHL AO NYOD SHL AO SVDIIdSYH ONIMOHS SSAVYEDS NVIANYSd WOU SLOd NYOD

LALV1d uojduiexj—*¢6 | ‘qaodayy ueruosyqtUIg

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 8

ard

»' <

CORN COBS SHOWING HOW BURNING REDUCES THE SIZE.

The cob at left from a commercial variety had 16 rows of kernels. The charred cob in the center was
identical with that at the left before burning. The two charred cobs at the right were recovered from
a refuse heap in the Chaco Canyon of New Mexico and are approximately a thousand years old. (Nat-
ural size.)

(‘ezIs [BInyeN)

, “ALIHM ALNNOD “038 sIvOk MO] B ODIXOP, MON Ul UvIPUT OYVABN B Aq UMOIS SBM JO SIT,
ANOOgG ‘ALSINVA LIFE NYOD WIDYAWWOD YNO AO :
ASOHL HLIM GSYVdWOD NYOD ODZND AO STANYHAEM “? “"NMONM NYOD AO YUVA LSAONOT AHL ‘1

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6 3ALV 1d uo}duiasyy—"*¢6| ‘y40dayy uvruOsyyIWIG

Smithsonian Report, 1937.

Kempton PLATE 10

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A COMPARISON OF THE SMALLEST EAR OF NORMAL MAIZE WITH A SECTION OF
ONE OF THE LARGER EARS.

The small ear is from a variety of popcorn grown by the Peruvian Indians and the section is of a variety
grown on the west coast of Mexico. (Natural size.)

“TOIJBIOMES JXOU OY} 10} pods soanpoid “490J QT SI SUIMOYS JULI ySoT[e] OUT, ‘SOTJOTIVA 4J9q WIND INO Jo 4YSIey 04

0} pelley ‘WOsves 94} JNOYSNoIy spoea Jo vey ydey YSNoYy ‘ssul[poes osey,L, qnoge Suleq 4a] oy} 9B sjuRld oyy ‘UMOUyY sjuL[d 4so[[ey oY) SuOUT’ ole aSeTL,
‘Yvyg asigng “G3gS VIVWALVND
VY WOYUS DNIDNIYdS SONIIGSAS NYOD AO dWN1D “2 WOYS VINYOSINIVD NI SNIMOYDS SLNV1d NYOD “1

LL 3LV1d uojduiaxy3—" 7 €6 | quoday ueluosyzIuig

‘ose AIN{UGO B UBT] SSO PLOAL AON 9} OFUT poonporjyat
SBA JI JN U1OD UBIPUT YIM UOUIUIOD UI SOMsajoRIBYyO AUBUT SBY"AqII} SIqL

‘S814 b
“AVANOSOdOYUAGNY AZIVW SAHL AO YSEWSAW DILVISY NMONM ATSCIN LSOW
3gi4t SHL AO SSVYHYD AIWOM AIO NY—WNHONOS ‘2 SHL ‘(¢IGOF VWAYHOV1 XIOD) SYVAL S.A2Of AO LNV1d Vv ‘lL

CS aN vung

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cL SLV1Id uojdwiay—"/¢6| ‘J40dayy UeruosyyIUIG

“VWIVNALYNS ‘ODNVNSLSEANHANH ‘VLXINH OINOLNYV
NVS YVAN GIIM ONIMOYD ‘(VWNVOIXSW WNAV1HON®) “ODIXSAW AO LSVOD LSAM AHL NO SNIMOYD (WNSOTId
ALNISOSL ‘S3ZIVW SO FAILVISY ATM LSSAYVAN SHL “e WnOvVSdIy¥ 1) SSVYD VANV)S ‘AZIVW AO SAILV1SY ANIM AHL ‘1

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J

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€L ALW1d uojduiasyj—"*/¢6 | ‘4odayy ueruOsyyIUIG

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 14

SEED SPIKES OF TEOSINTE (EUCHLAENA MEXICANA).

When growing, each spike of these clusters is enclosed in bracts comparable to the husks that envelop the
ear of maize. These bracts have been removed to show the spikes. (Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton ~*

|

PEATE 15

E

1

INFLORESCENCES OF THE WILD RELATIVE OF MAIZE, GAMA GRASS (TRIPSACUM
DACTYLOIDES).

The seeds are borne at the base of the inflorescences, the upper sections of the branches bearing only male
flowered spikelets. At the lower left is shown a segment of the rachis in which is enclosed the seed.

Next above the female spikelet is shown removed from the enveloping rachis, and above that is the ovary
freed from the glumes.

At the top is shown the rachis cavity or alveolus in which the spikelet is em-
bedded. (Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 16

SPIKES OF TEOSINTE AND OF TEOSINTE-MAIZE HYBRIDS AS FOUND GROWING
NATURALLY IN MEXICO.

Teosinte spikes at upper left. (Natural size.)

‘seqoueiq 94} JO SPARE] OY} JO S[IXB OY} UI eUIOG o1e Spees
ey} pue ‘Jesse B Ul SoyeUTUIIE} YouRIq yoRm “ysouseddn oy} ydeoxe Jee, yore
JO [IX ey] Wod YouRIq v Jo UOTJONpoId ey} MOYS 0} pesuvIIE Udq sey quel SIqL
“VINHYOSAINVD NI HIVLS Y¥vyg SHL AO SAGON
ONIMOYUD (VWNVOIXSW VYWNAV1HONA) SLNISOSL AO LNV1d V “2 -YELN] GALYSONO1W SONIMOHS LNV1d NYOD Y ‘1

—

4,

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 18

SECTION OF A TASSEL OF TEOSINTE SHOWING THE ABSENCE OF A CENTRAL SPIKE.
The termination of this tassel has but four rows of spikelets as do the lateral branches. (Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 19

CENTRAL SPIKE AT LEFT AND LATERAL BRANCHES AT RIGHT OF A CORN TASSEL
SHOWING THE SPIKELETS IN FOUR ROWS ON THE BRANCHES AND IN EIGHT
ROWS ON THE CENTRAL SPIKE.

Dorsal and ventral views of the branches are shown but the central spike is symmetrical. This picture
also shows the pairing of pediceled and sessile spikelets. (Natural size.)

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 21

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1. FASCIATED CENTRAL SPIKES FROM 2. AN 8-ROWED EAR OF MAIZE
THREE CORN PLANTS. SHOWING EO ee AT
Spikes of this sort suggest that multiple rows of spikelets aE ne, EMO AS OWED
His eye come about through the union of 4-rowed
ranches.

Some authorities hold that the ear of maize
has been formed by the coalescence of 4-
rowed branches. (Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 22

+

TASSEL FROM THE SECOND GENERATION OF RAMOSE X NORMAL MAIZE, SHOW-
ING THE TRANSITION FROM BRANCHES TO PAIRED SPIKELETS WITH A RESULT-
ING CENTRAL SPIKE.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 23

SEED SPIKES FROM THE SECOND GENERATION OF A TEOSINTE X MAIZE HYBRID,
SHOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN 8-ROWED EAR BY MEANS OF YOKED
SPIKELETS.

(Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 24

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(Natural size.)

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Smithsonian Report, 1937 —Kempton PLATE 26

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1. TASSEL SEED. ONE OF THE MANY FORMS OF THIS VARIATION IN MAIZE WITH
SEEDS BORNE IN THE TASSEL.

This might be regarded as an atavistic return to a primitive form of maize.

2. AT RIGHT SEEDS OF TEOSINTE REMOVED FROM_ THE RACHIS SEGMENTS,
SHOWN AT LEFT, IN WHICH THEY ARE ENCLOSED.

(Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton _ PLATE 27

/

TEOPOD. ONE OF SEVERAL KNOWN MUTATIONS IN MAIZE.

Plants of this mutation differ profoundly in many morphological features from normal corn plants, yet
the entire change has resulted primarily from the action of a single gene. The occurrence of such marked
alterations as the result of a single mutation lends superficial support to those who advocate that maize
may have originated from teosinte by gross mutation.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 28

i

TRANSITION FROM A TEOSINTE SPIKE TO AN EAR OF MAIZE AS SHOWN BY THE
SECOND GENERATION OF A HYBRID BETWEEN THESE TWO GRASSES.

Teosintelike spike at upper left. (Natural size.)

PEATE 29

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton

CONTINUATION OF THE TRANSITION FROM A TEOSINTE SPIKE TO AN EAR OF

MAIZE AS SHOWN BY THE SECOND GENERATION OF A HYBRID BETWEEN THESE

TWO GRASSES

(Natural size.)

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Kempton PLATE 30

A. E. Longley

1. CHROMOSOMES IN A POLLEN MOTHER CELL OF GUATEMALA TEOSINTE
(EUCHLAENA MEXICANA). SHOWING CHROMOSOMES WITH TERMINAL KNOBS

Magnified about 1,000 times

2. TWO EARS OF MAIZE SHOWING THE FEMALE FLOWERS COMPLETELY SUP-
PLANTED BY MALE SPIKELETS.
In other forms of maize showing sex aberrations the normally female spikelets become perfect-flowered,
each seed being accompanied by three stamens. (Five-sixths natural size.)

THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE FROM
ANCIENT FOLKWAYS!

By WatrTER C. AtvareEz, M. D.

[With 1 plate]

In all matters relating to disease, credulity remains a
Permanent fact, uninfluenced by civilization or education.
Sirk Wm. Oster.

Some time ago when I began to arrange the notes for this lecture
on the emergence of modern scientific medicine from the folkways of
the past, the realization gradually came to me that it hasn’t yet
quite emerged, and that this fact would have to be taken into account
in any discussion of the subject. What I came to see as I looked
about me more thoughtfully was that although in its achievements
and in its promise for the future, scientific medicine has immeasurably
outdistanced the folk medicine, faith healing, cult medicine, and out-
and-out quackery which has always competed with it, these competi-
tors, which one would think might now be abandoned as superfluous,
still flourish in the land, and still maintain their original hold on the
affections of mankind.

As I shall emphasize later on in this lecture, a savage community
usually has two types of medical practitioner: One, the witch doctor
who cures by incantation and ceremonial and jugglery, and the other,
the herb doctor and bone setter, who, according to his lights, prac-
tices much as does a scientific physician. Among the savages the
witch doctor is usually held in higher esteem than is the herb doctor,
and so also in the supposedly civilized parts of the world the quack
often pulls in the crowds and waxes rich while the less spectacular
but well-trained physician plods on without much acclaim.

For instance, a few years ago in the environs of Paris, crowds
flocked to the booth of a man who was selling herbs to the accompani-
ment of an attractive and plausible line of patter. When the police
arrested him for practicing medicine without a license, they discovered
to their surprise that he was not a quack but really a licensed physician,
and they were still more surprised when he begged them not to reveal

1 Read at the open meeting of the Minnesota Chapter, Jan. 24, 1936. Reprinted by permission, with
some alterations by the author, from the Sigma Xi Quarterly, vol. 24, No. 3, September 1936.

409

31508—38——30

410 EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ

this fact. As he said, if his customers were ever to hear that he was
an educated physician they would all leave him, and he would have
to go back to poverty.

MANY PERSONS VOTE FOR QUACKERY

In States which use the initiative and the referendum, the people
commonly vote down laws designed to debar ignoramuses from the
practice of medicine, and sometimes they will go even further. Thus,
in a certain city of this land, when a wealthy man presented the citi-
zens with a much-needed hospital, they accepted the gift with the
donor’s proviso that the place be maintained always as a class A
institution, that is, one in which only reputable and licensed physicians
are allowed to see patients. But soon the few back-manipulators in
town were protesting volubly that as taxpayers they had a right to
practice in the city hospital, and so the people went to the polls again
and voted to break their covenant with the donor and to turn the
building over to the back-rubbers. Hence, when last I had news of
the situation, the regular physicians were out, and the town was back
where it was before, without a satisfactory hospital.

Actually, the presence of this large group of people in some com-
munities, unappreciative of, or militantly hostile to, scientific medicine
makes it impossible for health officers to stamp out diseases such as
smallpox and diphtheria, against which, for years, science has offered
adequate means of protection.

MANY GO TO IRREGULAR PRACTITIONERS BECAUSE REGULAR
MEDICINE FAILED TO HELP

Now I know that there are several reasons for the great faith many
people have in irregular practice by poorly trained and inexperienced
men. I hate to spend time now in talking about these reasons but I
fear that if I do not explain why I am not impressed with the cures
worked by irregular practitioners and why I do not favor the licen-
sure of such men as physicians, some of you will think me hopelessly
biased and intolerant. I feel myself somewhat in the position of an
astronomer invited here to describe the emergence of modern astron-
omy from ancient astrology. Knowing that many of you believe in
astrology, he would not dare to speak disparagingly of it without going
on to explain why he thought it a form of quackery which should have
been left behind in the dark ages. He would feel all the more like
giving this explanation if the present-day belief in astrology were
hampering the development of astronomy in the great observatories
of the world, much as the widespread faith in quackery is now blocking
the efforts of health officers to eradicate disease.

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 411

Perhaps the main reason why quackery thrives today is that there
are still so many diseases which the scientific physician cannot cure. I
feel confident that eventually many of these will be conquered, but I
doubt if my profession will ever be able to make over those millions
of poor, broken-down men and women who either inherited bodies and
nerves too frail to stand up to the strain of life or else had burdens laid
on them heavier than they could bear. These people throng our
offices every day begging for help, but in so many cases “‘the contractor
put in poor materials,” and the only way in which one could hope to
work a cure would be to begin with a different set of grandparents.

Nor can the physician yet replace defective or worn-out parts, or
parts already destroyed by disease, when the patient comes for help.
When a fire in a big conduit burns out some wires, and part of a
town is left in darkness, down the manholes go the linemen and soon
new wires are strung. But when the poison of infantile paralysis has
eaten a hole through the cable of nerves supplying the leg muscles of a
little boy or girl, there is no way in which the neurologist can get in
and repair the damage, and no one who knows what has happened
would think of promising the poor, worried parents a complete cure.
Much that is helpful can be done by an expert orthopedist, but he
cannot put back the injured nerve cells.

Similarly, the physician cannot take out grandmother’s creaky
knees and say, like an automobile repair man might do: ‘See, there,
the rubber cushions and the oiling system are practically gone and
the surface of the bone is burred over from much pounding, just as
in the case of an old chisel. You’d better let us get you a new pair of
joints from the factory!”

Some day surgeons may be replacing such parts, because already
they have developed the necessary techniques. The only reason why
they are not doing it now is that as yet research workers have not
learned how to keep the transplanted parts from being digested away
by the blood of the recipient. But Dr. Stone has made a hopeful
start toward overcoming this difficulty, and eventually we may be
putting new kidneys into the patient with Bright’s disease, and per-
haps even a new heart into the man whose cardiac arteries have begun
to plug up with scar tissue.

In the meantime, the huge army of the weak, the unfit, the psycho-
pathic, the crippled, and the ailing will ever be on the lookout for a
worker of miracles. And one cannot blame them: They are desperate
and ready to try anything once. They and their loved ones will
always be scanning the horizon for hope, and they will always be
ready to spend the last penny of their savings on a journey to the
home of some new wonderworker.

412 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
WHY QUACKS OFTEN APPEAR TO WORK MIRACLES

But some of you will remind me that sometimes the quack does cure
after able physicians have failed. And you are right; I have seen
this myself, but no one who knows anything of quackery, or human
suggestibility, or hysteria, or the tendency of most diseases to let
up without any treatment at all, is ever going to conclude that simply
because a man is curing some people and is gathering crowds on his
doorstep he is a good physician, and his system of practice is worth
investigating or imitating. This statement will doubtless seem so
paradoxical to some of you that probably I should digress for a moment
and explain.

PATIENTS WHO CANNOT AFFORD TO GET WELL TOO QUICKLY

Occasionally I see patients who I feel sure could be cured more
easily by some spectacular form of quackery than by my prosaic
brand of psychotherapy. For instance: During the World War a
young man’s business necessitated his traveling back and forth
through an ocean infested with German submarines. He went
without protest, outwardly brave, but inwardly terrified. One day
in Europe everything went black, and he returned home stone blind.

From the minute when I first saw him I felt that the blindness must
be hysterical in nature. A man can hardly associate with the sick
day after day for 30 years without learning the significance of many a
little telltale sign, and as I expected, when I told him I thought he
could be cured he showed no enthusiasm and soon departed.

Later, as I thought the problem over, I saw that I couldn’t hope to
cure him with undisguised psychotherapy because if I did, this would
leave him in an embarrassing situation. It would expose him to the
accusation of having been either a fool or a coward or a cheat. No;
he could afford to get well only in some spectacular way, and I was not
at all surprised some months later, when I saw by the papers that an
irregular practitioner had reduced a dislocated vertebra in the neck,
a vertebra that had been pressing, so they said, on the optic nerves.
As you know, these nerves do not go anywhere near the neck, but no
matter—the fact appears to have been that the patient’s sight was
instantly restored.

Now imagine the effect of such a newspaper report on the minds of
blind men and women everywhere; they who have gone to many
oculists without help and without encouragement. It will immediately
occur to some of them that perhaps they, too, have a displaced vertebra,
and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to look. And so they borrow what
money they can or draw out their little savings, and off they go to
see the new miracle man. The sad thing is that in 99 such cases out
of 100 the eyes are hopelessly damaged, and the poor blind man must
return home even more discouraged than he was before.

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 413

STRIKING PERSONALITIES THAT HEAL

Often the cure, when it does come from an irregular practitioner,
is worked not so much by the massage or the manipulation as by the
influence of an unusual and commanding personality. A few months
ago while lunching at a club I couldn’t take my eyes off a big, tall,
striking-looking man, with piercing black eyes, long black hair shot
with gray, and a strangely moving, deep and musical voice. I said
to the friends with me, ‘‘What a wonderful quack he would make’”’,
and then they told me that actually he was a sort of faith healer.
He was a preacher who, having discovered one day that he had the
gift of healing by the laying on of hands, had gone over into the practice
of medicine.

Actually, all great physicians seem to possess some of this ability
to inspire sick persons with confidence and hope, and to lift them up
out of a bog of worry and fatiguing thoughts and onto the road to
health.

CURES DO NOT JUSTIFY A QUACK

As I have already said, the fact that a healer is besieged by hordes of
patients, many of whom depart singing his praises, does not indicate
for a moment that his methods are rational or worth using by other
men. In the hands of the next man they may fail utterly, and for
that matter, they usually fail after a time even in the hands of the
original user. For this reason nearly all forms of quackery have their
day, and then they lose ground and disappear.

Perkins’ tractors.—Thus, toward the close of the eighteenth century,
Elisha Perkins, an American physician, was curing disease right and
left with two little, supposedly magnetic, pieces of metal called trac-
tors. He did so well that even George Washington got a pair. After
Elisha died, his son took the tractors to England, where he made a
great stir and enlisted the support of the nobility. Unfortunately for
him, the famous Dr. Haygarth was skeptical. First he held clinics at
which he demonstrated how patients lost their pains when the affected
parts were stroked with the tractors. Then, when everyone was much
impressed, he took out his penknife and cut the supposed magnets in
two; they were imitations made of wood. In the reaction that fol-
lowed, educated England laughed, and Perkins left for home.

Asuero.—In Madrid, a few years ago, an unimportant physician
named Asuero announced that all diseases were due to trouble in a
little nerve in the nose, and easily curable by local treatments. The
idea caught on, and soon there was a line of people on the sidewalk
each morning waiting to get into his office. As commonly happens
with quacks, the wealthy and the aristocratic made much of him, and
in 2 or 3 years he accumulated a large fortune.

414 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Then, apparently, he ran out of suckers, and with nothing to do, he
left for Italy to see if he could start there all over again. But the
Italians did not take to the idea, and when last I heard of the man he
had failed to get going even with the help of his old prestige, his wealth,
and the support of some dukes and duchesses. His imitators also
failed. Some of you may ask: But didn’t the method have some value?
Yes; it was nothing new. Nose specialists have used it for years, and
with it have helped occasional patients with hay fever and headache.

Albert Abrams.—Another typical story is that of Albert Abrams, a
licensed physician of no great reputation in California. For years he
promoted a scheme for curing disease by pounding the spine with a
little rubber hammer. But the idea never took hold, and until he
was about 60, Abrams had only a mediocre practice. Then one day as
he sat looking at one of the first little radio sets, he got an idea that
was soon to bring him in a million dollars. He took a couple of cheap
resistance boxes and an old Ford spark coil, hooked them together in
the silliest way, and announced to the world that with this magic
detector he could tune in on the electronic vibrations coming from a
drop of blood and could tell exactly what disease the patient was
suffering with. For good measure he would tell if the sample of blood
came from a Chinese or a Jew, or from a Presbyterian or a Catholic!
Just as easily he could connect the patient to another silly box of wires
and tune the disease right out of him.

To people who were just beginning to realize what marvels the radio
tube could perform, this all sounded so reasonable and so up to date
that thousands flocked to him and paid $100 or more to sit for a while
holding onto the end of a wire out of which was flowing—absolutely
nothing. Many felt that they were cured, and writers like Upton
Sinclair, who swallowed hook, line and sinker, wrote articles accusing
the leaders of the medical profession of narrowness, backwardness, and
jealousy, and an inability to recognize genius when they saw it. The
fact that Professor Millikan, on the witness stand in a malpractice
suit, swore that he had examined the instruments and that they
couldn’t possibly do what they were supposed to do, did not seem to
discourage anyone,

And then Abrams died, and without his frequent startling pro-
nouncements, which had served to keep his name in the newspapers,
his disciples found themselves with but few patients, and most of
them were compelled to shift over into some other better advertised
and more popular form of quackery.

SELF-LIMITED DISEASES

But some of you may still be saying that you know of a man who
was lying at death’s door and, after treatment by some irregular

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 415.

practitioner, got well. Yes, this happens all the time and yet it
usually proves nothing. Many is the time that I have received great
credit for cures which I know good old Mother Nature had more to
do with than I. I can remember one of the lucky breaks that came
to me when I was a young man starting out in the practice of medicine.
A man lay ill with pneumonia and, as usually happens in this disease,
each morning of the first week found him worse. Not knowing
enough about the disease to expect this, the wife became convinced
that the nice oid doctor in attendance did not know his business and
dismissed him. I was then called and I barely had time to change
the medicines before the crisis came—and my reputation was made!
I tried to explain to the people that they must not blame the old
doctor because in this case the pneumonia had run a very typical
course to recovery, but they thought I was just trying to be modest;
and so finally I gave in, and said no more, salving my conscience with
the conviction that sooner or later I would get my share of disgrace
perhaps as undeserved as was my present credit. And so it happened;
my next patient with pneumonia did so badly that I was dismissed;
the old doctor was called in shortly before the crisis came, and thus he
got even with me.

Now, you may smile at all this, but just remember that such things
commonly happen when next you hear of a case like the one I will
now describe. A nationally known educator lay ill with pneumonia.
The ninth day came and no crisis; and, because the physicians in
attendance looked anxious and shook their heads ominously, the
family discharged them and called in a back-adjuster who only a short
time before had been a bathhouse attendant. Next day the crisis
came and, for the rest of his life, that distinguished college professor—
who should have known better—extolled to his friends the virtues of
a certain cult and the skill of a certain ignorant but pleasant and well-
meaning man.

Curing a disease that wasn’t there——Or here is the fairly common
story of another type of casein which theirregular practitioner triumphs
because either he or some good physician diagnosed wrongly. The
case is that of a very wealthy woman who was operated on years ago
for a tumor of the large bowel. It looked so much like an inoperable
cancer that the famous surgeon in attendance did not attempt to
remove it, but simply made a bypass around it. Later, as more
experience came to him, he realized that what he had seen was not a
cancer at all but only an inflammatory mass that would probably dis-
appear after the type of operation that he had performed. But in the
meantime, the patient had gone to a faith healer; and when years
passed and she remained well, she built for this healer and her faith
a beautiful church. Always, then, when one hears that some healer

416 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

has cured a cancer, it is well to remember the possibility that the
diagnosis was wrong.

Cures that won’t work twice—And here is yet another type of case.
Recently I saw a woman with severe arthritis. She told me that 5
years before, when the disease first flared up and put her in a wheel
chair, she went to a quack who cured her with the help of an herb
tea. Naturally, I asked her why she wasn’t back taking the same
treatment again, and her answer was that she had gone but that this
time the tea wouldn’t work. The chances are, then, that the first
spectacular cure was not a cure at all but only one of those spontaneous
remissions which are so common in the course of a lifelong disease.

THE DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN JUDGING OF THE VALUE OF A
TREATMENT

The average layman has no conception of the pitfalls which lie in the
path of the man who would appraise the value of some particular
treatment, especially for a self-limited disease. For instance, last
October some of you doubtless took ‘‘cold shots” to protect you through
the winter. If when summer comes you are still without a cold, will
that prove that the vaccine was helpful? Not at all; you may be
delighted with what seems to you a miracle, but I can assure you
that the reports of dozens of such successful cases mean nothing to the
medical statistician. The only way in which to learn anything
definite about such a treatment is to do as the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co. did several years ago. They took, as I remember, some
5,000 of their employees and vaccinated half of them, leaving the
other half to serve as what we physicians call a “control series.” At
the end of the year they checked up and found that the 2,500 who
had been vaccinated had had just as many colds as did those who
weren’t vaccinated; the only difference was in the severity of the colds,
the vaccinated men and women getting back to work on the average
several days sooner than the others did.

Sometime ago, Dr. Diehl, of the University of Minnesota, made a
splendid study of colds among the students, trying out on hundreds
of them several of the drugs that are commonly used in this disease.
He found to his surprise that one out of every three colds cleared up
in a day or two without any treatment at all, and others cleared up so
rapidly or ran so mild a course that it was impossible to say whether
or not the remedy given had anything to do with the prompt recovery.

No wonder, then, that practically everyone thinks he can cure a
cold. Hasn’t he cured many of them with his pet method? To be
sure, some of the colds treated hung on stubbornly, but following the
convenient rule of humankind, he forgot these and remembered only
those which he “cured.” And if he, who has had no training in
medicine, can have had such splendid success in his little practice,

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 417

why should anyone have difficulty in believing that other uneducated
persons can cure disease, especially when they have inherited some
special skill or some secret formulas for powerful remedies? So why
should there be all this demand that physicians be educated men?
Actually, it is only the highly educated physician who finds it
difficult to take seriously the pretensions of healers who have spent
only a year or two in a low-grade college; he alone knows how hard it
is to practice good medicine even after half a lifetime spent in study.

BELIEF IN THE MIRACULOUS INCULCATED IN EARLY LIFE

But there are yet other reasons, and very strong ones too, why all
of us look for miracles when it comes to the treatment of disease. We
may have spent 4 years at college learning that the universe is run
according to immutable laws, but throughout our youth, and almost
from the moment that we could understand speech, we were taught to
believe stories of miraculous suspensions of these laws, and we were
urged to ask daily that such miracles of protection be performed for
us and for our loved ones.

Furthermore, in our daily contacts with the people about us and
with the world of books, we absorb, willy nilly and unconsciously,
much medical folklore which inevitably has an influence on our think-
ing and our behavior. And if it influences the behavior of an educated
man, how much more must it dominate the thought and the behavior
of the ignorant and the naturally credulous? None of us can escape
it. You sneeze, and some old person near you says, “God bless
you.”’ Why did she do that? She probably does not know, but her
ancestors in Europe could have told us that you sneezed because a
little devil was just then entering your body with evil intent, and
when your friend called upon the name of God, that devil had to get
out in a hurry. Unconsciously, you subscribe to the same idea when
you say, “I wonder what possessed me to do that?” or ‘I wonder what
can have gotten into that child.”

Or let us suppose that, without thinking in time to stop myself, I
remark to my wife that it is almost a year since I had a cold. I
immediately rap wood, but why? Actually, on looking this up in my
library on folklore, I found that I do not doit right. Ireally should be
pounding so hard on a log and making so much noise while I am
bragging that the devil will not be able to hear me and to say, ‘‘Watch
me and see how I take that cocky fellow down a peg.’”’ Now isn’t
that silly, and yet J keep on rapping wood on every appropriate
occasion, just because it makes me feel safer.

But you can’t laugh at me because you have your own pet supersti-
tions. Perhaps you have a horseshoe over the barn door to keep out
the elves that would ride the horses all night and sicken the cows and

418 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

poison the churn. Or let us suppose that you start to pick a sliver out
of your finger with a pin and your grandmother catches you atit. You
know that she will insist that you use a needle. But why? For
20 years I have been asking grandmothers that question. They all
agree that one must use iron and not brass, but the two lame explana-
tions which they give can easily be shown to be inadequate. I
searched for years through the literature on folklore for information
on this point until at last I became convinced that the original reason
was that if iron is used it will keep the wicked elves away from the
wound just as iron over the door will keep them out of the house.

Z

FiGuRE 1.—Christ, whose feet are seen at the left, is casting the devil out of the insane daughter of a poor
widow. This illustration from the Biblica Pauporum shows how, as late as the fifteenth century, people
firmly believed that evils took possession of people and could be cast out bodily as shown in this illustra-
tion.

When you use a brass pin you have no protection, and the wound may
fester.

But some of you may ask: Why should the iron protect? Briefly,
it is because the elves and the old gods and demons were very conserva-
tive; so much so that for thousands of years they clung to the use of
the old chipped flint axes and knives of our cave-dwelling ancestors.
Eventually they got so that they could tolerate bronze, but even yet
they cannot abide nor even go near the newfangled iron which came
into use about 1000 B. C.

Or, let us suppose that today, as a young mother sits trimming for
the first time her baby’s nails, the grandmother comes in, Why
will she be so upset and why will she perhaps get down on the rug and

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 419

pick up all the little parings so as to destroy them in the fire? Why
will she say that for the first year of the baby’s life the nails must be
bitten off? Ask her and she will probably say that if this is not done
the baby will grow up to be a thief or it will sicken and die. But let
us ask the official nail-paring swallower of a Madagascar chief (I have
read in scientific treatises that there is such a man) or let us ask any
savage anywhere on the face of the earth, and he will tell us that when
the nails are bitten off the pieces must be swallowed. If they were to
be left around, and a bad witch were to get hold of a piece, she could
easily say some spells over it, and disaster would soon come to the
baby.

I never cease marveling at the antiquity and the wide dissemination
of scores of these beliefs. For instance, there are many poor homes
in England today in which, if a child is seriously ill, the grandmother
will want to administer a skinned mouse as a medicine. But why a
mouse? To find out we have to go to Egypt where each year as the
Nile subsides and the peasants go back to their fields, they find in the
cracks in the mud an abundance of mice. They think that these
mice sprang from the mud, and therefore must represent an essence
of the life-giving virtues of the river. What is more appropriate, then,
than to save a dying child with a medicine which represents life
abundant? And now comes what, to my mind, is the most interesting
part of the story, and this is that when Elliott Smith was studying the
mummies of some little children who lived in Egypt over 6,000 years
ago, long before the pyramids were built, he found in each stomach—
a@ mouse!

ANCIENT THEORIES OF THE CAUSATION OF DISEASE

Now it will be noticed in the examples which I have given of present-
day medical superstition that disease is usually supposed to be due
to the malevolence of the devil or of witches or wicked elves, or of men
who know enough of the magic arts to summon help from the powers
of darkness. What is more natural, then, than to assume that health
is to be maintained by warding off evil in some magic or symbolic way.

But where did we get these ideas? I feel sure that we got them
from our remote beetling-browed ancestors who hunted the reindeer
and the woolly mammoth in the days when the great ice sheets were
retreating northward toward the pole. But someone says: How can
anyone know what those ancient savages thought? Well, we cannot
know for certain, but here and there in the few remaining wildernesses,
explorers come upon men who live in a stone age very similar to that
of our ancient ancestors, and always these men are found to have
about the same ideas in regard to disease. Never having heard of
germs or high blood-pressure or hardening of the arteries, it never
occurs to them that a man might die of natural causes. If he wasn’t

420 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

injured in an accident or mauled by an enemy or a wild beast, then
he must have been harmed by witchcraft or he must have offended
some deity or broken some tabu.

One of these ideas has come down to us embalmed ina word. Thus,
when an old man drops to the floor unable to speak or to use his right
arm or leg, we physicians say that a blood-vessel in the brain has
either ruptured or been plugged in some way. But the layman says
that it is a stroke, which implies that God was angry and reached out
and struck the man down. I never realized how fully a college gradu-
ate could believe this until one day when, as I sat by the minister’s
wife, encouraging her to learn to talk again after a bad cerebral
thrombosis, I found that the endlessly recurring question in her mind
was: ‘Wherein have I sinned so terribly that God has struck me down
in this cruel way; why has He done this to me who have served Him
lovingly all my days?”

But to get back to the savages and their ideas of medicine: Seeing
that to them disease is due purely to the malevolence of gods and
witches, it is easy to understand why their most prized physicians
are not expected to have any knowledge of the body or of surgery or
of healing herbs; all they are asked to do is to find out which god is
angry and why, or which witch is at work and who is employing him.
After that they must know how to appease the god, or to nullify the
evil charms of the witch with yet stronger charms and spells.

THE TWO TYPES OF HEALER AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

And so it is that wherever on this earth one encounters primitive
people one is likely to find that the most respected and most feared
man in the tribe is the witch doctor. Often he is a sort of Pooh Bah
who exercises the functions of physician, seer, prophet, priest, sorcerer,
master of ceremonies, and perhaps even king. Sometimes he repre-
sents the finest flower of the development of his people, and then again
he may be little more than a juggler and an assassin who will kill
for a price.

But what happens when a savage falls out of a tree and breaks his
legs, or comes back from a raid with part of his scalp hanging over
his ear, or what is done to help the man who gets constipated or has a
boil that needs lancing? Will the witch doctor bother with such
small practice? No, that is usually beneath his notice, and hence in
every tribe there is another kind of healer, a man or woman who can
clean wounds and bring the edges together, who can splint a broken
leg or pull a dislocated bone back into place, who can incise an abscess
or knock out an aching tooth, who can massage stiff muscles or give a
sweat bath, and who knows the lore of medicinal plants.

And here I get to the central theme of my discourse, and this is that
from the time when man first stepped down out of the trees and made

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 421

himself a stone ax down to the present moment, there have always
been, in every community, two types of medical practitioner. One a
believer in some supernatural or similarly unprovable and ready-made
explanation of disease as a whole; the other, a student of the many
diseases as he finds them; the one disdainful of the study of the
structures and workings of the human body; the other a deep student
of these sciences; the one treating by means of charms and spells,
ceremony, hocus pocus, exorcism, and sacrifice; the other treating
with physical and chemical measures; one whose forte is the cure of

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FIGURE 2.—An American Indian medicine man (from Catlin).

nervous troubles, hysteria, and self-limited diseases; the other whose
greatest success is found in the healing of those lesions such as deep
wounds or bad fractures in which Mother Nature, unaided, either
fails to cure or else ends up with a bad result.

THE CONSERVATISM OF THE WITCH DOCTORS

As one would expect, the descendants of the witch doctor have not
changed their technique very much through the ages, and if tomorrow
they were to be called upon to cope with some terrible epidemic their
methods would be practically the same as those of their savage
ancestors. They would doubtless begin as they did in‘Biblical times,
in the Middle Ages, and in the terrible winter of 1918, by fixing the

422 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

blame on some group of persons who had offended the deity. Then
there would be sacrifice and ceremony, solemn processions and pilgrim-
ages and the making of vows, all undertaken with the hope of expiating
sin and propitiating an angry God.

The average individual would keep his windows tightly closed at
night to keep out the flying demons of disease, and he would certainly
wear a protective amulet. If during the epidemic, a savage were to
come to our shores with some explorer, he would see nothing new in
all this, and could only approve heartily of every detail.

HOW PROGRESS IS MADE BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE HERB
DOCTORS

But now let us see what the descendants of the herb doctor did
when, some 30 years ago, they were asked to send men to India to try
to stop the bubonic plague which was raging there as it has done so
many times in the past.

Did the physicians on that commission go into the temples and
offer sacrifices to the hideous goddess of epidemic disease? No, they
went to work with microscopes and guinea pigs. First, reckless of
their lives, they opened the bodies of people dying with the plague,
and studied the characteristic changes in the several organs. Then
they put under the microscope a little juice from the enlarged glands
in the groin, and always they found millions of tiny germs such as are
never found in the tissues of normal persons. Then these germs were
cultivated in glass tubes, and a drop of the culture was injected into a
guinea pig, and when the animal sickened and died, the autopsy
always showed lesions like those of the patients. And so, gradually,
it became clear that the cause of the scourge was a living thing, a tiny
germ which went into a man and kept multiplying until it killed him.

The next question was: How did this germ get into the people?
Did they drink it or eat it or did it travel through the air? At this
point the physicians were helped by a bit of knowledge that had been
available for centuries, namely, that always, preceding an epidemic
of plague, rats crawl out of their holes and die. Accordingly, hun-
dreds of rats from the affected regions were caught and dissected, and
in the sickly ones again there appeared the same lesions and the same
little germs that had been found in the guinea pigs and in the patients.
But how were the germs getting from the rats into the people? Soon
the rats’ fleas came under suspicion, and when some were removed
from a rat dying of the plague and dissected, there again were the
germs.

Then the scientists collected fleas from sick rats and put them on
guinea pigs, and the pigs sickened and died of plague. They always
got the disease also when they were left in cages on the floors of the
huts where men were dying of plague and their fleas were hopping

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 423

about looking for a new host. But when the cages were made of wire
gauze too fine for the passage of fleas, or when ordinary cages were
suspended some distance off the floor, too high for a flea to jump in,
none of the guinea pigs succumbed.

At last, then, the essential facts about the disease were available,
and bubonic plague could no longer range as a terrible scourge up and
down the earth. Now, whenever a few cases appear in a city, health
officers rush in and destroy rats and fleas, and the epidemic is stopped
before it can get well started.

I wish I had time to tell more of the fascinating stories of the detec-
tive work that has been done in tracking down one little messenger of
death after another, and learning so much about its life habits that
health officers can destroy it or stop it from propagating, but I must
hurry on. Those who have read Zinsser’s delightful book on Rats,
Lice, and History and De Kruif’s Microbe Hunters already know
how fascinating these stories can be.

EVERY WORTH-WHILE DISCOVERY OF THE PAST IS USED TODAY

I must hurry on to point out a fact which to me is a source of pride,
and this is that every worth-while discovery ever made and remem-
bered, and every accurate bit of information ever obtained and passed
onward by the ancient herb doctors and by all true students of dis-
ease throughout the ages is used in scientific medicine today. I feel
that every well-educated regular physician today is the lineal de-
scendant and heir of the old herb doctor and primitive surgeon, just
as every faith healer and every irregular practitioner who treats all
cases alike, and every ignorant quack who treats by hocus-pocus of
one kind or another is a lineal descendant of the witch doctor.

In my library I have translations of the two oldest medical papyri
in the world. So far as scholars can tell, these two books date back
to between two and three thousand years before Christ. The Smith
papyrus was written by a remarkably modern surgeon who described
the several types of fracture of the skull and the symptoms that go
with each so clearly that we can follow him today. He sutured
wounds and brought their edges together with adhesive tape; he knew
that an injury to one side of the brain caused paralysis of the other
side of the body, and he was often able to pick the patient who would
die and the others who would probably get well. If he could only
wake up today, to crawl out of his sarcophagus, I believe that a
modern brain surgeon would find in him a helpful associate, and
would defer to his judgment in the handling of many a wound.

The other ancient book, the Ebers papyrus, is not so satisfying
today, because the witch doctor had too much to do with writing it.
It is largely a collection of prescriptions in which drugs are mixed
with unpleasant things such as the dried excrement of men and

424. | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

animals. Why did they use such things? In order to make the in-
dwelling derron of disease so disgusted that he would get out and
not come back. Actually some of the prescriptions were labeled “for
the expelling or terrifying of the disease.”

The Chinese have the same idea today, and in the Flowery King-
dom, when a man lies desperately ill his relatives will sometimes
hire orchestras to keep up such an infernal din all day and all night
that the devil causing the disease will get worn out from lack of rest
and sleep and will depart for a quieter place!

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FIGURE 3.—Gathering herbs for the healing of the sick.

MIXTURES OF THE MAGICAL AND THE PRACTICAL

But to get back to the Ebers papyrus: As I have already pointed
out, one finds there many instances of a very common medical prac-
tice, and this is the mixture of the magical and the practical. As
one would expect, all through the ages the two systems have been
combined more or less unconsciously by practitioners of the two types.
Sometimes the witch doctor or the mental healer has used manipu-
lations and even drugs, and the old herb doctor has taken care to
gather his plants with a certain ritual or while mumbling spells, and
only during certain phases of the moon. Furthermore, the herb doc-
tor has often fallen from grace, scientifically speaking, and has pre-
scribed a drug not because experience showed him that it was useful
but perhaps because the astrologers believed that it and the disease

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 425

to be treated were both under the protection of the same sign of the
zodiac. Or perhaps because a walnut looks like a brain with all its
convolutions, the old doctor gave powdered walnuts for insanity; or
he gave red medicines for anemia and yellow ones for jaundice. Or
he shaved elder bark downward to get a cure for vomiting and up-
ward to get a cure for diarrhea!

Archeologists who, years ago, unearthed the archives of an ancient
king of Nineveh found two letters of great interest to the medical
historian. One was from a magician telling his master, the king, of his
illness and begging that a physician be sent to him, the other was from
a prominent physician who had prescribed for the king. Unfortu-
nately, the treatment did not help, and later when the physician wrote,
admitting that he did not know what the trouble was, he went on to
suggest that while the local physicians continued to administer the
medicines he had prescribed they had better also call in a magician.

And so it goes today; the faith healer calls in an obstetrician to help
with a difficult case of labor, the spinopath prescribes diet and insulin
for a diabetic, and the regular physician cures many a hysterical
patient with a combination of pills, impressive apparatus, suggestion,
and personal magnetism.

THE DRUGS PHYSICIANS USE TODAY CAME FROM ALL OVER THE
EARTH

One of the most interesting things about the Ebers papyrus is that
it shows us that away back in that ancient time physicians were already
using many of the drugs that we prescribe today. Aloes, senna, castor
oil, and epsom salts were being given for constipation, and pepper-
mint and fennel for gas. To me one of the most curious prescriptions
in the collection is the one for soothing a crying child. What do you
think it contained? Why, nothing other than the opium which our
Government had to ban from American patent soothing sirups some
25 years ago. Incidentally, some of you ladies might like to try one of
the old Egyptian formulas for Countess So and So’s facial cream, guar-
anteed to remove wrinkles! You will be interested to know also that
the ancient Assyrians treated halitosis, they dyed their gray hair, they
used mustard plasters, and they put a piece of raw meat on a bruised
eye.

THE TRUE PHYSICIAN USES EVERYTHING EVER FOUND USEFUL

And this leads me to emphasize again the fact that a scientific
physican today uses gladly any drug and any method of healing that
he can hear of that was ever found really useful by anyone anywhere.
Just let us go into a drug store and glance over the shelves. There
we will find the castor oil, senna, ox gall, aloes, and opium which were

31508—38——31 -

426 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

used in ancient Egypt; another purgative, magnesia, came originally
from an ancient city of that name in Greece; jalap comes from Mexico,
and cascara from California; the aspirin which is so popular today is
first cousin to the smelly oil of wintergreen which our grandmothers
used to put on flannel and tie around aching joints, and quinine and
cocain and ipecac come from South America. Digitalis, our most
valuable heart medicine, came to us from an old English herb woman.
When, 100 years ago, Dr. Withering found that this woman was cur-
ing some patients whom he had failed to help, he went to her and paid
a good price for her secret. Then, like the true physician that he was,
he picked out of her messy concoction the one essential drug and gave
it freely to the world.

Lest this story about Withering serve to strengthen the belief that
many persons have that it pays sometimes to go to a Chinese herb
doctor or to an American Indian or to a Hindu or some other foreign
healer because he must know many things that the American physician
does not know, especially about medicines of vegetable origin, I will
say that there may have been something in this idea long ago but
there is not much in it now after all the years that pharmacologists
have spent in studying drugs from all over the world.

ARE PHYSICIANS TOO CONSERVATIVE?

It is not complimentary to us physicians that thousands of people
believe that if some layman were to discover the cure for cancer
we would have none of it until forced to give in. Actually, a study
of the history of medicine in the last 75 years reveals no basis for this
belief. Our leaders have grasped eagerly at all of the great gifts
that have come from men outside our ranks: From a physicist like
Roentgen (X-rays), from a chemist like Pasteur (bacteriology), or
from a dentist like Morton (anesthesia). In fact one of our worst
tendencies today is to snatch the gift away from the giver before he
has had time to perfect it or to test it properly.

Every year the institution in which I work receives many letters
from men and women who assure us that they have the cure for cancer
and ask that we help them in getting it before the world. What these
people fail to see is that if a man were to cure only a dozen patients
with cancer scattered through the body, he wouldn’t need to come to
us for help. He would have to appeal to the police each day for a
detail to keep the crowds in order on his front lawn.

Actually, of course, there is not one chance in a million that the
cure for cancer will be found by a layman or some obscure physician
working nights in his basement. Just asin gold mining, so in medicine,
the time for picking up big nuggets is gone. Now the finding of such
a thing as a cure for cancer calls for much work by groups of highly

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ 4927

trained and well-equipped investigators, and success is likely to come
only as the result of a series of discoveries, all made in big university
laboratories.

HIPPOCRATES, THE FATHER OF MEDICINE

But to get back to the beginnings of medical writing; let me tell
you a little about the greatest of all the ancient books. Really it is
a series of books written in large part by Hippocrates, he whom we
now call the father of medicine. He lived and worked in Greece
some 400 years before Christ. He was a modern type of scientific
physician in that he observed closely with a surprisingly open mind;
he described what he saw, he recorded his failures as well as his
successes, and he used everything of curative value that he could
find. As one would expect from this, much of what he wrote so long
ago is still of interest and value today. The few chapters that are
of little value are the ones, probably written by disciples, in which the
facts of observation were warped to fit one of those unprovable theories
of disease which are still so popular with irregular practitioners today.

As many of you know, the Greeks looked upon the world as made
up of four elements: Fire, air, earth, and water, and the body of
four humors: Blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. These
humors were affected by the four qualities of matter: Heat, cold,
dryness, and moisture, and disease resulted when a humor became
too hot or too cold, or too dry or too moist.

You who know something of modern chemistry and physics will
say: “How silly,” and yet these humoral ideas dominated and re-
stricted and largely sterilized medical thought for 2,000 years. Even
today, they affect our speech, and we say that a man is of a sanguine,
a phlegmatic, a choleric, a bilious, or a melancholy nature, that he is
good or bad humored, or that he has a warm or a cold temperament.

We physicians revere Hippocrates because he was the first man to
teach, first, that many diseases clear up best if the physician does not
meddle too much, and, second, that medicine can advance only when
it breaks away from magic. Gradually, through the two milleniums
before the birth of Christ, physicians had been coming to see that some
diseases are due to injury and contagion and the wearing out of parts,
but so far as we have a record, Hippocrates was the first to go the
whole way and state that no disease is purely miraculous in origin.
He would not exclude even epilepsy, which then was called the sacred
disease, because of those terrifying fits which seem so obviously to
be due to possession by a god or a devil.

And if through the ages, religiously minded people had only listened
to Hippocrates and had given his successors the freedom to dissect,
to perform autopsies, to experiment on animals, and to report honestly

428 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

and fearlessly what they found, how almost certain it is that today
medical knowledge would be hundreds of years ahead of where it is,
with tuberculosis and cancer and arthritis perhaps only memories of
the past.

THE EVER-PRESENT OPPOSITION TO MEDICAL ADVANCEMENT

But all through the ages a large section of the people in every country
have kept saying, ‘““No, you mustn’t do this and you mustn’t do that,”
thus making it hard or impossible for physicians to carry on their
studies and their beneficent work for the relief of human suffering.

Really, aren’t we human beings curious in our mental processes?
In the middle ages they loved to hitch a dray horse to each of a man’s
hands and feet and drive these horses off in four different directions;
they loved to strip off a man’s skin while he was still alive, or to break
his bones on the wheel, or to roast him over a slow fire; but just
let the crowd which had looked on with approval and pleasure dis-
cover next day that an eminent teacher of medicine, trying to learn
how better to help suffering humanity, had dissected what was left
of the poor prisoner after the hangman was done, and they would
turn in wrath to rend the impious wretch who had dared to so dese-
crate a human body!

But we must not smile at this in a superior way because even today,
it is not always easy to get human bodies for dissection, and so bitter
is the opposition of some animal lovers to the progress of scientific
medicine, that in many cities the pound man does not dare to sell even
a dead dog for study in the local medical school.

Just think of Aristotle, the greatest naturalist, and one of the
greatest physicians of all time, having to admit that even with the
backing of his pupil and patient, Alexander, the most powerful ruler
of the then known world, he had been unable to dissect even one human
body, and he had never seen a man’s kidney or a woman’s uterus!

It was not until the sixteenth century that the opposition to dissec-
tion of the human body died down sufficiently in a few Italian cities
so that the great Vesalius was able to learn how a man is made inside,
and to publish (in 1543) the first accurate book on anatomy. Obvi-
ously, until such knowledge was secured, the practice of surgery was
impossible.

The next big step in the progress of medical science came in 1628
with Harvey’s great discovery of the circulation of the blood. With
this work was begun an era in which the functions of the many organs
of the body were studied. In 1683, Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria,
and in 1719, Morgagni founded the science of pathology, which deals
with the changes that are to be found in the bodies of persons dead of
disease.

EMERGENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE—ALVAREZ A929

Later there came much progress in the differentiation of diseases by
careful study of the symptoms and the physical findings, until physi-
cians were able to distinguish malaria from typhoid fever, measles
from German measles, diphtheria from croup, and appendicitis from
ordinary stomach ache. Around 1877 Pasteur discovered the role that
germs play in the causation of disease; protective vaccines and sera
began to be made, and Lister showed how to banish suppuration from
surgical wounds. In 1846, Morton and others discovered anesthesia,
and surgery came into its own. Finally, with the development of
bacteriology, there came wonderful triumphs in the prevention and
cure of many of the infectious diseases that have plagued mankind.

THE LATEST PHASE OF MEDICAL PROGRESS

Today we are entering on a marvelous phase of medical develop-
ment, and many seeming miracles are already being performed. The
physiological chemist is having his inning, and every few months,
someone discovers a new substance which has uncanny powers in the
way of controlling growth and development. One of these substances
makes giants, another makes midgets, another produces goiter, another
makes the breasts of a virgin animal fill with milk, and other substances
produce cancer at the will of the investigator. I feel sure that we are
but on the threshold from which we shall soon glimpse great wonders,

As yet we do not know how to use curatively all these gifts of the
chemist, and many are not yet even on the market, but with time and
experience, there must surely come from some of them great benefits
to the human race.

THE NEED FOR PROTECTING RESEARCH WORKERS FROM
MISGUIDED PEOPLE

All of these great gifts of science are for you and your children.
No one knows on what day some disease, as yet incurable, is going to
strike down someone dear to you; and when that day comes the only
hope your physician may be able to give you will be that in several
laboratories in this country, or abroad, devoted men and women are
working late into the night, hot on the trail of a cure for this very
disease which now interests you so much. Under those circumstances
the one thing left for you to do will be to pray that the discovery will
not come too late.

Surely when such days of sorrow and anxiety come you do not want
to have the door of hope slammed shut in your face with the announce-
ment that certain people who care for animals more than they care for
men and women and little children have succeeded in stopping work
in those very laboratories in which this most promising research was
going on. Iam sure that most of you would never consent to such a
thing if only you understood the problem, and if only you believed

430 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

university authorities when they assure you that today laboratory
animals are well taken care of, and, when operated on, are always kept
under surgical anesthesia.

SUMMARY

In summing up, I would like to emphasize again that there are two
types of medical practice that have been with us from the earliest
times: One, that of the witch doctor and his heirs, and the other, that
of the herb doctor and primitive surgeon and his heirs. One group
relies on hocus pocus and some unprovable theory of disease; the other
group bases its practice on observation and experiment, and uses
every medical and surgical procedure of value ever discovered by man.

Even today the old witch doctor and his heirs hold the confidence
of a large percentage of the population, and this fact greatly hampers
health officers in their work. Although scientific medicine is forging
rapidly ahead and working ever greater miracles of healing, it still
has to fight its way against opposition from the many people who have
been brought up to believe that diseases can best be treated by men
and women who have had little or no education in medicine.

The story goes that once upon a time a man of God was treed by an
angry bear which started to climb up afterhim. At first the minister
said: ‘‘O Lord, help me,” but as the bear kept climbing higher, he
finally prayed: ‘‘O Lord, if you won’t help me, at least don’t belp
the bear.” And so I close with this plea: That while teachers of
medicine and investigators struggle to advance medical science and
to supply you and your children with ever better and abler and finer
physicians and with ever more efficient treatments for disease, will
you please refrain from helping those many persons who are always
trying to lower standards of medical education and licensure, and are
always trying to stop the work being carried on in the research labora-
tories. As Dr. Jobn Abel, that grand old man of American medicine,
once said, ‘“‘“Greater even than the greatest discovery is to keep open
the way to future discoveries.”

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Alvarez __ PLATE 1

1. MODEL MADE BY THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM TO SHOW AN INDIAN
MEDICINE MAN HEALING A PATIENT.

a -

2. AN AFRICAN MEDICINE MAN CUPPING A PATIENT WITH A HORN.

=

Le,

3. AN INDIAN SWEATHOUSE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR
MEDICINES !

By E. Fuutuertron Cook, P. D., Pu. M.?

Uniform standards for medicines are a recognized need for the med-
ical world. Many substances now used in the treatment of disease
must be exactly controlled as to strength, since they are often highly
potent and require exact dosage if they are to produce the desired
therapeutic effects. There is also the possibility of foreign substances
finding their way into medicinal products, lessening their value or
even adding an element of danger, and tests must be provided to
guard rigidly against such a happening. This is not a new problem,
but its solution is being attacked with increased energy and with a
degree of success which carries confidence to the physician and the
patient.

In this program for the production of medical substances of de-
pendable quality there is, in the main, a commendable cooperation
between all of those who share the responsibilities. This starts with
the manufacturer, who must maintain a scientific staff of reliable and
skilled experts to select raw materials and to test these materials for
conformity to the established standards of purity and strength.
Another group of trained technicians must be responsible for the pro-
duction and quality of the finished products. These medicines are
widely varied. Among them will be found chemical salts; new syn-
thetic compounds of a complex nature, such as arsphenamine; anes-
thetics, like ether, which are so important an element in the safety of
the surgical patient; or perhaps it is a biological product, illustrated by
diphtheria antitoxin; or an ointment or a tablet, calling for skill and
accuracy in manufacture. These are but a few illustrations from
among the hundreds of different medicines employed today.

After production and sale, again the established standards apply
and at this time with greater significance than before, since the tests
are likely at any time to be made by the laboratories of enforcement
officials with the possibility of substances being found unofficial and

1 One of the 1936 series of Popular Science Lectures of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.
Reprinted by permission from the American Journal of Pharmacy, May 1936.

3 Chairman of the U. S. P. Revision Committee and Director of the Pharmaceutical Laboratories at the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.

431

432 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the manufacturer being charged with the adulteration of his products.
This is all in the background of the production of modern medicines.

But you may be asking how this has developed. How were these
medicines selected? Who discovered that some drugs are cathartics,
that others cause a profuse perspiration, that another slows and
strengthens the heart, while still others stimulate respiration or raise
the blood pressure or perhaps relieve pain? We are particularly inter-
ested in knowing who determines the identity and quality of the
medicines needed by modern physicians. What happened in past
centuries is vaguely indicated by the records of the past.

In recent years this information about the value of new medicines
has come through scientific researches in a modern laboratory, but the
foundations were only slowly built up, through the centuries, by indi-
viduals who often worked alone, making crude observations and deduc-
tions and having few opportunities, and often no desire, to record the
results for the benefit of others. But fortunately there are remarkable
exceptions and to these pioneers the wor'd today acknowledges a debt
of gratitude which is inestimable.

Back of all of this modern program is an interesting record. It is
not necessary to review this in detail to remind you that the elaborate
organization of today had its roots well grounded, first in tradition
and then in proven history.

EARLY PHYSICIANS

The initial incentive of the pioneer healer is credited to an ennobling
desire to relieve suffering. ‘True, in every age the charlatan has ex-
ploited the sick for pecuniary reward, yet the initial force, through all
of history, seems to spring from those pioneers who truly labored to
heal the sick and were a part of the religious orders of the time,
theirs usually being a priestly service. With the effort to help those
who were ill, came some knowledge of the nature and causes of
disease and with this there slowly evolved methods of treatment with
all manner of strange medicines.

The early physician made slow progress; his knowledge was limited,
the medicines were crude, he could not enforce treatments, and he had
poor opportunities to study effects. Yet it is surprising how many
valuable substances had been discovered even when the oldest known
records were revealed. Of necessity there often entered into the treat-
ment that which was associated with the mysterious or the occult,
often with incantations and prayers—how natural that the influence
of the deity should be invoked when the priest treated the sick.

EARLY MEDICINES

What medicines were used in the period of 4000 B. C., of Baby-
lonian history, is not known, but tradition tells of the labors of the

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 433

physician and of his associate who is supposed to have prepared the
medicines. Legend recounts the story of an Egyptian physician
known by the name of Imhotep who lived about 3000 B. C., and he is
reputed to have used many combinations of medicines.

That there is some justification for these unverified traditions of
remote civilization is borne out by the discovery of an almost perfect
Egyptian manuscript dated 1552 B. C., which consisted of a collec-
tion of medicinal formulas. This is called, after the name of the
discoverer, the Ebers Papyrus, and is evidently a record of the medi-
cines known at the time when Moses lived; it must have represented
the accumulated knowledge of the centuries. Here are recorded
about 700 simple drugs representing the vegetable, animal, and
mineral kingdoms, and while many were impossible and worthless, it
is remarkable that the list included substances which find a place even
in the latest lists of present-day medicines. Among these were
turpentine, castor oil, anise, henbane or hyoscyamus, poppy capsules,
which were the forerunner of opium, aloes, myrrh, cassia, gentian,
colechicum, and squill. Among the mineral substances were iron,
lead, magnesia, nitre, vermilion, copper sulphate, sodium carbonate,
and sodium chloride.

The use of precious stones, finely divided, was a form of medical
treatment. These were ordered of various types and prices, depend-
ing upon the ability of the patient to pay. For the wealthy the
emerald or lapis lazuli or the sapphire were directed, but for those
less able to pay green porcelain or a similar appearing colored glass
was acceptable.

This belief in the medical value of precious stones did not end with
the Egyptian era for they are found in the pharmacopoeias of Europe
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, showing how tradition
and superstition can be continued for centuries.

Animal drugs were also present in abundance. It would seem
as though the more offensive the more merit was anticipated. Cer-
tainly this early physician was willing to try every material at hand,
hoping that he might discover that God-given remedy which he be-
lieved was provided as a cure for every disease. It would seem also
as though they believed that special merit resided in any substance
which had an offensive odor and so among the recorded animal drugs
were lizards’ blood, swine’s teeth, putrid meat, stinking fat, moisture
from pigs’ ears, excreta from many sources, including flies, and other
substances even more revolting. Some of the formulas were very
simple and evidently mild in action, as, for instance, one for headache
calling for frankincense, cummin and an unidentified berry, all mixed
with goose grease and applied externally.

On the other hand, some formulas were exceedingly complex;
one for a poultice containing 35 ingredients with complicated direc-

434 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

tions for compounding. FEvidently worm medicines were in demand,
for there were formulas for medicines to remove hookworms, tape
worms, seat worms, and intestinal worms.

Many forms of medicines had also been developed at this early
period, including infusions, decoctions, fumigants, inhalations, gargles,
injections, pills, powders, triturations, salves, plasters, confections,
and poultices. Here indeed was the forerunner of the modern
pharmacopoeia and a real attempt to establish some form of standards
for the medicines then in use.

EARLY FORMULAS AND STANDARDS

Other medical papyri of this or even earlier Egyptian periods have
since been discovered, and some specialize in magic and sorcery which
so frequently accompanied medical treatment.

While there is less known concerning the medicines of ancient
China, probably because of less research into their literature, there
is knowledge of a pharmacopoeia-like compilation of Chinese formulas
called the Great Herbal, which goes back beyond the Christian Era.
It is made up of 40 volumes and boasts of at least 1,000 authors,
including as the original authority the Chinese mythical god of medi-
cine, Shen Nung. This work contains several thousands of prescrip-
tions and many strange substances such as toad’s eyelids for coryza.
This particular drug might indicate a keenness of observation which
is almost uncanny, for modern investigations prove the presence of
an adrenalinlike substance, secreted by a gland near the eye of a
Chinese toad, and one of our modern treatments for coryza sprays
the nostrils with solution of adrenalin.

Assyrian and Babylonian records also show about this same period
a knowledge of medicines much the same as that of Egypt, evidencing
the manner in which information is carried from country to country.
Cannot one well imagine a wanderer upon the earth, carrying perhaps
a secret recipe, in which some mysterious powder enters; a substance
which may come from far-off India or even China, by the routes of
ancient commerce, and his selling it to physician priests far and wide
for perhaps a fancy figure?

And so there is found, even in the earliest civilizations, a well-
marked tendency toward established medical formulas, including
names, symbols, and descriptions for hundreds of substances tried
and recommended for the cure of the sick.

The great civilizations of Greece and Rome, covering more than
1,500 years, were built upon the foundations laid by the still earlier
races. They rose to heights of accomplishments in literature, archi-
tecture, philosophy, government, and conquest not before dreamed of
and they influenced the life and habits of all subsequent western
peoples. This is equally true in the field of medicine, and the names of

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 435

those who turned to the healing arts and recorded their observations
and teachings dominated medical practice in Europe for hundreds
of years.

Tragically, the later barbaric hordes or the fanatical religious
groups who overran these countries in the middle ages destroyed
countless manuscripts which could have added to the exact knowledge
of the time, but enough was saved to preserve abundant evidence of
the remarkable accomplishments of this productive period. So
blended are the earlier records that it is difficult to separate the
mythological from the real.

Among the Greeks, Apollo was the God of Medicine, but Chiron,
the Centaur, by mythological tale, was credited with having brought
to man the first knowledge of the composition of medicines and he
is reputed to have taught the other mystical characters what they
knew of the healing art, including Aesculapius, who lived about 1250
B. C., and who is the patron saint of medicine.

HIPPOCRATES AND LATER GREEK PHYSICIANS

Prior to the time of Hippocrates, the temples of Aesculapius were
the centers of medical knowledge, and the priests practiced the heal-
ing art although it apparently depended little upon medicines.
Charms, incantations, and prayers were the important elements in
treatment, although the temples were situated in the center of lovely
groves where springs abounded and where the patients were subjected
to vigorous physical treatment.

Historically we owe to Hippocrates, a Greek physician born 460
B. C., the most exact knowledge of Greek medicine. He had ap-
parently been steeped in the lore of tradition and mythology and had
learned of the medical practices of previous civilizations, but his was
that rare type who observes accurately and thinks clearly, and his
writings sharply distinguished between the real and the supernatural
and recorded for future generations the knowledge which he had
acquired in his long and. active life.

In his writings he named about 400 medicinal substances and is
said to have made his own preparations. While Hippocrates did not
compile what might be called a pharmacopoeia, his books told of the
uses of medicinal substances and how to combine them, and since his
teachings influenced medical practice for at least 2,000 years, his
place in the fixing of standards for medicines cannot be exaggerated.
During this period many new schools of medical thought arose and
and in most of them medicinal substances found a place.

In the post-Hippocratic period, reigned the famous Mithridates
Eupator, King of Pontus. After his defeat by Pompey, the formula
for his famous medicine was released. The Confection Mithridates

436 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

was improved upon by Damocrates, physician to Nero, and later by
Andromachus, also a body physician of Nero. This became the most
famous medicine of history. It was also known as Confectio Dam-
ocrates and as Theriac (as he added flesh of vipers—the name coming
from Tyrus, 8 snake) and 1,600 years later the formula was included
by Valerius Cordus in his dispensatory. At that time the traditional
formulas contained about 60 ingredients.

Dioscorides was another Greek physician whose writings were
long a dominant factor in European medicine and who was probably
a contemporary of Claudius Galenus, commonly known as Galen.
Galen was one of the most famous physicians of all history. He be-
came a celebrated medical authority. He lived at the time of Marcus
Aurelius and traveled widely, practicing his profession as he went.
While born a Greek, he became a citizen of Rome. He was a volumi-
nous writer on medical subjects as well as an experimenter in the
preparation of medicines, many of which he made from vegetable
drugs, and this class of products is still associated with his name, as
galenicals.

ROMAN ERA

The first Roman to prepare a formulary was Scribonius Largus,
physician to the Emperor Tiberius, about 45 B. C. This volume was
called Compositiones and was more nearly of the type of the later
pharmacopoeias of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.
Besides the books which were being written, standard formulas were
developed by individuals and passed on to future generations.

Reference has already been made to the Confectio Damocrates or
theriac. Another formula, the theriac of Nicander, was written in
verse on a stone in the temple of Aesculapius on the island of Cos,
the birthplace of Hippocrates. Another theriac was that of Philon
of Tarsus. This was written in verse that it might be more easily
remembered. Its most rare ingredient was the ‘flesh of vipers”
and this remained a part of the published formula 1,500 years later.
Another ingredient which might be misunderstood was written as
“the red hair of a lad whose blood was shed on the fields of Mer-
cury,” but this was only the picturesque way to write “saffron.”
Other ingredients were opium, pyrethrum, euphorbium, pepper,
henbane, spikenard made into a confection with honey. It was
originally intended as an antidote to poison, but was widely used as
a remedy for colic.

Then came the decline of Rome and its fall in the fifth century
under the attack of the barbarians from the north who suppressed
and destroyed these earlier civilizations. In the following centuries
under the influence of Mohammed there began the period of Arabian
supremacy. Egypt was overrun and in 642 Alexandria was captured,

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 437

and then the Arabs swept on through Spain and dominated most of the
habitable world for 500 years. Bagdad became an important center
of learning and also Cordova at a later period.

ARABIAN PERIOD

Fortunately, some manuscripts of Hippocrates and Galen had
escaped the wholesale destruction of the libraries of Alexandria and
were now translated into the Arabic together with other Greek
scientific and philosophic writings. The early intolerance of the
Arabian caliphs was abandoned, and with the establishment of
universities at both Bagdad and Cordova, teachers from the western
world, Christians, Jews, and Pagans, were encouraged to bring there
the sciences in which they were interested. Medicine, pharmacy,
and chemistry were especially encouraged, and under Caliph Haroun
al-Raschid, about A. D. 780, hospitals and dispensaries and separate
pharmacies were established in Bagdad.

An outstanding contribution to medical standards came about this
time from Mesué Senior, who was head of the Medical School of
Bagdad during the reign of Haroun al-Raschid. His formulary was
translated into Latin as late as the fifteenth century and became the
model for the first London pharmacopoeia. He was opposed to the
violent purgatives of earlier medicine and is said to have introduced
the mild laxatives senna, cassia fistula, tamarinds, and jujube. His
pupil, Johannitus, translated Galen’s books into the Arabic, from
which they were later translated into Latin.

The head of the hospital at Bagdad in 870 was a famous physician-
pharmacist commonly known as Rhazes. He wrote voluminously on
medicine and pharmacy and especially exposed many impostors.
Two hundred years later another teacher, Mesué Junior, developed
in Bagdad, whose work entitled ‘““(Grabadin’’, which was an abbrevia-
tion of an Arabic word meaning compound medicines, was used as a
pharmacists’ manual for 500 years, going through hundreds of editions.
It consisted of many formulas arranged in classes, and many prepara-
tions of the earlier European pharmacopoeias are traced back to this
formulary.

Another eminent physician of the Arabian period was Avicenna,
of the tenth century, and also Maimonides, the latter born at Cordova
in 1135. Maimonides is most famous for his oath and prayer, setting
forth an idealistic code of ethics for the physician and the pharmacist.
It is almost as famous as the Hippocratic oath.

Contemporary with Haroun al-Raschid and the golden era of Bag-
dad, Charlemagne reigned. He encouraged the growing of herbs and
the making of medicines by the monks. The herb gardens of the
monasteries of Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries developed

438 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

the vegetable materia medica and also a greatly increased knowledge
of botany. The word “drug” also appeared about this time, meaning
a “dry herb.”” With this development of the herbal garden there also
appeared manuscripts dealing with drugs and their use in medicine,
but they mostly dealt with charms and spells and contributed little
to the knowledge of medicine.

During the ninth to the eleventh centuries an opportunity was
offered at Cordova for the establishment of a separate Jewish academy,
and its influence rapidly spread through Europe, where many Jewish
physicians were welcomed and successfully practiced their profession.
One of the best known Italian Jews of this period was called Donnolo,
and his ‘‘Antidotarium’”’ contained descriptions and formulas for
many drugs and preparations.

ELEVENTH TO FIFTEENTH CENTURIES

About the middle of the eleventh century there began a reawakening
of interest in arts and sciences throughout all of Europe. The
Norman Duke Robert captured Salerno in 1076 and encouraged the
development of the university so that it became the leading educa-
tional center of middle Europe. During the next 200 years other
universities were established—Paris, Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge,
Padua and Naples—and in all of them medicine and pharmacy
were taught.

The medical director of the Medical School at Salerno at the begin-
ning of the twelfth century was Nicholas Praepositus. His “anti-
dotarium” became the standard for pharmaceutical formulas for
centuries, and he introduced the apothecaries’ system of weights and
measures much as it is known today.

A notable advance came in 1224 when Frederic II of Sicily estab-
lished a regulation requiring all physicians and compounders of medi-
cine to be examined and licensed by the Medical School of Salerno.
The pharmacists, or as they were then called, the ‘‘confectionarii,”’
were required to swear that they would prepare all medicines according
to the instructions of the antidotary of Nicholas Praepositus. The
drug dispensers were under strict inspection, and some preparations
had to be made in the presence of inspectors. Any attempt to
defraud subjected the offender to confiscation of his property and an
inspector caught violating the law was subject to the death penalty.

During the next period, from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries,
many additional universities were established, but there was little
original medical knowledge developed, although during this time
frightful scourges swept through Europe, these including leprosy,
ergotism, black death or plague, and later syphilis. It is estimated
that 25 percent of the human race died from plague during this period.
This era is noted, however, pharmaceutically, for the establishment

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 439

of regulations for pharmacists and the setting up of independent
pharmacies and guilds governing their practice throughout much of the
European world.

FIRST REAL PHARMACOPOEIA

In 1498 there was issued in Florence the first real pharmacopoeia.
This was compiled by a commission appointed for the purpose. It
was made up mostly of the formulas of Galen, Mesué, Avicenna,
Rhazes and Nicholas Praepositus. A second pharmacopoeia appeared
at Barcelona in 1535. It not only contained formulas, but also the
rates at which drugs should be sold.

In the sixteenth century an “antidotary’”’ appeared in two volumes
by John Jacob Wecker. In the second volume, of almost 900 pages,
are printed thousands of formulas with the authorities for many, and
here are included most of the famous names in medicine for the
past 1,200 years. Here the Theriaca formula is attributed to Galen,
and it included 60 or more ingredients with a full page of directions of
manufacture. Because Theriaca was believed to be a specific cure
for the plague, it was largely in demand. Then came the compilation
of formulas by Valerius Cordus, published by the order of the city of
Nuremberg in 1546. This was more of a dispensatory type than a
pharmacopoeia, although it was long looked upon as the first real
pharmacopoeia.

A similar compilation of formulas appeared in 1564, known as the
Augsburg Pharmacopoeia, and it also had much influence over later
pharmacopoeias.

LONDON PHARMACOPOEIA

But now came an outstanding event in pharmacopoeia making—
the appearance of the First London Pharmacopoeia in 1618. It had
been sponsored by the College of Physicians of London, and special
committees were appointed as early as 1589, but these committees had
to be reorganized and it finally appeared almost 30 years later. It
contained 1,028 simple drugs and 932 preparations and was therefore
quite an extensive work.

It did not depend wholly upon the older formulas handed down for
centuries, but included many prescriptions attributed to contemporary
authorities. Here are found many familiar medicines of today, such
as potassium bitartrate, sulphur, potassium nitrate, calomel, lead
acetate, antimony oxide, aloe, calcium hydroxide, scamony and squill.
There were also many revolting substances, especially among the
animal drugs.

The appearance of the London Pharmacopoeia stimulated the
physicians of many other cities to issue pharmacopoeias. In the list

440 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1987

are Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, Edinburgh, Dublin, and others under
the names of countries, as Prussia, Saxony, Wiirttemberg, and Spain.

PHARMACOPOEIA OF THE UNITED STATES

It was chiefly the Pharmacopoeias of London and Edinburgh,
however, which inspired the first edition of our own United States
Pharmacopoeia.

To now turn to our own pharmacopoeia. We are accustomed,
in this generation, to seeing strings of the letters of the alphabet
everywhere we turn. This is so common that one wonders if there
might not be a deficiency and a need for new symbols to express the
many governmental or other activities constantly before the public.
This custom was widely established during the World War (1914—
18), largely in the British Army, but has developed to a maximum
in our own period of the New Deal (1933-36). However, long
before the alphabetic symbols of the World War or the New Deal
were thrust upon us there have been known and used by physicians
and pharmacists three significant letters. They are “U. S. P.”
Today these are often seen by the public, and should have a meaning
to the everyday man commensurate with the importance which
they hold in relation to health. “U.S.” naturally means the United
States. “P.”’ stands for a word long established but not often used
by the public—the word “Pharmacopoeia.”

These letters, “U.S. P.”’, are frequently found upon labels of medici-
nal substances. They follow the title and indicate that the material
in the package or bottle maintains the standards of strength and
purity established by the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. When
a pharmacist orders medicinal substances for use in manufacture or
in the filling of prescriptions, he usually writes “U. S. P.” on the
order. By this means he is assured of a high-grade product, uniform
in quality and suitable and safe for medicinal use. If, when the
layman enters a drug store and purchases certain of the commonly
used and well-established home medicines, he insists upon having
U. S. P. quality, there is the same protection for him as for those
connected with the professions.

Uniformity in quality such as is now insured by U. S. P. standards
was not always obtainable. The development of superior quality
and consequent efficiency in medicinal substances represents many
years of cooperative effort on the part of physicians, pharmacists,
and the Government. We are fortunate in having at our command
this accumulated experience and an organization which establishes
standards for medicine within the United States.

As has already been intimated, it was customary in the American
colonies for physicians and apothecaries to employ the pharmacopoeias
of Europe as the basis for the medicines. These were generally

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 4A]

recognized as standardized. In the English colonies, the Pharma-
copoeias of London and of Edinburgh were employed, but soon after
the establishment of the Republic the possibility of having a national
pharmacopoeia for the United States of America was recognized and
given serious consideration. What is often spoken of as the “First
American Pharmacopoeia” was a small book or formulary compiled
in 1778 by Dr. William Brown for use in the hospitals of the United
States Army. The limited scope of this publication accounted for
the failure to have its use extended into general medical practice.
However, the physicians in general practice were ambitious to estab-
lish their own standards, and in 1787 a committee of the College of
Physicians in Philadelphia was appointed for this purpose. There is
no record of any report from that committee.

In 1805 the Massachusetts Medical Society was responsible for
the issuance of what became known as the Massachusetts Pharma-
copoeia, but this had only a local use and also was limited in its
scope. In the main, the Massachusetts publication was based upon
the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. The subject continued to be agi-
tated, and various medical centers prepared preliminary compilations
embodying local or native plants, the Medical Society of South
Carolina having done this as early as 1798. The stimuli resulting
from the appearance of the pharmacopoeia sanctioned by the Medical
Society of Massachusetts was the nucleus for increased interest, and
in 1815 the physicians and surgeons of New York had organized for
the preparation of their own pharmacopoeia. This appeared in 1816.

To one man is universally give the credit for the inspiration and
the organizing ability which brought into existence the first edition
of our national pharmacopoeia. That man was Dr. Lyman Spalding.
He had long recognized the importance of this step and is known to
have discussed the question with Dr. Barton, of Philadelphia, while
visiting in that city in 1805. Dr. Barton was a professor of materia
medica and editor of the Medical and Physical Journal. His bo-
tanical gardens had at that time acquired world fame and in these
gardens he had particularly cultivated native medicinal plants.
Dr. Spalding presented a well-formulated plan to his New York
colleagues in January of 1817, and a committee was appointed to
assist him in developing the program. This committee met and
invited medical organizations in America and abroad to offer sug-
gestions and to lend their support. In accordance with their plan,
sectional conventions were called to consider the proposal to establish
a pharmacopoeia and each to send plans and outlines. Two of these
sectional conventions met; one in Boston and the second in Phila-
delphia. A third called as a ‘Southern Convention” failed to secure
a quorum, but arranged for delegates to attend the Washington
convention as did also those invited to form a ‘“‘Western Convention.”

31508—38——32

4492 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

At the preliminary meetings in Boston and in Philadelphia very com-
plete drafts for a proposed pharmacopoeia were prepared, the con-
tents being largely based upon the then current pharmacopoeias of
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.

MEETING OF 1820

Following out the plan, representatives of these sectional conven-
tions met in Washington, D. C., in the spring of 1820 and, after giving
consideration to the various proposals, appointed a committee to
write and edit the new Pharmacopoeia. Dr. Spalding assumed the
responsibility of chairmanship and editor, several meetings were held,
and the new pharmacopoeia was issued the following December.
This new book of standards received the general approval of the medical
profession, and while there were some criticisms, the start had been
made for national agreements upon the titles and quality of American
medicines. Over 100 of the titles in the primary list of medicinal
substances in this first pharmacopoeia have been carried forward into
succeeding revisions, showing the careful character of the selections
and the rather remarkable knowledge of medical substances at the
beginning of the nineteenth century.

One important feature of this book was the number of formulas
for chemical substances by which the apothecary could prepare or
purify them for medicinal use. The list of vegetable drugs consisted
mainly of titles and definitions with little effort further to standardize
the substances. There were, of course, formulas for making the
popular preparations of the day. In accordance with the traditions
of the profession as exemplified by the pharmacopoeias of that day,
the text was printed on the left-hand page in Latin, with the transla-
tion in English on the right-hand page.

A feature of Dr. Spalding’s original plan was the reassembling of
the convention in each succeeding decennial year for the considera-
tion of further revision of pharmacopoeial standards. This program
was carried through successfully from decade to decade, with a widen-
ing interest, and with the addition of pharmacists to the delegates
at the 1850 convention. From 1820 to 1870 the general style of the
Pharmacopoeia remained the same except for the omission of Latin,
beginning in 1840, and the addition of new medicines as these were
developed.

During this time the retail pharmacists made most of their prepara-
tions from selected raw material, often collecting their own vegetable
drugs, and there was no need for tests to prove that the official products
conformed to the standard. However, when the time came for the
preparation of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, a new condition was rapidly
developing. There had now grown up in the United States a number
of chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers who were selling ready-

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 443

made medicines to the retailer, and this relatively new problem made it
necessary to introduce tests and standards to check the products
which were being sold. This began a new phase in pharmacopoeial
activity and largely altered the appearance and character of the book.
There was the same careful selection of therapeutically important
substances, based upon the needs of the medical profession, and in
many instances there remained the manufacturing formulas for those
who desired to use them, but the outstanding new feature was a
series of tests and assays whereby the finished product could be
subjected to a check upon its quality and even rejected if there was
failure to meet the requirements.

With the expansion of the services of the manufacturing pharmacist
and chemist, the Pharmacopoeia dropped most of the methods of
production for chemicals and also many manufacturing processes for
pharmaceuticals. These were excluded because it was now no longer
possible to make them in the shop of the apothecary with any degree
of economy, but proportionally the tests for strength and quality in-
creased. Tests and assays have now been still further expanded and
are an essential part of the modern pharmacopoeia. Up to this
time, practically all of the important nations of the world had their
own pharmacopoeias. With the increase in travel throughout the
world there began to be agitated, during the latter part of the nine-
teenth century, the idea of an international effort for the standardi-
zation of medicines. The fact that patients who had secured medi-
cines in one country later had difficulty in having their prescriptions
renewed elsewhere was the excuse for such agitation. Great varia-
tions in the strength of preparations and even in the quality of drug
was shown to be true in different national pharmacopoeias, and con-
siderable effort was made to develop what would be known as an
international pharmacopoeia. But this did not meet with general
favor. This is natural, since national pride enters into the publica-
tion and also fundamental differences in the practices of various
nations, so that strong opposition developed immediately.

The nations were not able or willing to agree upon one book of
standards or formulas for medicines, and the idea of an international
pharmacopoeia was abandoned. However, there came a happy sug-
gestion, originated apparently by the pharmacists of Brussels. This
embodied the idea of setting up international agreements for specific
items, these to be the more potent medicines. On the invitation of
the Belgian Government, the various nations of the world were asked
to send delegates to Brussels to consider the establishment of such
standards, and the first conference was convened in 1902.

By the plan announced, no nations would be influenced or per-
suaded against their wills to adopt in their forthcoming pharmaco-
poeias the recommended strengths. On the other hand, there would

444 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

be many advantages to each nation to have uniformity in the strength
of the more potent remedies, and the plan met with wide favor—
retaining as it did the inherent integrity of each national standard.

By this agreement, all preparations containing arsenic were made
of uniform strength. Many other preparations which would be
poisonous if taken in excessive dose were brought to a uniform degree
of strength. For instance, a very important class of preparations—
the tinctures—were made of 10 percent strength for all of those which
were highly potent, including preparations of such drugs as digitalis,
capsicum, opium, aconite, etc. Prior to this agreement, the strengths
of potent tinctures varied from 5 to 50 percent, and the new uni-
formity thus eliminated the danger of abnormal dosage or inferior
therapeutic effects which might have resulted from the filling of a
foreign prescription in a local apothecary shop. Tinctures of less
active drugs were made 20 percent.

THE FEDERAL FOODS AND DRUGS ACT

During the first 80 years of the existence of the Pharmacopoeia of
the United States, conformity to its standards was voluntary. It
speaks well for the codes of ethics influencing the medical and phar-
maceutical professions that this national standard was widely fol-
lowed and the purpose of the pharmacopoeia thus carried out. How-
ever, for the maximum of efficiency, it was believed important to
enact laws which would enforce uniformity in standards. Several
States had undertaken the passage and the enforcement of such laws,
and the question became a national issue. Under the aggressive
leadership of Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry
of the Department of Agriculture, and with the enthusiastic support
of many physicians and pharmacists, there was introduced into Con-
gress and successfully passed what has become known as the Federai
Food and Drugs Act. This law was actually passed in 1906. Under
this legislation it is required that official medicinal substances shall
maintain the strength and conform to the purity standards of the
Pharmacopoeia when sold or dispensed as medicines under the official
names. There is a provision in the law which permits a modification
of the official standards if this act is clearly indicated upon the label.
This is known as the ‘‘variation clause’ and is intended to provide
for justifiable modifications in official standards such as half-strength
tincture of iodine. The basic principle underlying this law is repre-
sented by the principle that, “The product must always be true to
its label statement.”

Following the establishment of this national-drug law, which is
operative only in interstate commerce and in the District of Columbia
and the Territories, most States passed similar laws to enforce the

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 445

uniformity of standards for medicines within that State. Inspectors
were appointed and specially trained chemists having established
chemical laboratories were developed to enforce these laws, and a high
degree of uniformity in medicines was thus established. Recently,
Congress and the medical and drug world have been agitated by
proposals that the Federal Food and Drugs Act be revised to be
made more effective and also to include cosmetics within its scope.
So far this law has not been passed, although several drafts have
been given careful study and are now pending in Congress.

There is wide approval of such added legislation in the interest of
public health, and those who are affected have largely cooperated in
trying to develop appropriate and enforceable laws.

KEEPING THE STANDARDS MODERN

If the descriptions and formulas established for medicines in 1820
were in force today they would be entirely inadequate. New medicinal
products are constantly developed through the activities of medical
research. Should these prove to be important therapeutic agents,
they properly find a place in the next pharmacopoeia and they call
for properly developed standards. Products which have long been
official frequently need modified tests to control their degree of purity
or to better determine their strength. Again, added tests are some-
times needed to check newly discovered foreign substances which
appear in compounds, perhaps because of modifications in manufac-
turing procedure. In other words, there is a constant necessity for
reviewing the standards of older compounds as well as establishing
tests for those which are new.

In the last Pharmacopoeial Convention, held in 1930, the delegates
were mostly from the national and State associations and the colleges
of both medicine and pharmacy. There were also representatives of
the departments of the Government interested in health. These del-
egates developed the general policies governing the pharmacopoeial
revision and also elected the members of the committee of revision
to revise the standards and a board of trustees to direct the business
side of the organization. The committee of revision of the present
pharmacopoeia numbers 51 with a large group of auxiliary members
selected for their special ability or knowledge in specific scientific
fields. The medical members of the committee are largely held re-
sponsible, in the initial stages of revision, for selecting the medicinal
substances which are considered of sufficient importance to be officially
recognized,

The other members of the committee are pharmacists, chemists,
botanists, bacteriologists and others representing the many related
sciences. These members assume the responsibility for fixing stand-

446 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

ards for those substances which are admitted. There is need for
thorough knowledge of the botanical characteristics of drugs and the
setting up of standards for these. Here the microscope is an important
scientific instrument in determining the quality and identity of the
drug. The plant structure or some specific microchemical test giving
distinctive colors or crystals or reactions enter into the preparation
of standards.

In a number of instances where there are specific crystalline prin-
ciples of the alkaloidal type, as in cinchona, which contains quinine
and related alkaloids, as in nux vomica with its active principle
strychnine, or in opium with morphine, codeine, etc., as the active
agents, or in drugs of a similar character, tests are required by which
these highly potent crystalline principles are extracted and their quan-
tity actually weighed or otherwise estimated. This method of pro-
cedure is known as a “proximate assay.”

In other drugs the activities are represented by substances which
cannot be extracted or weighed but the potency must be measured
by their action on animals. For instance, the very important drug
ergot has within it various alkaloidal substances which produce dis-
tinctive physiologic effects upon living tissue. One test, which has
been widely used, depends upon the effect of one of these principles
upon the comb of a rooster. The change is due to the contraction of
the capillaries or small blood vessels in the comb, causing it to become
darker in color, and the degree to which this is affected by known
quantities of the drug, in comparison with a standard, is one means
for determining its potency. Other biological tests, registering the
actual effect of a drug upon an animal or one of its organs, must
be used for the standardization of digitalis, aconite, pituitary,
epinephrine and similar important and powerful drugs. In other
cases, the absence of toxicity in a chemical such as arsphenamine is
determined by injecting the substance into mice to assure freedom
from dangerously toxic substances which might otherwise prove
fatal to a patient. Other medicinal agents, chemical in nature, are
standardized by many ingenious tests.

Frequently a reagent will bring about a distinctive color or a
precipitation or cause some other reaction which indicates identity.
Then the substance is usually tested for foreign substances or adul-
terants and again distinctive reactions result when standard reagents
are added, and these indicate the absence or the presence of such for-
eign substances.

In the manufacturing of chemicals there is always danger of
introducing foreign materials. These may come from the apparatus
used in manufacture, or from the chemical substances entering the
process, or from other causes. So there are usually tests to exclude

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 447

common adulterants. Another series of tests for almost all chemical
substances deals with the identity of the product,

Chemicals are also frequently assayed by quantitative methods
to determine their percentage of purity. Sometimes this is a simple
chemical reaction such as the neutralizing of an acid with an appro-
priate amount of standard alkali, the indicator showing by color the
point of neutrality and the calculation proving the degree of purity.
Other assays are much more complex but the objective is identical
and the tests so applied that excessive amounts of foreign substances
will be detected or the official quality of the material under investiga-
tion verified. Frequently the ingenuity of the chemist is tried to a
high degree in maintaining accuracy and skill in carrying out these
tests. Some assays are relatively simple, as for instance in the oint-
ment of mercury in which the fatty vehicle is dissolved by a suitable
solvent, leaving the metallic mercury which can be dried and weighed
to determine the strength of the original ointment.

In recent years, a new series of tests have been developed dealing
with the vitamin activity of cod-liver oil. Only a few years ago it
was demonstrated that there existed in this remarkable oil at least
two factors which were essential for health. A deficiency of either
of these in humans, and especially in children, is often the cause of
serious physical defects. The amount which is present in the oil
under examination is determined by feeding it in measured amounts
to rats which have been kept on a diet free from the vitamin under
test, and with the animal consequently suffering the characteristic
deficiency diseases. The amount necessary to restore the animal to
health indicates the amount of the vitamin present. The results of
such assays are based upon the average of a number of tests and can
only be decided when they have been carried out over many weeks
of experimentation.

That these official tests for identity, purity, and strength may be
effectively carried out, by both the producer of a product and the
officials enforcing these standards, there is the necessity of thorough
training and experience for the scientist carrying out the tests. This
army of experts, guarding the manufacturer and his products, and
those supporting the activities of officers of inspection in the Federal
and State Governments, represent a large group of scientific experts
who are actively engaged in an important part of the health program.

The members of the committee of revision serve voluntarily as a
contribution to the professions and to public welfare. This principle
of voluntary service brings about an unusual degree of cooperation
between the enforcement officials of the Government and the manu-
facturers of medicinal products and the experts in these fields asso-
ciated with colleges and universities.

448 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
NATIONALRPORMULARY

While emphasis has been placed upon the Pharmacopoeia as the
book which fixes the standards for medicines within the United States,
a second book called “The National Formulary” (abbreviated “N.
F.”’) is also recognized under the Food and Drug Acts, and medicinal
products sold under titles found in that book must conform to its
standards unless a variation is clearly indicated on the label.

The U. S. P. and N. F. are not duplicates, but each occupies a
distinctive place in the medical field. The contents of the pharma-
copoeia have always represented a selection of those therapeutically
active agents which, in the judgment of the revision committee, were
the most important of the decade in which the Pharmacopoeia was
issued. It also recognized such other substances as might be needed
to standardize or from which to prepare these selected medicines.

The Pharmacopoeia also restricted most of its therapeutic agents
to “simples” rather than to combinations of these on the theory that
a physician should write a prescription for each patient, combining
the medicines, whether chemical or other substances, in the propor-
tion and with the vehicle which he believed best suited to that
particular patient.

The National Formulary, on the other hand, admitted and stand-
ardized other medicines which were sometimes used by physicians but
which were not believed to be of sufficient importance or suitable for
admission to the U. S. P. The N. F. also admitted some prepara-
tions of U. S. P. simples in the form of solutions or combinations,
already prepared and suitable for the physician to prescribe without
devising his own prescription. The N. F. also contained many older
drugs and preparations for which there was some demand and a few
new preparations which had not yet been sufficiently proven to
receive pharmacopoeial acceptance.

These two books, through their combined policies, are expected to
include and standardize the medicines which are most frequently
prescribed by physicians within the United States, but as they can-
not give recognition to patented or trade-marked medicines, or those
which are secret, there are many other medicinal products sold within
the United States under private brands for which there is no official
standard. However, under the Food and Drugs Acts, these unofficial
products must conform to the claims made for them by the manu-
facturer and, while this is frequently evaded by the omission from
the label of any specific statement as to strength or purity, the law
operates effectively in some instances, especially when the product is
a pill or tablet of an official substance and its strength must, of
necessity, be given.

Another present-day publication should also be mentioned, although
it is not an official publication and its standards are not enforceable

STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES—COOK 449

under the Food and Drugs Act. This is the “New and Nonofficial
Remedies”’ of the American Medical Association.

This book lists mostly proprietary medicines, but only those which
comply with rigidly established rules which are enforced by the
council on pharmacy and chemistry of the American Medical Asso-
ciation. These rules require the elimination of all secrets as to
identity and composition. They also regulate the type of advertising
which may be used for nonprofessional publicity. All false or mis-
leading claims must be avoided and the title must be acceptable to
the council and must not suggest its use in treating disease through
self-medication.

The force of this publication resides in the desire of the owner of
the product to occupy a favorable position before the physicians
of the country and in this respect it has rendered an important service
to the medical world through the maintaining of bigh standards of
purity and promotion for many medicines which could not be con-
trolled by the Food and Drugs Act under the U.S. P. or N. F.

Still another publication should be given recognition in the field of
medical standards. This is the Official and Tentative Methods of
Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. This
is a compilation of standards and analytical methods published by
the A. O. A. C. and accredited by the Secretary of Agriculture of the
United States for use in the enforcement of food and drug standards
in actions before the courts. The methods for testing were primarily
for food, but methods for testing unofficial drugs and preparations,
especially tablets, have been added and thus establish an additional
basis for the standardization of modern medicines.

THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

An explanation of the observations of the so-called Brussels
‘Conference has already been made. ‘This first met in 1902 and a
second session in 1925. The international character of this conference
is indicated by the fact that in 1925 the representatives of 32 nations
participated. As has been explained, the Brussels Conference agreed
upon uniformity in standards for potent medicines, also upon the parts
and varieties of the drugs to be used and established international
titles. These recommendations were left to voluntary adoption by
the participating nations in their forthcoming standards. Needless
to say, they have been widely accepted.

A new step in international standardization was brought about
through the establishment of a Health Organization as a division of
the League of Nations. This group has been particularly interested
in the establishment of international standards for a class of medicines
which are evaluated by testing on animals. It has undertaken the

450 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

distribution of these throughout the world as a basis for uniformity in
standards. In the biological division of the organization, inter-
national standards have been set up for digitalis and posterior pituitary
and also for the unit value for vitamins A and D, for vitamin B! and
for vitamin C and for the oestrus-producing or ovarian hormone.
International standards have also been adopted for some of the
biologicals including diphtheria antitoxin and tetanus antitoxin and
also for arsphenamine and insulin. This international service is being
utilized by the pharmacopoeias of the world in the establishment of a
uniformity in potency for these very important medicines.

PROPOSED SECRETARYSHIP ON PHARMACOPOEIAS FOR THE
LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The latest move for international agreement on pharmacopoeial
standards is an outgrowth of the last Brussel’s Conference. This is
the proposal that there shall be established as a division of the Health
Organization of the League of Nations an office under the supervision
of an international secretary for pharmacopoeias under whose direction
there can be assembled for the benefit of all nations the scientific facts
which have a bearing upon the standardization of medicinal substances.
At the present time each national pbharmacopoeial commission is com-
pelled to assemble this information independently and of necessity
with a varying degree of completeness. If this were done for all the
nations of the world through this international organization, such a
compilation of literature and experimental data could be issued to
the participating nations in the language which they could use, and
thus another workable phase of international cooperation would be
established, contributing to the general health of all nations.

THE HEALING PROPERTIES OF ALLANTOIN AND UREA
DISCOVERED THROUGH THE USE OF MAGGOTS IN
HUMAN WOUNDS!

By Witi1aAmM RoBinson

A few years ago Dr. William S. Baer (1929) presented a new and
unusual treatment of slow-healing wounds such as the persistent and
widespread bone disease known as osteomyelitis. Sterile blowfly
maggots were placed directly into wounds that had failed to heal
under other treatments, and after a few applications of maggots the
wounds in general became cleaner and healing began to take place.

In the early work of Dr. Baer and his associates, Dr. F. C. Bishopp,
of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, was called upon
to aid in the development of methods of producing surgically sterile
maggots in ample quantity for the surgeon’s use. From this early
beginning entomologists have continued investigational work in this
field.

The present report is a popular review of the subject to date. The
original articles describing in detail the nature of the research and
the results obtained have been published chiefly in medical journals
listed at the end of the paper.

The Baer maggot treatment attracted considerable attention, and
spread rapidly throughout the United States and into Mexico, South
America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia.

Such a novel method as this aroused a good deal of interest in the
manner in which maggots could produce beneficial results in stubborn
discharging wounds. In nature the maggots feed upon dead and
decaying animal material, and this loathsome habit naturally sug-
gested that in wounds the maggots remove necrotic tissue and pus.
Robinson and Norwood (19383) found further that the maggots are
able to digest and destroy pus-forming bacteria. These habits would
account for the cleaner condition of the wound and thereby make it
more favorable for healing. The progress of healing in resistant cases
of long standing was sometimes outstanding, however, and indicated
that the maggots were not only acting as scavengers but were actually
injecting a potent healing substance into the wound.

1 Contribution from the Division of Insects Affecting Man and Animals, Bureau of Entomology and

Plant Quarantine, U. 8S. Department of Agriculture.
451

452 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

A search for this healing agent was therefore attempted. On the
one hand was the interesting phenomenon of blowfly maggots appar-
ently producing something that stimulates healing in human wounds.
On the other hand was the biological certainty that maggots would
not do this merely to benefit their host. Throughout all nature no
organism does anything primarily to benefit an unrelated individual.
Any good effect arising from the association must be the result of a
secondary or involuntary act. In the case of maggots this would
include the function of excretion. As the fecal and urinary products
of maggots are abundant and conspicuous, a study of them was
undertaken first.

By means of a simple correlation the problem became further
clarified. In the first place, it was commonly known that the appli-
cation of macerated embryonic tissues to nonhealing wounds has
frequently hastened healing; and the presence of allantoic fluid in the
embryos suggested the main constituent, allantoin.

It was also known that in the urine of many mammals allantoin is
present. True it had not been reported in insects, but uric acid,
from which allantoin is oxidized, is conspicuously present. With
these facts as a basis a search was made for allantoin in the excretions
of blowfly maggots.

By the following procedure maggot excretions were readily ob-
tained in sufficient quantity to permit identification of allantoin:
Several thousand nearly full-grown maggots were reared under both
aseptic and nonsterile conditions. They were placed in glass funnels
which were stoppered with cotton and half filled with small glass
beads to prevent overcrowding of the maggots. The maggots were
occasionally sprayed lightly with water from an atomizer to facilitate
drainage. The excretions were allowed to drip into beakers for 3 to
4 hours. With sterile maggots aseptic technique had to be used
throughout the collecting process. A chemical analysis of the liquid
showed allantoin to be present. From 20 ce lots of both sterile and
nonsterile liquid, allantoin was separated in the crystalline condition,
purified, and finally identified by comparison of its melting point and
its optical crystallographic properties with those of an authentic
sample.”

Interest was added to the investigation by finding about this time
an article by Macalister (1912) written 22 years previously in Eng-
land, stating that he had used allantoin successfully in the treatment
of chronic ulcers. He had obtained it from the roots of a plant
called comfrey. The original discovery of the healing properties of
allantoin by Macalister met with little response at that time, and,
unfortunately, was soon forgotten.

1 The isolation and identification of allantoin in these experiments were performed by Dr. E. P. Clark,

of the Division of Insecticide Investigations of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, and
Dr. G. L. Keenan, of the Food and Drug Administration, U. 8. Department of Agriculture.

ALLANTOIN AND UREHA—ROBINSON 453

The amount of allantoin in maggot excretions is too small and the
process of extraction too involved to make its use practical. More-
over, there is the natural dislike of a drug obtained that way. For-
tunately, pure allantoin prepared synthetically for academic purposes
was available in the United States. It is very slightly and slowly
soluble in water, 0.6 percent being saturation. In these experiments
a 0.5 percent solution was used.

In cooperation with hospitals in Washington, New York, and Pitts-
burgh, the effect of allantoin in stimulating healing was carefully
tested. It was applied on gauze dressings thoroughly wetted with
the solution and renewed daily. The types of wounds treated were
chronic varicose ulcers, chronic osteomyelitis, and nonhealing heat
burns. After a few daily applications it became evident that allan-
toin was bringing about an improvement in the wound similar to that
produced by maggots. The odor was reduced, the wound became
cleaner, and small areas of normal pinkish granulation tissue could be
seen growing in the wound. This was followed in most cases by a
general development of such granulation tissue.

The method of preparing allantoin solution for use was to heat a
liter of sterile water to near the boiling point, then to add 5 grams
of allantoin crystals and gently heat without boiling until all the
crystals were dissolved. The preparation of a water solution should
be done with reasonably aseptic precautions, as the solution cannot
be autoclaved or boiled. Most commercial brands of the solution
now contain a disinfectant. Allantoin is stable, mild, and soothing,
and the solution has no taste or odor.

Allantoin is a substance occurring naturally in animal tissues, and
it is also widely distributed among plants. It is a metabolic product
and generally regarded as waste material. When the nucleus of the
cell breaks down it yields nucleic acid, and gradually through a process
of simplification uric acid is produced. Man and the manlike apes
are unable to split uric acid any further, and it is, therefore, excreted
in the urine in that form. Strangely enough, other mammals have
in their tissues an enzyme called uricase, which oxidizes uric acid one
step further, and the result is the formation of allantoin, a stable end
product of metabolism. Many kinds of plants produce allantoin in
various parts of their structure.

After a considerable number of chronic purulent cases had been
treated successfully and with no evidence of irritation or other harmful
effects, a preliminary report was published in the Journal of Bone and
Joint Surgery in April 1935 (Robinson, 1935). This was done to
acquaint medical readers of our findings and to enlarge the scope of
the clinical tests. The result of this report, however, was altogether
unexpected. Newspapers and journals took the story and at intervals
throughout the following year published accounts of it in their pages.

454 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

This led to waves of publicity on the healing properties of allantoin
and aroused a vast amount of interest in the subject. As a conse-
quence a large number of physicians and surgeons obtained allantoin
and used it clinically. At the same time many inquiries came in from
people who wanted to treat themselves.

Thus from a beginning in which only a few cases of burns and ulcers
were treated experimentally, the use of allantoin became extended to
include treatment by the medical profession of purulent infections
of the eye, middle ear, nose, and mouth, chronic osteomyelitis of all
bones, eczema, severe sunburn, pruritis, diabetic and varicose ulcers,
and suppurating heat and X-ray burns.

To illustrate further the remarkable healing properties of allantoin,
without going into too much detail, but to show the wide range of
wounds which respond to the treatment, a few typical cases are de-
scribed from information supplied by our medical cooperators.

An elderly woman had an infected eye removed, and despite every
treatment to reduce the infection of the eye socket it failed to heal and
continued to discharge for 2 years. Finally, when the socket was
packed with wet allantoin dressings it responded promptly and healed
in less than 3 weeks.

Following extraction of a diseased molar tooth in a man, the
jawbone became infected. Two operations for removal of dead bone
and subsequent treatment for 9 months failed to check the discharge
and bring about healing. Allantoin solution was then used and
brought about a cessation of the purulent discharge and complete
healing in 2 months.

Diabetic ulcers of the foot are very unpleasant and difficult condi-
tions to treat, especially when the patient has to continue actively on
his feet. Such ulcers frequently resist healing despite the best of
treatment. With such a background of failure to heal, an application
of allantoin ointment inside a protective pad enabled a patient to be
treated without going to bed and resulted in satisfactory healing.

A man with chronic discharging X-ray burns of the foot had tried
many kinds of treatment without avail, and for several years walked
with the aid of crutches. After using allantoin solution for 2 months,
he was so far recovered that he discarded crutches and used only a
cane. Further treatment during the next few months enabled him
to walk normally without support.

Following an operation for removal of a kidney from a woman, the
incision, which had partially healed, broke down with considerable
discharge, odor, and pain, and remained resistant to all types of treat-
ment for 3 weeks. Daily packing of the wound with allantoin solution
brought about considerable relief and complete healing within 10 days.

It is now nearly 4 years since allantoin was first used clinically in the
United States. In that time no report appears to have been made of

ALLANTOIN AND UREA—ROBINSON 455

any harmful effect being found. A few published reports of results
are beginning to appear in the medical literature (Greenbaum, 1936;
Kaplan, 1937; Nicholl, 1987; Rice, 1936; Sussman, 1937).

The publicity that was given so frequently by the press to the
discovery of the healing properties of allantoin interested not only the
medical profession and the laity in its use but also a number of chemi-
cal and pharmaceutical concerns in its production. Within a few
months allantoin was offered to the medical profession in crystalline
form, in solution, in ointment, and in surgical jelly preparations, and
it is now being sold in tablet form with okra for the treatmentof
stomach ulcers. In the ointment and jelly preparations allantoin
must be dissolved and concentrated in hot water and then incor-
porated with the other materials which make up the base. Green-
baum (1936) describes the process in detail. An ointment made
merely by adding pulverized allantoin crystals to an ointment base
already prepared was once placed on the market for a short time.
Such mixtures are ineffective, especially when a greasy base is used,
because of the insolubility of allantoin except in hot water. Through
the enterprise of pharmaceutical industries there is now no difficulty
in obtaining allantoin products in any part of the United States.
Over 80 allantoin preparations have been advertised for medical use.

The amount of allantoin being used medicinally in its various prepa-
rations is rather surprising. According to authentic sales reports,
about 300,000 grams of synthetic allantoin crystals are now being
produced annually. This amount would make over 140,000 pints of
0.4 percent solution, the usual concentration used clinically, or over
500,000 ounces of 2-percent ointment. It remains to be seen whether
the popularity of allantoin will continue or whether it will suffer the
fate of many other new drugs and eventually fall into disuse. At any
rate, the present response to its discovery in maggot secretions is in
strong contrast to the reception given to its previous discovery by
Macalister in the roots of comfrey.

The effectiveness of allantoin in stimulating healing, now being
established, led to the possibility that other substances with thera-
peutic properties might also be found in maggot excretions. The
graphic chemical formula for allantoin is:

NH-CH-NH-CO-NH;
oG |
NH-CO
The side chain NH-CO-NH, upon hydrolysis through the addition of
H from water easily forms urea, NH.-CO-NH>. Urea is present in
maggot excretions and was therefore considered as a possible healing
substance,

456 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

According to Marshall and Davis (1914) and Fearon (1926) urea is
present in all organs and tissues of the body. In the blood and
lymph its concentration is usually between 0.02 and 0.03 percent.
The common occurrence of urea in the tissues and the harmlessness of
it made it another interesting substance for experimental study.
Through the interest and cooperation of a number of physicians and
surgeons a weak solution (1 percent) of urea in water was given
preliminary clinical tests. This concentration was later changed to
2 percent. The same types of chronic discharging wounds were
treated as with allantoin.

After a number of applications it became apparent that, like allan-
toin, urea possesses remarkable healing characteristics. The odor of
the wounds was decreased, they became cleaner, and healing pro-
ceeded promptly. In order that the urea treatment might be given
more extensive tests, the number of our medical cooperators was
considerably increased. ‘The treatment was applied by them to a
great variety of chronic nonhealing conditions, and the beneficial
results appeared to be somewhat similar to those obtained with
allantoin.

Beyond the fact that allantoin and urea have healing qualities
apparently similar in their action, it has not been shown that the effect
of allantoin is due to the hydrolysis of its side chain to form urea.
That conception merely initiated an investigation on urea. Allantoin
may bring about its effects through a different set of reactions.

One of the reactions of allantoin, however, is its hydration by an
enzyme called allantoinase. This enzyme was discovered and named
by Fosse and Brunel (1929) in the soybean and later found in a variety
of plant and animal tissues, including some insects. Allantoinase
reacts upon allantoin by the addition of 1 molecule of water to form
allantoic acid, as follows:

NH—CH—NH—C O—NH3 NH:;—C O—NH—C H—NH—C O—NH3
| |
oc +H,:0=> CooH
| Allantoin
NH—CO Allantoic acid

Strangely enough, whereas allantoin has one side chain NH—CO—NH,
allantoic acid has two. Allantoinase is not known to occur in
mammalian tissues.

The usual conception as to the occurrence of urea in the animal
body appears to be that it is a waste product only and an efficient
means of eliminating excess nitrogen. Owing to this deeply rooted
belief, it has been, and still is, difficult for intellectual and scientific
persons to grasp the fact that urea is not merely a waste product.
The peasantry of Europe and similar classes throughout the world
have for ages availed themselves of the healing properties of urine,
and are today still using urine on wounds for that purpose. Fre-

ALLANTOIN AND UREA—ROBINSON A577

quently in the folklore and sometimes in essays and historical writings
references have been made to this practice. Such statements have
been traced through medieval times back to the writings of Cato,
175 B. C. Records have been found tending to show that even the
ancient Babylonians, about 800 B. C., indulged in the same practice.
Since the main constitutent of urine, next to water, is urea, in about
2 percent concentration, this ancient remedy for nonhealing wounds
now appears to be basically sound.

The method of applying the urea treatment in our experimental
work was on gauze dressings thoroughly wetted with 2 percent solu-
tion, the same as in the allantoin treatment. Urea is a stable, bland,
and nontoxic substance, and no report of any ill effect from the treat-
ment has been received. It is very soluble in water and a concentra-
tion as high as 40 percent is possible. Many kinds of bacteria contain
an enzyme called urease, which breaks down urea and releases
ammonia. For that reason sterile water should be used if the solution
is to be kept for some time.

A report published in the American Journal of Surgery, August 1936
(Robinson, 1936), on the remarkable healing properties of such a
common excretory substance as urea again interested many of the
newspapers and journals in the United States, and once more a con-
siderable amount of publicity was given to these experiments. The
result was a wide trial of urea by the medical profession and, happily,
with confirmation of our results. An article by Bogart (1937) on
his successful use of urea has already appeared in the medical press.
He refers to the outstanding healing effects he obtained when other
methods had failed, and concludes as follows: “It seems reasonable
to assume that a new and very potent factor in the healing of indolent
wounds has been added to the armamentarium of the surgeon.” Still
more recently Lewy (1937) has reported beneficial results with 2
percent urea solution in the treatment of infected conditions of the
nose, ear, and throat.

Nevertheless, a certain amount of skepticism naturally exists that
urea has such healing properties as described. Holder and MacKay
(1937) suggest that we are mistaken in attributing healing character-
istics to urea. They obtained good results with strong urea solutions
but believe it to be due solely to the solvent and bacteriostatic action
of strong urea.

The tendency to doubt that urea has healing powers and the neg-
lect of this potent agent, despite the extensive background of usage
in urine, become still more pronounced when contrasted with the
general acceptance of its numerous and remarkable uses in industry
and pharmacy, as described by Berliner (1936). This skepticism and
neglect are no doubt due to the long association of urea with animal
excretions. Urea is, however, of common occurrence in plants, some

31508—88——33

458 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of which are used as food. Fourcroy and Vauquelin (1798), who
discovered urea, found it first in urine and unfortunately called it
“urée.”’ The stigma attached to urea could possibly be removed
through a fuller knowledge of its chemistry and its remarkable posi-
tion in physiology and industry.

Urea was the first organic substance ever to be produced artificially.
This historic achievement by Woéhler (1828), over a century ago, was
a discovery of far-reaching importance. It opened the way to the
preparation of other organic substances the number of which has now
grown to an enormous extent. It also shattered the belief commonly
held at that time that organic substances are the result of a mysteri-
ous vital force which could not be duplicated in the laboratory.
Werner (1923) said that if the amount of study devoted to the chem-
istry of a subject is any indication of its importance, then urea must
take a high place in that regard.

Under the present circumstances, since urea is now being used
clinically, it might be well to remember that the urea of commerce
and pharmacy is a manufactured product made by combining
two synthetic gases, ammonia and carbon dioxide, to form urea,
CO (NH,2)s, a pure crystalline product. Chemically pure urea made by
this process is now being produced commercially in the United States,
and thousands of tons are used annually. Its cheapness is greatly in
its favor for extensive clinical use. It can be purchased at this time
in 1-pound bottles at 50 cents and in 20-pound containers at 18 cents
a pound. In 100-pound moisture-proof sacks the price is reduced to
the extremely low figure of 5 cents a pound. In concentrations of 2
to 10 percent the cost of daily applications to each patient is, there-
fore, so slight as to be almost negligible. Bogart (1937) bas used it
in strong solution, and even in crystalline form in some very resistant
cases, with good results. Even in these concentrations the cost of
daily treatments is exceedingly slight.

Owing to the low price of commercial urea, it appears to be practi-
cal to make up a dilute solution of it in a bathtub (Robinson, 1936)
for treatment of cases of extensive secondary infections of the skin
following an injury by poisonous plants, insect attack, heat burns, or
sunburn. Extensive applications of this sort have already been made
on a small scale with good results in the treatment of certain general-
ized skin conditions, As there is a wide range in the concentration of
urea that can be used effectively, no exact amount appears to be
necessary when making up a solution in a tub. Two double handfuls
of the crystals have been found to make a satisfactory concentration.
It should be remembered that when urea is added to water the tem-
perature is lowered somewhat.

Urea in amounts up to 10 or 15 percent can be incorporated with
ointment or jelly bases with great ease. It is merely added to the

ALLANTOIN AND UREA—ROBINSON 459

bases and thoroughly mixed. It goes at once into solution in the
water that is present.

Despite the cheapness of urea and the ease with which it can be
made into a pharmaceutical product, it is still unpopular. At the
present time only four urea preparations are known to have been
made.

Both allantoin and urea when undissolved are white in color and
crystalline in form. In solution they are colorless and odorless.
Allantoin, having no taste, is especially acceptable for treatment in
the mouth and is now being used extensively for that purpose. Suss-
man (1937) has recently published a series of case histories on the
successful use of allantoin in the treatment of resistant infections of
the mouth. Weak solutions of urea, from 1 to 2 percent, have only
a mildly unpleasant taste, not enough to make them unsuitable for
oral use, and such solutions are giving excellent results. In some
cases where the taste is objectionable a flavoring material is added.

Neither allantoin nor dilute urea has any direct bactericidal prop-
erty; yet the bacterial count usually goes down in a purulent wound
when either of these materials is applied. They have no proteolytic
or dissolving action, but necrotic material in discharging wounds
begins to disappear and the wound becomes cleaner under treatment.
Such effects, therefore, cannot be attributed to any direct activity
of these healing agents. It has been observed repeatedly, however,
that they do stimulate growth of granulation tissue having an abun-
dant blood supply. The probability is, therefore, that the cleansing of
the wound is produced indirectly through the stimulation of an under-
lying growth of healthy granulation tissue.

The fate of a new drug is typically uncertain. Sometimes its
merits are overemphasized and early reports of good results cannot be
duplicated. Not fulfilling expectations, it frequently falls into dis-
repute. It was this that led a professor of pharmacology to say to
his students: ‘Gentlemen, make haste to use a drug while it is new.”

The truth cannot be avoided that allantoin once fell by the wayside.
This was not because of disappointment in results but through neglect.
With its merits still untested except by Macalister and his associates,
it became forgotten. No use appears to have been made of its healing
powers in the World War which began 2 years later; and no mention
of it has been found in any works on pharmacology, therapeutics, or
pathology. Strangely enough, the reappearance of allantoin as a
therapeutic substance has been in strong contrast to its original dis-
covery. This time, being accompanied by an unusual amount of
publicity, the opportunity to test it thoroughly has been possible.

Urea, however, is in a class by itself for large-scale treatments,
either civilian or military. Its cheapness, its availability in ton lots
if desired, the ease with which it goes into solution, its harmlessness

460 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

even in strong concentrations, and its effectiveness in stimulating
healing make urea an unusually interesting therapeutic agent. One
might conjecture what its effect might have been had it been used
during the World War. If allantoin sales do begin to diminish, one
need not look far for a cause—the qualities of its extraordinary chemi-
cal associate, urea

REFERENCES

Barr, W. S.
1929. The use of a viable antiseptic in the treatment of osteomyelitis.
South. Med. Journ., vol. 22, pp. 582-583.
BERLINER, J. F. T.
1936. Crystal urea. Its industrial uses. Chem. Indus., vol. 38, pp. 237-242.
Bogart, L. M.
1937. Urea. Its use in infections. Journ. Mich. State Med. Soc., vol. 36,
pp. 285-287.
Cato, Marcus Porcivus
234-249 B. C. De re rustica. (English translation by Hooper and Ash.
Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1934.)
Fearon, W. R.
1926. The biochemistry of urea. Physiol. Rev., vol. 6, pp. 399-439.
Fosse, R., and Brunet, A.
1929. Un nouveau ferment. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], vol. 188, pp.
426-428.
Fourcroy and VAUQUELIN
1798. L’Histoire naturelle chimique et médicale de l’urine humaine, conte-
nant quelques faits nouveaux sur son analyse et sur son altération
spontanée. Ann. Chim., vol. 31, pp. 48-71.
GREENBADM, F, R.
1936. Allantoin, a new granulation tissue stimulating substance with especial
emphasis on allantoin in ointment form. Amer. Journ. Surg., vol.
34 [n. s.], pp. 259-265.
Houper, H. G., and McKay, E. M.
1937. The use of urea in the treatment of infected wounds. Journ. Amer.
Med. Assoc., vol. 108, pp. 1167-1169.
Kapuan, T.
1937. The allantoin treatment of ulcers. Journ. Amer. Med. Assoc., vol.
108, pp. 968-969.
Lewy, R. B.
1937. Use of urea in disease of the ear, nose, and throat. Arch. Otolaryn-
gology, vol. 26, 195-199.
Macauister, C. J.
1912. A new cell proliferant. Its clinical application in the treatment of
ulcers. Brit. Med. Journ., vol. 1, pp. 10-12.
Marsnatl, E. K., and Davis, D. M.
1914. Urea. Its distribution in and elimination from the body. Journ.
Biol. Chem., vol. 18, pp. 53-80.
NicHo.t, R. G.
1937. Maggot therapy and allantoin. Journ. Amer. Osteopath. Assoc.,
vol. 36, pp. 345-346.
Rice, E. C.
1936. Diabetic ulcers and their treatment in podiatry, with special reference
to use of allantoin and 2% urea. Journ. Nat. Assoc. Chirop., vol.
26, pp. 1-2, 30-32.

ALLANTOIN AND UREA—ROBINSON 461

Rosinson, W.

1935. Stimulation of healing in nonbealing wounds by allantoin occurring in
maggot secretions and of wide biological distribution. Journ.
Bone and Joint Surg., vol. 17, pp. 267-271.

1936. Use of urea to stimulate healing in chronic purulent wounds. Amer.
Journ. Surg., vol. 33 [n. s.], pp. 192-197.

Roginson, W., and Norwoop, V. H.

1933. The role of surgical maggots in the disinfection of osteomyelitis and
other infected wounds. Journ. Bone and Joint Surg., vol. 15, pp.
409-412.

SussMavN, S.
1937. Allantoin. Dental Items of Interest, June 1937.
WERNER, E. A.

1923. The chemistry of urea, the theory of its constitution, and of the origin
and mode of its formation in living organisms. Jn Monographs on
Biochemistry. 212 pp. London.

WoateER, F’.

1828. La formation artificielle de l’urée. Ann. Chim. et Phys., vol. 37, pp.

330-334.

THE AIMS OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE !

By Tuomas Parran, M. D., Par. D.
Surgeon General Public Health Service U.S. A.

It is a signal honor for any member of my profession to be honored
by this venerable and vigorous institution of learning. I accept this
degree with profound gratitude and appreciation, recognizing that it is
less of a personal tribute than it is a recognition of the growing im-
portance of the specialty which I represent.

Like the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy whose one hundred and
sixteenth anniversary we are celebrating today, the Public Health
Service had its birth here in Philadelphia. It was in 1798 when John
Adams was President, that Congress passed “‘an act for the relief of
sick and disabled seamen.’”’ Under its provisions a deduction of 20
cents per month was made from the wages of each seaman on the
merchant ships of the United States. The funds were deposited with
the collector of customs in a marine hospital fund and used to build and
operate a series of hospitals in the principal ports.

This was the beginning of a Federal medical service, and, inciden-
tally, the first health insurance system. In the latter connection it is
interesting to note that after operating for nearly a hundred years as a
contributory scheme, financed by employee contributions through a
pay-roll check-off, it was replaced by a tonnage tax on the ships, viz,
employer payments, and later supported by general taxation, viz,
State medicine. The terms “health insurance” and ‘‘State medicine”’
had not yet been coined. In fact they now connote new and radical
departures in medical practice, yet since 1798 we have had one or the
other form of socialized medicine for this one group of wage earners.
From this disconnected system of marine hospitals, a national Marine
Hospital Service grew. The doctors in these hospitals frequently were
the first to diagnose and treat exotic diseases. Because of this they
were consulted by local health authorities when yellow fever or cholera
threatened. The earlier system of State-operated quarantine stations
lacked uniformity, and by 1893, it became obvious that this should be a
Federal function.

1 An address delivered at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, Philadelphia, Pa.,

Founder’s Day, February 23, 1937. Reprinted by permission from the American Journal of Pharmacy,
March 1937.

463

464 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19387

Because public health itself is a new concept, it was not until
1908 that the name “Public Health’ was added to this 100-year-
old service. Since then progress has been rapid in developing an or-
ganization which in fact as well as in name is a Federal Public Health
Service.

On an occasion such as this, one is tempted to review and appraise
the significant events in the long and distinguished history of the or-
ganization which I have the honor to direct. One could properly dwell
with pride over the pioneer studies of Henry R. Carter in yellow fever
which paved the way for Walter Reed’s discovery of mosquito trans-
mission; or the epochal work of Joseph Goldberger in establishing the
nutritional nature of pellagra; or the unique contribution of Edward
Francis in tularemia (he is the only American who has discovered a
disease, found the cause, method of transmission, insect vector, and
animal host); or the recent alum-picrie acid spray of Charles Arm-
strong, which prevents poliomyelitis in monkeys and offers so much
hope in man; or the courageousness of Spencer and his co-workers in
their successful search for a vaccine to prevent Rocky Mountain spot-
ted fever. They and others in the Public Health Service have con-
tributed much to scientific knowledge of disease prevention.

Progress is being made in the control of the venereal diseases. By
one laborious step after another, we are extending our knowledge of
mental illness, and of cancer. Since 1880, we have been working out
the most satisfactory basis for cooperation with States in providing
better health services for the people. As a result, prompt effect has
been given to the health provisions of the Social Security Act under
which $8,000,000 is being granted to the States for public health work.
The mobilization of forces to combat the threat of epidemics in the
wake of recent floods gives another illustration of the success of mod-
ern public health effort.

Appropriate as it might be to dwell upon any one of these events
in the history of the Public Health Service, the title of my paper and
my own inclinations impel me to consider what is ahead; to discuss
the aims in view and the methods by which these aims may become
actualities.

I shall pause only to review briefly the scientific, social, and eco-
nomic bases upon which our health activities rest, for as stated in the
preface of the centennial volume of this college, ‘“The history of yes-
terday foreshadows the experience of today and tomorrow.”

During the past century the spirit of inquiry in medicine has
replaced dogma and tradition. The studies of Pasteur, Lister, and
the host of other scientists have transformed medicine no less than
has the power of steam transformed industry. A generation ago a
doctor with his saddlebags could encompass most of the then available
medical knowledge. Not so now, when it is a life’s work to master
just one specialty.

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE—PARRAN 465

This growth of scientific knowledge has multiplied the number of
things which can be done to prevent and cure disease. It also has
increased the cost of medical service, putting such service beyond the
reach of an increasing number of people. Moreover, our transfer from
an agrarian to an industrial system, with workers dependent upon a
daily wage sufficient only to meet current necessary living costs, has
resulted in the inability of many citizens to buy medical care when
the wages stop.

Changing social concepts also supply an additional basis for public
health work. The growth in the sentiment against suffering has been
more rapid during the past century than ever before in the world’s
history. The abolition of slave trade, the growth of popular educa-
tion, and the development of measures of public assistance are
examples.

Modern society everywhere accepts as an obligation the provision
of the necessities of life for those who cannot provide such necessities
for themselves. Since medical service is a necessity of life, it is only a
small step to acceptance of the principle that such service must be
made available by the community for those in need.

There are cogent economic reasons also for health services. A sick
individual may become a burden upon society. Good health is an
important factor in human efficiency. The treatment of disease is
no longer a concern solely of the individual who is sick. The com-
munity as a whole has a financial stake in untreated illness. This
point has become clear in recent years as we have accepted as a nation
responsibility for providing pensions to the dependent groups of the
population.

There are sound scientific, social, and economic reasons for more
aggressive attention to the public health. I think we have reached a
stage in our civilization when we must accept as a major premise that
citizens should have an equal opportunity for health as an inherent
right coequal with the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
To realize this ideal is a broad sim of the Public Health Service. The
methods we use fall into two major divisions, first, the better applica-
tion of scientific knowledge for the prevention and cure of disease,
and second, the acquisition of new knowledge.

Within the past 2 years, a good start has been made in the de-
velopment of a national health program. In the Social Security Act
for the first time, the Federal Government declared a continuing policy
of assisting States and localities in providing better health service.
It has been relatively easy to inaugurate this work because since 1880,
the Public Health Service has been authorized to cooperate with
States in the prevention and control of disease. It has been possible
to work out health programs in every State so that the States retain
a full measure of responsibility for their own health programs subject

—

466 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

only to meeting minimum standards which have been agreed upon
jointly by the State health officers and the Public Health Service.
The $13,200,000 being granted by the Public Health Service and the
Children’s Bureau is producing significant results in better health for
the people. This appropriation, however, represents only about 10
percent of the total cost of public health work. The recent national
conference on venereal disease control called attention to the need of
greater Federal interest in the control of these and other diseases.
At this conference, it was earnestly recommended to the adminis-
tration that authorization for $25,000,000 be given in appropriate
amendments to the Social Security Act, to be administered by the
Public Health Service. It was also the opinion of this conference
that the percentage of Federal money invested in the prevention of
disease should not be less than the percentage invested in the care of
dependents.

We must narrow the gap between what we know and what we do
in public health. There are major causes of disease and death in
regard to which present community action is totally inadequate.

The control of syphilis is a notable example. With the recent
great increase in public interest in this subject, it should be possible
to make this a rare disease within our generation. Medical and public
health officials are agreed as to the methods. The recent conference
drew a series of blue prints which every State and every community
can follow.

Cancer stands second among the causes of death. The cause of
cancer is not yet known, but many cases of cancer can be cured by
many known methods. Experts in this field estimate that 25 percent
of cancer deaths could be prevented if all of our knowledge of cancer
control was used. Two States have accepted some measure of respon-
sibility for the treatment and cure of cancer through providing public
facilities for those in need of care.

Pneumonia ranks high among the causes of death, but recent sci-
entific advances point the way to preventing many such deaths. For
several of the most frequent types of pneumonia, an improved concen-
trated serum has been developed which is quite effective. Moreover,
a rapid method of typing the disease makes it possible for those cases
to be located promptly which are amenable to serum therapy.

The control of tuberculosis is a job half done. This disease has
been reduced by two-thirds in the present century. We have now
reached a point where we can look forward to the practical eradication
of tuberculosis.

The medical care now being furnished to the dependent groups of
the population is poorly organized and inadequate. There must be
general acceptance of the principle that the medical care of such
dependents is a public responsibility.

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE—PARRAN 467

Facilities for diagnosis and treatment of diseases frequently are
lacking particularly in the rural areas. We need a great extension of
laboratory service, the provision of hospitals particularly in rural areas,
better organized dispensary services, and a better integration of private
and public effort in the prevention and treatment of disease. As a
nation, we should seek not only to make medical care more available
to those in need of such care, but constantly to seck the improvement
in the quality of medical service.

The Public Health Service itself will play a relatively small part
in the health advancement of the future. It should be in a position,
however, to promote, assist, and advise in the working out of State and
local health programs. I am less interested in the size of the organiza-
tion I represent than in the brains it represents. For many years, we
have given an opportunity for a career service. Weneed to attract the
best of the medical graduates, to give them every opportunity for
professional advancement, to train specialists in all phases of our work.
I dream of a day when the Public Health Service will have a corps of
men and women whose ability is not surpassed or equalled by any other
medical or health organization in the world.

I have referred briefly to some of the research work of the Public
Health Service. Plans are being drawn for a new National Institute
of Health to be located in the environs of Washington, the headquar-
ters for all of the research work of the Public Health Service. This
should be more than a research institution. It should be also the head-
quarters for the training of our personnel. It should be the West
Point of the Public Health Army.

The major unsolved problems of health and disease should be a
concern of this institute. Scientific workers from other institutions
will be free to bring their problems here and pursue their studies within
its walls. Other scientists should go out from this institute to other
institutions of the country. Such a constant interchange should pro-
mote progress. Many research problems of today are so complex
that it is impossible for an individual worker and frequently it is
impossible for any one organization to deal adequately with them.

The Federal Government is in a position to lend its influence in
bringing together various scientists concerned with a common prob-
lem and promoting joint and coordinated attack. Already we can
point to progress in this field of cooperative research. For 8 years,
five of the leading syphilologists of the country have worked with the
Public Health Service in pooling their knowledge, their material, and
their resources for study of syphilis. Valuable additions to our knowl-
edge have come as a result of these cooperative clinical studies.

The problem of drug addiction has been the subject of joint interest
by the Public Health Service and the National Research Council.

468 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

One of the aims is to develop a synthetic drug which will have all of
the virtues of morphine without its habit-forming qualities. A chemist
at the University of Virginia has synthetized a number of compounds.
These are being tested on animals at the University of Michigan and
those which passed animal tests are being tried on patients in Massa-
chusetts. Similar cooperative studies are under way in cancer. This
principle can be applied to many problems. It is my hope that our
Institute of Health will extend this principle widely. In addition,
promising studies should be supported by grants-in-aid along the lines
which have proven profitable in recent years.

SUMMARY

The aims of the Public Health Service are easily summarized.
We seek to narrow the gap between what we know and what we do,
and to extend the boundaries of knowledge of health and disease. We
ourselves will play a small part compared with the total job to be done.
We seek for ourselves not size but efficiency, not legal authority but
the confidence of our colleagues and of the public we serve. We hope
that our aims of today will be “the experience of tomorrow.”

EXCAVATIONS AT CHANHU-DARO BY THE AMERICAN
SCHOOL OF INDIC AND IRANIAN STUDIES AND THE
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON: SEASON 1935-36 !

By Ernest Mackay
Field Director

{With 10 plates]

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, now possesses a remarkable and
widely representative collection of objects from the ancient Indus
Valley, the only such collection outside India. Not only is the culture
of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro well represented at Chanhu-daro in
the Nawabshah District of Sind (fig. 1), the site at which this collection
was unearthed, but there were also found the seal-amulets and pottery
of a people who occupied the site fairly soon after it had been deserted
by the Harappa people, objects which it will be seen differ radically
from those left by their predecessors.

The mounds of Chanhu-daro were selected for the preliminary inves-
tigations of the first American archeological expedition to India on
account of important finds made there during a survey of the ancient
sites of Sind by the Archeological Department of the Government of
India in the winter season 1929-30. Mr. N. G. Majumdar, who dug
three trial trenches there, showed that Chanhu-daro had been occupied
by the same race that built the cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa
some 5;000 years ago. He also found some slight evidence of the
presence of a later civilization which can now be named the “Jhukar
culture”, in accordance with the convenient practice in Egypt and
Mesopotamia of naming a culture after the site where traces of it were
first found. The so-called Indus Valley civilization should be renamed
the ‘‘Harappa culture’, for further excavations in the great river valley
will undoubtedly reveal the remains of yet other ancient cultures.

Chanhu-daro is some 12 miles east of the present bed of the Indus,
about 80 miles SSE. of Mohenjo-daro. Its three mounds comprise
an area of 9 acres, but the little city was considerably more extensive
in ancient times and the alluvium deposited in the course of 5,000 years
or more now covers the lower parts of the mounds. Mound I is 22.2

1 Reprinted by permission from the Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, vol. 34, no. 205, Boston, October

1936.
469

470 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

feet high, and some 1,500 square feet in area, and the rather larger
Mound II, 23.5 feet high and about 3,850 square feet in extent, is
separated from it to the NE. by a gap some 150 feet wide. (pl.1) Dur-
ing the period of the Harappa culture, Mounds I and II were one,
through which a devastating flood ultimately cut its way, bringing to a
close the longest and most important chapter of the history of the little
city. Mound II was reoccupied later for two brief periods, as we shall
shortly see. The third mound (III), which stands a few feet high and
is only some 500 square feet in extent, lies close to the NW. of Mound

Hiles
200 400
C—O)

MAP TO = POSITION
F
INDUS VALLEY CITIES,

FiGure 1.—Map of the Indus Valley.

II, of which it is certain that it once formed a part; the rainstorms
which have separated this little mound from its neighbor have left
their marks as deep furrows and ravines which scar the sides of all
three mounds.

As Mound II was the largest and highest mound and therefore likely
to contain the most interesting material, it was selected for our
principal excavations. Its upper portion was systematically removed,
layer by,layer, the debris being dumped on ground that had already
been examined by means of trenching. On the summit of the mound
were one or two graves of early Muhammedan date. Below these

CHANHU-DARO—MACKAY 471

very late remains, a few pieces were found, mostly intact, of a very
interesting dark gray, polished, hand-made ware with incised geometric
decoration (pl. 2, fig. 1). The exact date of this ware is at present a
matter of surmise, but in shape and technique it is entirely different
from anything produced by the two cultures whose remains we found
beneath it. J am inclined to think that this gray, hand-made pottery
was made by a primitive people who were the last to occupy the site—
and that only very briefly and in small numbers—and who may have
been a race allied to the Bhils, of whom there is a settlement close to
Chanhu-daro; these Bhils, however, have lost most of their ancient
customs and primitive way of living.

In the stratum below this gray ware we came upon a large quantity
of wheel-made pottery, quite unlike the wares found either above or
below it. This pottery which was mostly polychrome, with devices
painted in black and red on a cream or pink slip, is represented mainly
by broken fragments of the pans and stems of offering-stands, though
pieces of other types of vessels also were found (pl. 2, fig. 2). Though
polychrome pottery was made at the latter end of the Harappa period,
the polychrome ware of the upper levels of Chanhu-daro in nowise
resembles it in shape or style of decoration. Its presence in consider-
able quantities therefore emphatically marks the occupation of the
site by a different people. At Jhukar also, where Mr. Mazumdar
first unearthed pottery of this kind, it was in a stratum that showed
it to be of later date than the Harappa culture. A principal feature
of this Jhukar ware is that broad horizontal bands of red separate the
various devices that ornament it. Red was also used in combination
with black for certain motifs, a common one being a chevron pattern
of red and black alternately (pl. 2, fig. 3). The designs on the Jhukar
pottery are either geometric or very conventionalized, boldly painted
plant designs of leaves or buds joined together with curved stems.
As a rule these plant designs were painted in black, or a deep purple,
the red being used for the broad bands separating the registers, but
occasionally the interiors of the buds or leaves, if not hatched (pl. 2,
fig. 2), were colored red.

The only other known wares that the Jhukar pottery resembles—
and only in the designs and use of colors, not in shape—are those
found by Baron Max von Oppenheim at Tell Halaf in northern
Assyria? and by M. E. L. Mallowan at Tell Chagar Bazar.? At
both sites broad horizontal red bands were used to separate the
registers, and the very distinctive chevron pattern in alternate red
and black on a number of the Jhukar potsherds of Chanhu-daro is
identical with the chevron design on the later Tell Halaf pottery.
Other painted devices on these wares correspond very closely. Mr.

4 For a popular account see Baron Max von Oppenheim, Tell Halaf.
3 Traq., vol. 3, pt. 1, 1936.

472 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Mallowan has postulated ‘‘a link which will bridge the gulf between
the end of the Tell Halaf period and the pottery of India and Baluchi-
stan,” and he suggests that the early potters of Assyria and Syria
moved eastward. There seems no doubt that the pottery of the
Jhukar culture had been influenced by the later wares of the Tell
Halaf culture, and we must look to the Iranian Highlands for the
region whence it was brought to India. The fact that the Tell Halaf
pottery is considerably earlier in date than the Jhukar ware is no
matter for concern; some time had necessarily to elapse before an
influence from Syria could have had effect in northwest India, and
many long halts were doubtless made before the end of the journey.
The people who introduced the Jhukar culture into the Indus valley
appear to have left but few traces in Baluchistan; but a great deal of
systematic excavation needs to be done in that country, for one
notable sherd with red and black chevrons found by Sir Aurel Stein
at Zayak might equally well have come from the Habur region or
from India.‘ The presence on some of the pottery of ancient Baluchi-
stan of wide red lines between the registers is a feature shared both
with the north Mesopotamian pottery of Tell Halaf and the Jhukar
ware of the Indus valley.

There is a considerable body of evidence that the people of this
Jhukar culture occupied the principal mound at Chanhu-daro com-
paratively soon after its desertion by the people of the Harappa
culture, and I would date this occupation to about 2000 B. C. It
was only a small settlement and, judging from the number of rough
pavements and fireplaces found, the people lived in houses of matting,
all other traces of which had disappeared. ‘The head-man had a
plain, roughly built house of bricks, taken either from the lower part
of the mound or from other buildings of the Harappa culture in the
vicinity. One very interesting feature in a room of his house was a
fireplace in a recess in the wall with three bricks still in it which
served to support a cooking vessel (pl. 3, fig. 1).

Not only does their pottery, of which a surprising amount was
made and used, distinguish these people from their predecessors of
the Harappa culture, but they wore seal-amulets, mostly pottery,
which in their shapes and ornamentation are totally unlike the square
and rectangular seal-amulets of the Harappa culture. Some are round
stamp seals with roughly shaped perforated handles at the back,
and others lentoid with designs on both faces and perforated laterally
(pl. 2, fig. 4). These Jhukar amulets are with one or two exceptions
very roughly made, and none bears any inscription; in fact, we are
as yet uncertain whether their owners knew how to write. Many of
them resemble certain seal-amulets of early Elamite date, and one
exceptionally well made lentoid amulet with an endless rope pattern
on one side recalls both in shape and the design certain Hittite seals;

¢ Gedrosia, p. 33, pl. 1, z. n. 7.

CHANHU-DARO—MACKAY 473

which is the less surprising when we consider the marked affinities of
the pottery with the late ware of Tell Halaf.

A number of bone awls polished by much use suggests that the
Jhukar people made baskets, and judging from the number of bobbin-
shaped objects that they left they seem also to have been workers in
textiles. The figurines of the Harappa levels tell us that the head-
dresses of that period were very elaborate, and this appears to have
been the case in the Jhukar period also; a very fine headrest of
painted pottery was undoubtedly intended to protect the headdress
of its owner from damage during sleep.

Close beneath the Jhukar stratum we came upon buildings of the
Harappa culture at a level approximately 13 feet below the summit
of the mound. Here were found the remains of burnt brick houses
with the bathrooms, drains, and other conveniences now well known
at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Here, too, were found the copper and
bronze implements and tools that now form an important part of the
collection in the Museum. ‘Two hoards of these implements were so
corroded together that it was not until the end of the season when
they could be chemically cleaned and separated that we became
aware of what we had found (pl. 3, fig. 2). Blade axes (pl. 4, fig. 1),
chisels, spear heads, and copper and bronze vessels of various shapes,
all go to show that Chanhu-daro was a great center of metal working;
but whether bronze or copper was the metal more commonly worked
can only be ascertained by analysis of the material obtained. Con-
siderable skill in the working and casting of bronze is shown in the
cosmetic jar (pl. 3, fig. 3), and especially in the toy cart with a pent
roof. The latter shows us a type of vehicle that was in common
use at the time, for a very similar little model has been found at
Harappa, well over 400 miles away to the NE.®

Important evidence of metallurgical practice was the number of
small masses of lead that were found, evidently the remains of some
considerable working in this metal. These fragments of lead are
now being examined for their silver content, but it may be that any
silver that existed was extracted before the lead reached Chanhu-daro.

No skeletal remains of either the Jhukar people or Harappa people
were found, save a skull that had been placed in a large storage jar
together with a small collection of metal objects and a large conch
shell. Some care must have been exercised in inserting this skull in
the jar, whose opening was barely wide enough to receive it; and why
the skull only was thus carefully preserved and not the other bones is
a matter for speculation.

Bead making was practiced even more extensively at Chanhu-daro
than metal working. The long agate and carnelian beads of barrel-
cylinder shape, of which so many fine specimens were found at Mo-

5 At Mohenjo-daro, bronze was nearly as common as copper, even in the lowest levels.
& Ann. Rept. Arch. Surv. India, 1926-27, pl. 23, d.

31508—38——34

474 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

henjo-daro, were quite possibly made at Chanhu-daro, for large
numbers of them were unearthed in all the various stages of making.
The long rectangular slips of stone struck from the parent nodule
were first flaked roughly into shape, then, after careful chipping to
remove the angles, they were ground into the required cylindrical
form by rubbing on a piece of sandstone, which became deeply grooved
in consequence. The beads were bored from both ends with a stone
drill, and they finally received a polish that shows the craftsmen of
Chanhu-daro to have had long experience in the art of working hard
stones. The stone drills that were used, of which a number were
found, both whole and broken, are a new discovery; it has hitherto
been supposed that in ancient times stone beads were bored by means
of a copper drill with the aid of an abrasive. These stone drills, of
chert, must themselves have taken considerable time and labor to
shape, and as their hardness is about the same as that of the stones
used for bead making an abrasive must have been used with them;
but whether the latter was emery or some other material we have yet
to discover.

Beads were also made of softer materials such as steatite; a number
of tubular shape, stuck together by the salty soil and evidently once
contained in a fine basket which had perished, would, if placed together
end to end, run 35 to 40 to the inch. How they were shaped and,
even more, how they were bored is at present quite incomprehensible.

Save in their extraordinarily skillful bead-making and also in the
manufacture of weights—a subsidiary industry—the people of Chanhu-
daro made little use of stone for other purposes. Copper was evi-
dently so plentiful that stone implements had already been practically
discarded. Ribbon-flakes struck from a core of coarse chert were,
however, doubtless used as kitchen knives: they were found in many
of the houses, together with the cores from which they were struck,
and it is evident that the housewife provided herself with simple
knives as easily as she discarded them when blunt.

Stone was occasionally used for mace-heads, both of globular and
lentoid shape, for drill-caps, and even for dishes; the latter, however,
were both few in number and very clumsily made. They were,
moreover, sometimes made of a soft form of alabaster, a stone which
does not withstand corrosion by salt. A large number of rectangular
stone palettes with smooth level surfaces were found, but the great
majority were broken. They were probably used for preparing
cosmetics and may have been placed on the small, roughly made
pottery toilet tables with four short legs, which also were rarely
found intact.

A remarkable number of toys were found at Chanhu-daro, far too
many, it would appear, to have supplied the wants of the child popula-
tion there; it is possible that toy-making also was a local industry.
Toy vehicles of various shapes made of pottery, mounted on two or

CHANHU-DARO—MACKAY 475

four wheels and drawn by a pair of humped oxen as in modern Sind,
form an interesting feature of the collection in the Museum (pl. 5).
Pottery model rams, with the fleece indicated by lines of red paint
and mounted on two wheels with a hole through the neck for a draw-
string, were common playthings. Marbles of pottery and stone,
whistles ovoid or shaped like hens (pl. 4, fig. 2), and brightly colored
rattles for the younger children were abundant. The better made
playthings in the Museum collection are undoubtedly the work of pro-
fessional toy makers; but the children also made toys for themselves
in mud, and baked them in holes in the ground covered with fuel.

A number of pottery figurines were found of the Mother-goddess,
who was also worshipped at other centers of the Harappa culture.
Some of these figurines wear a curious fan-shaped headdress orna-
mented with bands of material, unless it is strands of hair that are
represented, carried over a support of some kind. The nose was
simply pinched up by finger and thumb, and in the depressions thus
formed pellets of clay were set to represent the eyes. Possibly there
was one of these little figures in every house in a niche in the wall;
and with them there seem to have been associated the little model
doves with outstretched wings, each with a hole in the base to set it
ona wooden pin. As we know that the dove was intimately connected
with the worship of the Mother-goddess in ancient Crete, Sardinia,
Mesopotamia, and elsewhere, it seems likely that it was in the Indus
valley also. These bird figures were most probably votive offerings,
placed in or upon the shrine of the Great Mother in fulfillment of a
vow or in the hope of favors to come.

The seals—or rather seal-amulets, for they undoubtedly served
both purposes—were all made of steatite. In shape, material, and
the animals engraved upon them, they are identical with those found
at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, and many of them were similarly
given a smooth white surface to enhance their appearance. The
animal most often represented on these seal-amulets is an oxlike beast
always in profile with a single horn (pl. 6, fig. 1). This creature has
been identified with the urus-ox, a beast which is extinct in most
parts of the world. Before it there is always placed a curious upright
object, which on the better carved seals is seen to have been made of
wickerwork (pl. 6, fig. 2). What this object really was is as yet
uncertain. It has been identified as a fodder-rack, a cage for a bird,
and an altar. That it was a cult-object is, however, certain, for at
Mohenjo-daro and Harappa amulets have been found on which this
object is carried on a staff in what was obviously a religious procession.
This oxlike animal with its cult object is much the most common
device on the seals of the Harappa culture, but there are other animals
also on the seals. The collection in the Museum includes an elephant,
an antelope (?) (pl. 6, fig. 3), and a shorthorned bull, which animal
was always represented with its head lowered over a manger. The

476 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

pictographic script above the animals has still to be deciphered, and of
this there seems little prospect until a bilingual inscription has been
found. We have great hopes that such an inscription may be found
at Chanhu-daro, or, it may be, in Mesopotamia, for we have undoubted
proof that the people of Harappa culture traded with Mesopotamia:
objects obviously made in that country have been unearthed at
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and a considerable number of seals like
those in our collection, and obviously of Indian workmanship, have
been found in the Sumerian cities.

These seal-amulets were mostly carried on the person as amulets,
but that they were also used as seals is shown by a seal-impression,
which has on the back the marks of attachment to something, probably
a bale of goods. Another seal-impression, which had been carried
about a long time and so had been badly rubbed, shows two women
supporting a staff between them from whose top project the branches
of a pipal tree. This tree is still sacred in many parts of India.

The pottery of the Harappa culture is easily distinguishable from
the wares of the Jhukar culture found above it. The designs painted
in dense black on a highly burnished red slip distinguished it from
any other pottery found in ancient India (pl. 6, fig. 4). A very
common motif is based on a series of intersecting circles, on some of
the sherds hardly recognizable, but on others so finely painted as to
be almost mathematical (pl. 7, fig. 1). This motif was used on both
large and small jars and is peculiar to the Harappa culture.

Another motif often used at Chanhu-daro, but rarely at Mohenjo-
daro, is a scene of peacocks en file, drawn in a very sketchy way but
nevertheless quite recognizable. This design was very generally
used on the large jars, probably used for storing water, fragments
of which were found all over Mound Il. These jars were carried
in rope slings suspended from the shoulders of the water carrier, and
on this account the designs had often been partially worn away by
the friction of the sling. Even quite small vessels were ornamented
with paint, even if only with a few bands of red round the shoulder.

Certain small pottery vessels. all very much the same size and
shape, seem to have been supplied by shopkeepers to purchasers of
small quantities of cooking oil and the like, as at the present day.
Other small jars with extraordinarily narrow mouths once contained
an eye paint, which cosmetic was apparently used by men and
women alike. Of particular importance is the bronze cosmetic jar
with fluted sides, which is a notable feature of the Museum collection
(pl. 3, fig. 3). Here might be mentioned a rectangular slip of red
ochre with a beveled end, whose shape makes it more than likely
that is was used as a face paint, if not actually as lipstick.

The small cones of pottery or shell which were found in the Harappa
levels at Chanhu-daro are somewhat of an enigma. Very similar
cones served an architectural purpose at Warka, Ur, and other early

CHANHU-DARO—MACKAY 477

Sumerian sites, but insufficient numbers have been found at the
Indian sites to warrant the assumption that they were put to a like
use. They may have been cult objects, or even skittles to be knocked
over with marbles; I am inclined to regard them as the former, for
they appear among the motifs on some of the painted pottery.

A large number of chert weights, carefully made and polished,
form part of the Museum collection. They are nearly always cubi-
cal, and they belong to a definite system, with the simple ratios 1,
2,4, 8, etc. In weight they vary remarkably little from those found
at Mohenjo-daro, and similar weights from Harappa, more than 400
miles NE. of Chanhu-daro, have the same actual weights according
to their respective sizes, proof that the authorities of those days
exercised strict supervision over this very necessary adjunct of trade.
Indeed, it is probable that some of the more carefully finished weights
exhibited in the Museum were master weights by which others could
be tested and rectified.

In the uppermost level of the Harappa culture there were but few
intact buildings, though relics of houses and an extensive drainage
system were found in this stratum all over Mound II. The occupa-
tion level below was in a better state of preservation, and streets
and lanes, each with its houses and drains, were more or less intact
and could be satisfactorily planned. Remains of a still earlier oc-
cupation were revealed in the upper part of a large cutting that was
made in the western side of the mound to test the strata below (pl. 7,
fig. 2), and at still lower levels were found traces of other occupations
until the subsoil water prohibited any further digging. One very
striking feature of these occupation levels in Mound II was that each
was separated from those below and above by a considerable lapse of
time. At Mohenjo-daro one occupation followed on another in swift
succession, the later builders simply using the walls of their prede-
cessors as foundations, thus preserving the alinement of the streets
and houses over a very long period. At Chanhu-daro quite a consid-
erable amount of debris separated the two uppermost Harappa occu-
pations, and the buildings in the stratum next below these two were
orientated quite differently from those above them. Indeed, we found
ample evidence that it was destructive floods that caused the city to
be deserted for considerable periods of time, during which large quan-
tities of bricks were removed to build elsewhere. The walls of the
three upper occupations of the Harappa culture had in some cases
been so undermined by flood water, and tilted by the consequent
subsidence, that we had to remove the upper parts to avoid risk of
their falling on our workers. Even the brick flooring of rooms had
subsided here and there. We at first thought that this irregularity
of the walls was due to earthquake; but, had that been so, the rooms
would have contained fallen bricks. At least three floods, the third
of which was perhaps the great flood that led to the desertion of

478 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Mohenjo-daro, have left their traces at Chanhu-daro. Living on the
banks of a great river running through an alluvial plain must have
proved even more disconcerting in ancient times than it does today
in many parts of the world.

The bricks used at Chanhu-daro were very much the same size as
those of the other Indus cities; they average 11 by 5 by 2% inches.
Made of well-fired clay, they are well-shaped but have no frogging of
any kind. The mud mortar used amply served its purpose. They
were laid to dry as they were shaped in open molds, and occasionally
one is found with the impress of an animal’s foot. For special pur-
poses, such as lining wells, wedge-shaped bricks were made, and angle-
bricks and half-sized bricks have been found. Bricks were also cut
into various forms after being laid, as in the recesses of water-chutes;
and those forming the corners at the junctions of drainage channels
were often carefully rounded off with a chisel so as to impede the
flow of water as little as possible (pl. 8). Most of the drains were
made of ordinary bricks, and they were laid only a few inches below the
surface of the ground so that they might be got at easily for cleaning.
Owing to the demolition of many of the houses for the sake of their
bricks, whenever the site was deserted, few of the bathrooms were
found intact. Those few were simple platforms, of carefully laid bricks
edged all round to a height of some 2 inches with bricks laid on edge;
the water flowed away through an opening that sometimes communi-
cated with a latrine situated between the bath and the street wall,
and thence through an aperture in which the effluents passed to the
street drain outside (pl. 9). There is no doubt that the sanitary
system of the ancient Indus cities surpassed any other of contem-
porary date, and it is quite safe to say that it was superior to that in
many modern oriental cities, which civilization seems barely to touch.

After the partial leveling of Mound II, a trial excavation was
commenced on the summit of Mound I (pl. 10). Here several build-
ings were laid bare, also of the Harappa culture, but slightly later in
date than those in Mound II. It seems that Mound I was occupied
by the people of that culture later than was Mound II. Here, too,
a few sherds of the Jhukar culture were found in the uppermost part
of the mound, but so few that it seems that the Jhukar people only
visited and never actually lived on the mound. Mound I offers
scope for considerable and profitable investigation, and there is reason
to think that it will prove even more productive of museum objects
than the fortunate finds in Mound II which have so greatly widened
the horizon of our knowledge. The discoveries of a new phase of
Indian history with far-flung cultural connections, and metal objects
of types never found before, together with fresh insight into the various
arts and crafts of a great civilization that 20 years ago was unknown
and unsuspected; such are the results of one small season’s work of
America’s first archeological expedition to India.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mackay PLATE 2

1. LATE GRAY WARE 2. POLYCHROME WARE, JHUKAR
CULTURE.

3. POLYCHROME WARE, JHUKAR CULTURE

4. CAST OF A SEAL-AMULET, JHUKAR CULTURE.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mackay PLATE 3

ae ape

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Ce aby eeY

1. FIREPLACE

2. BRONZE UTENSILS AS FOUND, HARAPPA 3. BRONZE COSMETIC JAR,
CULTURE. HARAPPA CULTURE.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mackay PLATE 4

1. BLADE-AXE. HARAPPA CULTURE.

2. WHISTLE IN THE SHAPE OF A HEN, HARAPPA CULTURE.

“AYNLIND VddVYVH ‘N3XO GadWNH Ag NMVYQ LYVD AOL

G ALV1d AvypelAj— 166 | Juccsy UPIYOSU TG

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mackay PLATE 6

1, 2, 3. THREE SEAL-AMULETS. HARAPPA CULTURE. 4. BLACK ON RED WARE,
HARAPPA CULTURE.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Mackay PLATE 7

1. BLACK ON RED WARE, HARAPPA CULTURE.

&

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2 SE

2. TRIAL CUTTING BELOW LEVEL EXCAVATED THIS YEAR, SHOWING WELL BUILT
BY EARLIER DWELLERS ON THE SITE.

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RAS SHAMRA: CANAANITE CIVILIZATION AND
LANGUAGE

By Zetia §. Harris

[With 4 plates]

During the last hundred years the work of archeologists and philol-
ogists has brought within reach of our knowledge the civilizations
which preceded ours. There are still many who mock at archeology
as the innocuous digging up of pieces of ancient pots, and many more
to whom archeology is merely a romantic search for objects of gold or
for material of anecdotal interest about ancient kings and queens.
But to those who understand the meaning of history, archeology has
the invaluable function of making available for historical study the
facts of past civilizations. From finds in many sites, and from the
decipherment of countless inscriptions, we have been able to piece
together some knowledge of the cultures and social structures and
languages of Egypt and of the Mesopotamian areas. More recently,
excavations in Asia Minor have been giving us a picture of early
civilizations in that area.

In Syria-Palestine, however, there has been comparatively little
large-scale excavation. The civilization of that area was not un-
known to us, both from the Hebrew reactions to it in the Old Testa-
ment, and from its later contacts with the Greeks and Romans. From
our knowledge of Egyptian and Mesopotamian history, we gathered
that this was a politically weak area of small city-states. There was
no far-reaching empire here with great kings and much gold, and the
first excavations in Palestine yielded few objects of headline value.
Partly for these reasons, partly because of the negative judgment
of the Bible, the early civilization of this area was held of little im-
portance. The Phoenicians were explained as merely borrowers of
cultural traits, or at best mediators between great cultures—as though
cultures did not normally borrow and mediate and adapt. But in
spite of such value judgments which ill befit historians, people have
long been eager for a direct word from this civilization which borders
in sO many points upon those which preceded and fathered ours.

Ras Shamra is the first site to give us the beginnings of an authentic

479

480 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

general picture of that culture, the first to yield ancient Canaanite
literature. The spectacular character of some of its finds have
attracted wide notice, but its importance for our understanding of the
history and linguistics of that area is greater even than the interest it
has evoked in the scholarly world.

DISCOVERY

The excavations at Ras Shamra began simply. Early in 1928 an
Alouite peasant, working on his land on the shore of the Mediterranean
struck a stone slab which, upon removal, disclosed a stairway leading
to an underground passage. It was an old vaulted tomb, and the
peasant recovered from it some objects of gold. News of this reached
M. Virolleaud, director of antiquities in the French Mandatory Gov-
ernment over Syria, and in the following winter a French archeological
expedition was sent there under MM. C. F. A. Schaeffer and G.
Chenet. They excavated at the first spot, a bay called Minet el-
Beida, and found additional tombs; toward the end of the season they
worked on the mound nearby, and unearthed not only many weapons,
statuettes, and other objects, but also a store of clay tablets, some
written in Akkadian cuneiform, others in a new and unknown cunei-
form alphabet. This last discovery justly received unequaled
attention, and the continuation of the excavation was assured. The
work has been carried through with unimpeachable method, a fact
deserving of note in view of the many dangers of commission and
omission in archeological work and the importance of methodical and
technical operation. MM. Schaeffer has published the annual reports
in the French journal Syria, where M. Virolleaud gives unusually
clear and exact copies of the wealth of important inscriptions which
have come to light.

THE PLACE

Minet el-Beida (White Port) is a small bay in the northermost part
of the eastern (Syrian) coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about 15
kilometers north of Latakia. It is the spot on the Syrian coast
opposite the eastern tip of Cyprus, which can be seen from the high-
lands behind the bay. About 1 mile inland stands the large tell
(mound covering ancient ruins) of Ras esh-Shamra (Fennel Head),
20 meters high and almost 1 kilometer in diagonal. There are other
tells along the coast, hiding ruins of other cities, while just to the north
rises the promontory of Mons Casius, 1,760 meters high. What with
its prominent position opposite Cyprus, and its overland passes across
the mountains to the Syrian hinterland, this spot was a natural loca-
tion for the development of one of the great cities of the ancient
Near East.

——

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 481

THE SUCCESSIVE OCCUPATIONS

So far, only a small part of the surface of the tell has been excavated,
but in that section the digging has gone all the way down to virgin soil.
We may, therefore, try to collect the general facts about each stratum,
going down from the topmost (historically most recent) level:

Stratum I-A—Middle of fourteenth-thirteenth century B. C.—The
finds, both at Ras Shamra and at Minet el—Beida, are overwhelm-
ingly Mycenaean. There are vaulted tombs much like those at
Mycenae, usually with stone stairways and small windows. There
are classical Mycenaean painted urns of many kinds, small perfume
vases, many of them intact, large terra-cotta jars for wine and oil,
tall Mycenaean goblets in the form of feminine heads. Some are
quite like similar objects found at Enkomi (ancient Salamis) on the
tip of Cyprus opposite Ras Shamra, having even the same potter’s
marks. Much of this must, therefore, have been imported, but there
are signs of such pottery having been made locally, too. There are
also delicate objects of porcelain and glass, ivory boxes for boudoir
paints, Egyptian alabaster vases. Tools and weapons—daggers,
ax heads, long swords—are of bronze; jewelry is of bronze and various
semiprecious stones, with necklaces of Egyptian pearls, gold pendants
of Astarte in Phoenician style, and some rare iron jewelry fore-
shadowing the approach of the iron age. Figurines of goddesses and
gods, and bones of sacrificed sheep give a hint of the religion, and some
small tablets in the cuneiform alphabet have been found at the tell,
with one or two at Minet el—Beida.

Stratum I-B—Fifteenth-middle of fourteenth century B. C—The
port settlement at Minet el—Beida seems to have been founded during
this period. Both at the port and at the tell there are Cyprian
objects, but not Mycenaean, and Rhodian pottery such as is also
found in Cyprus, the Orontes valley in Syria, and Egypt. From the
end of this period come a gold plate and gold bow] of fine workman-
ship, representing a hunt and various symbolic figures. The pottery
is largely local, of Canaanite types. Here, too, are the foundations
of two reconstructed temples, one of Dagan, with two alphabetic
inscriptions dedicated to him, and the other of Baal, with an Egyptian
stele calling him Baal of Sapun. It is near this temple that the great
store of tablets was found, containing long mythological poems,
syllabaries for teaching cuneiform writing, and texts of cult instruc-
tions; this must have been the priestly scribal school. Other small
tablets have been found elsewhere, and also a group of ax heads
inscribed in the cuneiform alphabet ‘‘ax of the chief priest.’

Stratum II—Twenty-first-sizteenth century B. C—Here are the first
foundations of the temples of Dagan and Baal, and from the end of
this period comes an Akkadian letter written by the local king Niqmed.

482 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

The pottery is almost entirely Canaanite; i. e., of the types found at
contemporary Palestinian sites. Only toward the end do we find
a few Cyprian vases. There are figurines of deities, bronze weapons,
silver and bronze jewelry much like those found at the great Phoe-
nician city Byblos. Egyptian objects, of the twelfth dynasty of
Egypt, are numerous, including many scarabs, a sphinx which was
the gift of Pharaoh Amenemhat III, and the statute of an Egyptian
commissioner to Ras Shamra. Below this stratum is a large layer of
sterile soil, showing that some time elapsed after the destruction of
the city of stratum III before the site was reoccupied.

Stratum III—Late fourth millennium—most of third millennium
B,. C.—The upper part of this stratum yields poor unpainted pottery
of Canaanite type. Below it is a fine painted pottery in geometric
patterns, similar to the Mesopotamian pottery of Jemdet Nasr.
Pottery of this type, found in Cyprus, can now be approximately
dated by comparison with Ras Shamra. There are large buildings
of unbaked brick.

Stratum IV—Fourth millennium.—The top of this stratum again
shows unpainted pottery. Then comes polychrome painted pottery
of geometric design and rare beauty, different from that of stratum
III and similar to the famous pottery of early Susa I in Persia, el-
Obeid, and the early levels of Carchemish and Niniveh. There is no
metal here; tools are of stone and flint, of obsidian and silex. There
are traces of brick buildings which have been burned in some great
fire.

Stratum V.—This stratum of unknown duration is definitely pre-
bronze. Tools are of stone only, with great use of silex; obsidian is
rare. The pottery is archaic and unpainted. The lower levels show
neolithic culture, and below that is virgin soil.

HISTORY OF UGARIT

The site of Ras Shamra has been identified, first by historical
inference, and later by testimony of its own tablets, as the ancient
Ugarit, known from the Amarna correspondence. It exhibits an
antiquity which rivals the great mounds of Mesopotamia, having
been occupied from neolithic times. In successive ages it was in-
habited by peoples of the successive painted pottery cultures, related
culturally to the broad areas of painted pottery in Asia Minor,
Mesopotamia, Persia. During the third millennium, at a time when
Egypt and Babylonia already had centralized governments, there
appears a culture primarily related with the Canaanite area to the
south. We may call this the coming of the Phoenicians (or Canaan-
ites) into Ugarit, although we must be wary of identifying cultural
changes with ethnic movements (culture being understood to include
also all forms of material civilization); not every great change in

—

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 483

cultural type means the coming of a new people, for cultural forms
often spread far beyond the borders of the peoples who developed
them.

Early in the second millennium Ugarit developed into an important
trade city, now certainly Phoenician. It was important to Egypt
during the twelfth dynasty, and was perhaps under its domination.
The end of this period is the time of King Niqmed, in whose day the
long mythological poems may have been written. Some time during
this period, perhaps in the uncertain times between the Middle and
New Kingdoms in Egypt, the fortifications of Ugarit were dismantled.

With the New Kingdom of Egypt, Ugarit continued in its impor-
tance, probably, like the other cities, an Egyptian protectorate. Dur-
ing the troubled times of the Amarna correspondence, Ugarit was
sacked, apparently by a Hittite army around 1365 B. C.

After this destruction, with the weakening of Egyptian control and
commercial contacts, Mycenaeans seem to have come to Ugarit in
large numbers. Around the port of Ugarit an international settlement
of sailors and traders had grown up during the preceding period; it
was now large, and perhaps chiefly Cyprian in population, though we
need not infer that Ugarit was conquered by Mycenaeans. The city
was independent of Egypt; in the great battle of Qadesh, Ugaritic
troops were among the enemies of Ramses II.

When the Peoples of the Sea spread over the eastern Mediterranean,
they seem to have either destroyed the city, or settled in it until it
was destroyed, perhaps (though improbably) by Tiglath—Pileser I of
Assyria on his Syrian campaign.

At all events, Ugarit was destroyed at about the end of the twelfth
century. The site was inhabited from the eighth century, for a time
perhaps by a non-Semitic (Greek?) population using sarcophagus
burial, bronze jewelry and instruments, iron weapons—Ugarit is now
in the iron age. Later periods yield Neo-Babylonian and Egyptian
objects of the sixth and fifth centuries. The city maintained itself
into Hellenistic times, for we find Greek coins of the fourth century
B. C., but under the Hellenistic Seleucid kings of Syria its place was
gradually taken by Latakia, a seaport a few miles to the south.
Since then the site itself has remained uninhabited.

UGARIT IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

In ancient times Ugarit was one of a chain of seaports along the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean, marked to this day by tells of
covered ruins. These and the inland towns of Syria—Palestine were
all separate units. There did not exist here the same local needs for
united action which had caused the growth of centralized governments
in Egypt and Mesopotamia. But language, culture, and population

484 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

were much the same over Syria—Palestine; and the coastal towns in
particular, what with the similarity of their occupations and interests,
had developed occasional cooperation—at times perhaps approaching
a trade guild of the great commercial towns. Though it was far to
the north, Ugarit must have had considerable contact with the
Phoenician cities.

Its cultural and commercial contact with Mesopotamia must go
back to earliest times, witness the objects of Mesopotamian origin
and the use of cuneiform writing. The continued contact may be
gathered from a letter (c. 1300 B. C.) of an Assyrian, Belubur, to
shar in Ugarit, informing him of a document he was sending to be
read to the Queen of Ugarit.

With Egypt, Ugarit had commercial and political relations, at least
from the beginning of the second millennium, though these can hardly
be compared with the close relations between Byblos and Egypt.

The Mycenaean contacts, which became so prominent later, began
with small trade between Ugarit and Salamis in Cyprus, in about the
seventeenth century. At that time the pottery in Salamis, as shown
by the Enkomi excavation, was almost entirely Syrian. During the
fifteenth—fourteenth centuries Salamis had both Cyprian and Syrian
pottery; this is the period when Ugarit had a great deal of Cyprian
pottery, and perhaps the beginning of a Cyprian population at its
port. In the end of the fourteenth century and during the thirteenth,
Salamis had only Cyprian and generally Mycenaean pottery; at this
time Mycenaean objects and tombs were paramount in Ugarit, and
Mycenaean ware is found elsewhere in Syria. The Peoples of the Sea
who took Ugarit also cut off Mycenaean trade in general; it was only
after that break that the Phoenicians resumed this trade with the
Greeks who inherited the Mycenaean area. Memories of this early
contact between the Aegean world and Syria came down to the Greeks
in the form of legends such as that of Cadmos of Thebes who lived
long in Phoenicia, and upon his return brought the alphabet, the
“Cadmaean letters.” More significant for the early period, and
especially for Ugarit, is the legend told by the Byzantine Malalas
about the marriage of Kasos (eponym of Mount Casius) with Kitia
(eponym of the Cyprian city Citium) daughter of Salaminos (the
city Salamis) of Cyprus; after their marriage they colonized the
region of Mount Casius (just north of Ugarit) with Cyprians and
Cretans. The inference of such legends is that it was Aegean traders
who brought Phoenician culture home after visiting Syria, rather than
Phoenician traders who visited the Aegean and taught it their culture;
however, legends are often guilty of projection into the past, and we
cannot be sure as yet of the actual course of contact between the two
cultures.

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 485

THE POPULATION OF UGARIT

Several races and cultures were represented at Ugarit. The chief
element, at least from the third millennium, was the Semitic Canaan-
ite, as may be seen from the pottery, the language of most of the
tablets, the majority of personal names and neighboring place names
recorded in the tablets.

Of the other peoples, the Cyprians must have been prominent in
the port settlement, as appears from the archeological evidence. An
enigmatic text from Ugarit mentions Alasiyans (Cyprians), Hittites,
Hurrians, and other peoples. And among the personal names, and
the names of places from which various persons are said to have come,
we have many which are not Semitic.

Next to the Canaanite, the most important group seems to have
been the Hurrian. The Hurrians were, during the second millennium,
a widespread people. Hurrian texts and names are found during the
middle of that millennium in the neighborhood of Assyria, in Asia
Minor, in Syria, and Palestine. We know neither the extent of their
spread nor what peoples and languages were comprised in them, but we
know their influence was great. The “Hittite” culture of North Syria
(called Hatti land by the Assyrians) was in all probability Hurrian,
being quite different from that of the Hittite center in Asia Minor.
The Hurrians were an important element in the population of Palestine-
Syria. The Horites of the Bible were shown by Professor Speiser to
have been Hurrians,' and quite a number of the early Palestinian
tribal and personal names mentioned in the Bible are Hurrian; e. g.,
Kenaz, the Perizzi, the names in Genesis 36: 20 ff., such as Dishan
(Hurrian Taishenni). In Ras Shamra there are many Hurrian names;
in one letter all the people involved are Hurrians, although they use
the Semitic language, just as the Hurrians of Nuzi used the Semitic
Assyrian.

Ras Shamra has also yielded a syllabary (sign dictionary) in Sumer-
ian and Hurrian (to teach cuneiform writing to Hurrian scribes?), and
several texts in the Ugaritic alphabet. Although our knowledge of
Hurrian is limited, we know it is this language because of formal
similarities with the language of the famous Mitanni letter (of Tush-
ratta, king of the Hurrian land Mitanni, to the Pharaoh of Egypt) and
with the related language of certain of the tablets found at the Hittite
capital Boghazkoi in Asia Minor. The Sumerian-Hurrian syllabary,
interpreted by Professor Thureau-Dangin, has been of great value in
telling us more of the structure of the language, and in identifying the
meaning of some of the suffixes and words. Although this language is
related to the other Hurrian dialects of which we know, it may con-

1 Speiser, E. A., Mesopotamian origins, pp. 131 ff.; Ethnic movements in the Near East in the second
millenium B. C., Annual Amer. Schools Oriental Res., 1933.

486 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

stitute a different dialect. When the alphabetic texts are interpreted,
Ras Shamra will have become one of the chief sources for our knowledge
of this great but little-known people.

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

The importance of Ugarit derived from its geographical position.
It was apparently at the head of one of the chief trade routes inland
from the Mediterranean: The route to Aleppo and on to the Euphrates
Valley and Mesopotamia. Goods from the north Phoenician cities
probably went east by way of Ugarit. In addition Ugarit had a lively
trade with Egypt which it supplied with the highly valued boxwood.
Its chief trade was undoubtedly in bronze. Salamis in Cyprus and
Ugarit on the Syrian coast were the stations in the passage of bronze
from Cyprus, great source of copper in the ancient Near East, to
Syria and Mesopotamia. With the bronze, other objects passed in
trade, and when Mycenaean pottery is found in Qatna in Syria, or
when a vase of Salamis type is found in Ashur, we may presume that
they passed through the stalls and storerooms of Ugarit. Later, after
the period of the Peoples of the Sea, when iron began to replace bronze
as the most necessary of metals, the extent of the bronze trade fell
decisively, and Ugarit never regained the importance it had had before
the twelfth century.

Like the other cities, Ugarit had its local industries, partly to satisfy
its needs at home, and partly in conjunction with its commerce. There
are traces of a pottery industry, and of a purple industry for the dyeing
of cloths used at home and in trade. There was also a bronze industry,
and the unused deposits of copper ore and slag which have been re-
covered by the excavators were shown by analysis to have come from
Enkomi.

LIFE IN UGARIT

In spite of the many objects found in the excavations, we still know
little of how people lived in the various periods. The large majority of
texts are of mythological or cult content; there are a few letters of more
or less personal nature (e. g., the Akkadian letter about the escape of
King Niqmed’s equerry), and perhaps one of political content; there
are also some lists of names.

Even so, we can record that during the late Bronze Age (stratum I),
at the apex of the copper trade, Ugarit was arich city. The houses are
large and spaced well apart; the more important ones had vaulted
tombs attached. The weapons, jewelry, and various objects in gold
and silver, bronze, and pottery, are numerous and well-made.

Little is known of the methods of trading, but we do know that they
used a talent of 3,000 shekels, as against the usual one of 3,600; the
same short talent is employed in Exodus 38: 25-7. A text of vet-

see

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 487

erinary cures gives an insight into their treatment of the then rare
and valuable horses; interesting is its frequent recommendation of
dried fig cakes, prescribed as a medicine in Isaiah 38: 21, and raisins,
frequently mentioned in the Bible as a food used with the dried figs.

From their myths we may learn something of their own life. Thus a
marriage of the gods, which must reflect current or past customs in
their own marriages, entails the father’s wedding gift to his daughter
(Biblical shilluhim), and the estate brought by the bride from her
father’s house, and the old bride-price (Biblical mohar) paid by the
suitor; the terms used are the same as in the Bible and in the (Hurrian)
Assyrian Nuzi texts.

The art of Ugarit was of varying quality. The gold bowl and plate
are outstanding and rich, but do not equal the best contemporary work
of Egypt and Cyprus. They show Mycenaean and Egyptian influ-
ence, and exhibit motifs which can best be explained from Cyprus,
Mesopotamia, and perhaps other Asiatic sources; similar influences
may be seen in the locally manufactured cylinder seals. One statuette
of Baal is noteworthy for being made of bronze with gold, silver, elec-
trum, and green steatite used for various parts of the statue.

GODS, MYTHS, WORSHIP

The large texts which we have are apparently all religious myths;
what other literature there may have been, we do not know. There
was probably little if any secular written literature, for reading was an
accomplishment of professional scribes only, and even these myths
seem to have been written down primarily as an aid to priestly recita-
tion. They are of the greatest interest to students of the ancient east
and to students of religion and culture, being the first direct material
of Phoenician—Canaanite religion. The Biblical references to this
religion were fragmentary and negative; the Greek descriptions, as in
Lucian’s de Dea Syria, are late and alien. The fullest account was that
given at fourth hand by Eusebius (Praeparatio evangelica i 9) and
attributed to a Phoenician priest Sanchuniathon; most scholars doubt-
ed its authenticity. Now both this and the brief descriptions in
Ezekiel and elsewhere in the Bible are well borne out and incomparably
amplified by the direct evidence.

Ugarit had its own pantheon, generally similar to that of the other
Phoenician-Syrian cities. There was a chief god Il (Biblical El),
father of the gods, and his consort Athirat of the Sea (Biblical Ashera,
thus shown to be a true deity, cf. 1 Kings 18: 19, not merely a cult
pole), whose relation to the sea may have some connection with the
Cyprian Aphrodite’s sea characteristics; one calls to mind the Greek
representations of Aphrodite rising from the waves. There is the
grain god Dagan, and his son Baal, or Aliyan Baal. Aliyan was the
Adonis of Ugarit, the vegetation god who died with the scorching

ASS ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

‘summer and rose to life with the returning rains; his consort is Anat,
and his perpetual enemy is Mot, god of the death of vegetation, while
Shapsh, goddess of the sun, often comes to support him. There are
many other deities, some of whom have not appeared in the myths,
but are mentioned in lists of sacrifices or of gods; such are Rashp,
Athtart, a possible Milkam (Biblical Milkom?), all known from the
Bible (where Astarte, i. e., Athtart, is the consort of Baal). There
are genii who serve the gods, e. g., the divine constructor Kathar-Hasis
(a double name ‘‘able-and-understanding’’), mentioned in Sanchuni-
athon as Chusor. And there is a general divine population, the Bané
Ilim (ef., the Biblical Bne Elohim). All live on the heights of Sapun
(“North’’), the Olympus of this pantheon, which is Mount Casius,
north of Ras Shamra; cf. here Tyre’s ‘‘Holy Mount” in Ezekiel 28: 14,
and “Mount Zion in the Recesses of the North (Saphon)” in Psalms
48:3. Itisrevealing to find here a reference to the mythical Leviathan
(Lotan) in almost the exact words used of him in the Bible, and a long
legend about Danil, who must be the Canaanite myth hero referred
to in Ezekiel 14: 14 and used as model for the Biblical story of Daniel.

The mythological poems tell of the struggle between Aliyan and
Mot, and the death and resurrection of Aliyan Baal—this is the wide-
spread Adonis myth. There is a myth of the building of Aliyan’s
divine temple (perhaps recited at the completion of his temple in
Ugarit), and one of the victory of Aliyan, as Lord of the Land, over the
gods of the Sea. There is a myth of the marriage of the moon gods,
Yarih and Nikkal, and one of the birth of the ‘Gracious Gods.”

Parts of these myths can be read with ease, but because of our lack
of knowledge of their background, and our frequent inability to fathom
their exact meaning, much is uncertain even now. There have been
attempts to read these poems as historical traditions, and to prove
from them that the Phoenicians came north to the Phoenician-Syrian
coast from the south of Palestine where they had originally dwelt.
The evidence proposed was the identification of south Palestine names
in the poems, but most of these identifications cannot be defended;
many are accidental similarities and must, for the sense of the poems,
be interpreted otherwise. The renderings of the poems by such men
as Professors Albright, Montgomery, and Ginsberg leave no room for
their interpretation as historical traditions. Even more erroneous is
the attempt to identify the origin of the Hebrew people with this as-
sumed south Palestine Phoenician center. There is no archeological
evidence for placing the Phoenicians there, and as to the forebears of
the Hebrew people, we have good evidence that they were not of the
Canaanite group but entered Palestine for the most part during the
middle of the second millennium. This divergence of interpretations
reveals once more how little one can trust one’s reading of a text, how
easy it is to read into it unintentionally but effectively any ideas to

—-— =< —_— --—

4. —— Se

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 489

which one is accustomed or which one unconsciously wishes to find.
For this reason it is always best to rely upon the incontrovertible lin-
guistic evidence of the linguistic forms as they appear in the text, and
to draw only such minimum content as appears most “simply” from
the material itself.

The smaller tablets include chiefly lists of temples and gods (in-
cluding non-Semitic), lists of temple goods, lists of sacrifices, direc-
tions for preparing sacrifices, and ritual prayers. The parallels with
Hebrew religious practice are many. The animals which may be
sacrificed are the same; many names of sacrifices are the same. But
it is interesting that one sacrifice calls for the cooking of a kid in milk;
this is prohibited in Exodus 13: 19, 34: 26. One asks if the Biblical
prohibition arose in opposition to this rite, with the general Jewish
separation of meat and milk foods developing therefrom, or whether
that general custom preceded (from pre-Palestinian times) and ex-
plains the interdiction of the Canaanite rite.

Of the relation of this Canaanite religion to that of the Hebrew
people, two things appear certain: Clearly the forefathers of the
Hebrew people, when they settled in Palestine, took over much of
Canaanite culture, including many of the cult practices, types of
sacrifices, mythological heroes, even some of the moral proverbs, as
witness the appearance in Ugarit of the phrase “pleading the plea of
the widows, judging the cause of the orphans” (Danil 2v 8) which the
Bible so frequently parallels. But it is even clearer that the bulk of
the cultural and religious background of the Hebrew people was a
different one. The Babylonian legends of the Bible (creation, deluge,
Nimrod, Tower of Babel) are conspicuously absent from Ugarit. For
various social and historical reasons, the Hebrews in Palestine, even
with the assimilation of Canaanites into them, retained much of the
culture which they had had in pre-Palestinian days, and although the
final form of Hebrew culture was certainly no mere continuation of the
old, it nevertheless remained fundamentally different from the
Canaanite.

THE UGARITIC ALPHABET

DECIPHERMENT

Within a few months after the first great finds of tablets in 1929,
Virolleaud published a set of excellent copies of the tablets in their
unknown cuneiform signs. It was clear that the signs constituted an
alphabet, for there were only about 30 of them used over and over
again. ‘The words were separated by short strokes, and it was found
that most were of three or four letters. Virolleaud and the excavators
thought that the script might be Cyprian, because of the extent of
Cyprian material found at this stratum. Other scholars, judging by
the probable Semitic population of Syria, and by the three- and four-

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490 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

letter groups, looked for a Semitic language with an alphabet in which
only the consonants were written (as was the case in the Phoenician
alphabet); in this case most words would have three letters, for the
three consonants of the root, or four, for the root plus some affix. In
May 1930 Professor Bauer communicated his first suggestions for
decipherment; during the same time Professor Dhorme in Jerusalem
was arriving at somewhat similar results. Both agreed on some of the
letters, and each corrected from the other’s suggestions.

There were no bilingual texts, and the process of deciphering in-
volved considerable ingenuity. But as soon as the majority of signs
had been correctly worked out, familiar words such as alp? (‘‘ox’’)
and gdl (“‘large’’) began to appear in the very first texts, and soon they
were readable. Some characters remained in doubt even then. One
which had been read f turned out, when more texts were published,
to be sometimes simply the two signs p and ayin (a Semitic laryngal),
and sometimes a new sign with the value z. Another sign, long taken
as a variant for the s-sign, is seen to be a different sibilant character,
apparently representing some Hurrian sound. One or two are still
uncertain.

THE SCRIPT

The alphabet consists of simple cuneiform characters having no
relation to the syllabic and ideographic (logographic) signs of Sumer-
ian-Akkadian cuneiform writing, but similar in that they too are made
of combinations of impressions of a wedge-shaped stylus on clay
tablets. The writing runs from left to right, like Babylonian cunei-
form, but unlike the Phoenician alphabet, which originated in a carved
script and ran from right to left.

There are some 80 signs, all representing consonants; as in the
Phoenician alphabet there are no signs for vowels. However, for the
consonant aleph (the glottal stop) there are three signs, one each for
aleph with a, 7, and u vowels respectively. Each sign is of set form,
but in the smaller tablets there appear certain signs the value of which
has not yet been determined, which may be merely variant forms of
some of the standard signs. There is one character (s?) which occurs
only in the smaller tablets, and which may be a second s-sign (entirely
different in form) by the side of the usual s (which appears both in
the poems and in these same small texts).

The spelling is fixed throughout; no word is written differently at
one time than at another. This is hardly surprising, since each letter
represented a different sound, so that properly there could be but one
spelling for each word, but the absence of all slips indicates that the
script was well-established at this time.

2 The three Ugaritic alephs will be here transcribed a, i, and u, so that a represents a spoken [’a] or [-a’],
i represents [’i] or [-i’], and u, [’u] or [-u’).

we i oe,

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 491

In the long poems there are few errors in sign making (e. g. putting
in of extra wedges). But in some of the small texts there are many
such errors; in a few the letter n is regularly or usually made with
four instead of three wedge-impressions, 7 with seven instead of five,
and so on. It may be that some of these texts are exercises and
students’ work; the syllabaries found with them suggest that the site
was a scribal school. Some have suggested that the less regularly
written tablets are earlier and go back to a time when the alphabet
was still not quite fixed; in that case the signs which occur only in the
small tablets may be early variants, or characters which died out
when the script was fixed. But there is little evidence to support
this view.

A few tablets have been found with the letters reversed mirrorwise;
the writing runs from right to left, and the individual signs, too, are
turned around. Whether this had some magical significance is not
clear as yet; the contents may be magical formulae.

For our understanding of these texts, and of their bearing upon the
history of the alphabet, it is important to know their exact date. The
great store of tablets was found in debris in stratum I-B (ce. 1500-
1365 B. C.), but some of them seem to have been built into the recon-
struction of the contiguous temple, suggesting that they may in fact
be older than this reconstruction. The colophon of some of the poems
indicates that they were written down (copied from older texts?)
during the reign of Niqmed, King of Ugarit; at the top of stratum II,
i. e., just before 1500, an Akkadian letter was found written by a
King Niqmed of Ugarit. If both refer to the same person, it follows
that these tablets are of that time, c. 1500 B. C. Other tablets have
been found elsewhere in the ruins and may well be later, in stratum
I-B.

It is quite possible that this alphabet was created during stratum
II, at Ugarit. How far the use of it or the knowledge of it spread,
we cannot tell until other sites have been excavated. In Beth
Shemesh, in south Palestine, there was found a tablet with a short
inscription in the Ugaritic alphabet, written in reverse. The tablet
has not as yet been successfully interpreted—it may be in a non-
Semitic language—but it suffices to suggest that the alphabet of
Ugarit was known over a wide area.

UGARITIC AND PHOENICIAN

The origin of the Ugaritic alphabet is unknown. It is all very well
to say that the scribes of Ugarit, using the Akkadian cuneiform,
created alphabetic signs for writing their own language, but how did
they come upon the idea of alphabetic characters? We cannot
explain it as a development from their knowledge of the syllabic
cuneiform, for the alphabet is no natural development from syllabic

492 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

writing. Once writing has reached the phonetic stage, each sign
represents a natural syllabic division of a word. The signary may be
reduced to the smallest syllabic divisions, but the signs will not be
made to represent such divisions of words (i. e., such sounds or combi-
nations of sounds) as are not normally pronounced ‘“‘by themselves,”
that is, as separate syllables. There will, therefore, be no letters
representing the nonsyllabic consonants. But it is precisely these
that we have in both Phoenician and Ugaritic alphabets. In the
former, we know the reason: the juncture of circumstances which led
to the construction of the Phoenician alphabet on the acrophonic
principle (the principle of having a sign represent the first sound of its
name). In the case of Ugaritic, what was the reason?

The suggestion to derive the Ugaritic alphabet from the Akkadian
cuneiform may be set aside. No impressive similarities have been
established between Akkadian and Ugaritic signs, but even if there
were similarities they would not explain the source of the idea of
alphabetic writing. Similarly, there are no grounds for the suggestion
that this alphabet was invented by non-Semites, a suggestion growing
out of the existence of vocalic aleph signs. The alphabet seems
definitely to fit the Semitic dialect of Ugarit, and the three aleph signs
may have been a special adjustment for the Hurrian population,
perhaps introduced for use in writing Hurrian.

We must investigate the possible relations with the Phoenician
alphabet. The primitive inscriptions found at Serabit in Sinai show
that the alphabet existed as early as the twentieth century B. C.
(or, perhaps, the last pre-Hyksos period). The Phoenician alphabet
proper has been carried back to about the thirteenth century, but
recent Palestine excavations have yielded some 10 archaic inscriptions
from between 1600 and 1200 B. C., all showing early stages of the
Phoenician alphabet. Some have suggested that the Ugaritic alpha-
bet is merely an attempt to transfer the Phoenician to use on clay
tablets, but in that case we should expect far greater similarity be-
tween the letters of the two alphabets. The only close similarity is
between the samek (s) of the Phoenician and the special Ugaritic s?
mentioned above, which appears in a few of the small tablets and is
entirely different from the ordinary s; this may, perhaps, be a variant
made as a copy of the Phoenician letter, only to die out without gain-
ing acceptance. It may be true that the forms of some Ugaritic
letters are based on the Phoenician. Some scholars have suggested
another point of connection between the two alphabets. In one of
the texts, a Hurrian one at that, the letter ayin appears with a small
circle about it. These scholars consider the circle to be the Phoenician
ayin, used here as a diacritical mark to distinguish the Ugaritice ayin
from the very similar t. However, for various reasons this view should
be rejected; the encircled sign in question probably represents a num-

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 493

ber or some other special mark, and this type of close relation between
the two alphabets remains highly doubtful.

Nevertheless, the consonantal Ugaritic alphabet must have been
modeled on the consonantal Phoenician alphabet. Only so can we
explain why the Ugaritic alphabet has no signs for vowels even though
it was created by people who knew Akkadian cuneiform, and vowels
are the only simple sounds for which cuneiform did have separate signs.
It may have been made with a sign-for-sign correspondence to the
Phoenician, in which case it probably had to continue the list and add
some signs for sounds which Phoenician did not have. But more
probably it was modeled on the general acrophonic method of the
Phoenician alphabet; just as the Phoenician had signs the value of
which was the first sound of their names, so here cuneiform signs were
made, with fixed names, and with acrophonic alphabetic values.
We cannot be at all sure of this, for we do not have the names of the
Ugaritic letters, but it is doubtful if the sounds were thought of
analytically by themselves; more probably they were conceived as the
different initial sounds of various words which “began differently.”

Hither way, the Ugaritic alphabet was probably not a slavish borrow-
ing of the Phoenician, but a new creation based on a learning of the
general idea or the underlying method of the Phoenician alphabet.
We have here a fine example of the learning and independent application
of cultural patterns, a type of transfer which often takes place in the
spread of cultural forms. This imitating of the cultural pattern has
occurred several times in the history of the alphabet—it figures in the
very origin of the Phoenician alphabet—and is but another witness to
the great adaptability of peoples in assimilating the cultural forms of
their neighbors.

THE LANGUAGE OF UGARIT

WORKING OUT THE GRAMMAR

The language of Ugarit is of great interest for Semitic linguistics. It
has brought important new facts to light, and has given body to some
hypotheses. But it is not in itself a totally new Semitic language;
it is a dialect closely related to other known Semitic dialects. When
once the values of the alphabetic characters were deciphered, it was
possible to understand large portions of the texts. Most of the words
were recognizable; they were similar to Hebrew words, or to words
known from Phoenician inscriptions, and were assumed to have the
same meanings as their cognates (words in related languages which
have developed from the same common word in the parent speech).
Some words could not be made out at first, but were shown to have
cognates in Akkadian or Arabic, or other more distant Semitic lan-
guages.

494 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

As the texts were read, the grammar began to reveal itself. Con-
sonantal prefixes and affixes indicated something of the forms of verbs
and nouns, since the functions of most of these affixes were known
from other Semitic dialects. Of particular value were the three aleph
signs, which revealed the vowel following the aleph (or the vowel
preceding it, if there was none following); this served as the chief
indication of the vocalization. Professor Friedrich soon showed that

wine U Phoenician re
og Ugaritie
. C, 13th &
Cen iB sy Hebrew | Cent. B.C. ghee) Hebrew
(Byblos) (Byblos) } ~

3 a)
i Gy i?)
& Cu; w)

tt

N€wn@ M HWA YY K
S¥a han Pa fl WERT }
j-|x |< ror[eor |] l€ |>]o[os Ix

x?

Ficurp 1.—The Ugaritie alphabet.

the word for “chair” was spelled ksu when it was in the nominative,
ksa when in the accusative, ksi in the genitive. We must, therefore,
assume that it represented [kussa’u, kussa’a, kussa’iJ® in the three
positions, and that the old Semitic case-endings were still in use;
hence, the word for sacrifice, always spelled dbh, must have been
pronounced [dibhu, dibha, dibhi] in the three cases. Similarly, from
verbs ending in aleph, Friedrich demonstrated the existence of various
modes—an indicative ending in [u], e. g. in t&w “she raised”’ for [tisSa’ ul],
where the jussive is tsa for [ti8$a’], and so on. The alephs also reveal
the vocalization of the verb-system; thus the form written amid,

+ Forms given as they were probably actually pronounced in Ugaritic speech (as nearly as we can judge in
keeping with Ugaritic spelling) are put in square brackets,

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 495

representing [’ama’idu] “I increased (?)” shows, as do other forms too,
that the vowel of the prefix in the derived stems (except the tstems;
this is Piel) was [a], and that the stem vowel of the Piel was [i], so that
tkbd “she honored” was probably pronounced [takabbidu]. The
alephs have further served to indicate unexpected sound changes
which have occurred in the language of Ugarit, as when the word for
“head”, which we would expect to be [ra’Su], written ras, is found
as res.

At times the consonants, too, show unexpected things about the
language; it is when we come upon such an unexpected form and are
able, in conformity with our other knowledge, to explain why it should
be so, that we feel we are not merely reading into the texts what we
happen already to know about Semitic, but are correctly interpreting
the new evidence. Thus a problem is posed when we find the word
“eighteen” written tmn‘srh, although the final h in the cognate word
in Hebrew is always regarded as a vowel letter, and we know there

Ficgurn 2.—Adze-head found at Ras Shamra. (The inscription in the Ugaritie language
reads Argn rb khnm “axe of the chief of priests.”) (From Dussaud, Découvertes.)

are no vowel letters in Ugaritic. But further consideration shows that
even in Hebrew there are indications that this is no ordinary vowel
letter but the reflex of some old consonantal sound; the Ugaritic form
fits neatly into this understanding. Similarly scholars were unable to
understand some of the occurrences of the letter d, in such phrases as
rgm d t&m‘, where rgm means “‘word” and tsm‘ “you will hear’’; but
these difficulties disappeared when it was realized that the Semitic
sound d, which became z in Hebrew, had become din Ugaritic (coalesc-
ing with Semitic d proper), so that some of the d-letters were to read as
reflexes of Semitic d; in this case it is the relative “which” (Hebrew
ze, Arabic du): ‘any word which you may hear.”

In this manner the grammar—the structure and system of the
language—can be worked out. Many words are interpreted by aid of
context, as in the simple case of the word for “sun” sp (instead of the
usual Semitic ¥ms), which was understood through its occurrence in
the phrase sp§ wyrh ‘“* * * and moon.” But the chief aid to the
understanding of the texts and the language, especially in the poems,
is the well-known poetic construction of parallelism. It is almost
always possible to work out the poetic form even of obscure passages,
and if one half of a parallel couplet is understood, we know what to
expect in the second half,

496 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

THE SOUNDS (PHONOLOGY)

The alphabet of Ugarit shows that the language had most of the
consonants which we assume the parent Semitic speech to have had.
The sound ¢ (sin) had coalesced with § (shin), d with s, perhaps g
(Arabic ghain) with ‘ (ayin); in historical Phoenician and later Canaan-
ite dialects we find not only these but also other analogous coales-
cences which have not yet taken place here. The sound d has coalesced
with d (this is the simplest interpretation of their being written
similarly), though in Phoenician and Hebrew it moved to z. In
Aramaic, too, d became d, but this was over a millennium later.

We have little evidence for the exact pronunciation of these sounds.
But we may assume that Semitic ¢ (as in English “thing’’), although
it remained distinct from every other sound in Ugarit, had come to
be pronounced somewhat like s: the t-sign is used in foreign names
which probably contained s, as in alty for Alasiya, the name of Cyprus.

About the vowels, we may make some deductions. Diphthongs
were simplified, as in most Canaanite dialects: the word for “house,”
Semitic *baytu, is here written dt, and so must have been pronounced
[bétu]. Final short vowels were still preserved, as they were at that
time in Canaanite; hence we still have the case-endings as seen above,
and the vowels of the indicative and subjunctive verb. The Syrian—
Palestinian change of 4 to 6 did not take place here (as yet?), but there
is an interesting change of a before aleph (when followed by con-
sonant) to e; this change seems also to have taken place in certain
Hebrew dialects, and later on in Aramaic. There is also a greater
use of the prothetic vowel, in a few words which do not have it in
other Semitic languages.

THE WORD-FORMS (MORPHOLOGY)

Ugaritic reveals a relatively early linguistic stage, vestiges of
which are barely discernible in such languages as Biblical Hebrew
which are modern in comparison. In the verb, the perfect aspect
(“tense’’) has a nominal, descriptive character, and is used chiefly
for stative verbs; in Hebrew it can be used for any verb. We have
it here in process of spreading; it is not yet generalized. The usual
verbal form is the form with prefixed personal element. Here we
have two basic tenses, a narrative preterite, and a present. The
narrative preterite is the most common, used to relate past events,
and probably had the form yagtulw ([yi88a’u] ‘‘he raised,’’ and so
on; by its side there seems to have been a short preterite yagtul
with consecutive and emphatic force used with proclitic elements
like [wa-] “and’’, [lf-] ‘indeed.”” This preterite is preserved in
Hebrew as the “imperfect with waw consecutive”: as Bergstriisser
pointed out long before the Ras Shamra finds, this waw-consecutive

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 497

form in Hebrew is not a peculiar syntactic construction which gives
an imperfect the force of a past tense, but is an actual vestige of an
old preterite; the language of Ugarit supplies the missing link of
this much discussed grammatical peculiarity.

The present also had the prefixed personal elements , but its vowels
were different from those of the preterite. In addition to the indica-
tive, ending in [-u] ([-n] after long vowels), there was a jussive with-
out these endings, and apparently a subjunctive ending in [-al.
There was also an energetic formed by the suffix [-anna] or the like.

The stems of the verb are generally similar to those of Northwest
Semitic. There is‘the common simple stem, known in Hebrew as
Qal, and an intensive (Hebrew Piel) with characteristic doubling of
the middle consonant of the root. In the causative group there seem,
strangely enough, to have been two forms, a vestigial Afel (similar
to Aramaic and to Hebrew Hifil), and a Shafel such as is known in
Akkadian but not in West Semitic. All these seem to have had their
own inner passive forms. In addition there was the Middle (‘Inner
Active’’) Nifal, with the same force as in early Hebrew, and a reflex-
ive-reciprocal stem with infixed -t-, such as does not exist in Biblical
Hebrew (where there is a prefixed ¢ stem, the Hithpael) but appears
in Moabite and in early Palestinian place-names (e. g., Hlteyé).
There were also some rarer stems, chiefly those used with the weak
roots (such as Hebrew Polel). Ugaritic thus does not show affinities
with any one language, but has constructions which were preserved
or developed here and there by various related dialects.

The weak verbal roots, those with one or more ‘‘weak’’ radical
consonants, conform closely with what we would expect at that
stage of Northwest Semitic. The verbs which in Biblical Hebrew
end in the vowel-letter -A (e. g., ‘ala(h) “he ascended’’), still possess
in Ugaritic their y and w consonants (‘ly for [‘alaya] ‘‘he ascended’’),
for since final short vowels had not yet been lost the y and w have
not entered into diphthongs.

In the nouns we have, as we might expect, generally the same noun-
classes as in the other Semitic languages. The case-endings are pre-
served; and the rare Hebrew locative ending -a(h) is now explained
from Ugaritic, for we find it here written with consonantal h (Smmh
‘“heavenward’’). The dual, restricted in later dialects to objects
which occur in natural pairs, is still used here in its grammatical force.

The pronouns present dialectal and historical points of interest.
The third person pronouns are hut, hyt, hmt [huwatu, hiyati, humatu?];
and we realize that Phoenician hmt, Hebrew hémd, are vestiges of a
similar pattern. The use of the relative d ‘‘which’? much as in
Arabic shows how general this was in Semitic, and sheds light upon
its use in the early Byblos dialect of Phoenician, and in early Hebrew

31508—38——-33

498 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

(in the form zu, ze). There is no article, just as there seems to be
none in early Phoenician and early Hebrew.

SYNTAX AND LITERARY FORM

The syntax is similar to that of early Northwest Semitic, in spite
of the centuries which intervene between Ugaritic and the earliest
Phoenician and Hebrew material which we have for comparison.
Word order is much the same, and is set in definite forms. In the
ordinary sentence the verb precedes the subject, even after most
adverbs: [gam yasfhu ’ilu] ‘Moreover Il cried.” But after certain
adverbs the order is inverted to subject-verb: [‘alan(?) SapSu tagdhu)
“Thereupon Shapsh cried out.” There is also a special form subject-
object-verb when the subject is in casus pendens (in apposition to
the whole object-verb sentence): ’nm smn tmirn nhlm tlk nbtm “The
heavens—oil they rained; the streams—they flowed with honey.” In
successive sentence-phrases there are forms of verb consecution in
which the first verb may be in one mode and the following ones in
another; we are reminded of verb consecution patterns in Hebrew
and South Arabic. There is also an enclitic [-ma] (similar to the
Akkadian?) which seems to have a conjunctive value between phrases.

The literary form of the poems is typical Semitic. It runs largely
in parallel couplets—sets of two short lines, each saying much the
same thing—with frequent intrusion of an independent line, especially
introductory lines such as “Thus said x.” The lines are measured
not by the number of syllables in them (as, say, in classical verse),
but by the number of stresses (major-stress syllables, as in Hebrew
and in English poetry); this type of poetic measure is naturally
appealing to English ears. Each short line (stichos) contains usually
three stresses, sometimes two or four.

An outstanding feature here is the comparatively high development
of strophes—stanza arrangements—over and above the procession of
the parallel couplets. There has long been discussion as to how
much stanza-arrangement there is in the Bible, particularly in the
Psalms, and in the Prophets, especially Isaiah II. Early Semitic
epic poetry (e. g., Arabic) shows hardly any strophes, and many
scholars denied their existence in the Bible, while others insisted that
one could not but find them in Hebrew poetry and recitative. The
strophic arrangements which occur here and there in the Ugaritic
poems show that we should not be surprised at similar constructions
in Hebrew. In general, the poetic touch here is at times similar to the
Hebrew, and often we see the same literary and even phraseological
background as the Hebrew poets drew upon, witness the similarity
to the Bible (especially Amos 1: 3 ff.) of this sentence: [hu(?)m tané
dabahima Sani’a ba‘lu, taldta rdkibu ‘urapAti] ‘Indeed two sacrifices
Baal hates, three (hates) the Rider of the Clouds.”’ One is impressed

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 499

by the literary authenticity of the Bible. With all the political,
social, and cultural separation of the Hebrews from the Canaanite
world, they learned the language of the Canaanites, and with it the
culture of its literary tradition. The literature of the Bible rested
solidly on the rich background of Canaanite literature, and the form
in which it has come down to us is often much closer to the original
than we had suspected.

The other outstanding characteristic of the Ugaritic poems is the
wealth of repetition and key phrases. There are certain fixed pairs
of synonyms which recur frequently in special parts of the poems,
or throughout them: n‘mm wysmm “pleasant and gracious”; 7st
bbhim * * * nblat bhklm “fire in the houses * * * flames
mthe palaces’ Gym FR oe dye PCR he Cggid’ Fle *
he repeated * * *,’? Some phrases recur so as to seem like a
refrain, giving a strophic character to that section of the poem;
in other cases there are stock descriptions (e. g., in supplication scenes,
in challenges) which are used whenever the scene occurs. The whole
gives a Homeric touch to the mythological poems. It is not common
in the Bible, perhaps because of the lack of epic poetry in it; and in
the epic prose of the Bible we see a different and perhaps more sophis-
ticated beauty in the simplicity and functional brevity of the telling.
But this rich repetition of Ugaritic must be an old feature of primitive
poetry, and is known elsewhere in Semitic.

UGARITIC IN THE SEMITIC FAMILY

The Semitic family of languages is one of the best known and most
carefully studied of linguistic groups. The criteria of its various
divisions are well defined, and it is therefore indicative of how much
we have still to learn that several varying opinions have been put
forth as to the place of the new-found language of Ugarit within the
family. Semitic languages are grouped together into three large di-
visions: east, northwest, south. The eastern group, Akkadian, is
marked off from the other two by many historical developments of
its own, but it has certain specific affinities with Canaanite and South
Arabic, probably going back to proto-Semitic times when these were
perhaps in special contact. The southern group includes North
Arabic and South Arabic (with Ethiopic); these agree with the whole
northwestern group in several special respects, particularly in the
development of the verbal system.

The Northwest Semitic group includes the languages spoken in
historical times in Palestine-Syria and, probably, the regions north
and east of Syria. The earliest clear material of this stock which we
have comes from the north from the turn of the second millennium;
it is called Amorite, but the exact character of the dialect is unknown.
In Palestine and Syria, throughout the second and first millennium,
there were spoken dialects which we call Canaanite. We know some-

500 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

thing of the pre-Hebrew (South Canaanite) of south Palestine; it was
different from the Phoenician of the same time. Later, the Hebrew
peoples spread over Palestine and adopted South Canaanite; they
had at least two general dialects, a southern Hebrew (the official
dialect of Jerusalem) and a northern Hebrew. Across the Jordan we
know of one dialect, Moabite, closely related to Hebrew. Mean-
while Phoenician, on the coast north of Palestine, was also Canaanite,
but different in several respects; it, too, had several dialects. Of the
languages of the far northern coast of Syria we had no information
till the Ras Shamra excavations.

During the beginning of the first millennium B. C. there appear
from the north and east a new group of dialects, also Northwest
Semitic, but different from the Canaanite. These are the Aramaic,
which slowly replaced the Canaanite dialects.

In this mass of languages, what are the affinities of Ugaritic? The
affinities of Ugaritic with Phoenician and Hebrew are many. In
Ugaritic and Phoenician, Semitic § coalesced with §; this took place
in Aramaic, too, but not in South Canaanite. In Ugaritic and
Phoenician and northern Hebrew the diphthongs ay and aw were
simplified to é, 6. In Ugaritic and all Canaanite dialects n had been
regularly assimilated to following consonants, and in Ugaritic and
Biblical (southern) Hebrew n does not assimilate when it is the third
radical of a verb. Ugaritie and Phoenician both replaced the verbal
root ntn ‘to give” with the secondarily formed variant yin. The
vocabulary is much the same in all, as a comparison between Ugaritic
and Hebrew will readily show. Many personal names are the same:
the rare name ‘bdssm, which occurs in Ras Shamra, appears again in
a late Phoenician inscription. Whole phrases are the same: compare
Ugaritic lyhpk ksa mlkk lytbr ht mtptk “Indeed he will overturn the
throne of your reign; he will break the scepter of your rule” with the
almost identical phrase from the Phoenician Ahiram inscription, some
centuries later, thtsp htr m&pth thtpk ks’ mlkh.*

With the Hebrew Bible there are scores of similarities in special
uses of words, in phrases, in turns of expression. It may suffice to
note but one or two: the use of bn ydm (literally “between the hands’’)
in the sense of ‘back’, parallel to ktp “shoulder,” thus explaining
the misunderstood bén yadéka “on your back” of Zechariah 13: 6;
the parallel ‘6lam ‘‘eternity” with dér wadér (Ps. 145: 18, etc.) fre-
quent in Ugarit; the Ugaritic lhm btlhnt lhm Sym bkrpnm yn “eat
bread from the tables; drink wine from the goblets” with Biblical
phrases using the same words: e. g., Proverbs 9: 5.

In determining the place of Ugaritic among Semitic languages, a few
general criteria will serve to narrow the field. Not only does the
general body of facts about Ugaritic place it in the Northwest Semitic

4 Harris, Z. S., A grammar of the Phoenician Janguage, p. 65.

RAS SHAMRA—HARRIS 501

group, but it also exhibits a special change which is peculiar to that
group, the change of initial w- to y-.6 Within this group, Ugaritic
has certain features peculiar to Canaanite: the masculine plural in -m
which it shares with Phoenician and Hebrew even against Moabite,
and against Aramaic, and against most other Semitic languages; also
many vocabulary features, such as ben “son” against Aramaic bar.
There are also interesting affinities between Ugaritic and Akkadian,
and between Ugaritic and Aramaic, especially in the verbal system.
The only way to decide the historic weight of all these affinities is to
determine which are genetic, i. e., due to a primitive period of common
development as one language, and which are either old proto-Semitic
features which had spread to both languages at that time, or late
changes which had spread from one language to the other in
historical times. The preterite, which Akkadian and Ugaritic have in
contradistinction to the others, is a proto-Semitic form, since we have
traces of it in Hebrew and Arabic. The restricted use of the perfect is
merely an early stage of its development throughout West Semitic.
The stem-system of the verb is of generally Northwest Semitic type,
rather than Akkadian. The change of d to d has no direct connection
with the same change in Aramaic, for the latter did not begin till much
later. The change of a to e before aleph is also found in Aramaic,
and, under different conditions, in Akkadian; but it also took place
in some northern Hebrew dialects, so that it may have been one of
those late linguistic changes which spread across dialect and language
boundaries. On the other hand, the vocabulary and the bulk of
linguistic facts noted above point to a genetic relation with the
Canaanite group of Northwest Semitic. It may be that the Amorite
language was very similar to Ugaritic, but we know very little of it.
In the present state of our knowledge, Ugaritic may best be considered
to be North Canaanite.

Thus far the finds of Ras Shamra can take us. A considerable
literature has already grown around the culture and language of this
single mound. But most of the mound is still untouched, and all
present conclusions must be held as tentative. The coming years
should bring to light much additional information on the society of
Ugarit and on its language.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bauer, H.
1936. Die alphabetischen Keilschrifttexte von Ras Shamra (texts).
Dussaup, R.
1937. Les découvertes de Ras Shamra et l’Ancien Testament (archeological
and mythological discussion).
FRIEDRICH, J.
1933. Ras Shamra, ein Ueberblick (linguistic and historical discussion).
Der Alte Orient, vol. 33.

5 Bergstrisser, G., Hebriische Grammatik I, §17b, §30b.

502 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Ginsberg, H. L.
1936. The Ugarit texts (in modern Hebrew: texts and notes, vocabulary).
Bialik Foundation, Jerusalem.
Montcomery, J. A., and Harris, Z. 8.
1935. The Ras Shamra mythological texts (grammar, texts, glossary).
Mem. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. 4.

EXCAVATIONS

ScHaErrer, C. F. A.
Annually in the journal Syria; brief reports in Illustrated London News.
(Cf., especially April 27, 1935.)

TEXTS
Ausriaat, W. F.
1932. The North Canaanite epic of Aleyan Baal and Mot. Journ. Palestine
Oriental Soc., pp. 185-208.
1934. The North Canaanite poems of Aleyan Baal. Journ. Palestine
Oriental Soc., pp. 101-140.
1936. New Canaanite historical and mythological data. Bull. Amer.
Schools Oriental Res., pp. 23-32, Oct.
CANTINEAUD, J.
1932. La langue de Ras Shamra. Syria, pp. 164-170.
Duormps, E.
1933. Deux tablettes de Ras Shamra. Syria, pp. 229-237.
E1ssFEwpT, O.
1932. Baal Zaphon, Zeus Kasios u. der Durchzug der Israeliten.
Frieprica, J.
1933. Zu den drei Aleph-Zeichen des Ras Shamra alphabets. Zeitschr. f.
Assyr., pp. 305-313.
GinsBera, H. L.
1935. The victory of the land god over the sea god. Journ. Palestine
Oriental Soc., pp. 327-333.
1936. The rebellion and death of Ba‘lu. Orientalia, pp. 161-198.
Harais, Z. 8.
1935. A Hurrian affricate or sibilantin Ras Shamra. Journ. Amer. Oriental
Soc., pp. 95-100.
1937. A conditioned sound change in Ras Shamra. Journ. Amer. Oriental
Soc., pp. 151-157.
Montaeomery, J. A.
1933-1936. Ras Shamra notes I-VI. Journ. Amer. Oriental Soc.
THUREAU-DANGIN, F.
1931. Vocabulaires de Ras Shamra. Syria, pp. 225-266.
VIROLLEAUD, Cu.
Annually in the journal Syria.
1936. La légende phénicienne de Danel, and La légende de Keret. Mission
de Ras Shamra, vols. 1, 2.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Harris

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SAMARIAG

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ASKALONS Marissa
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THE LOCATION OF RAS SHAMRA (UGARIT).

(From Kiepert’s map.)

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fae —_~ —

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Harris PLATE 3

PHOENICIAN GOLD PLATE FROM RAS SHAMRA.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Harris PLATE 4

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.*

A tagetiae hi"
ae

A TABLET FROM RAS SHAMRA IN THE UGARITIC ALPHABET: THE LEGEND OF
KERET.

BLOOD-GROUPS AND RACE?

By J. Mitior

Professor at the Sorbonne, Paris

It has been known for a long time that there might exist differences
in the blood of animals of different species: Morphological differences
connected with the shape and size of the red corpuscles, or chemical
differences relating to variations in the respiratory pigment, called
haemoglobin. It was also known that individual differences, acquired
during life, might appear in the blood: As a result of illness, for in-
stance, certain properties of the blood might be permanently modified
by the formation and accumulation of antibodies. At the beginning
of this century it was discovered that beside these variations of a
zoological or accidental nature, human blood possesses hereditary
constitutional differences of an individual and racial importance.
The study of these, and especially of their anthropological applica-
tion, has advanced considerably; at the present moment it almost
forms an independent branch of science. The investigations bearing
on it are to be counted by thousands, and several scientific periodicals
are now exclusively devoted to it.

What are these blood-differences and how were they discovered?
Their history is closely associated with blood-transfusion.

Blood is known to consist of a large number of small corpuscles
in suspension in a liquid, the plasma. The corpuscles are of two sorts,
white (called leucocytes) and red (called erythrocytes) which are
much more numerous. Two constituents may also be distinguished
in the plasma: A liquid (serum) consisting essentially of a 7-percent
solution of salt water, and albuminoid substances in solution, most
of which are precipitated if the blood flows out from the organism,
producing the well-known phenomenon of coagulation. Under nor-
mal conditions the red corpuscles float freely in the plasma, without
adhering to each other; but under certain conditions adherence occurs
and the erythrocytes collect together in bunches, producing the
phenomenon of agglutination. This result can happen both in vitro,

1 Translated by O. G. S. Crawford, editor of Antiquity, who wishes to thank Prof. Russell Gates for

reading the article and correcting some technical errors of translation. Reprinted by permission from
Antiquity, vol. 9, no. 36, December 1935.

503

504 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

that is to say, in blood that is kept in glass vessels, and in vivo, in a
living organism; but their circulation is seriously impeded and very
grave accidents may be produced.

The idea of blood-transfusion, of injecting foreign blood into a
subject weakened by excessive bleeding, is not a new one; we know
of undoubted instances occurring as early as the fifteenth century:
That of Pope Innocent VIII, for example. The results of these early
transfusions, made mostly with the blood of heifers or lambs, were
so disastrous that in the seventeenth century the operation was
made illegal by an act of parliament passed in Paris. The cause
of these failures was partly discovered in 1874, when Landois showed
that the serum of an animal of one species agglutinates the red cor-
puscles of animals of other species; that is to say, that if one mixes
the blood of two animals of different species, there ensues a general
clumping of their corpuscles: That has been called hetero-agglutina-
tion. At that date it was thought that agglutination only took place
between the bloods of different species. Accordingly transfusions
were then made again but only with human blood; the results were
good in certain cases but still disastrous in others. That was the
state of affairs when, about 1900, several doctors observed fortuitously
that the serum of certain sick people agglutinated the red corpuscles
of healthy patients. This phenomenon, which was called iso-agglu-
tination, was at first regarded as indicating a pathological condition;
but researches were continued and Landsteiner proved that, when
the blood of two perfectly healthy people was mixed, agglutination
was produced or not according to the patients who were the subject
of the experiment. He concluded from his experiments, on the one
hand that iso-agglutination can exist in a normal human being, on
the other hand that the iso-agglutinating properties are not the same
in all human beings, and that these should, from this point of view,
be divided into several categories or groups. That is the double dis-
covery of fundamental importance for which Landsteiner was awarded
the Nobel prize—a discovery whose origin is to be found in the great
volume of research devoted for a quarter of a century to the serological
properties of the blood.

How should the facts brought to light by Landsteiner be inter-
preted? ‘The simplest explanation, and the one most usually given at
the present moment, is that iso-agglutination results from the recip-
rocal action of two kinds of substances whose chemical nature, how-
ever, remains completely unknown; the one called agglutinogen is
contained in the red corpuscles, the other, or agglutinin, is in the serum.
Analysis has shown that there are at least two different agglutinogens,
conventionally called A and B? and capable of being present in the

1 In this deliberately simplified description, we are not taking into account either agglutinogens or acces-
sory agglutinins.

BLOOD-GROUPS AND RACE—MILLOT 505

red corpuscles either singly (A or B) or together (AB), or not at all
(O); certain individuals therefore have only A, and others have B,
and others both agglutinogens; while yet others are totally devoid of
either. It is this which is described somewhat inaccurately (but
which has found its way into scientific parlance) as the existence in
the human species of four blood-groups—group A, group B, group AB,
and group OQ, this last containing neither A nor B.

To the agglutinogens of the corpuscles correspond agglutinins in
the serum which are distinguished by the Greek letters a (or anti-A)
and 6 (or anti-B). The same blood never possesses agglutinins active
in the presence of their opposites; or in other words, the serum of a
given individual never agglutinates its own corpuscles—a result, which
in fact would make circulation, and consequently life, impossible.
Accordingly the serum of bloods belonging to group A contains, not
agglutinin a which agglutinates A, but agglutinin 6; and it is the serum
of group 6 which contains agglutinin a. The group AB, possessor
of two agglutinogens, can never have agglutinins, whilst group O
possesses at the same time both a and g. From this it follows that
the complete formulas of the blood-groups are A®, Ba, ABO, Oa.
This nomenclature is the one usually adopted, but two others, those
of Jansky and Moss, are also in use.*

If one brings together the blood of two people belonging to the same
group there is no result—the blood mixes normally. If on the other
hand one brings together blood samples from groups A and B, a will
react with A, 8 with B, and agglutination will ensue.’

In the light of these facts we now know how to practice transfusion
without risk of accident; it is enough to establish to which group the
patient belongs, and to obtain the blood from a donor belonging to the
same group as himself. Nothing is easier, for in the big towns there
have come into existence specialized institutes whence, by telephoning,
one can immediately obtain a “donor” of the required type. In actual
fact, the agglutinins are only active when concentrated, and those of
the donor, diluted in the blood of the receiver, appear practically with-
out effect; it results that one can always transfuse blood of group O
(universal donor) into a wounded patient, whatever his group, without
serious results; and that, conversely, a subject of group AB can receive
without harm eny blood whatever (universal receiver).

Human beings, therefore, are divided into four groups, according
to the serological properties of their blood. These preliminary
explanations having been given, let us see what main characteristics
are revealed by the reactions of agglutination; after which we will

3 The groups are indicated by Roman figures; according to Jansky O=I, A=II, B=IIIJ, AB=IV: according
to Moss AB=I, A=II, B=III, O=IV.

‘ The hypothesis of agglutinins and agglutinogens is a convenient explanation of the facts; but does it
correspond with reality? Are there definite chemical bodies involved? No doubt we have to reckon only

with special properties which may be common to many different substances, under certain well-defined
physical conditions (Mendes—Correa).

31508—38 36

506 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

consider the applications of the results to different subjects, particu-
larly those of an anthropological nature.

It is a fundamental fact that blood properties have a remarkable
permanence. Their individual stability may even be regarded as
absolute; a man never changes his group under any circumstances
whatever. We already have observations covering 25 years, and we
know that age never modifies the reactions, nor does any physiological
condition. Illness has no effect, nor have treatments of the most
varied kind, in spite of what may have been said to the contrary.
X-rays, like those of radium, or repeated anaesthesia, produce no
effect. Lastly, the group is not changed even after a transfusion
from the blood of another group; and the case is actually recorded of
a subject of group AB (universal receiver) having undergone 75 trans-
fusions with blood from each of the four groups without suffering any
modification of his own blood.

A second characteristic of blood properties is the precocious
manner in which they are differentiated. The agglutinogens appear
before the agglutinins. They are sometimes discoverable in the second
month of embryonic life. One can in any case always detect them
during the last weeks preceding birth, and so plainly that it is always
possible, normally, to know to what group a new-born child belongs.

If blood properties are fixed and precocious, they do not manifest
the same degree of strength in all subjects. Agglutinins, like agglu-
tinogens, differ in strength according to individuals, race, and age. It
has been recorded, for example, that the power of agglutinins, always
very weak at birth, increased up to 30 years of age, to decrease after
40; and that it was greater amongst Malays than amongst Europeans.

The fact of belonging to a given group is a hereditary character-
istic. It would be impossible here to give even a rapid outline of the
mechanism of heredity. What is essential is to know that in a child
no agglutinogen can appear which is not present in the blood of one
or other of its parents. If the father and mother belong to group A,
all the children may belong to group A; if they belong to group O,
all the children will belong to group O; if the parents do not belong
to the same group—if, for example, one is A and the other B—the
children will differ and be A, B, AB, or 02 Recognition of these
facts has resulted in curious applications of them. It has made it
possible, for instance, to restore to their respective mothers newly
born infants which had been mixed up immediately after birth. Above
all it has been used in medico-legal practice to investigate paternity.

Attempts have been made to establish a connection between blood
properties and other morphological or physiological characters of the

+ It may be added that according to Bernstein (1925) and Snyder (1925) blood groups inherit as 3 multiple

allelomorphs corresponding to the agglutinogens, A and B being dominant in association with a similar
recessive R, and not as 2 independent pairs of factors, as was formerly thought.

BLOOD-GROUPS AND RACE—MILLOT 507

organism, such as stature, skull-form, pigmentation, hair, age of onset
of puberty, etc. All these attempts appear to have failed, the differ-
ent correlations announced having all been more or less falsified by
the results, in the light of more extended observations. Thus, it had
been stated that in Sweden the majority of group B subjects were
brachycephalic; but this has not been generally established, and it
may be regarded as a mere coincidence. Some doctors believed they
could detect a relationship between the serological properties of blood
and the liability to certain maladies, such as infectious fevers, cancer,
etc. Victims of tuberculosis, for instance, belonged most frequently
to group A, whilst members of group B suffered from a noticeable
weakness of the nervous system, and amongst them psychoses were
more often observed and criminals most common. But existing obser-
vations are not nearly numerous enough to justify such conclusions.

Lastly there is the important belief that the reactions of iso-agglu-
tination are not peculiar to the human species. They have been
found in several other mammals. In most they appear to be much
weaker and less constant than in man, and to result from different
agglutinogens; on the other hand, human agglutinogens and ageglu-
tinins are also found in the anthropoid apes, gorillas, chimpanzees,
orang-utangs and gibbons. It follows that one could transfuse the
blood of a chimpanzee into a man of the same group without ill
effect, whilst transfusion of human group B blood would have serious
consequences.

These few general observations are enough to demonstrate the
great interest, from many points of view, of agglutinative phenomena
and the researches which they have inspired. We shall next see that
a knowledge of this subject is of the greatest importance for anthro-
pologists, and that the fact of belonging to a given group—a fact, as
we have seen, independent of age, sex, and every other physiological
condition—seems, on the other hand, to be a very definite function
of race.

It had been noticed ever since the first investigations, that the
proportions of the different groups maintained a remarkable con-
stancy in a given population, amongst the Germans or the Italians,
for instance. But the suggestion (due to MM. L. and H. Hirszfeld)
that there might be a relation between the anthropological content
and the distribution of agglutinogens was not put forward until later.
Being attached during the war to the medical service of the Army of
the East, these biologists had opportunities of examining the serolog-
ical properties of the blood of a large number of soldiers or civilians
belonging to very different races. They established three categories:
One marked by a high percentage of subjects of group A and a low
percentage of B, and including the majority of European races (Euro-
pean type); a second showing on the contrary a high percentage of
B and a low one of A, comprising Mongoloids and Ethiopians (Asio-

508 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

African type); and a last category containing approximately equal
quantities of A and B, comprising Russians, Turks, Arabs, and Jews
(intermediate type). This discovery, published in 1919, gave rise to
a considerable number of investigations, producing an enormous mass
of documents of varying merit, and emphasized the great ethnological
interest of blood groups. It would need many pages to give a com-
plete account of the results, and we must therefore confine ourselves
here to describing a few of the essential features.

Hirszfeld thought he could conveniently synthesize these features
by calculating for each race a “biochemical index,’ obtained by
dividing the percentage of A by the percentage of B, that is to say,

by establishing the proportionate fraction iy If out of 100

subjects of a race one found 40 A, 10 B, and 5 AB, the index would

e One The biochemical index for the European type thus
fell between 2.5 and 4.5, the index of the Asio-African type between
0.5 and 1.1, and the index of the intermediate type between 1.3 and 1.8.

This index has been much used. But the most recent researches
have shown, on the one hand that the sero-ethnic types established
by Hirszfeld were not exact enough, on the other that the biochemical
index was open to serious criticism; in actual fact, all races in which the
proportion of A is equal to that of B, whatever might be their absolute
value, would have a similar index, equal to J, whatever the number of
the O’s or of the AB’s, which is obviously unsatisfactory.

Many other formulae have been proposed to replace that of Hirsz-
feld, but without offering any clear advantages over it. On the other
hand successful use has been made of tables, which have proved most
instructive.

The examination of such tables enables us, following Ottenberg,
to distinguish a certain number of quite well marked sero-ethnic types.
One such is remarkable for its extreme poverty in both A and B, that is
to say it includes almost exclusively only the subject of group O. It
comprises the American Indians, the Filipinos, and most of the
Eskimos of pure race; it is called the Americo-Pacific type.

A second type, adjacent, rather deficient in B, but richer in A, is
represented by the Australians (Australian type). A third, again poor
in B, but very rich in A, includes all western European type. A
fourth type is marked by a moderate proportion of A and B, and
includes the Negroes, Melanesians, southern Asiatics (Annamites,
Javanese) and is called the Afro-Malay or Afro-south-Asiatic type.
A fifth, embracing the Near Easterns (Turks, Persians, Armenians,
Arabs) as well as Russians and Czechs, has a moderate proportion of
B and a high percentage of A (intermediate type). A sixth has a very
high proportion of A with a considerable but lower proportion of B;

BLOOD-GROUPS AND RACE—MILLOT 509

called Hunan, after the name of the Chinese province, it includes,
besides that region, the Japanese, a part of the Koreans, and in
Europe the Poles, Ukrainians and Hungarians. Lastly.a seventh type,
poor in A, but the richest of all in B, comprises all the Hindus, the
north Chinese, the Manchurians, and in Europe the Gipsies (Indo-
Manchurian type).

Such in outline is the actual classification of races according to the
serological properties of their blood. Some anthropologists have
criticized it severely, going even so far as to deny that blood-groups
have any ethnological value at all. They claim that from a study of
it one can deduce no valid argument bearing on the relationship of
races. They point out, for instance, that Hindus and Europeans
have wholly dissimilar blood, whereas there are good reasons for
supposing that both are descended from a common stock; on the other
band, the Lapps, who are of Asiatic origin and very different from the
Norwegians, are made to belong with them to the European type.
They argue also that Jews occur in almost all the categories, as much
amongst Afro-Malays as in Europe (German Jews), amongst the
Intermediates (Spanish Jews) or amongst those of the Hunan type
(Rumanian Jews and Jews of Beirut). These objections have very
little weight. It is now agreed that Hindus and Europeans are much
less closely connected than was formerly supposed, on the strength
of linguistic evidence wrongly interpreted. The Lapps bave very
irregular blood-formulae, and they are sufficiently intermarried with
their Scandinavian neighbors to make it not at all surprising that
their original blood should have been modified and now approximates
to that of Europeans. Finally, we may now regard it as certain that
the Jews do not constitute a true race, but a group of communities
which are ethnically distinct and united primarily by a common bond
of religion. It may be added that if Grove, for instance, found very
different blood-formulae amongst the different Ainu tribes, that was
because he did not guard sufficiently against sources of error (con-
sanguinity), which invalidate his statistics.

On the other hand, many accurate observations, as Snyder has
emphasized, confirm the real ethnic value of the reactions of aggluti-
nation, and show that populations of different blood can live side by
side for centuries in the same country without their serological prop-
erties undergoing any modification, if there is no intermarriage. Thus
the index of the Japanese and that of the Ainus is very different,
although these two races have been neighbors in Japan for several
millennia. The facts are particularly striking in the United States; the
three great races which have lived there on the same territory for 300
years still retain widely different indices—the Indians having one of
9.5; the whites, 3.6; and the blacks 1.4. Hungary provides another
choice example, because in that country are brought together colonies

510 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

which are ethnically very different—Hungarians from the east;
Gipsies, probably of Hindu origin; and Germans of a date before the
eighteenth century—the study of their blood shows, in the plainest
possible fashion, that the Germans of Hungary react like those of »
Germany, whilst the Gipsies are of the same type as the Hindus, and
that the Hungarians come close to the Turks—results agreeing entirely
with what we know from other sources.

We may conclude that blood properties provide us with a genuinely
valuable means of revealing the purity of a race, and that they owe
their importance to the fact that they are at once strictly hereditary
and as independent as possible of environmental influences.

Certain anthropologists have gone further and tried to extract from
serology information about the origin of races. The first theory of this
kind is that of Hirszfeld, who was struck by observing that, as one
passes from western Europe to eastern Asia, the proportion of A
diminishes and that of B increases. The fact is indisputable. A passes
from 45 percent amongst the Norwegians to 27 amongst the Manchus.
In the case of B, the change is particularly striking. One meets in turn
with 12 to 14 percent in western Europe; 20 to 23 percent in the
Balkans; 25 percent in the Turks and Arabs; 34 to 49 percent
amongst the Indo-Chinese; Chinese and Hindus. Hirszfeld thought
that from these facts he could infer a dual origin for the human race.
There would have existed, according to his ideas, two human stocks,
one having group A in its blood and coming from northern and western
Europe, the other, with group B, coming from the east, perhaps from
India. The two stocks having mingled in the regions where they came
in contact would have given birth to an intermediate type; the B
element having, for instance, been introduced into Europe with the
different oriental and Mongol invasions. This view is entirely hypo-
thetical. And while most anthropologists at the moment believe that
the agglutinogens A and B may well have come into existence sepa-
rately and in different regions of the earth, they will not admit a dual
origin for the human race. It is known, in fact, that entirely new
morphological, physiological, or chemical characteristics may, in con-
formity with the laws of heredity, appear quite suddenly in a species.
The phenomenon is called mutation, and numerous instances have
been recorded in animal breeding. According to Bernstein and
Snyder, the serological properties of the blood might thus have ap-
peared as a mutation, and the human species be derived from a single
stem which originally lacked both agglutinogens and agglutinins.
One of the principal arguments in favor of this view is that the living
representatives of races regarded as pure, but on the way to extinction,
have group O either exclusively or at least dominant. Thus out of
112 Navahos examined by Rife, 111 belonged to group O and only
1 to group A. It would seem then that we may regard this group

BLOOD-GROUPS AND RACE—MILLOT 511

O as primitive. Starting with this primary human blood, there would
have become differentiated the agglutinogen A in Europe, then the
agelutinogen Bin Asia; doubtless there would also have been a supple-
mentary mutation of A in the Far East, responsible for the Hunan
group. The supposition that group A is older than group B rests on
the fact that there are several races, such as the Australians, who have
group A but not group B, whilst none are known to have group B
without group A. According to this view, the fact that pure-blooded
Indians are all of group O would prove that they became separated
from the Mongolian peoples before the appearance of any blood
mutation; and the fact that group A but not group B occurs amongst
the Australians would be evidence of their having been isolated from
their stock during the period that elapsed between the two mutations.

These views are strongly in favor at the moment. Prof. J. B. S.
Haldane expounded them eloquently in a discourse before the Royal
Institution some years ago. We must, however, face the fact that
they are largely hypothetical, and personally I can hardly admit
them. Why, for instance, should the Senegalese have 19 percent of
B, when theyidojnot appear to have any trace of Mongolian ad-
mixture? One is driven to assume an independent mutation of B in
Africa, which merely complicates matters. But above all the fact
that human agglutinins and agglutinogens are found amongst the
anthropoid apes seems to us to have a very important bearing on the
problem, and to show in the clearest possible way that blood-groups
have existed for a very long time indeed. Their recent simultaneous
origin in monkeys and men is, in fact, most improbable; is it not more
natural to suppose that the common ancestors already possessed
agglutinogens? We will confine ourselves to saying, finally, that if a
character can appear by mutation, it can also disappear by the same
process; and it should be remembered that the majority of the muta-
tions observed in the course of animal-breeding are regressive, and
consist in the loss of a structure or of a differentiation, not in the
appearance of a new character. Is it not more satisfactory to regard
the Redskins, for example, as Mongoloids who have lost agglutinogen
B than to suppose that they left Asia before the appearance of the
mutation?

We may conclude that, while the study of the reaction of agglu-
tination may not be able of itself to solve any anthropological prob-
lem, and while no complete racial classification can be founded upon
it so that up to a point it may have betrayed the somewhat fantastic
expectations aroused at the start, yet it does provide means of ap-
praisement which are of great interest, complementing and checking
those derived from other sources. No serious anthropological inquiry
can in future dispense with it.

6 See note at end, No.1.

512 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Let us state, in conclusion, that the agglutinative properties are
not peculiar to the blood. They are found precisely the same in the
different secretions—milk, saliva, gastric juice, bile, sperm; they are
even found in the minced tissue. They are a constitutional feature
of the whole organism. They are obtained from the blood merely
because they are easier to detect there.

Nore.—The following articles in English deal with the same
subject:

1. Prehistory in the Light of Genetics; a discourse delivered at the Royal In-
stitution on Friday, February 20, 1931. Printed in The Inequality of Man, and
other essays, by J. B. S. Haldane pp. 63-77 (blood-groups, pp. 63-70), London,
Chatto and Windus, 1932.

2. Blood-Groups and Physiognomy of British Columbia Coastal Indians, by
R. Ruggles Gates and George E. Darby. Journ. Roy. Anthrop. Inst., 1934, vol. 64,
pp. 23-44.

3. Eskimo Blood-Groups and Physiognomy, by R. Ruggles Gates. Man, 1935,
No. 36.

4. Gates. Heredity in Man, chapter 9. (Constable, London.)

5. The Distribution of the Blood-Groups, by Allison Davis, Sociol. Rev., 1935,
vol. 27; January, pp. 19-34; April, pp. 183-200 (with list of books cited).

6. The Relation of Blood-Groups to Race and Some Particulars of the Southwest
Pacific, by H. J. T. Bijlmer. Journ. Roy. Anthrop. Inst., 1935, vol. 65, pp.
123-31.

EARLY CHINESE CULTURES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT:
A NEW WORKING-HYPOTHESIS!

By Wo.trramM EBERBARD

In regard to the origin and manner of growth of the Chinese
civilization, numerous theories have been propounded, by ethnolo-
gists on the one hand, by sinologists on the other. None of them,
however, it must be admitted, has so far met with much favor in
either camp.

Ethnologists in general hestitate to commit themselves in regard to
any of the higher civilizations; for without a thoroughgoing familiarity
with its language and its entire literature, they find it most difficult
to form any accurate judgment aboutit. Unfortunately, the majority
of workers in such a field are obliged to shape their opinions at second
hand, through the medium of such translations as may be available.
They therefore incur the danger of basing their conclusions on faulty
renderings by the translators. Hence, even the latest works treating
of China from the ethnological point of view, although they often
contain matter of the highest interest, are certain to be regarded by
the sinologists as standing in need of further corroboration. In their
adoption of this attitude they are thoroughly justified, and for so
doing we owe them warm thanks; since it is only as we are stimulated
by their criticisms that we can hope to make any progress at all.

On the other hand, there are the theories advanced by the sinologists
themselves. These we may range in two major groups. Of these,
one holds that about the third millennium B. C. a Western people
with great natural abilities and a high type of culture migrated to
China and settled there, first in the valley of the Wei River and then
in that of the Huang Ho (the Yellow River). From these regions
they gradually spread their civilization among their more backward
neighbors, and so created the germ of the later China.

The second of the two types of views maintained by the sinologists
holds the Chinese to be autochthonous, and their civilization in con-
sequence to have been developed independently in China itself, with-
out any foreign aid of importance. According to this theory, the
primitive Chinese shaped their culture themselves and then were

1 Translated by permission from the Proceedings of the Ethnological Society (Tagungsbericht der Gesell-
schaft fiir Vélkerkunde), second session, in Leipzig, 19236. Translated by OC. W. Bishop.
513

514 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

able, through natural increase in numbers and by a process of absorp-
tion, to spread it gradually over the whole of what is today the
Chinese area.

Ethnologists have looked with distrust on both the latter groups
of theories, and these have indeed been unable to find any real support.
Everything that we know about the way in which civilizations have
grown up in other parts of the world forbids us to believe that in
China alone the process of culture-building was as simple as is implied
by either of the two above views. Moreover, the books written by
their advocates would give their readers the impression that the
Chinese civilization of the second and first millenniums before our
era had already acquired a uniformity of character in no way essen-
tially different from that which it has today. From this belief has
sprung the strange notion that the Chinese civilization displays a
stability unexampled elsewhere, and with a total lack of any tendency
toward evolutionary change.

Now, to the trained ethnologist who travels through the interior of
China it quickly becomes apparent that there exist at the present
day in that country, often even in quite small areas, very great
differences in culture. Such differences can only be explained by the
assumption that this or that region has held fast with varying degrees
of conservatism to its own ancient customs and individual peculiarities.
These obviously go back to very old loca] cultures. The latter must
have been even more strongly marked 2,000 or 3,000 years ago than
is the case today?

Here at the outset we must recognize clearly that the sinologists
who maintain either of the two above-mentioned theories have acted
on the following principle; that is, they have made indiscriminate use
of all statements in the Chinese literature which bear in any way
upon cultural development, without first considering to what par-
ticular part of China any given statement may refer. Now, nearly
every such passage states explicitly the place of which it speaks; but
such information has not so far been taken into account. Yet no
matter what the results sought for, statements of this sort are the very
first to which attention should be paid. The same applies with equal
force to the study of linguistics. The still youthful science of Chinese
philology has tried to reconstruct the pronunciation of Old and
Middle Chinese. In so doing, however, it has tacitly assumed that
throughout the country a given character was pronounced in the same
way and has passed through a precisely similar course of development.
Yet in opposition to this quite unwarranted assumption are the facts
that even at the present day the Chinese spoken in various parts of

1 Regarding these survivals of ancient local cultures, recognizable even today, see W. Eberhard: On the

structure of a central Chinese local culture (Zur Struktur einermittelchinesischen Lokalkultur), Artibus
Asiae, vol. 7, 1937.

———

HARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 515

the country is pronounced in very different ways; and that, moreover,
the old dictionaries give long lists of such dialectical forms. I need
only mention here, by way of illustration, the word ch‘t, hsii, or ch‘iu,
signifying in modern Chinese “place”, ‘‘cave’’, or “hill”, but which
goes back originally to an old word belonging to the Coast Culture
(the latter we shall discuss at some length later on)? and which there
had the meaning of ‘market place.” The distribution of those
place names in which this word forms an element is somewhat nar-
rowly restricted; reference to the Ch‘un-ch‘“iu and the Tso-chuan
shows that it appears only in a region where the Coast Culture may
be supposed to have exerted influence. Another word belonging to
the same culture group appears to be lang, meaning “‘youth,” “man.”
A word of the Southern Culture seems to be yin, common in titles
and often signifying something like “leader.” The study of such
dialect-words has so far only just been begun by a very few sinologists,
but has not yet been carried to a definite conclusion.*

PART I

In my investigations I have begun to include the use of such sources
of information as those just mentioned. Those from the most differ-
ent periods must be employed. ‘The task is still in its infancy. No
one man can hope to carry it out successfully; for it involves nothing
less than the careful reexamination of the entire body of the Chinese
literature, art, and all other cultural phenomena. For the present,
only brief reference will be made to the results already attained, and
a working-hypothesis will be set forth which appears to me to accord
well with both the historical and the archeological evidence thus far
available. In this hypothesis there will be no effort to go back to any
ultimate beginnings or even to the origins of the basic cultures in-
volved, but only to a cultural stage already “late’’ in the ethnological
sense and which, historically speaking, covers roughly the period
2500-500 B. C.

The theory that the Chinese civilization was single in its origin can
no longer be upheld. Since even today, after a development extend-
ing over 2,000 years, there may still be recognized several more or
less distinct local cultures, the latter must also have been present in
times earlier still. Through their interaction it was that the civiliza-
tion which we know as Chinese assumed form. The fixing of the
territorial limits and the distinguishing characteristics of these local
cultures is consequently one of the most important tasks in the whole
field of Chinese ethnology.

3 It is also possible that this word may have belonged to the Coast Culture only in a secondary sense, but

originally to the Southern Culture; on this point further investigation is needed.
4It is to be hoped that the above suggestion may stimulate someone to undertake this study in earnest.

516 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

1. We may, I think, distinguish the following local cultures. In the
first place comes a Northern Culture. This extended, within the
region which we now call China (its extension outside that area we
shall not consider here, since for that purpose the Chinese sources are
insufficient), over the present province of Hopei, northern and east-
ern Shansi, and northern Shantung as far as a line passing somewhere
near the sacred mountain of T‘ai Shan.

3. ~
Nee
No

ZAI.

cWilization about (300 BL.

(j Center of the Shang (Yih)

Oo Center of the Chou Civi-
“ization about 1200 8.C.

Western Culture Northern Culture — Southwestern Coltore Southern Culture Coastal Cof/ure
SSS5 SSS 22 caress eseq :

(Turkic) (Tungusic) (Tibetan) (Tai) (Yieh)

A

FicurE 1.—Approximate limits of the basic Chinese cultures about 2000 B. O.

That this culture may well have been proto-Tungusic, ethnically
speaking, several indications unite to suggest. Among these is its
possession of a form of shamanism, practiced by magicians or medi-
cinemen who during the latter part of the first millennium B. C.
played an especially noteworthy part. Significant also in this con-
nection is that veneration of the bear which sometimes appears. So
too is the occurrence on the Shang (Yin) Dynasty oracle-bones of a

6 The terms used here to designate these various early cultures are applied on purely arbitrary grounds;
personally, I should prefer to distinguish them by the names of their bearers.

HARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 517

certain folkname of a neighboring people who, under the form Jurjen,
are perhaps to be identified as the ancestors of the later Manchus.

It is possible, perhaps even probable, that this Northern Culture,
for all its proto-Tungusic characteristics, contained a strong Palae-
asiatic element also. Excavations on Neolithic sites in northern
China show that the New Stone Age population of that area, insofar
as it possessed this particular type of culture, lived in pit dwellings
about a man’s height in depth and with their tops reaching only a
little way above ground. These people, moreover, made use even in
far later times of bone arrow points. For clothing they must origi-
nally have employed fur garments. Further, this culture had myths
about the fox,® in which that animal plays the role both of a ‘‘trickster”’
and of a semidivine being. Noteworthy also was the great freedom
permitted to women. This reached such a degree, indeed, that it is
possible to speak of something in the nature of a matriarchate; there
seems likewise to have existed a custom of guest prostitution like that
found today among certain Siberian tribes. Among the myths be-
longing to this culture may also be that of the exposure of the hero
while still an infant and his protection by various beasts (Hou Ch‘i
myth). In regard to this last attribution, however, I am not entirely
satisfied; for here enters the question of borrowings from the Western
Culture (to be discussed below), since this particular type of myth
displays in many of its details distinct solar elements. Head flatten-
ing seems also to have been practised, at least occasionally, although
whether it was really a characteristic trait is not sure. Traces of it
appear, however, even today, in northern China; for there, longheaded
children are regarded as ugly and a child’s head is therefore kept in a
cushioned ring which probably causes a certain amount of head de-
formation. Whether the dead were disposed of by means of platform
burial is also uncertain. This Northern Culture was in its primitive
form quite devoid of anything in the way of agriculture, and is accord-
ingly to be reckoned among the higher types of hunting and food-
gathering.

2. West of the preceding was what we shall term here the Western
Culture. Many things about this unite to indicate that its possessors
were people of Turkic stock, doubtless very early intermingled with
other groups. ‘To it we must ascribe a strong element of pastoral
nomadism with a rigidly organized patriarchate and a religion con-
sisting of the worship of the heavenly bodies. Among further char-
acteristics we may reckon the use of the horse, with a rite of horse-
sacrifice. Clothing was probably of skin. The dwelling, originally a
round tent, was later widely adopted as a type of habitation through-
out eastern Asia. Graves were marked by tumuli or mounds, likewise

6 Concerning the details of these myths see W. Eberhard: Typen chinesischer Marchen (F. F. Com-
munications, No. 120, Helsinki, 1937); for the texts, ibid., Chinese fairytales, London, 1937.

518 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

round in form. Boats, when used at all, were of hide or of inflated
skins. The typical musical instrument was an earthenware drum;
later (perhaps through foreign influence) there appeared stringed
instruments. The levirate and associated practices seem to have
been common. The part of China occupied by this culture appears
to have been the northern fringe of Shensi, western Shansi, and part
of Kansu.

3. Adjoining this Western Culture on the south was what may be
termed the Southwestern Culture. This had its center in what is
today the province of Szechuan, and its possessors we can with cer-
tainty identify as the Tanguts—a people in all probability of Tibetan
stock. This culture must in earlier times have had a greater extension
eastward, in one direction to Honan, in another to Hupei and Hunan;
while it also sometimes reached southward as far as Tongking.
Among nearer areas later penetrated by this culture were Yiinnan
and Tibet.

Here too, horse breeding played an important part, along with
pastoral nomadism and sheep raising. Cremation was perhaps typi-
cal, as likewise were polyandry and the eouvade. It is however
difficult to determine just what were its distinctive features; for there
survive, from the period when it played a part of importance for the
whole of China, no traditions which might supply us with clues;
while so far no excavations have been undertaken on sites indubitably
belonging to it. In later times, moreover, it lay a little to one side of
the main current of Chinese development, so that there exist very few
literary references to help us.

4. To the east, in the heart of the present Chinese area, was the
Southern or Ch‘u Culture, so called from the ancient kingdom of Ch‘u,
which had its nucleus in the present province of Hupei. Next to it
and lying along the coast was the Coastal or Yiieh Culture, named after
the old state of Yiieh. Of these two cultures we shall speak later on
in more detail. For the moment we may turn to the last of the early
cultures, one whose existence has thus far been scarcely more than
hypothetically established, and to which only a very few traits can be
assigned as definitely typical. Itis, however, of extraordinary import-
ance to a correct understanding of the cultural situation in southern
and central China. This is the Li Culture, whose possessors were in
my opinion Austroasiatics. That we must reckon with the presence
of people of that stock in China is rendered the more certain by the
fact that even to this day their remnants survive in the province of
Kueichow. This in itself justifies us in including them in our enu-
meration. There are, moreover, many other indications that in earlier
times they played a role of greater importance than we should at first
have suspected. Their culture can only have been that of a very
backward hill-people who were food gatherers, not growers; at most

HARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 519

they can have had only a very primitive form of agriculture, carried
on by burning clearings in the forest and then cultivating them with
the aid of digging-sticks. We must, however, exercise great caution in
trying to assign to them any typical cultural traits whatsoever; since
by the time when they first come within the purview of history, their
culture had already been so deeply overlaid and so greatly modified
by those both of the south and of the coast that it never appears
before us in its pure and unmixed state.’

The study of these two cultures, the Southern and the Coastal,
discloses that they share certain characteristics which can only be
explained as due to much mixture and overlaying and which are
probably, in part at least, the result of contacts with the Li Culture.
As long, however, as no researches have as yet been carried out along
these particular lines, I do not care to commit myself in regard to them.

5. In central China, especially in what is now the Province of Hupei,
the Li Culture has been overlaid by that which we have called the
Southern. This becomes evident when we observe that the bearers of
the latter culture were by habit valley dwellers, while the Li people,
as food gatherers, preferred living in the hills. In this way it is quite
possible for two such different groups to live close to each other in the
same district, with only a very slow intermingling of their two culture
patterns. We have instances of just such a state of affairs even
today in southern China and especially in Yiinnan.

The extent of the Southern Culture must, however, have been
far greater than the above would suggest. Its former existence may
with certainty be ascribed to southern and western Honan, to western
Shantung, to Anhui, parts of Kiangsu, Kiangsi, and Kuangtung, and
also to the whole of Hunan. Its bearers seem to have belonged to that
T‘ai stock still to be found in scattered groups over South China and
Farther India. ‘They appear to have had a wet-rice culture, associated
with irrigation and the keeping of water buffaloes and cattle. Their
former extension can be clearly detected in the distribution of myths
dealing with the origin of rice and of cattle, and of others in which the
ox appears as a beast-helper (cf. the stories of the Cinderella and the
Swan Maiden type). To this Southern Culture, too, belong the myths
which portray the river-god in the form of an ox.

Typical of the same culture seem also to be the terraced fields of
rammed earth (¢‘az), later made of rough stonework; offerings of grain
(later of bread) cast upon the rivers; and an agrarian spring festival.
Among musical instruments appears especially the mouth-organ or

7 Here belongs the problem of the Miao and the Yao, two aboringinal peoples of South China; into this,
however, we cannot enter here. There seem nevertheless to be definite indications that while these peoples
differ from each other, they are both Austroasiatics, influenced in different ways—the Miao mainly by the
T‘ai peoples, the Yao on the other hand rather by the Coastal or Yiieh Culture. There was perhaps still
another ethnic element in southern China, the Negrito; a dark-skinned group of short stature, still living

in some parts of Malaya and the Philippine Islands. So far, however, the evidence is not sufficiently
definite to warrant our setting them up as a separate group in China,

520 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

jew’s-harp class. There was also the plow, or perhaps rather its fore-
runner, a two-pointed spade especially adapted for working in flooded
fields. The religion seems to have been a combination of ancestor-
worship and of a fertility cult with offerings of swine. The latter
are in contrast to those of horses and cattle which characterized the
Western Culture and to the different type of cattle-sacrifice found in
the Coastal Culture. Among myths seems to have been one which
told of the separation of Heaven and Earth, regarded as a wedded
pair. This, however, isnot quite certain; this particular myth may have
belonged originally to the more primitive culture of the Li people.

6. The Coastal Culture is by far the most important of all the early
ones, especially when we take into consideration regions outside of
China itself but adjacent thereto. Its bearers were a people called the
Yiieh, who, it would seem, were essentially Indonesians. They appear
as living by the sea, with whose ways they were very familiar; and they
had a well-developed art of navigation. Chinese sources state that
they had also settled in southern Korea as well as in the Chinese pro-
vince of Shantung; while recent investigations concerning Japan suggest
that in that country, too, the Yiieh people had settled rather densely in
certain areas.

The center of the Yiieh Culture lay in the province of Chekiang, in
the neighborhood of the sacred mountain Kuei-chi, about which re-
volve all their origin-myths. In regard to this culture the written
records mention so many characteristic traits, of the most diverse
origin, that it can clearly be shown not to have had a single origin but
to have been composed of elements from a variety of sources. This
leads us to suspect that all the other early cultures enumerated above
would also show a similar multiple origin, were it not for the fact that
the available literary evidence in regard to them is far more scanty in
amount. On account of this defect in our knowledge, however, we are
unable to determine the true degree of their complexity. Hence we
inevitably tend to oversimplify them and to consider them as derived
from a single source. This, of course, includes the Northern and the
Southern Cultures already mentioned, in each of which we can detect
traces of several still older and quite distinct cultures. In the Coastal
Culture this becomes at once definitely apparent. For in it we find,
together with culture-elements quite compatible with the character
of a seafaring coastal people, others apparently better suited to hill
dwellers, and also still a third group more in conformity with the
culture pattern of a plains-dwelling folk with a more advanced type of
agriculture.

As typical of this Coastal Culture we may mention the following
traits: A developed navigation; the practice of holding boat races, with
its outgrowth the dragon-boat festival; the use of bronze drums
decorated in a way showing connection with that rite; and the concept

HARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 521

of the dragon as river-god. A feature of the spring festivals charac-
terizing this culture was a ceremony of wading through streams (a
rite apparently associated with the dragon concept); and myths which
speak of a dragon-mother, who gives birth to dragons. Closely allied
to this group of myths was one which had a ‘‘Moses” motif (a child is
cast away upon the waters in a chest and grows up to become a hero).
There has also survived a group of myths of brother-and-sister mar-
riage, and likewise of a deluge. In the same complex again are others,
of marriage with a dog (in some instances, with a frog). The dog
seems to have been venerated as the tribal ancestor; and there was also
a frog cult connected with a fecundity cult. Straw images of dogs were
buried with the dead, or were used as charms in cases of illness. Magi-
cian priests played an important role, and women took a part in cult
and ritual practices which would have been quite impossible in the
Western Culture. Boys and girls were consecrated to a divinity or
to a sacred mountain, either as actual sacrifices or at least with an
accompanying prohibition of marriage. Elements of this culture
were the worship of serpents, of sacred mountains (the latter destined
to develop into important temple festivals), and of certain trees.
Cattle were sacrificed on all occasions, their horns being preserved as
holy objects. In some instances there were bullfights which ter-
minated in the immolation of the defeated bull. Also customary was
the holding of wrestling matches, perhaps derived from the bullfights
or at least connected with them; for the contestants wore masks
bearing the horns of cattle. Funeral feasts were celebrated, and the
bones of the dead were given a second burial after the flesh had
decayed from them. First-born children were sometimes killed and
eaten by their parents (6n this practice see the following paragraph).
The hills were thought to be peopled by mountain spirits and one-
legged gobblins, in contrast to the ideas about fox spirits prevalent
in the Northern Culture.

Young people, perhaps after having undergone a rite of initiation,
were free to select their own mates, instead of having their marriages
arranged for them by go-betweens; the token of betrothal was the
exchange of girdles by the interested parties. Marriages were con-
cluded at the spring and autumn festivals. For some time thereafter
the wife continued to live with her parents and there receive visits
from her husband; during this period she enjoyed great freedom.
After the birth of her first child, however, she went to live with her
husband, to whom she was thenceforth expected to remain true;
connected with this custom, in all probability, was the one just
mentioned, of the slaying of the first-born child. Sometimes, however,
the husband went to live with the family of his wife until he had paid
for her by working for her parents.

Clothing seems to have consisted of narrow widths of cloth, two
of which were sewn together with an opening at the seam through

31508—88——-37

522 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

which the head was thrust. Thus originated the earliest form of the
so-called “kimono” type of garment, typical of all eastern Asia, in
marked contrast to the fitted and tailored clothing found in the
Northern and Western Cultures. The loin cloth (the Japanese
fundoshi) also perhaps belongs to the Coastal Culture; for it is still
occasionally to be seen in the island of Hainan, where, however, it
seems not to have been a very ancient feature. Possibly also bark
cloth was made. Tattooing in various patterns, perhaps totemic in
nature, as also the staining of the teeth black, were likewise customary.
Another practice sometimes mentioned was that described as “‘drink-
ing through the nose.” This is a special way of drinking certain
stimulants by sucking them through a tube of some sort, by way of
the nose. Bathing in rivers was quite general, as was also the practice
of pouring warm water over the body (cf. the latter practice in Japan).
Cockfighting was characteristic. An important arm was the cross-
bow, just as the Southern Culture is distinguished by its use of poisoned
weapons. The horse was entirely unknown. Walled towns, origi-
nally absent, appeared later, beyond much doubt as a foreign intrusion.
In their place, communal houses were typical—long pile dwellings
beneath whose elevated floors were kept the domestic animals.
Cultivation seems to have been carried on in fields cleared by fire, with
the aid of the digging-stick and the spade; the latter of these imple-
ments, however, perhaps did not come into use until later. In later
times also rice-growing was adopted from the Southern Culture by
that of the coast, through which it eventually traveled still farther,
even to Japan. Notched sticks (tallies) and knotted cords (quipus)
as means of recording events or sending messages receive such frequent
mention that they must have been typical of this Coastal Culture.
The sun was regarded as feminine, the moon as masculine.

The traits just enumerated are obviously so heterogeneous that
they cannot possibly have originated in any one culture. Such a
condition seems most likely to have been due to the superposition of
the real Austronesian bearers of this culture, in the hilly country on
the one hand upon the Li people, in the plains on the other upon the
possessors of the Southern Culture; from both of these they would in
time have absorbed certain culture elements. Something of this
sort, at least, appears the most probable solution of the problem.
Perhaps, however, it will eventually appear that we must seek in this
connection still another early culture, whose very existence we as yet
hardly suspect.

The entire structure, in fact, which I have tried to erect is so far
merely an experimental one, certain to need rebuilding and carrying

8 Perhaps these same patterns were also displayed on the garments, as F.. Rumpf has suggested in the case
of the Japanese. The designs on the clothing seem usually to have been worked on them in eross stitch.

Even today among some aboriginal peoples of southern China, certain designs on the clothing are typical
_of certain families or other social groups,

EARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 523

on to completion. However in its main outlines—i. e., the listing of
the six basic cultures out of which has developed the historical Chinese
civilization—I feel convinced that it will stand. What we have tried
to depict here is the cultural situation which existed in China during
something like 2,000 years before our era (2500-500 B. C.). We must
not suppose that during the earlier part of this period the mutual
interpenetrations and interminglings of these early cultures were as
marked as they became farther along in the same period, to say
nothing of still later times. Material gathered from the latter it
seems to me quite permissible to use in connection with our study,
since it comes from just those regions where the early cultures had
not yet been so deeply submerged by the type of civilization then
prevailing in the Chinese area proper.®

PART 2

I shall now try to show how, in my opinion, out of the above early
cultures there developed the historical Chinese civilization. The proc-
ess as I depict it, I wish to emphasize, is so far nothing more than a
far-reaching hypothesis. The attempt has, however, already been
made to bring the scheme which I have worked out by the aid of the
early historical and archeological material now available into con-
formity with the one drawn up for the Farther Indian and the Oceanic
Cultures by Professor Heine-Geldern. Should the latter’s theory
prove correct—at least in its general outlines—then we may expect
to find on Chinese soil also evidences of those early cultures that he
has postulated. We have, as a result of our preliminary discussions,
already reached a broad agreement. Further attempts have been
made—by Dr. Rumpf (Berlin) on the one hand and, along somewhat
different lines, by Dr. Oka (Vienna) on the other—to explain the
development of the Japanese culture. The result of such preliminary
discussions has been, moreover, to show that in this way far-reaching
conclusions may be attained.

1. The oldest culture that has as yet been clearly distinguished on
Chinese soil is the one called, from its type-station, the Yang Shao.
With this are grouped certain others, often very limited in area, per-
haps in part contemporary with it, whether they be slightly earlier or
slightly later. This culture contains, in my opinion, elements derived
from the Western Culture; this, for instance, it is, perhaps, which is
responsible for that unmistakable western Asiatic influence shown by
its painted pottery. Possibly, indeed, it will prove to have been the
case that there had already settled in the Ordos region Scythians or
some such people, who were the carriers of these elements. In this
event we shall have to suppose that very early exchanges took place

’ A work in which the evidence in support of the views here outlined is given is in course of preparation;
but for some references on the subject see the Arch. f. Relig. Wiss., vol. 32, p. 366, and vol. 33, p. 332.

524 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

between the Western Culture and that of the Scythians. However,
such an early appearance of the Scythians in the area in question has
not yet been proved.'’® A second component of the Yang Shao culture
is to be found in the Northern Culture, from which it took its pit
dwellings, its use of bone in the manufacture of implements, and the
common gray pottery decorated with cord or mat impressions. Still
a third source is to be found in the Southern Culture, from which came
rice growing, already proved for the Yang Shao; to it we may add also
the sedentary mode of life. Whether the Southwestern Culture like-
wise played a part in the formation of the Yang Shao is not yet clear;
but in any event it seems not to have made its influence as strongly
felt as that of the others named.

2. At somewhere about the same time that the Yang Shao culture
was taking shape in western China or only a very little later, there
appeared in what is now the province of Shantung, in eastern China,
the Lung Shan (sometimes called Ch‘éng Tzii Yai) culture, with its
characteristic pottery of black earthenware. This we do not as yet
know very well; but we can say with assurance that in it likewise there
appears a strong element of the Northern Culture—a stronger one,
indeed, than that which we have just found in the Yang Shao. With
this there also appears an element derived from one or other of the two
southern cultures. That of Lung Shan is in any case very much mixed,
and is a direct first step in the formation of the culture of the Shang
people, which we have now to consider.

3. The Shang culture is the oldest in China for which we have as
yet both historical and archeological evidence. In this also is to
be found a marked element of the Northern Culture, just as we saw in
that of the Yang Shao; but this seems to be slowly losing its strength
among the Shangs. Far more powerful was the influence exerted by
the Southern Culture, with its rice growing, its cattle breeding, and
its production of silk. Most clearly significant in this connection is
the influence which has been exerted by the speech. For these Shang
people, as the inscriptions which have been discovered testify, al-
ready spoke a language very similar on the one hand to that of the
present-day Chinese, while on the other it was most closely related,
among those of all these early cultures, to the speech of the T‘ai
peoples. The same inscriptions also speak of clans, whose names we
recognize as those of ones which existed, later on, in the Ch‘u kingdom
previously mentioned.

Shang agricultural implements were probably of wood, since none
of their remains have thus far been found. Recent Chinese investiga-
tions have, however, made it very probable that the Shangs had the

10 The question to what extent these people, whether Scythians or not, were Indo-Europeans, and how far
northern influences, Siberian or even Nordic European, are to be taken into consideration, forms another

field of investigation which has thus far yielded no definite results. In post-Christian times, however, blond
people appear in western China,

WARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBEHRHARD 525

two-pointed spade characteristic, like the above-named traits, of the
Southern Culture. This type of implement was long retained in
eastern China until somewhere around the middle of the first millen-
nium before our era, there appeared the plow, possibly as a develop-
ment of the spade. The difficulty about this last point lies only in
this; that the plow seems first to have been known in western China,
where we as yet hear nothing of the existence of an implement of the
spade class. Possibly this may mean that the plow has been intro-
duced into China from abroad. At all events it soon spread through
the north and then over the center and south of China. The presence
of survivals among the agricultural processes in use even today shows
that Yiieh influence on the Shang culture was also by no means
negligible. The many cowry shells, objects of mother-of-pearl, and
bones of the whale that have been found suggest that the Shang
people carried on trade with the east coast, where, according to tradi-
tion, the Yiieh were already seated. The influence of the latter on the
Shangs is, I believe, likewise shown by the “kimono” cut of their
clothing and especially by the style of the decoration found on
their bronzes.

Finally, this Shang Culture also contained an element derived from
the Western Culture, and which seems to have been growing stronger
with the passage of time. While the Shang religion appears to have
been at first only agrarian in its character and so to be explained as
due to the influence of the Southern Culture, there appears in it later
on a worship of sacred mountains which may well be ascribed to the
Yiieh Culture; while later still we can trace a change to an astral type
of religion, as indicated by the inscriptions on the oracle bones. For
the latter, we may now assert with confidence, the bones of oxen were
used at first. We must infer, therefore, that the use of chicken bones
and still later of their eggs, for oracular purposes, was typical of one or
other of the southern cultures, whether of that of the south itself or
that of the coast; and that, further, between these oracles and those
drawn from the bones of oxen there exists some sort of connection.
As yet, however, we are not well enough informed as to the nature of
the cattle sacrifice in use among the Shangs to try to bring its ox-bone
type of oracle into direct relationship with the ox cult and the ox
sacrifice of the Coast Culture. Later, in place of ox bones, the shells
of tortoises were employed by the Shangs. That the latter should
thus have come to prefer tortoise shells is only explicable on the ground
that, as stated by later texts, they saw in the rounded upper shell
(carapace) a symbol of the vault of Heaven, and in the flat lower one
(plastron; the part used in consulting the oracle) that of the plain of
Karth. Thus already we find here evidence of astrological speculations
like those which became especially conspicuous later on, in the culture
of the Chou people (to be considered later), under the stimulus of the
predominantly astral religion of the latter. This we can hardly explain

526 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

otherwise than as due to the influence of the religion of the Western
Culture, definitely astral in character. As the texts repeatedly de-
clare, the greatest enemies of the Shangs were a people who dwelt just
to the west of them and who were known as the Chiangs. This name
was that later applied to the Tanguts and thus suggests that its orig-
inal bearers belonged to our Southwestern Culture. Today, thanks to
archeological excavations and the inscriptions which these have
yielded, we are able to state the approximate extent of the Shang king-
dom and its associated culture. These occupied only a comparatively
small area, comprised in southern Hopei, northern and eastern Honan,
and western Shantung. The Chiangs, though, as we have just seen,
they belonged to the Southwestern Culture, must at that time still
have extended eastward as far as portions of Honan. This conclusion
is by no means as absurd as might at first appear.

4. Let us now glance at what had been going on in the meantime
in the west. There, after the disappearance of the Yang Shao Culture,
the Turkic stocks, bearers of the Western Culture, had been coming
more and more prominently into the foreground, probably because
they themselves were in turn being hard pressed by their northern
neighbors. The latter we can now confidently call Scythians. The
cultural changes which followed the disappearance of the Yang Shao
Culture are unfortunately hard to interpret in the light of such scanty
archeological evidence as we thus far have. We must, however, think
of a slow transition as going on during the bronze age, through the con-
tinuous action of long-lasting and widely spreading western European
influences. The bringers of these new occidental culture elements
must have wandered eastward and there intermingled freely with the
possessors of the Southwestern Culture. As a result of such inter-
minglings (affected somewhat by even earlier but weakly felt intrusions
from the Southern Culture), there was formed a new Western Culture,
that of the Chous. The vocabulary of the latter, according to evidence
presented by recent Chinese investigations, contained a Turkic element.
The Chous it was who brought with them into China an astral type of
religion and the idea of strongly centralized chieftainships. Around
1000 B. C. they succeeded in subduing the Shang kingdom and its
culture. The latter, strongly agrarian in character and with a well-
marked development of handicrafts but which had already long been
urbanized, was in consequence deeply overlaid by the culture thus
brought with them by the Chous. These had a strong tradition of
pastoral nomadism, although before their conquest of the Shangs they
had become agriculturists themselves and only retained the memory
of having once been a pastoral people. They found themselves forced
to adopt much of the Shang civilization. For example, they took over
the Shang system of writing with but few modifications, and were in
consequence compelled slowly to abandon the very language that they
spoke They likewise took over the Shang bronze technique, to-

HARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 527

gether with its style of ornamentation. In short, they borrowed
nearly all the features of the Shang civilization. It was not until
about the middle of the first millennium before our era that they began
to lay aside the Shang culture traits in favor of their own.

They had begun this process of culture borrowing long before their
conquest of the Shang kingdom; and they continued it for several
centuries thereafter. In its course they had followed a precedent
often seen in the subjugation of an agrarian culture by a predomi-
nantly pastoral and nomad one; that is to say, the Chous, as con-
querors, became a ruling class. In bringing this about, they had
settled groups of their own people at points of strategic importance all
through the country, to govern the lower class, composed of the Shang
people who occupied the region. There thus grew up as a character-
istic of the Chou culture a feudal system—the only one, in the cir-
cumstances, by which a numerous conquered people could be held in
subjection. The nature of this feudal system and the way in which it
imposed itself upon the old agrarian culture of the Shangs explain also
the following fact. As we learn from the texts again, in the first
millennium B. C. the population which considered itself as ‘“Chinese,’’
viz, the ruling group of the Chous and that part of the conquered
element which had come into the closest contact with the latter, was
sparsely distributed, in widely separated settlements and city states,
over a region otherwise peopled by folk whom they distinguished as
“barbarians” and who belonged to the old agrarian culture. Outside
the territory under Chou control, again, were still other peoples who
belonged to one or another of the earlier cultures. These, in the first
millennium B. C, at all events, occupied scattered enclaves throughout
the entire region under discussion." Further significant of this con-
dition is the fact that not until around the seventh century B. C. did
the distinction between “Chinese” and ‘barbarians’ appear. By
that time, as a consequence of this imposition of the Chou culture
upon that of the Shangs, there had begun to develop a civilization
which we may call Chinese and whose possessors had begun to feel
themselves as being somehow different and superior to their neighbors,
to whom they had in reality originally been so closely related. During
Shang times the neighboring peoples had been denoted by a word
which meant something like ‘land’ or “region” and which only later
took on the significance of “barbarian.”’

The above-described fundamental differences between the Chou and
the Shang cultures also explain the sociological contrasts between the
two. In that of the Shangs, predominantly agricultural in nature and
hence basically allied to the Southern Culture, there had been as in
all agrarian cultures with an organization of small peasant holdings
instead of great landed estates, no necessity for slave labor. In its

See in regard to this the references given in the Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., vol. 63, p. 425,

528 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

place, however, such cultures have often demanded large numbers of
human victims for sacrifice in connection with fertility rites. To
this fact we may attribute the extreme frequency of human sacrifices
and the absence of slave owning and slave labor during Shang times.
Along with this (and here we are reminded of what has been said in
connection with the Southern and the Coastal Cultures) went the
existance of a priestly caste of great power and importance.

In contrast to all this we may set the lack, among the Chous as
among so many pastoral peoples, of rites accompanied by human
sacrifice, their place being taken by great offerings of animals. The
Chous, as a people with a tradition of pastoralism, may well have
made use of slaves originally for watching their flocks and herds.
They had moreover a keen appreciation, acquired in the course of their
wandering mode of life, of the advantages inherent in a disciplined
government. Hence they used their captives of war not as human
sacrifices but as servants. Since, however, they had already given up
their pastoral economy before their conquest of the Shang kingdom
but had not, on the other hand, gone on to develop one of great landed
estates, and had but little knowledge of land management, they left
the latter to their subjects. Such slaves as they had they employed
merely for watching and other similar services—a clear remembrance
of their original manner of using slaves during their former pastoral
life. This instance will perhaps suffice to show how our new working-
hypothesis may be used in the solution of particular problems, and
how by its use we may reach a clearer understanding of many phenom-
ena. We may also draw an inference of a somewhat similar sort from
the fact that the Shangs sacrificed in temples, but the Chous on the
other hand in the open air—another significant cultural distinction.

As an objection to our theory that the Chinese civilization grew
up out of the interaction of various local cultures, it may be urged
that in the first millennium B. C. the art of the entire Chinese area
was obviously uniform in style. This is, however, not fundamental.
It can be shown that the callings of certain families were exercised over
wide areas and during long periods of time in accordance with heredi-
tary traditions. For instance, there still lived in Lo-yang as late as
the fifth century A. D. a group of potters who claimed descent from the
ancient Shang population and who thus seem to have been carrying on
a particular craft for some 1,500 years. We also find references to the
existence of families of bronze casters; these suggest that, speaking
generally, bronze vessels were in all probability made by individuals
or families with whom the process was an inherited tradition. Par-
ticular pieces, obviously provincial in origin, will have to be explained
as the work of local families.

12 The rite of ‘following in death,” occasionally met with in the Chou culture, differs somewhat from the

above-mentioned human sacrifices of the Shangs; it is a practice by no means unknown among pastoral
peoples,

EARLY CHINESE CULTURES—EBERHARD 529

In the above historical sketch we have omitted any reference to a
Hsia Dynasty or a Hsia Culture. This we have done deliberately.
For everything that we have in the way of references to that dynasty
is in part so vague and questionable, in part so general and so devoid
of ethnological significance (since we cannot work with purely political
statements), that it does not allow us to draw a picture of a Hsia Cul-
ture. Excavations carried on at sites alleged to have been occupied by
the ancient Hsias (in southwestern Shansi) have so far brought to
light only remains of the Neolithic Period. Hence we do not know
whether there was in reality a Hsia Culture at all. If there was,
however, its center, according to our working hypothesis, must have
been at the focal point where the Northern, the Western, and the
Southern Cultures came together. It would thus have differed from
the Lung Shan and the Shang Cultures in the absence of any element
derived from the Southwestern Culture. All this is, however, so far
purely speculative, and has no real basis in ascertained fact. We
shall have to await new discoveries before we can form any conclusions
in regard to a Hsia Culture. For the present, any attempt to discuss

it would be premature.
PART 3

In the view presented here, then, the civilization which we call
“Chinese” has not been developed from any single source but has been
the product of a mixture and union of several quite distinct early local
cultures. That of the Shangs, which we may safely term proto-
Chinese, took form in the region where the Northern, the Southern,
and the Coastal Cultures all met. It was finally overlaid by the in-
trusive Chou Culture, which in its turn originated at the point where
the Western, Northern, and Southwestern Cultures impinged on one
another. In this way there came into being the Chinese civilization
properly so-called, with all those distinguishing characteristics which
it bears even to this day.

Our study suggests many questions into which we have not gone at
all. For instance, we have made no effort to decide to which one of
the early cultures we must ascribe the various forms of stone hatchets
found on Chinese Neolithic sites. Neither have we so much as men-
tioned the extent to which the art of the Yiieh Culture may have in-
fluenced the decorative style found on the Shang Dynasty bronzes.
Nor have we raised the question as to which of these early cultures is to
be attributed the practice of mother-right on the one hand and of
father-right on the other. All such points we shall have to omit. In
my opinion, however, our study has already brought out enough to
show that these cultures were themselves in no sense unitary struc-
tures. Not until we have additional evidence can we, in my belief,
ascribe to one of them the custom of mother-right and deny it to an-
other. It seems to me that such details will very probably become

530 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

clear to us in the light of further study. For the present I think it
better to postpone our investigations in such specialized fields. First
of all we must clearly determine the nature of the early cultures and
define them more exactly than we have yet been able to do. Until
then, we should not try to deal with these further questions, important
though their solution undoubtedly is. Before we undertake to do so,
we must learn the true nature of the original relationship among the
Austroasiatic, the Austronesian, the Tibeto-Burman, and the Sino-T’ai
groups of languages. Then only shall we be in a position to proceed
further with our study.

Should the working-hypotheses suggested here hold good, they will
also provide us with a method of drawing fresh deductions as to the
early ethnology of Farther India and Indonesia. These deductions
will rest upon a foundation similar to that afforded by the hypothesis
which Professor Heine-Geldern has already sought to establish. They
will likewise give us a new picture of early Japan. According to the
old theory, the origin of the Japanese people was to be explained as
the result of a fusion of Tungus from the north, of Ainu of uncertain
affinities, and of Malays from the south. But now investigations
seem to have made it clear that the Japanese culture was already
in existence before the period of the Malayan wanderings had com-
menced. The Malayan theory has weaknesses in several other
respects also. It would seem, indeed, that the question might be
far better explained if in place of the Malays we were to put the
Yiieh people. For the features which, in both culture and in language,
have been regarded as ““Malayan”’ seem rather to indicate the presence
in Japan of influences emanating from the Yiieh Culture. Nor can
the Tungus theory be any longer permitted to stand.

Further discussion of such points as the foregoing would, however,
be outside the scope of our present inquiry. I hope, in the course of
a cooperative study which is to be undertaken together with a group
of specialists, to reach a satisfactory explanation of such questions
and to obtain for Japan and Farther India also working-hypotheses in
harmony with the one which I have set forth above in respect to China.

Finally, the question goes much further, for it poses problems
much more far reaching still. Of these, one is that raised by the
existence of numerous parallels between the Central American civiliza-
tions on the one hand and those of eastern Asia and Farther India
on the other. There has already appeared a whole group of American
culture-elements which may have reached America partly from the
northern portions of the Asiatic continent and partly through direct
contacts with the Chinese coast. All such features must in any case
be considered from the point of view which we have been discussing.
Their study, thus undertaken, seems likely to lead to results of very
great importance.

ORIGIN AND EARLY DIFFUSION OF THE TRACTION
PLOW*

By Cart Wuitine BisHor
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington

[With 4 plates]

The earlier efforts of mankind to assure an abundance of food con-
sisted largely in the performance of magical ceremonies, frequently
orgiastic in character. It is sometimes forgotten that such methods,
even after regular cultivation had come into being, long continued to
survive in close association with what we should consider more
rational procedures. Yet this is a fact which we need to keep steadily
in mind while we try to work out the early history of the traction plow,
which here refers to plows drawn by animals, especially those of the
ox-kind.

Certain members of the genus Panicum—the millets—seem to
have been the first cereals actually cultivated. These, grown with
the aid of the hoe and the digging-stick under the jhim system of
tillage, had spread over a large part of the Eastern Hemisphere before
the close of Neolithic times. Under this system, small plots of ground
are cleared, often with the aid of fire, and are then tilled for 2 or 3
years until their fertility has been exhausted, when they are abandoned.

It was not, however, the growing of millet but rather that of wheat
and barley which became associated with the development and dif-
fusion of true agriculture. The first steps in this process had already
been taken long before the dawn of history—possibly even before the
end of the Epipalaeolithic period.| Hand in hand with the greater
stabilization thus gradually brought about in the food supply there
went a corresponding increase of efficiency in the instruments em-
ployed in its production. Of these, the hoe and the pick have never
undergone improvement save in matters of detail; in principle they
remain today what they were in prehistoric times. To regard either
of them as directly ancestral to the plow is to be misled by superficial
resemblances in nonessentials.2, For example, the hoe handle can

*Reprinted by permission from Antiquity, September 1936.

1 Curwen, E. Cecil, Agriculture and the flint sickle in Palestine, Antiquity, vol. 9, p. 62, 1935.

2In the Méms. Soc. Royale des Antiquaires du Nord, 1902, Sophus Miiller (Charrue, joug, et mors, p. 39)
points out that the earlier Egyptian hoes differ more from the contemporary plows than do the later ones.

Berthold Laufer (Jade, 1912, p. 48) and Paul Leser (Entstehung und Verbreitung des Pfluges, 1931, p. 558
and note 29) both regard the hoe and the plow as possessing different histories.

531

532 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

scarcely have been the origin of the plow-beam; for the latter, as we
shall see, appears to have been absent in the earlier plows, its place

being taken by a rope.
It was quite otherwise with that archaic implement, the digging-

stick. This in time developed into the foot-plow, which assumed a
variety of forms, either curved or else bent at an obtuse angle, and
provided with a rest against which the cultivator pressed with his foot.
Possibly the “shoe-last celts,” characteristic of the Central European
culture known as Danubian I, were in some instances at least the
shares of prehistoric foot-plows.* In regions as far apart as Ireland,
China, and even Peru, men using implements of this class have worked
in pairs abreast, walking backward, their belief being that in this way
they can accomplish much more than when acting indepedently.*
Such instruments are still employed in parts of the British Isles, the
Sudan, the Far East, and elsewhere.

A further step in the direction of more effective tillage was the
application of the principle of traction. By this method, while one
individual pushed the implement, one or more others pulled it with
cords.® This practice likewise attained a wide distribution. It
appears to have existed at one time or another in nearly every part
of the north temperate zone of the Old World. Perhaps certain large
leaf-shaped stone implements found in northern China were the shares
of such primitive man-drawn plows.® Instruments operated on this
principle were used until lately in parts of Europe; and they still
survive in discontinuous and usually backward areas from North
Africa and South Arabia right across to the extreme east of Asia.

The substitution of animal for human power marked the final step in
the evolution of the true traction plow. This change seems most
likely to have been initiated through the operation of ideas which we
should consider the reverse of utilitarian, but which to earlier peoples
seemed rational enough.

That the bull and the cow have often been regarded as embodi-
ments and even as gods of fertility is well known. Such beliefs seem
to have been more especially prevalent in those lands where wheat and
barley were cultivated in antiquity. It was perhaps the wish to enlist
the magical fertilizing force believed to inhere in the ox-kind rather

3 Childe, V. Gordon, The dawn of European civilization, pp. 66, 172, 1925: ef. the lower example in fig. 77,
p. 172; see also the same author, The Danube in prehistory, pp. 40, 45, 1929.

4 For an account of the Peruvian taclla, see Cook, O. F., Foot-plow agriculture in Peru, Ann. Rep. Smith-
sonian Inst. 1918, pp. 487-491, 1920. In view of the striking similarity of the taclla to certain western Euro-
pean implements, it may have been introduced into South America by the Spanish, as we know was the
case with the traction-plow itself.

For information regarding the Irish laidh and its use I am much indebted to Dr. E. Cecil Curwen. The
practice in vogue among the ancient Chinese is often mentioned in their classical books; for information
concerning its modern survival I have to thank Dr. A. W. Hummel, of the Library of Congress, whose
observations in the field confirm my own. The mode of using the Peruvian taclla is fully described in the
paper by O. F. Cook cited above.

5 Wundt, W. M., Elements of folk psychology (trans. by E. L. Schaub, undated), p. 291.

6 Licent, Pére E., Collections Néolithiques du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho, vol. 1, p. 12, 1932.

:
|

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 533

than to secure the aid of their physical strength which led to their
association with the operations of early agriculture. On Egyptian
reliefs both bulls and cows are seen employed in traction, and they are
still so used in many lands. The use of the ox could only have been a
later development. Castration, of bulls as well as of men, probably
originated as a feature of those orgiastic fertility cults so common in
the ancient Near Kast; it symbolized a dedicatory sacrifice—a species
of ritualistic synecdoche. Only after the practice had become estab-

FIGURE 1.—Map showing approximately the distribution of the traction plow prior to the age of discovery
(about A. D. 1500). The area indicated very closely coincides with that in which were found in antiquity
many other important culture-elements, among them bronze, wheat, and the horse-drawn war-chariot.

lished could men have learned that animals thus treated are thereby
rendered more docile.’

The plow itself has often been regarded as a direct gift from the
gods. The Egyptians ascribed its origin to Osiris, the great patron
of agriculture, while the Vedic Indians believed that the Acvins had
taught its use to mankind. In Greece its invention was variously
imputed—to Zeus or Dionysos, to Pallas or Demeter. In China its
origin came to be attributed both to Shén-nung, the ‘“‘Divine Husband-
man,’ and to a (mythical) grandson of Hou Chi, “Ruler of the Millet.”

This intimate connection of the ox-drawn plow with religious
ideology suggests the query whether it was not itself actually of priestly

1 This question is well discussed by Wundt, op. cit., p. 290 seq.

534 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

origin, and first employed in the production of sacred crops, destined
for ceremonial uses. Examples of areas set aside for such a purpose
are the Rharian (or Rarian) Plain near Eleusis, dedicated to Demeter,
and the Sacred Field ceremonially tilled every spring by the Chinese
emperors. Mesopotamian cylinder seals display the plowman garbed
as a priest; or they show the plow in association with astral symbols
or being offered to a seated god or goddess of agriculture (figs. 2-3).
Again, a Cypriote clay model of a plowing scene from the Karly

zu

FIGURE 2.—Sumerjan plow, about 2000 B. C. (After Ward, Seal cylinders, p. 133, No. 274.)

FiGurE 3.—Ancient Mesopotamian plowing scene. (After Ward, Seal cylinders, p. 132, No. 372.)

Bronze Age, during the third millennium B. C., associates the plow
with those cults of the Divine Mother and the Sacred Bull once so
widely diffused over the Near East. In many lands, too, the initial
plowing of the year has been a solemn religious observance con-
ducted in person by a priestly ruler; such, for example, was the case
in China until less than a generation ago.

The earliest method of attaching cattle to the plow seems to have
been by means of ropes made fast to their horns—the latter themselves

8 Iilustr. London News, December 10, 1932, p. 928 ff., and Man, No. 134, August 1933. For early contacts
of Cyprus with the mainland of Anatolia and Syria, see Sir Arthur J. Evans, Scripta Minoa, p. 68, 1909.

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 535

magical symbols of great potency; both yoke and plow-beam appear
to have been later developments. No doubt human and animal
traction were employed in conjunction for a time. This continued
to be the case in ceremonial traction in Egypt down to late dynastic
times, and it is still the practice in certain backward regions.? Only
through experience could men have discovered that, under proper
guidance, oxen may be trained to draw the plow unaided.

We are as yet scarcely in a position to determine just when and
where the traction plow first appeared. That its evolution should
have occurred independently in more than one area is improbable in
the extreme; for it involves the coordination of far too many culture
elements. Moreover all the available historical evidence is opposed to
such a view. Once the idea of using animals for drawing the plow
had been grasped, however, its secular advantages assumed increas-
ingly greater preponderance over its religious aspects, and its wide
diffusion became inevitable. In many lands, in place of being asso-
ciated with the introduction of any given form of plow, animal traction
seems often to have been adapted to already existing agricultural
implements of either the foot plow or the man-drawn type.

Recently it has been claimed that northern Europe—more specif-
ically, the Nordic province—was the birthplace of the traction plow.
This claim we shall discuss later. Credit for its invention has also been
proposed for the valleys both of the Nile and of the Euphrates.
Possibly its evolution actually began in Upper Mesopotamia or North
Syria during late prehistoric times, when those regions enjoyed a
ereater rainfall than they do today.!° The abundance of remains of
human habitation in many parts of the Near East which are now arid
proves that at no very distant date, geologically speaking, that region
possessed a far higher degree of humidity than now.

The first irrefragable proof of the use of the traction plow anywhere
is probably that found in an archaic Sumerian seal of about 3500
B. C., from the Royal Cemetery at Ur." As the plow here shown
is already as well developed in certain respects as its descendant
of a thousand years later, we must postulate for it a long previous
period of evolution. The actual beginnings of this process must go
back at least as far as the fifth millennium B. C. or even before. The
Uruk pbase of prehistoric Babylonian civilization, commencing around
4000 B. C., perhaps as an intrusion from the northwest,” already
employed animal traction for wheeled vehicles, and possibly in agricul-
ture also, although this by no means necessarily follows. In ancient

® For a recent instance, see Biddulph, Major J., Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, p. 128, 1880.

10 See Peake, Harold J., and Fleure, H. J., The steppe and the sown, p. 7, 1928.

11 For this citation I am indebted to Dr. Leon Legrain, who tells me that the dating is still not quite certain.
See Ur Excavations, vol. 2, The royal cemetery, p. 336, No. 12, and plate 192, No. 12, Joint Exped. British
Mus. and Univ. Pennsylvania.

12 Speiser, Dr. E. A., The ethnic background of the early civilizations of the Near East, Amer. Journ.
Archaeol., 1933, p. 465.

536 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Egypt, for example, the ox-drawn plow long preceded wheeled
vehicles, while in China the exact reverse was the case.

The early Mesopotamian plow is most often shown with two
handles or stilts, and, save apparently in ritual plowing,” the means
of traction had progressed far beyond the primitive rope attached
directly to the animals’ horns. In some instances, even, we find
depicted on the seals what seems to be a true neck-yoke, with bows or
loops encircling the animals’ throats.* There was no slade or sole,
but merely a simple point. The plow-beam was of two pieces,
joined together and sometimes displaying a double curve shaped like
the sound-holes in a violin. Beams of this sort survive in the Near
East to this day.”

The Babylonian plow seems to have undergone comparatively little
change in form during the historical period. But by the latter half
of the second millennium B. C., and perhaps much earlier, there was
sometimes attached to it a ‘“seeder’’—an upright tube open at both
ends, through which an attendant dropped the seed-corn as the plow-
ing went on. This apparatus appears also on Assyrian plows;
representations occur on the walls of Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad ”
and on monuments of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Somewhat
similar features shown on seals are interpreted as representing a man
pushing down the plow point with a stick; but perhaps in reality
what are intended are ‘‘seeders.”’ ® Little if any evidence exists for
the very early use of metal shares in Mesopotamia; and indeed it is
unlikely that such were ever regularly employed anywhere before
iron came into general use.”

That cattle were the only animals attached to the plow by the
ancient Babylonians seems clear. It has been asserted that on one
very early carving a man is shown plowing with an antelope; however
nothing in the way of a plow is depicted here, and what we have is in
reality a hunting scene.”

We are far better informed in regard to the ancient Egyptian plow,
of which we have so many representations, from the Third Dynasty

13 See fig. 5, representing a late Cassite plowing scene, obviously ritual in character; the difference in the
position of the animals’ heads emphasizes the absence of a yoke.

1 Ward, W. B., The seal cylinders of Western Asia, p. 132, Nos. 369, 371, 1910.

18 For a modern instance see Festschrift: Publication d’hommage offerte au P. W. Schmidt, 1928; Leser,
Paul, Westésliche Landwirtschaft, p. 434, fig. 32.

16 See fig. 5, p. 528.

17 Leser, Paul, Entstehung und Verbreitung des Pfluges, p. 247 and note 53, 1931. Plowshares were
among the iron objects found in Sargon’s palace. Some are now in the Louvre.

is For an example from a monument of Esarhaddon, ef. Pinches, O. T., The old testament in the light of
the historical records of Assyria and Babylonia, pl. 13, opp. p. 208, 1902.

19 Ward, op. cit., pp. 132, 133.

20 For plow irons at Gerar about the twelfth century B. C., ef. Wainwright, G. A., The coming of iron,
Antiquity, 1936, p. 19.

21 For the scene thus wrongly explained, see Hilprecht, H. V., The Babylonian Expedition of the Univer-

sity of Pennsylvania, vol. 1, pl. 16, p. 88, 1893; also Ward, op. cit., p. 30, no. 55. Dr. Legrain has confirmed
my own suspicions in regard to the true purport of this carving.

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 537

onward.” It displays in general a more archaic aspect than the
Mesopotamian plow; but like the latter it usually has two handles, at
first very short. In the earliest reliefs the Egyptian plow is often
attached to the draft animals simply by a rope tied to their horns;
and even in later times, at any rate in ritual traction, a yoke is fre-
quently absent (fig. 4). When it does occur under the Old and
Middle Kingdoms, it is of the most primitive description—merely a
bar of wood lashed crosswise to the animals’ horns. Although horn-
less cattle were known to the ancient Egyptians they seem never to
have been used in plowing.” Where in place of a rope a plow-beam
is shown, it is usually short and always straight and displays none
of the elaboration of Babylonian examples.

The use of a cross-tie of twisted and doubled thongs or cords,
binding the beam to the lower part of the plow, near the point, arose

LT
(TUNIC
SS

ep,
i
i |
aw

TTT L

Figure 4.—Late Dynastic Egyptian ritual traction illustrating method of attachment without either yoke
or pole. (After Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, vol. 3, pl. op. p. 449, 1878.)

quite early, but only became general toward the beginning of the
Twelfth Dynasty; later still it was replaced by a cross-brace, apparently
of wood. The Egyptians seem to have armed their plows with flint
during most of the Dynastic Period;** although there is some evidence
that they were beginning to employ metal shares before its close.
Save in minor details, the Egyptian plow underwent little evolu-

tion during Old and Middle Kingdom times. It was only after the
Hyksos conquest—when, incidentally, wheeled vehicles first appeared
in Egypt—that changes in the plow became more marked. It then
grew progressively heavier and its stilts longer, while true neck-yokes,
perhaps introduced from Asia, began to replace the archaic bars of
wood tied athwart the animals’ horns.” In some of the later Dynastic

#2 On Third Dynasty plows, see Petrie, W. M. Flinders, The tomb of Nefermat, Medum, 1892.

33 Schaefer, Heinrich, Priestergriber * * * vom Totentempel des Ne-user-ré, p. 17, 1908.

4 Cf. Hartmann, Fernande, L’ Agriculture dans l’ancienne Egypte, p. 79, fig. 10, 1923; also De Morgan,
Jacques, Prehistoric man, p. 172, 1924.

25 See Schaefer, op cit., p. 168.

26 Cf. Antiquity, vol. 9, p. 456, 1934, referring to the Papyrus of Kumara. The oxcarts of the Asiatic foes
of Rameses III have neck-yokes.

31508—38 38

538 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

Egyptian plows there appears to be a tendency to develop a slade or
sole—a feature apparently already known in the Aegean area; possibly
its appearance in Egypt was connected in some way with those raids
by the “Sea Peoples” then going on. Something which has very much
the look of a coulter (not necessarily of metal) also appears in a few
representations of plows on New Kingdom monuments, and at least
one surviving example has actually been reported.”

Instances of the use of human instead of animal traction in plowing
are rare. An Eighteenth Dynasty relief (fig. 6) shows a plow of the
usual type drawn by four youths and guided by an older man who is
closely followed by a sower.* The form of the plow here is wrongly
reproduced by Lepsius ** and by those who have copied him.

We know little as yet regarding the first appearance of the traction-
plow in Asia Minor. As we have seen, the eastern portion of that
area was perhaps not far removed from the original center of diffusion.

FiGurE 5.—Plowing scene on late Cassite seal-impression. (From University of Pennsylvania Museum
Journal, vol. 1, p. 4, 1910.)

A high degree of civilization existed in the region west of the Taurus
by the third millennium before our era,®° when the plow was already
known in Egypt and Cyprus. That it was used in Asia Minor as early
as it was in the latter of these two regions at least, we may regard as
certain. The peninsula became indeed in the course of time a second-
ary area of diffusion. For more detailed information we shall have
to await further archeological research.

It was perhaps from Asia Minor that the traction plow reached
Crete. For the form used there during Minoan times, as it is depicted
in the hieroglyphic script, shows no resemblance to those ordinarily
used either in Mesopotamia or in Egypt. Unlike these, it has but a

27 Cf. Burkitt, M. C., Our early ancestors, p. 54, note 1, 1926. On the other hand, Dr. E. A. Speiser in-
forms me that the mention of “coulters’’ in I Sam. 12:20 and 21, is an anachronism due to a mistranslation.

*® Tylor, J. J., and Griffith, F. L)., The Tomb of Paheri at E] Kab, vol. 1, p. 13 and pl. 3, Egypt Explor.
Fund, Eleventh Mem., London, 1894.

20 Lepsius, Richard, Denkmiiler aus Aegyptien und Aethiopien, vol. 3, pl. 10-a.
40 Smith, Sidney, History of Assyria to 1000 B. O., pp. 164 ff., 1928,

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 539

single handle, with a transverse hand-grip, and a well developed slade
in one piece with the beam. Both these characters the ancient Cretan
plow shares with examples found in peat bogs in northern Europe;
and it seems also to have been nearly related to the preclassical
Greek plow as well as to types found in the eastern Mediterranean
area today.*! It displays a distinctly more developed shape than do
the plows shown in the Ligurian and Swedish petroglyphs which we
shall discuss later.

There appears to be no conclusive evidence for the use of the ox-
drawn plow in Europe during the Neolithic period,” although some
form of foot plow was pretty surely known and perhaps human trac-
tion was also employed. However, Mesopotamia was in contact from
very early times with the steppe lands north of the mountain zone,”

“NS

AA Ws
Way
wy » NN h} |
f,.\ N TM
f /)

FIGURE 6.—Egyptian eighteenth dynasty example of human traction in plowing. (From Tylor and
Griffith, Paheri, vol. 1, pl. 3.)

and it was perhaps in this way that the idea of employing animal
traction in agriculture reached that black earth region destined one
day to become the granary of Athens. From southern Russia—or
perhaps from Asia Minor, though the latter seems on the whole the
less likely source—the use of the plow spread to the Danube Valley.
It may possibly have appeared there during the latter half of the
third millennium before our era; for among remains of the culture
known as Danubian JI, which seems to have arisen about that time,
there have been found large stone implements interpreted as plow-
"al For hieroglyphic representations of the ancient Cretan plow, cf. Evans, Sir Arthur J., Scripta Minoa,
pp. 190 ff., and fig. 102 (table 13), No. 27, 1909.

% Childe, V. Gordon, The Bronze Age, p. 49, 1930; also, Leser, Paul, Entstehung und Verbreitung des

Pfluges, p. 550.
% Childe, The Aryans, pp. 1865 ff., 1926.

540 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

shares.** The latter may, it is true, have belonged to man-drawn
implements; but in any case it seems fairly certain that the Danube
Basin knew the true traction plow by the beginning of the second
millennium B. C.

It was perhaps both through the Balkans and either directly from
Asia Minor or else through Crete that the use of the ox-drawn plow
spread to Greece. For Hesiod speaks of two types as in use concur-
rently in his day.*® Of these, one, very simple in construction, may
possibly have been derived from Central Europe; while the other,
considerably more developed, points rather to contacts with the Aegean
area or possibly with regions even farther to the east. Both forms
have single handles and also slades, but apparently not metal shares.

FiGuURE 7.—Ancient Greek plow. (From a vase-painting by Nikosthenes.)

Our earliest knowledge of the ancient Greek plow we owe almost en-
tirely to Homer and Hesiod, and, a little later, to the vase painters
(fig. 7).

In Italy there seems to have been little in the way of true agricul-
ture during Neolithic times.** Not until the Bronze Age is the trac-
tion-plow found there. Perhaps it was introduced by the Terre-
mare people—Dr. Randall MaclIver’s ‘‘Proto-Italici’’—invaders from
the northeast who appeared in Upper Italy somewhere around 1700
B. C., bringing with them a highly developed agriculture.” Our
earliest concrete evidence for the plow in the peninsula is probably
that found in certain rock drawings in the Ligurian Alps.** These
are generally believed to date from the second millennium before our

4 Regarding the intrusive elements, apparently deriving from southern Russia, which appear in Danubian
II, cf. Childe, Dawn of European civilization, p. 177, 1925; on p.179 of the same work, Danubian II is dated
ce. 2500-2200 B. C.

35 Works and days, pp. 427-436.

36 Maclver, Randall, Italy before the Romans, p. 41, 1928.

37 Maclver, Randall, op. cit., pp. 35, 36. ‘

88 For an account of these, see Burkitt, M. C., Rock carvings in the Italian Alps, Antiquity, vol. 3,
pp. 155-164, 1929.

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 541

era—during the period, that is to say, when the influence of the Terre-
maricoli was making itself felt in northern Italy. It seems unlikely
that these petroglyphs can have been the handiwork of the native
Ligures, whom Posidonius describes in the first century B. C. as “wild
huntsmen, almost ignorant of agriculture.”

The plow shown here was composed of two pieces, a combined
handle and point and a beam. So far as our evidence goes, this was
the only form in use in Italy for several centuries.*® It was apparently
not until the earlier half of the first millennium B. C. that there was
introduced an improved form, having a slade, and comparable in other
respects also to the more developed type mentioned by Hesiod.” Its
arrival in the peninsula was pretty surely connected with the move-
ments which led to the settlement of the Etruscans northwest of the
Tiber and of the Greeks in Magna Graecia.

During the Roman period agricultural implements of all kinds
underwent a marked development. Among the new devices then
adopted seem to have been mould-boards, a wheeled forecarriage, and
definitely the coulter.*t | These improvements were perhaps the work
not alone of the peoples of Italy but also of some of those dwelling
beyond the Alps. In any case, they were diffused over a large part of
western and central Europe, where their evidences are visible through-
out the Middle Ages and even down to our own times (cf. pl. 1).

That the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula had the traction plow
before the Roman occupation is certain; but as to the date of its first
appearance there we are quite in the dark. It may have been intro-
duced there during the Celtic invasions,” or, even earlier, fromnorthern
Italy, between which and Spain we know that there were contacts.
The Celtiberians had a two-piece plow without a slade and in general
resembling that shown in the Ligurian petroglyphs ;** while some of the
more archaic Spanish and Portuguese plows used down to recent
times recall forms found in central and even eastern Europe. The
Greeks and Carthaginians can of course scarcely have failed to bring
with them improved eastern Mediterranean types.

Regarding the presence of the plow in North Africa (west of Egypt)
before the former half of the first millennium B. C., our knowledge
is slight. In early historical times the Libyans seem on the whole
to have been pastoral ;** yet they grew cereals in the time of Merneptah,
late in the thirteenth century B. C.*° Among the modern Berbers

39 This form seems to have been the forerunner of the Roman aratrum simplex, comparable to Hesiod’s
atrdyuvov a&porpov.

40 The anxrév &porpov.

41 See Huntingford, G. W. B., Ancient agriculture, Antiquity, vol. 6, p. 328, 1932.

“ For a brief discussion of these as they relate to Spain, see Kraft, Georg, The origin of the Kelts, Anti-
quity, vol. 3, p. 33 passim, 1929.

43 For a representation of a Celtiberian plow on a coin, see Daremberg-Saglio, Dict. des Antiq., vol. 1,
p. 354, fig. 434.

44 Cambr. Anc. Hist., vol. 1, p. 36.

45 Bates, Oric. Eastern Libyans, p. 98, 1914.

542 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

there has been noted an agricultural complex, apparently of great
age, including along with many magical practices the use of the
ox-drawn plow, regarded as sacred. Agriculture in North Africa
must have received a great stimulus from the planting of the Phoeni-
cian and Greek colonies along the littoral. The Carthaginians in
particular developed it to a very high pitch, as we are told by more
than one ancient writer; Columella, for example, in the first century
A. D., even calls Mago “the father of husbandry.’’”

It was most probably during the Late Bronze Age that the ox-drawn
plow reached western Europe—say somewhere around the beginning
of the first millennium B. C. During the same period or very early
in the Iron Age it seems to have appeared in Britain; although some
have doubted its arrival there before the Roman conquest in the first
century A. D.* That the earliest British plow resembled those shown
in the Ligurian petroglyphs seems likely, while its ultimate derivation
from the Danube basin hardly admits of a doubt. After the Saxon
conquest the older and lighter Celtic plow was in a measure displaced
by a heavier one, drawn by as many as four yoke of oxen—a type
perhaps devised in South Germany during the early centuries of our
era.5?

The same form of plow as that first found in northern Italy and
in all likelihood in western Europe also reached the Baltic area. An
article has recently appeared undertaking to prove, through a resort
to pollen analysis, that a traction plow found in a peat-bog at Walle,
in East Friesland, belongs to Neolithic times—according to this
author, as long ago as 3500 B. C.*' This would carry us back as far
as the first recorded appearance of the plow in ancient Sumer, and
something like a round millennium before the earliest probable date of
its arrival in Central Europe. The writer of the above paper further
points out that the Walle plow is similar to those shown on the Certosa
situla and on certain Greek vases—the implication, of course, being
that the type persisted practically unchanged for some 3,000 years,
during which it diffused itself slowly southward from the Baltic to the
Mediterranean.

Any such dating as that claimed for the Walle plow is, on a priort
grounds alone, most improbable—unless we are prepared to admit
for the prehistoric Germans a wholly independent focus of culture
development of their own, somewhere in the Baltic area. Moreover,
valuable as is pollen analysis for some purposes, any effort to estab-

Coons, C. 8., Tribes of the Rif, Harvard African Studies, vol. 9, pp. 49 ff., 1931.

47 De re rustica, vol. 1, No. 1, p. 13.

48 Curwen, E. Cecil, Prehistoric agriculture in Britain, Antiquity, vol. 1, p. 287, 1927.

4° Peake, Harold J., Early steps in human progress, p. 122.

6 Cf. Curwen, loc. cit., Antiquity, vol. 1, pp. 280 ff., 1927.

5! Jacob-Friesen, Dr., Die dlteste Pflug der Welt, Natur und Volk, vol. 64, pp. 83-91, 1934. See also
Jirlow, Ragner, Plogkroken fran Svarvarbo och nagra férhistoriske plogar (with summary in German),

Upplands Fornminnesférenings Tidskrift, vol. 45, No, 1, pp. 1-19. For calling my attention to the latter
paper, I am indebted to the editor of Antiquity,

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 543

lish by that method alone the age of intrusive objects (particularly
heavy ones) found in peat-bogs is, to say the least, extremely haz-
ardous. Finally, the Walle plow seems crudely constructed rather
than truly primitive in form—which is by no means the same thing.
We shall need much more convincing evidence than any as yet
adduced before we can accept the north of Europe, whether in the
fourth millennium B. C. or at any other time, as the birthplace of
the traction plow.

That the latter was known, however, in the Baltic area during the
Bronze Age or, at latest, early in that of Ironis certain. Depicted in
the well-known rock-drawings of Bohuslin, in southern Sweden, are
plows of twotypes. One (pl.2,fig.1),of two pieces only, is closely similar
to the form shown in the Ligurian petroglyphs. The other is like it
save for the addition of a third member in the shape of a cross-brace
identical in function to that found in the later dynastic Egyptian
plows.

One writer calls these Swedish petroglyphs “‘incontestably of the
Karly Bronze Age.” Others regard them as belonging to the Mid-
dle Bronze Age. Sophus Miiller says merely that they are “‘centuries
later” than their Ligurian analogues.* The same scholar, while dis-
cussing a plow found in a bog at D¢strop, in Jutland,” strikingly
like the simpler of the two types seen at Bohuslin, states that it is
either of the Late Bronze Age or early in that of Iron.® In any case
it seems clear that the ox-drawn plow was known in Sweden by the
middle of the first millennium B. C. or possibly a few centuries
earlier.

The Swedish ‘‘plow-crook,” long drawn by hand and only in com-
paratively recent times by mares or cows, closely resembled the two-
piece plow at Bohuslin. Like the latter, it consisted of only two
members—a combined handle and point and a beam or pole.® In
Sweden as elsewhere, what seems to have been the earlier method of
traction, by human power, long survived side by side with that
which depended upon the use of animals.

The unmistakable resemblance between the plows shown in the
Ligurian and in the Swedish petroglyphs is best explained on the
assumption of derivation from a common source—almost certainly
the valley of the Danube.

Whether the Indus civilization had the ox-drawn plow is as yet
uncertain.” Northwestern India was, however, in active commercial
“gabagi tiiccea, loc. cit., Natur und Volk, vol. 64, p. 84, 1934.

83 Miller, Sophus, Urgeschichte Europas, p. 147.

54 The Dé¢strop plow is shown in Mems. Soc. Royale des Antiquaires du Nord, 1902, p. 21, fig. 1, in con-
nection with the article by Sophus Miiller cited in footnote 2.

55 The Scandinavian Iron Age appears to have begun not very far from 600 B. C.

56 Sayce, R. U., Primitive arts and crafts, p. 115, 1933.

57 Marshall, Sir John, Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus civilization, vol. 1, p. 27; vol. 2, p. 456 and note 1;
1931,

544 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

communication with Babylonia at a time when the latter had already
long known the plow; hence its contemporary use in the valley of
the Indus seems at least possible. At all events it was common
there in Vedic times; and it appears to have spread over much if
not all of northern India before the middle of the first millennium
B.C.

The ancient Indian plow (fig. 10) reached Burma and southern
India in time, and it was carried during the earlier centuries of our
era to portions of the Indochinese peninsula and to certain of the
East Indian islands, notably to Java. The form still used in Bali,
with its straight beam and its lack even of a cross-brace, wears an
especially archaic look; while the Siamese rice-plow betrays strong
Indian affinities.

In Central Asia not enough archeological work has been done as
yet to provide us with any clue as to the date of the first appearance of
the traction plow in that region. Forms found there today, how-
ever, resemble those used in the Near East—a fact which betokens
contacts of some sort. These have, of course, been constant since the
period of Muhammadan expansion north and northeast of the Moun-
tain Zone. That they were going on far earlier is no less certain.

Common wheat (Triticum vulgare) and barley (Hordeum distichum),
regarded by most authorities as of southern or southwestern Asiatic
origin, have been reported from a site in Russian Turkestan probably
of the third millennium B. C. The undivided Indo-Iranians, per-
haps once seated in the same general region, knew some form of plow.”
Coming down to Assyrian times, the representation of a two-humped
or “Bactrian’’ camel on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser (ninth
century B. C.) pretty clearly indicates the existence of relations of
some sort with the lands north of the Zagros and the Hindu Kush.
The Arimaspeia of Aristeas of Proconnesos betrays an intimate
knowledge of Central Asia."' During the latter half of the sixth
century B. C., both Cyrus and Darius pushed their conquests far to
the northeast. Quite recently there have been found in Chinese
Turkestan Greek coins of the third century B. C., from the kingdom of
the Bosphorus.” Thus all in all it seems evident that so far as oppor-
tunities went, the traction plow might have reached Central Asiatic
regions at almost any time during the first two millennia and more
before our era.

88 Cambr. Hist. India, vol. 1, p. 99. For additional information on this matter I am indebted to Dr.
Franklin Edgerton, of Yale University.

89 Pumpelly, Raphael, Explorations in Turkestan, vol. 2, p. 472, 1908. Dr. Hubert Schmidt’s dating
(idem, vol. 1, p. 486) of the earlier settlements at Anau as being of the third millenium B. C. appears to have
received general acceptance.

60 Peake and Fleure, The horse and the sword, p. 138, 1933. That the Indo-Europeans as a whole had the
plow prior to their dispersion seems less certain.

61 Fora discussion of this question, see Hudson, G. F., Europe and China, 1931.

61 Diehl, Dr. Erich, Bosporanische Miinzen aus der Dschungarei, Blitter fiir Miinzfreunde, 1923, pp.
441-449.

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 545

This possibility is further strengthened by the fact that the varieties
of wheat grown in Central Asia and even in China are identical with
those of the Near East. Wheat (7. vulgare and perhaps also 7.
compactum) had reached China by the middle of the second millennium
B. C., as is shown by nearly contemporary inscriptions. The same
seems also to have been true of barley (probably H. distichum). These
cereals were not, however, accompanied by the traction plow, although
the Chinese of that day employed both horses and bullocks to draw
wheeled vehicles. The usual agricultural implements used by the
peasantry of the Chinese Bronze Age “ were various forms of the foot-
plow, used by men working in pairs. So typical was this practice,
indeed, that the ideograph meaning “a pair” (of any sort) was formed
of two lei—implements of the foot-plow class—depicted side by side.
Further, the pictograph representing a single lei became the deter-
minative or “‘signific” of a large class of characters having to do with
agriculture. Jt seems likely, in the light both of numerous existing
survivals and of certain statements in the ancient Chinese texts, that
human traction also was once widely employed in Eastern Asia.

There is no mention of the ox-drawn plow in China during the
earlier historical period. This might be taken merely for negative
evidence were it not that we find the definite statement that it was
introduced ‘about the middle of the Epoch of the Warring States’’
(403-255 B. C.)—that is to say, sometime in the latter half of the
fourth century before our era.®

This dating is significant. For it was precisely then that the feudal
state of Ch’in “—corresponding roughly to the present northwestern
province of Shensi—annexed the eastern termini of both the two
great land-routes linking China with the Occident.” Of these, one
was, of course, that traversing Central Asia; while the other connected
western China, by way of Burma, with the valley of the Ganges.
Now Ch’in was noted not only for her devotion to war but also for
her encouragement of agriculture and her receptivity toward new
ideas. She, more than any other Chinese state of that day, would
have been likely to welcome and adopt the traction plow.

By which of the two routes just mentioned knowledge of the plow
made its way to China, we cannot say. Possibly it may have spread

63 Vavilov, N. I., Geographische Genzentren unserer Kulturpflanzen, Zeitschr. fiir induktive Abstam-
mungs- und Vererbungslehre, suppl. I, p. 352 and map on p. 353, Leipzig, 1928.

For a discussion of Vavilov’s views, see Watkins, A. E., The origin of cultivated plants, Antiquity, vol. 7,
pp. 73-80, 1933.

6’ The Chinese Bronze Age lasted from the former half of the second millenium until the latter part of the
first before our era.

65 For this citation I am indebted to Dr. A. W. Hummel.

66 Ch’in was the state destined about a century later to establish the first centralized and bureaucratic
Chinese empire; from its name comes ours of “China.”

67 The sea-route to the Far East only came into use around or perhaps very shortly before our era, when
Western ships began to appear in southern Chinese waters.

546 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

to the basin of the Huang Ho (the Yellow River) through Central
Asia; and to that of the Yangtze from Farther India, along the same
path as that taken in prehistoric times by rice, the domestic fowl, and
other culture-elements.®® In any case, once it had appeared, it seems
to have spread within a century or two over most of northern and
central China proper.

It is noteworthy that when the need arose for a written symbol to
denote the new implement, the determinative chosen was not that in
regular use with ideographs having to do with agriculture (see p. 545)
but the character for ‘‘ox’’; as though in the minds of the Chinese
scribes the significant thing about the plow was not so much its use
in tillage as its association with animal traction.

The Far Eastern plow of today is frequently (although by no
means invariably) drawn by one or sometimes two animals harnessed
with rope traces to a swingletree pivoting on the end of a short and
usually much curved plow-beam (pls. 4 and 5). Whether this method
of attachment is really ancient in China is uncertain; but we know
from the evidence of old paintings that it was in use at least as far
back as the twelfth century A. D.”

North of China, in Mongolia, the sedentary ‘‘peasant’”’ type of
culture which occupied that area during Neolithic times had given
place, apparently by the middle of the first millennium B. C., to a
pastoral nomadism not unlike that found there today. In this, the
plow could naturally play little part. In other directions—east, west,
and south—the spread of the traction plow from China as a secondary
center of diffusion went on apace. Here the Chinese accounts are of
particular value for the light that they throw upon the workings of a
process which in the lands of the Occident had gone on largely un-
recorded.

Thus it was from China that the plow reached eastern Tibet—
according to a late source, in the early centuries of the Christian Ira;
in the central and western portions of that country, as we might
expect, Indian contacts are more apparent.

From the Yangtze Valley the plow traveled to what are now south-
ern China and French Indochina, perhaps just before the com-
mencement of our era. From northern China, around the same
period, the plow reached southern Manchuria and Korea. Lither
from the latter country or directly from China it was carried, about
the fifth or sixth century A. D., to the Japanese islands. But there
it never acquired first-rate importance, the peasantry placing depend-
ence rather upon hoes, mattocks, and implements of the foot-plow and
man-drawn classes.

68 The importance of this ‘‘back-door’’ to China has never received the recognition which it deserves;
yet through it have come many important elements of the Chinese civilization from prehistoric times down
to the present day.

69 Dr. A. W. Hummel has very kindly brought to my attention Chinese paintings of that period in the
Library of Congress which illustrate the point involved.

ORIGIN OF TRACTION PLOW—BISHOP 547

From China, again, the traction plow traveled to the East Indian
Archipelago, occupation of which it shared with the type from India.
Generally speaking the line of demarcation between the two fields of
cultural influence extends, though with many interpenetrations, from
east-central Tibet southward through the Indochinese peninsula,
thence swinging off in a southeasterly direction into Indonesia.
Formosa, the Philippines, and North Borneo remain on the Chinese
side, while Sumatra, Java, and their nearer neighbors fall within the
Indian sphere. It seems to have been only in this quarter of the
globe that the traction plow in its earlier career penetrated, albeit very
slightly, south of the Equator.

Let us now summarize briefly the results of our inquiry. These
seem to make it fairly clear that the traction plow appears at pro-
gressively later dates the farther we travel, in whatever direction,
from the region where we find the earliest indications of its use—that
is to say, in the ancient Near East. Moreover its extension, so far as
we have been able to trace it through written records, has invariably
been due to diffusion—to culture borrowing, never to repeated inde-
pendent invention. There is every reason to believe that the same
holds true for prehistoric times, also. These facts go a long way
toward accounting for that essential unity underlying the agricultural
systems upon which have been based the great civilizations of the Old
World.”

70 On this unity, see Leser, Paul, Entstehung und Verbreitung des Pfluges, p. 545, 1931; also his paper in
Festschrift Schmidt cited in footnote 15.

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HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE COTTON GIN

By F. L. Lewron
Curator, Division of Textiles, United States National Museum

[With 4 plates]
I, INTRODUCTION

The story of the invention of the cotton gin in 17938 by the young
Yale University graduate, Eli Whitney, has been told many times,
and in the main these accounts agree, though differing widely on
minor details. Asis the case with almost every important invention,
claims have been made that others than the real inventor should be
given credit for the discovery of the original idea, for the first prac-
tical machine, or for really ‘‘putting it over’ and making the inven-
tion a success. The history of the invention of the cotton gin, with
all it has meant to the South, is no exception to the usual story of all
our successful inventions.

Local traditions concerning the details of an event many years
after it happened are often impossible either to verify or to disprove,
and some of the stories relating to the invention and introduction of
the cotton gin are in the same class with the universally told story of
George Washington and the cherry tree.

It is not the purpose to sketch here the life of Eli Whitney or to
retell the events leading to and following his invention of the cotton
gin bearing his name. Olmsted, Scarborough, Hammond, Bates,
Tompkins,! and others have told this story; their accounts, while
agreeing in the main, exhibit many discrepancies and contradictions
and sometimes strongly reflect sectional bias. A recent study, how-
ever, of many of Whitney’s letters, of numerous early accounts of his
activities in the South, and of several models of the gin that are still
in existence, has thrown some new light on the answers to a number of
questions that have been asked in regard to the origin and operation
of the Whitney cotton gin.

Since most of the publications examined are out of print at this
date and many of the parts of the periodicals referred to are not
even to be found in most of the larger libraries, it has seemed advisable
in collecting these historical scraps to quote directly from the publica-
tions instead of merely giving references to the literature consulted.

1 See p. 563 for list of general works cited.

549

550 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937
II. ELI WHITNEY’S PATENT

Owing to the complete destruction of the United States Patent
Office by fire on December 15, 1836, and the consequent loss of all
models and specifications, the question has been raised as to what
were the original specifications of Whitney’s patent and what kind of a
model did he file with his application for the patent.

Whitney filed his application with the Secretary of State, Thomas
Jefferson, on June 20, 1793. He had left Georgia immediately after
signing his partnership agreement with Phineas Miller, on May 27,
1793, for the purpose of constructing a model for the Patent Office, as
the law required. He states that he went to New Haven, Conn., for
that purpose, as he could not obtain the necessary materials in
Georgia. He writes from New Haven to his father in Westboro,
Mass., on September 11, 1793:

I returned to the Northward for the purpose of having a machine made on a
large scale and obtaining a patent for the invention. I went to Philadelphia soon
after I arrived, made myself acquainted with the steps necessary to obtain a
Patent, took several of the steps, and the Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson, agreed
to send the Patent to me as soon as it could be made out. So I apprehended no
difficulty in obtaining the Patent * * *. As soon as I have got a Patent in
America I shall go with the machine I am now making, to Georgia, where I shall
stay afew weeks tosee it work * * *?

The prevalence of yellow fever in Philadelphia delayed finishing his
business in regard to the patent, but on October 19, 1793, he sent a
drawing of his cotton gin to Mr. Jefferson. As a matter of safety, to
prevent being anticipated by anyone else in the matter of the patent,
he took the precaution to appear before Elizur Goodrich, alderman
and notary public of the city of New Haven, who certifies as follows:

That in said city on the twenty-eighth day of October, one thousand, seven
hundred and ninety-three, Eli Whitney, of the County of Worcester, in the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts, now residing in this city, personally appeared before
me, the said Alderman and Notary, and made a solemn oath. That he does
verily believe that he, the said Whitney, is the true inventor and discoverer of the
machine for ginning cotton, a description whereof is hereto annexed by me, the
said Alderman and Notary, by my seal Notorial, and that he, the said Whitney,
verily believes that a machine of similar construction hath never before been
known or used.®

A long, carefully detailed description, including alternative methods
of constructing certain parts, was given “under five divisions corres-
ponding to its five principal parts, viz: 1, Frame; 2, The Cylinder;
3, The Breastwork; 4, The Clearer; 5, The Hopper.”

Whitney closes his description with the following statement:

The foregoing is a description of the machine for cleansing cotton alluded to in a

petition of the subscriber, dated Philadelphia, June 20th, 1793, and lodged in the
office of the Secretary of State, all alleging that he, the subscriber, is the inventor

1 Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. 3, p. 99, 1897.
3 Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, p. 460, 1901.

COTTON GIN—LEWTON 551

of the said machine, and signifying his desire of obtaining an exclusive property
in the same.‘

According to law a model was required for deposition in the Patent
Office, and on November 16, 1793, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Whitney
at New Haven, as follows:

GERMANTOWN, Nov. 16, 1798.
Sir:

Your favor of Oct. 19 enclosing a drawing of your cotton gin was received on
the 6thinst. The only requisite of the law now uncomplied with is the forwarding
of a model, which being received, your patent may be made out and delivered to
you immediately. As the State of Virginia, of which I am, carries on household
manufacture of cotton to a great extent, as I also do myself, and one of our great
embarrassments is the cleaning the cotton of the seeds, I feel a considerable interest
in the success of your invention for family use. Permit me, therefore to ask
information from you on these points: Has the machine been thoroughly tried in
the ginning of cotton, or, is it yet but a machine of theory? What quantity of
cotton has it cleaned on an average of several days, and worked by hand, and by
how many hands? What will be the cost of one of them to be worked by hand?
Favorable answers to these questions would induce me to engage one of them to
be forwarded to Richmond for me.

Wishing to hear from you on the subject, I am, Sir,

Your most obed’t servant
TH. JEFFERSON.®

The personal interest shown by Jefferson prompted Whitney to
answer his questions on November 24, 1793, in the following words:

It is about a year since I first turned my attention to constructing this machine,
at which time I was in the State of Georgia. Within about ten days after my first
conception of the plan, I made a small, though imperfect model. Experiments
with this encouraged me to make one on a larger scale; but the extreme difficulty
of procuring workmen and proper material in Georgia prevented my completing
the larger one until sometime in April last. This, though much larger than my
first attempt, is not above one-third as large as the machines may be made with
convenience. The cylinder is only 2 feet 2 inches in lengh and six inches in diam-
eter. It is turned by hand, and requires the strength of one man to keep it in
constant motion. It is the stated task of one negro to clean 50 weight (I mean
50 pounds after it is separated from the seed), of the green seed cotton per day.®

It is evident that Whitney was delayed in preparing the model for
the Patent Office, as the patent was not issued until March 14, 1794.
All of this time Whitney was in New Haven.

It is a matter of importance and of more than mere historical
interest to know what this model was like, and exactly what me-
chanical devices were shown on it. As already stated, the United
States Patent Office was destroyed by fire on December 15, 1836,
including all models, drawings, and specifications of the patents
which had been issued up to that time.

4 Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, p. 459, 1901; Wailes, B. L. C., Report on Agriculture and
Geology of Mississippi, p. 369, 1854.

5 Papers New Haven Colony Hist. Soc., vol. 5, p. 109, 1894.
5 Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. 21, p. 212, January 1832.

552 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1987

But for two fortunate circumstances we might never have known
the exact specifications and claims of Whitney’s patent, or the mechan-
ical features shown in his original model, deposited in the Patent
Office early in 1794. During the 10 years between 1795 and 1805,
24 suits for infringement of his patent rights were instituted in the
United States District Court at Savannah, Ga. In the suit against
Arthur Fort and John Powell entered in 1804, a copy of the schedule
of specifications and a sheet of drawings were filed with the court.
This copy was certified to by James Madison, Secretary of State,
April 27, 1804, and is still a part of the court records at Savannah.
The papers and the drawings were republished by D. A. Tompkins
in 1901,’ and again by Chas. Bennett in 1933.8

The other record describing and illustrating Whitney’s invention
was printed 19 years later, but still 9 years before the fire which
destroyed the original model and patent papers. John S. Skinner,
the editor of the American Farmer, in 1823 published the following
statement:

When we received the following account of improvements made on cotton gins,
by Dr. Rush Nutt, near Petit-Gulph, Mississippi, we applied to Wm. Thornton,
Esq.’ of Washington City for a description of Whitney’s cotton-gin from the
Patent Office, that we might place before our readers a complete view of so

important a machine and enable all of them to understand the nature of the
reported improvements.'® [See pl. 1.]

Editor Skinner then gives a short description of Whitney’s gin,
much less detailed than the very full description in the schedule filed
in 1804 in Georgia, and a wood cut of the model in the Patent Office.
This illustration does not indicate that the model was equipped with
circular saws. The “cylinder” is described in the following words:

Cylinder is of wood, its form is perfectly described by its name, and its dimen-
sions may be from six to nine inches in diameter, and from two to five feet in
length * * *. The surface of the cylinder is filled with teeth, set in annular
rows, which are at such a distance from each other, as to admit a cotton seed to
play freely in the space between them. The space between each tooth in the same
row, is so small as not to admit a sced, nor half a seed to enter it. These teeth
are made of stiff iron, driven into the wood of the cylinder, the teeth are inclined
in the same way, and in such a manner, that the angle included between the
tooth, and a tangent drawn from the point, into which the tooth is driven, will be
about 55 or 60 degrees * * *,1!

According to an act of Congress passed March 3, 1837, the Patent
Office was authorized to expend $100,000 in restoring the specifica-
tions, drawings, and models of the burned patents, by obtaining
duplicates of them from the persons possessing the originals.

7 Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, pp. 444-462, 1901.

§ Bennett, Chas., Cotton and Cotton Oil News, vol. 34, pp. 4-10, 44-47, Apr. 1, 1933.

® Dr. Thornton was the first Commissioner of Patents and was appointed by Thomas Jefferson to relieve
the Secretary of State of the rapidly increasing responsibilities of the Patent Office.

10 Amer. Farmer, vol. 4, pp. 380-381, Feb. 21, 1823.

ul Idem.

COTTON GIN—-LEWTON 553

The models destroyed were about 7,000 and the records covered
about 100,000 inventions. The work of restoration continued for 12
years, and something over $88,000 was expended out of the amount
allowed. On page 125 of volume 1 of the Restored Patents, there is a
record of the Whitney patent of March 14, 1794, entered in the book
on May 2, 1841. It opens with a certificate by James Madison,
Secretary of State, dated November 26, 1803, and reading in part as
follows:

I certify, that the annexed writings are true copies of a Patent granted to Eli
Whitney on the 14th day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-four, and of the Specifications annexed thereto, compared with the Record
thereof, and with the original Specification, remaining on file in the office.

Then, after writing in a copy of the grant of the patent, signed by
George Washington, and the certification by the Attorney General,
William Bradford, there appears this paragraph:

The schedule referred to in these Letters Patent & making part of the same,
containing a description in the words of the said Eli Whitney himself of an improve-
ment in the mode of Ginning Cotton.

“A Short Description of the machine invented by the Subscriber’
occupies part of page 126 and page 127. This is in the same wording
as the “Short Description” furnished to the American Farmer, by
Wm. Thornton in 1823.”

D. A. Tompkins, when publishing the detailed description taken
from the records of the Georgia Circuit Court, already referred to,”
printed in adjoining columns for comparison, the “Short Description”
which he copied from volume 1 of the Restored Patents in the Patent
Office. He called the “Short Description” the “Substituted Patent”
and questioned its validity because of the following paragraph, which
on page 128 closes the “Short Description”’:

There are several modes of making the various parts of this machine, which
together with their particular shape and formation are pointed out and explained
in a Description with Drawings, attested as the act directs and lodged in the office
of the Secretary of State.

This paragraph also accompanies Commissioner Thornton’s descrip-
tion, furnished in 1828.

On May 2, 1841, there was also copied into volume 1 of the Restored
Patents, on pages 85 to 938, the already mentioned long description,
in detail, of the Whitney invention, closing with the certificate of
Elizur Goodrich, dated October 28, 1793. It is introduced with a
certificate by James Madison in practically the same wording as that
already quoted as introducing the wording of the patent granted by
Washington and the “Short Description”, but in this case the date
is given as November 25, 1803, instead of November 26. This detailed

18 Tdem.
18 Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, pp. 444-462, 1901.
31508—38——39

554 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

description, copied in longhand into the volume in 1841, is identical
with that published by Tompkins from the Georgia Cireuit Court
records and certified by James Madison on April 27, 1804.% The
Patent Office record on pages 85 to 93, however, is plainly labeled:
“Not patented,” and this description, evidently for this reason, seems
never to have been referred to before. In the opinion of the writer,
both documents, as restored, are necessary to complete the restoration
of the Whitney patent of March 14, 1794. When these two docu-
ments are taken together, the long description and drawings declared
before Notary Goodrich, and supplementing the condensed descrip-
tion filed with the patent grant itself, it will be seen that the ‘‘several
modes of making the various parts of thismachine * * * pointed
out and explained in a description with drawings,” which so puzzled
Tompkins, are undoubtedly the alternatives given in the long descrip-
tion and applied only to the formation of the breastwork and brush
cylinder.

William Scarborough, of Georgia, in his sketch of the life of the late
Eli Whitney, published in 1832, gives a clear description of the
cylinder, the principal part of Whitney’s machine. He begins his
account of Whitney’s activities with the following paragraph:

The details which follow are wholly derived from memory unassisted by note or
memorandum of any kind; but they will be found substantially correct. That
which took place anterior to May 1799, when the first of Mr. Whitney’s gins was
put in operation was derived from a much esteemed and lamented friend,'® who
was the family physician and intimate friend of Mr. Phineas Miller, and that of

subsequent date occurred under the eye, or to the knowledge of the writer of
this sketch.'®

In telling of Whitney’s very first trial model, Mr. Scarborough says:

It consisted of a wooden cylinder, similar to the barrel of an organ, with bent
teeth inserted in straight rows, between which thin slats of iron were placed form-
ing narrow grooves through which the teeth on the cylinder could revolve thereby
tearing off the cotton from the seed, which dropped below.

Scarborough continues with the story of Whitney’s experiments
on the Greene plantation, and again mentions the details of the cyl-
inder.

Mr. Whitney proceeded to the North to have more perfect models prepared,
and to secure the patent right in the names of Miller and Whitney, which was
accordingly done. The experiment was there renewed with different cylinders,
the one with the bent teeth before described, and the other with the annular saws
as Mr. Whitney so termed them. His friends, among the number of whom was
Mr. Hillhouse, (United States Senator from Connecticut), seemed to be of the
opinion that the cotton ginned by the former (the bent teeth) had a better appear-
ance than that ginned by thelatter. The first large gin set into operation by horse-
power was accordingly made with the bent teeth; and if the writer of this sketch

14 Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, pp. 444-462, 1901.

18 Dr. Lemuel Kollock.
16 Southern Agriculturist, vol. 5, p. 398, August 1832.

COTTON GIN—LEWTON 555

is not misinformed, it is still in existence at Mulberry Grove. But Mr. Whitney,
himself, from greater mechanical knowledge, or some other unknown cause,
deposited in the Patent Office the model with the annular saws.!”

His last statement concerning the saws contradicts Dr. Thornton’s
description and drawing of the Patent Office model.

III. MODELS OF THE WHITNEY GIN

Several small models of the “Cotton Cleaning Machine”’ were made
by Whitney himself, or under his direction, before 1800. Some of
these models are still in existence, and it is the desire of the writer to
record some bits of information about them before their pedigree
is lost.

The most important model is now exhibited in the Textile Division
of the United States National Museum (pl. 2). It was deposited by
Eli Whitney, Jr., in December 1884 in response to a request from the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Spencer F. Baird. In
transmitting the model, Mr. Whitney wrote:

We have a model, one of 5 made by my father * * *. There have been
2 models burnt up in the Patent Office at Washington. One in 1836 and 1 in
1870 odd * * *. We have sent to your address the Model Cotton Gin
invented and made by my father. It would have been sent before, but had to be
repaired and I have been confined to the house by illness for a few weeks. Please
have it put in a prominent position. Enclosed please find a little history of the
invention which you can have printed or written on acard * * *, It should
be of interest to every Southerner.

He thus accounts for three of the five models mentioned in his
letter. Dr. Edward Craig Bates, in his Story of the Cotton Gin,
publishes a letter written him by Eli Whitney, Jr., in 1890.

The photograph sent you of the Cotton Gin is from a small model, say 18 x 12,
made under my father’s direction about ninety years ago. There are but two
of these modeJs now in existence; one at the Smithsonian and the one in my
possession.!8

An excellent account of the method of ginning cotton before the
invention of the Whitney gin, and a description of Whitney’s inven-
tion and several models, are given by Benjamin Leonard Covington
Wailes, Geologist of Mississippi, in 1854.

I have had the rare opportunity of examining critically, in all its parts, an early
model of the gin on a small scale constructed under Mr. Whitney’s direction,
and which is now exhibited in the Crystal Palace, in New York.

The model shows the progress of the invention as elaborated in the ingenious
mind of its author, and his first idea seems to have been that of carding the lint
or fiber from the seed, rather than that suggested by the use of the saw. The
cylinder in the model is divided into three parts; one-third of it at the left end is
armed with stout, crooked wires driven in, flattened at the sides, and the ends
brought to an edge, as shown in Plate VII, fig. 5. The middle third of the cylinder

17 Southern Agriculturist, vol. 5, p. 399, August 1832.
18 New England Mag., n.s,, vol. 2, p. 2983, May 1890,

556 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

is provided with a similar arrangement of wires, not flattened as in the first, but
pointed as in fig. 4. And the remainder of the cylinder is mounted with the
circular saw rags, similar to those now in use.!® [See pl. 3.]

Wailes’ description of this model, with its three kinds of teeth, fits
perfectly the model now in the National Museum. The model men-
tioned by Eli Whitney, Jr., in his letter to Mr. Bates as being “retained
by me” was publicly exhibited in 1886 during the celebration of the
centenary of the town of Hampden, Conn.,”° and was placed in the
Museum of the New Haven Colony Historical Society by Miss Eliza-
beth Day Whitney, about 1926, after the death of her father, Eli
Whitney, 3d, where it is now. The writer examined this model in
July 1937 and found it to be almost identical in shape and size with the
one in the National Museum, except the 15 annular rows of teeth on
the cylinder, which are all of wire, bent and sharp-pointed like those
described by Wailes.

To keep the record straight for future investigators of this subject,
I wish here to record that, according to a letter from Prof. Joseph
Wickham Roe, ‘‘a Chinese copy” of this model in New Haven was made
in 1936 under his direction for the Museum of Science and Industry
in New York City.

Another model of the Whitney gin of the same size and materials
as the one first described is also in the collection of the National
Museum. This model was among the collection of 155,000 patent
models placed in storage by the United States Patent Office in 1908
and dispersed in 1926 in accordance with an Act of Congress. It was
retained for the National Museum by this author, along with several
thousand models of other patents. The model appears to be of a later
date than the two other similar models, constructed on the same scale,
already mentioned. It certainly was not constructed by Eli Whitney,
Sr., for it shows a mechanical defect that he would never have passed.
The crank for operating the model is attached to the end of the brush
cylinder, instead of the cylinder carrying the gin teeth, which moves
at only one-sixth of the speed of that of the brush cylinder. In the
Record Room of the Patent Office are two large sheets of original
drawings made in 1840 which exhibit the details of the above-men-
tioned model, including the crank in the wrong position. It does not
seem possible to tell whether the model was made from the drawing, or
vice versa.

According to the numbering of the small detail drawings on the two
sheets, there should be a third sheet, as figures 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16,
17, 18, and 19, are missing. This discrepancy was pointed out by
Bennett in 1933.74, [See pl. 4.]

1° Report on the Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi, pp. 159-160, 1854.

%” Hampden Centenary, 1786-1886, pp. 112, 281, 1886.
11 Bennett, Chas., Cotton and Cotton Oil News, vol. 34, p. 6, Apr. 1, 1933.

COTTON GIN—LEWTON 557

When this author first read the letter of Eli Whitney, Jr., stating
that his father had made five models of the gin before 1800, he won-
dered why so many were made when only one was needed to be filed
with his application for a patent. A study of Whitney’s letters suggests
a solution of the question.

Two suits for infringement of the patent were filed by Miller and
Whitney in 1795 in the Georgia Circuit Court. In Whitney’s letter
to his partner, Miller, dated December 25, 1795, Whitney wrote:

I go to New York soon. After my return I shall set about the examplifying
models. I wish you would inform me when the suit will come to trial and of
the manouvers of my enemies.”

Scarborough describing a court scene during the trial of one of the
many suits for infringement, says:

At the trial which took place at Louisville, Georgia, in the Federal Circuit
Court, the writer of this sketch was present. Mr. Whitney entered the Court
with a small package, enveloped in a silk handkerchief, which had the appear-
ance of containing books, this he carefully deposited under the court table.
The testimony above alluded to being read, it had the semblance of being con-
clusive in its effect. When it became necessary to rebut it to the Court, Mr.
Whitney claimed the privilege, which was granted, of doing it, as being best
calculated to give the necessary mechanical explanations. He took his pack-
age from under the table, and opening the handkerchief, presented to view an
exquisitely beautiful model of his gin about fourteen or fifteen inches in length,
with several handfuls of seed cotton. He handed both up to the judge, and
spreading out the silk handkerchief to prevent the escape of the ginned cotton,
desired the judge to turn the crank, which he seemed to do with great delight,
and in a very few seconds the cotton separated from the seed, was gathered up
and pressed together in the hand. Mr. Whitney then inquired of the judge and
jury if it was not in that state the cotton was exported for the purpose of manu-
facture either in England or Ireland? Which being assented to; he handed the
ginned cotton to the judge, requesting him to strive and force the cotton again
between the slats, which it was found impossible to do without breaking the
model all to pieces. Thus by the most conclusive occular demonstration, he
proved to the satisfaction of every one present, that the machine used in Europe
could have no sort of affinity, let alone identity, with his invention.”

It is a matter of record that one of the reasons given by the State
of South Carolina for not paying Whitney the sum agreed upon for
the use of his patent throughout the State was that he had not
deposited two models of his gin as stipulated in the contract. Whit-
ney’s partner writes to Paul Hamilton, Comptroller of South Carolina,
on January 19, 1803:

I have just received a letter from Mr. Whitney who expressly says that he
did not stipulate to deliver the models by the first of September, but on the
contrary that he refused to be bound by such a condition, but that he expected
to make them as soon as the pressure of his other business would allow * * *.

What then could have been fairly expected from an inspection of these two
models? Nothing more surely than a more neat and handsome method of

22 Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. 3, p. 104, 1897.
% Southern Agriculturist, vol. 5, p. 401, Aug. 1832,

558 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

constructing a well known machine on a principle which has been in use for
eight years, than could be expected from the mechanics who are in the habit of
constructing these machines in the upper country.*

Whitney later did prepare the models demanded, according to
Professor Olmsted:

Two models of a gin were also furnished by Mr. Whitney, executed we are
told in a most superior and masterly manner, and far surpassing in excellence,
any machinery of the kind ever before seen; they were of metal and so nicely,
and substantially made, that it is hardly possible for them to get out of order;
and they worked with such ease, that when the hopper of a forty Saw Gin was
filled with cotton, the labor of turning it was not greater than that of turning
a common grindstone. The models were highly approved and the Legislature
did not hesitate to do justice to the ingenious inventor, according to their original
agreement * * *,%5

One of these models was described by Wailes in 1854 as being
constructed on an iron frame, ‘‘with 40 saws, 6% inches in diameter,
separated by block tin or pewter castings.” * Efforts have been
made to determine whether or not these official gin models are now in
existence, but so far without success.

IV. EARLY ACTIVITIES OF WHITNEY IN GEORGIA

There have been numerous claims, based on local traditions, that
Whitney established and operated his first gin at this or that place,
and it has even been claimed that Whitney’s original workshop has
been found in what was called in his day, the ‘‘Upper Country.”
Prof. M. B. Hammond, who published many of Whitney’s letters from
correspondence and papers lent to him by Eli Whitney, Jr., says that
Whitney did not leave the Greene plantation at Mulberry Grove
except to go to Savannah, 12 miles away, to procure materials and
cotton.

I have already mentioned Scarborough’s statement that ‘“The first
large gin set into operation by horsepower * * * is still in
existence at Mulberry Grove.’””’ Maj. Nathaniel Pendleton stated
that he was one of the first persons who saw Whitney’s gin when it
was first put in motion; that soon after 1793 “a machine house was
put up at Mulberry Grove by Mr. Phineas Miller and several of
these machines were worked in it by cattle, which I frequently saw.” *

The Georgia Gazette for March 6, 1794, printed the following

advertisement:
COTTON GINNING

The subscriber will engage to gin in a manner equal to picking by hand, any
quantity of the green seed cotton, on the following terms, viz. for every five

2% Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. 3, p. 119, 1897.

2% Amer. Journ. Sci., and Arts, vol. 21, p. 226, January 1832.

26 Report on the Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 160-161.
27 Southern Agriculturist, vol. 5, p. 399, August 1832.

28 Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. 3, p. 126, 1897.

COTTON GIN—LEWTON 559

pounds delivered to him in the seed he will return one pound of clean cotton
fitted for market.

For the encouragement of planters he will also mention that ginning machines
to clean the green seed cotton on the above terms will actually be erected in
different parts of the country before the harvest of the ensuing crop.

PuHInEAS MILLER,
Mulberry Grove, Near Savannah.

Makzcu 1, 1794.29

This was 2 weeks before Whitney, who was then in New Haven,
was granted his patent. Miller, his energetic partner, who had
furnished the money for launching the invention, proceeded to pur-
chase water-power sites and set up Whitney gins as fast as Whitney
could turn them out from his factory in New Haven.

Professor Olmsted states that “by 1796 Miller and Whitney had 30
gins in eight different places in the State of Georgia.’ °° Some of
these were run by water power and others were turned by horses or
oxen.

Phineas Miller, in a letter to Whitney dated September 28, 1797,
says:

In taking the titles to the place which I received on the Partnership account
from Durkee, I have as yet let them stand in my name, specifying in my books
that they were held in trust, on account of making a legal reconveyance should
it be required.*!

Miller’s reference ‘‘to the place which I received on the Partner-
ship account from Durkee” was the site on Upton Creek in Wilkes
County, Ga., where he located a gin operated by the water power.
After Miller’s death in December 1803, the records show his widow
transferred the power site to a company of local people who operated
a spinning mill there for a few years.

Other historians have mentioned “the Partnership account from
Durkee,” in the following quotations telling of the water-power
gin operated on this spot:

I rode, a few days since, six miles below this place (Washington, Ga.) to see
my old friend Thos. Talbot, and his kitchen and barn. Mr. Talbot is 83 years
old, in full possession of his faculties, and is living where he settled 62 years ago.
Whitney, the inventor of the Cotton Gin, settled a plantation adjoining him,
on which he placed one of his gins; the first that was used in Wilkes County; perhaps
the first in the State. He and his partner Durkee, erected a gin house, and a
large cotton house. The latter to hold the cotton they expected to receive from
customers to gin * * *, Durkee, Whitney’s partner, being dissipated and
inattentive to business, he sold out his place, and the gin and cotton house coming
into the possession of Mr. Talbot, he moved them to his place. The former is

now his kitchen * * *, The cotton house makes a large and commodious
barn. (Judge Garnet ANDREWS, 1852.) 2

2% Georgia Hist. Quart., vol. 3, p. 146, September 1919.

30 Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. 21, p. 217, January 1832.
31 Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. 3, p. 110, 1897.

32 Southern Cultivator, vol. 10, October 1852.

560 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

In the immediate neighborhood of Old Smyrna Church, on the property which
once belonged to the Estate of Governor Matthew Talbot, stands an old struc-
ture around which centers a world of historic interest. It was erected by the
famous inventor, Eli Whitney, in association with his partner for the time being,
a man named Durkee; and it was built to house what was probably the first
cotton gin erected in the State of Georgia.

(Lucian Lamar Knicut, 1913.) *

It is an interesting fact, that one of the first if not the very first, cotton gins
ever operated in Georgia, or in the world, was the one operated by Eli Whitney,
the famous inventor, in Wilkes County, near Smyrna Church. The original
building, though removed a short distance from the site upon which it was
erected, is still standing on the Burdett place near Smyrna.

(Oris AsSHMORB, 1917.) %

A correspondent, signing himself ‘‘A Small Planter”, writes to John
D. Legare, editor of the Southern Agriculturist, on October 22, 1832,
as follows:

* * * By the statement of Mr. ‘‘S’”’ the first one of Miller & Whitney’s was
not completed till May 1799, whereas in the year 1797, to my certain knowledge,
Mr. Miller had one in full operation on his plantation on Upton’s Creek, Wilkes
County, Ga.

I visited Georgia the fore part of the same year (1797) and after riding over
several counties, I went to see a gentleman in the upper part of Wilkes, to whom
I had letters of introduction * * *.

Some months after this I wert to see Mr. Miller’s gin on Upton’s Creek (it
also went by water) and found, upon examination, that the picking implements
were straight wire-teeth drawn into a wooden cylinder, and afterwards sharpened
with a file. They would have answered the purpose tolerably well could they
have been permanently fastened to the cylinder, but the impetus of the opera-
tion was too great for the substance they were attached to, which giving away,
the teeth would fly out in the midst of the work and occasion considerable trouble
and loss of time * * *,%

If Professor Olmsted’s statement is true: ‘That by 1796 Miller
and Whitney had 30 gins in eight different places in the State of
Georgia,” it would not be surprising for localities other than Wash-
ington, in Wilkes County, to make claim as the first place of opera-
tion of a Whitney gin.

Augusta, in Richmond County, is one of these, as the following
quotations will indicate:

During the past winter the writer visited the spot where Whitney made his
experiments with his cotton gin. Upon a sluggish stream that is known as Rocky
Creek which flows into the Savannah River a few miles below Augusta, Ga.,
stands a deserted wooden mill building with its crumbling wooden tub wheel in a
decayed wheel pit. Near by is a broken dam and a cane brake which borders
upon a swamp where the long flowing moss hangs drooping from the trees. The
spot is interesting only as a place where Whitney made experiments and operated
his first cotton gin. (M. F. Foster, 1899.) *

33 Georgia’s Land-Marks, Memorials and Legends, vol. 1, p. 1052, 1913.
% Georgia Hist. Quart., vol. 1, p. 64, 1917.

3} Southern Agriculturist, vol. 5, p. 626, 1832.

%© Trans. New England Cotton Manuf. Assoc., No. 67, p. 152, 1899.

COTTON GIN—LEWTON 561

It is a fact of no small interest in connection with the history of Augusta that
Whitney manufactured his gins at a little factory, the power of which was furnished
by the little Rocky Creek on the plantation of the late Mr. John Phinizy, now
almost included in the present boundaries of the city. (From address of Mayor
Joseph B. Cumming on occasion of Celebration of Municipal Centennial of the
City of Augusta.) *7

After the gin was invented, Whitney established his machines in various places
in Georgia for the purpose of buying and ginning cotton. One of these was near
Augusta, about two miles south of the city. The dam is still seen which held the
water to furnish the power. (Lucian Lamar Kniaut, 1914.) 38

An arrangement in chronological order of the published corre-
spondence of Eli Whitney and documented statements of his place of
residence, from the fall of 1792 until the middle of 1805 shows plainly
that Eli Whitney himself carried on his activities and experiments
in New Haven except for a few very brief periods at Mulberry Grove,
or when he was engaged with law suits at Savannah. He could not in
person have carried on the activities attributed to him by local tradi-
tions in numerous localities. These activities doubtless were carried
on by Phineas Miller, acting for the firm of Miller & Whitney, until
his death on December 7, 1803.

V. SUMMARY

A recent study of some of Eli Whitney’s correspondence with his
father, his partner, and others; the rediscovery of numerous early
accounts of his activities in the South; and the recent examination
of several original models of the gin, have thrown some new light on
the history of Whitney’s famous invention. They indicate several
mistakes and misconceptions in documents hitherto believed to be
correct.

In view of the destruction of the original patent papers and the
original working model which was filed with Whitney’s application
for his patent, it is believed worth while to redescribe that model,
and to point out that accurate copies of the patent and specifications
of the machine are still in existence.

A careful examination of these documents does not disclose the
use of gin saws, or of a cylinder built with teeth cut in plates of metal.

It is pointed out that what is understood to be the ““Whitney patent”
is a series of steps and documents which need to be taken together
and considered as a whole to determine just what was covered by
a patent granted to Eli Whitney on March 14, 1794. These steps
may be arranged in the following order:

1. First application for a patent made to Thomas Jefferson, Secre-
tary of State, June 20, 1793.

2. Forwarding of a drawing to Jefferson, October 19, 1793.

87 Georgia Hist. Quart., vol. 1, p. 228, September 1917.
38 Georgia’s Land-Marks, Memorials and Legends, vol. 2, p. 968, 1914.
31508—38——37

562 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

3. Declaration before the New Haven notary public, Elizur Good-
rich, October 28, 1793, that he, Eli Whitney, believed himself to be
the original inventor of a machine to separate the green seed cotton
from its seeds, and the filing with the notary public of a detailed
description of the invention.

4. The filing of a working model of the machine as requested in
Jefferson’s letter of November 16, 1793.

5. The filing by Whitney of a description of his invention written
in his own words.

6. The granting of the patent signed by George Washington on
March 14, 1794, for an exclusive right to the use and sale of his in-
vention for 14 years from November 6, 1793.

It has been shown tbat before the fire of December 15, 1836, when
the originals of all these documents (except possibly the first and the
third) were destroyed, certified copies or descriptions were filed else-
where. Of the documents above mentioned, copies of the third and
sixth were filed in the Circuit Court at Savannah, Ga., in 1804; the
fifth document and a drawing of the model were published in a periodi-
cal in 1823; the third, fifth, and sixth documents were in 1841 copied
at the Patent Office into the first volume of Restored Patents ap-
parently from copies on file in the Office of the Secretary of State, the
third document, however, being labeled “Not patented” in the Patent
Office copy.

It has been pointed out that several models of Whitney’s gin are in
existence, that two of these are from a group of five models made
by Whitney himself, or under his direction, before 1800. These two
models have been described and compared with an illustration of the
original model made by Whitney and filed with his application for
his patent at the end of 1793. This illustration was published in
1823, 13 years before the original model was destroyed by fire.

Whitney’s partner, Phineas Miller, advertised early in 1794, even
before Whitney was granted his patent, that he would ‘‘engage to gin
in a manner equal to picking by hand, any quantity of the green seed
cotton,’’ and promised that gins for this purpose would ‘‘actually be
erected in different parts of the country before the harvest of the
ensuing crop.”

This energetic partner did carry out his promise, and while Whitney
was in New Haven, Conn., building gins as fast as he could, Miller
sought out water power sites at points where the green seed cotton was
being cultivated. These sites were usually purchased for the partner-
ship, but sometimes the titles to the properties were recorded in his
own name, as one of his letters to Whitney indicates. Within 2 years
he had 30 gins in operation at 8 different places in Georgia. As time
went on, rivalry developed among local points, which now claim the
distinction of being the place where the Whitney gin was first operated.

COTTON GIN—LEWTON 563

In spite of the statements in Whitney’s correspondence that his experi-
ments were carried on at the Greene plantation, near Savannah, Ga.,
and at New Haven, Conn., two localities in particular, Washington,
Ga., in Wilkes County, and Augusta, Ga., in Richmond County, have
been cited as the spot where Whitney made his experiments with his
cotton gin.

A study of Whitney’s correspondence and other authentic docu-
ments conclusively proves that, with the exception of a few months in
the early part of 1793, when he was without funds and dependent upon
the hospitality of his hostess, the widow of Gen. Nathaniel Greene,
Whitney could not possibly have carried on experiments in ginning cot-
ton and gin building at points distant from Mulberry Grove. Phineas
Miller’s letters, written to Whitney at New Haven, appealing for more
gins to take care of the enormous increase in the production of the
green seed cotton, are proof that Whitney did not have the time to
carry on experimental work in upper Georgia.

GENERAL WORKS CITED

1, OtmstED, DENISON
1832. Memoir of the life of Eli Whitney, Esq. Amer. Journ. Sci. and
Arts, vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 201-254, January.
2. ScARBOROUGH, WILLIAM
1832. Sketch of the life of the late Eli Whitney with some remarks on the
invention of the saw gin. Southern Agriculturist, vol. 5, No. 8,
pp. 393-403, August.
3. Hammonp, MatrHEw Brown
1897. Correspondence of Eli Whitney relative to the invention of the
cotton gin. Amer. Hist. Rev., vol. 3, pp. 90-127, October.
4. Batts, Epwarp CraiG
1890. Story of the cotton gin. New England Mag., n. s. vol. 2,
pp. 287-2938, May.

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Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Lewton PEATE 1

7 COTTON GINS

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE INVENTED BY Ett WHITNEY, For
POLITELY SENT TO US, FROM THE UNITED STATES’ Parent OFFICE, sy Wm,

GINNING Cotton,
LHorNToN Ese.

nh

en

Nee m Fig3

ag
SS

The principal parts of this machine, are, Ist,} parallelogramic form, and proportioned to the
the frame ; 2d. the cylinder ; 3d, the breastwork ;| other parts, as may be most convenient, . i
4th, the clearer; and 5th, the hopper. 2d. (B.) The cylinder is of wood, its form is

Ist. (A.) The frame by which the whole work! perfectly described by its name, and its dimen-

is supported and kept together, is of a square or, sions may be from six to nine inches diameter,

PHOTOGRAPH OF PART OF PAGE 380, AMERICAN FARMER, FEBRUARY Zl sam
VOLE. 4, Noo 48.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Lewton PLATE 2

MODEL OF THE WHITNEY GIN NOW IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, DEPOSITED
THERE IN 1884 BY ELI WHITNEY. JR.

Model made by Eli Whitney before 1800.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Lewton PLATE 3
y

ea fe i
ean Plate Vil,

Fia | Tig 2

Kio 5

Bt Madey tel On Stone by M Ruscotha! Creme Lith by LN Kusenthal Pint

REPRODUCTION OF PLATE 7, OPPOSITE PAGE 155, IN WAILES, B. L. C., REPORT
ON THE AGRICULTURE AND GEOLOGY OF MISSISSIPPI, 1854.

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Lewton PLATE 4

2st Thad: /-

want Mibeey.
Cotta Cir.

Lateried Mat:14,,1794

NO PRINTED COPY OF SPECIFICATION IN OFFICE.

cares

>

PHOTO COPY OF THE DRAWINGS FURNISHED BY THE U. S. PATENT OFFICE TO
ACCOMPANY SPECIFICATIONS OF ELI WHITNEY’S PATENT OF MARCH 14, 1794.

This photograph was supplied by Chas. Bennett and was used in his article in Cotton and Cotton
eee bey te 1933. The original of this drawi ing, dated 1840, is on file in the Record Room of the
atent ce.

(CE)

t

THE WORLD’S LONGEST BRIDGE SPAN!
By Cuirrorp E. PAINE

[With 4 plates]

The traveler approaching San Francisco by sea finds his ship head-
ing for a mile-wide gap in the mountainous shore line. Passing
through this natural gateway, which is known the world over as the
Golden Gate, he sees before him a great expanse of water that extends
40-miles to the southward and 30 miles to the northward. On his
right lies the city of San Francisco. On his left is marvelous Marin
County with its delightful suburban communities—the gateway to
scenic wonders of the Redwood Empire. Before him, straight across
the bay on the far distant shore, lie the cities of Alameda, Oakland,
and Berkeley. Directly above him is the Golden Gate Bridge, man’s
most recent victory in his conquest of nature’s barriers to progress.

For many years the ferry boats have constituted the only means of
transportation between these rapidly expanding communities.
Improvement in highways and increased use of automobiles, coupled
with the growth of the bay cities, brought forth the demand for a
corresponding improvement in transportation facilities. In 1918
investigations were made and the feasibility of building a suspension
bridge across the Golden Gate was established by Joseph B. Strauss.
As a result of the movement then started, the city and county of San
Francisco joined with five counties to the north in forming the Golden
Gate Bridge and Highway District to build and operate the Golden
Gate Bridge. Mr. Strauss was made chief engineer of the District,
and a bond issue of $35,000,000 was voted in November 1930. Plans
for the bridge were made by Strauss & Paine, Inc., and construction
was started in January 1933. The bond issue was based on a con-
struction cost of $27,165,000. The bridge has been completed with a
construction cost about one-half of 1 percent under that estimate.

Traffic studies have indicated that during the first year of operation
2,000,000 cars will pass over the bridge and that the volume of traffic
will possibly increase at the rate of about 5 percent per year during the
first 10 years of service. The bridge has a capacity of 5,000 cars per

1 Reprinted by permission, with slight revisions by the author, from Armour Engineer and Alumnus,
vol. 2, No. 3, March 1937.

565

566 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

hour, and it is expected that this will be fully utilized by holiday and
week-end traffic from the very beginning.

Having passed through the Gate, our traveler will now without
doubt fix his attention on the magnificent structure under which he
has just passed. He may have traveled the warld over but nowhere
has he seen a bridge of such magnitude or craotal beauty. At mid-
span it is 230 feet above the water, high enough to let any ship afloat
pass underneath with plenty of clearance. It is a mile across, and
there is only one pier in the water. That pier is only 1,100 feet from
shore; it is 4,200 feet between the towers which support the cables
and which in turn support the floor of the bridge. In all his travels
he has not seen towers like these. The design gives confidence of
strength and stability and at the same time gives that feeling of satis-
faction most often inspired by structures that are architecturally
correct. An officer of the ship, standing beside him, tells him that the
tower tops are 750 feet above the water. The two cables which pass
over the tops of the towers and end in massive blocks of concrete back
on shore, are 36% inches in diameter—-the largest bridge cables ever
made. Each cable is 7,650 feet long and contains 27,572 parallel wires
about the size of a lead pencil. Eighty thousand miles of wire were
required for the two cables—enough to encircle the globe more than
three times at the Equator. Each cable has an ultimate tensile
strength of 200 million pounds. Yes, it takes a pretty good anchorage
at each end of the cable to withstand this pull. Fortunately, solid
rock was found at each end, and big pockets were excavated in this
rock to form a setting for the concrete anchorage blocks, each of which
contains 30,000 cubic yards. You’re right, there is a trick about
fastening the cable to the anchorage. You see, the wires of the cable
are grouped into 61 strands. Some distance in front of the anchorage
a cast steel band is placed around the cable and between that point
(called the ‘“‘splay point’’) and the anchorage the strands “fan out,”
so that at the anchorage they are separated by 215 feet or more. Each
strand is there anchored to a pair of steel bars which extend back into
the concrete for about 130 feet where they terminate in heavy steel
girders.

Our friend realizes at a glance that the entire floor structure of the
bridge is suspended from these huge cables. He can see at 50-foot
intervals the steel ropes which hang down from the cables and attach
to the stiffening trusses. At each point of attachment there are
four parts of rope 2'\, inches in diameter. The concrete roadway
and sidewalks are carried directly on this suspended steel framework.
There it hangs like a great hammock between the giant towers. How
far will it swing sideways? That is a fair question.

The informative officer in his frequent passing through the Gate has

WORLD’S LONGEST BRIDGE SPAN—PAINE 567

been asked all kinds of questions about this unusual structure and is
prepared with all the answers.

Under the effect of a broadside wind at 100 miles per hour, the
bridge floor at midspan might swing 21 feet out to one side. Since
winds in San Francisco rarely reach half this velocity and never have
exceeded 60 miles per hour, it is quite probable that it will never be
called upon to withstand such a strain. Yes, the floor moves up and
down too with every change in temperature and load. A rise in
temperature causes the cable to lengthen and consequently the sag
increases. Obviously, the sag in the center span will be decreased by
loading the side spans and increased by loading the center span. The
most severe combinations of loading and temperature will cause the
floor of the bridge at midspan to rise 10 feet above or fall 10 feet below
its normal elevation. In order to accommodate these movements
as well as the lengthening or shortening of the suspended steel structure,
itself, special jomts are provided where the floor of the suspended
span joins the floor that is carried directly by the tower. These joints
permit angular motion in horizontal and vertical planes combined
with a longitudinal movement of 5 feet from one extreme to the other
and they are so designed as to give a smooth riding surface across the
joints under all conditions of load and temperature.

Does the cable slide over the top of the tower? No! The tower
tops are pulled back and forth by the cables under the varying combi-
nations of temperature and loading. Under normal conditions, that
is, with temperature at 70° F., and no load on the span (other than
its own dead weight), each tower is bent shoreward 6 inches. Now,
if the temperature rises 40° and full live load is applied to the center
span and the far side span only, the tower will be deflected channel-
ward 18 inches. If the temperature drops 40° below the normal
temperature of 70° F. and full live load is applied to the near side
span only, the tower will be deflected shoreward 22 inches. In other
words, the towers may be bent to and fro so that their tops move
through a range of 40 inches in the longitudinal direction of the bridge.
In a direction transverse to the bridge, the towers would deflect
12% inches under the same wind load which would cause a 27-foot
deflection in the center span.

Each tower receives from the two cables a total load of 123 million
pounds. The concrete piers upon which the steel towers rest must
carry this load plus the weight of the steel tower, which is 44 million
pounds, or a total applied load of 167 million pounds. The San
Francisco pier, allowing for buoyancy, weighs 560 million pounds,
and therefore the total load on the foundation which supports the
San Francisco pier and tower is 727 million pounds.

In design and construction the engineers were confronted with
some unique problems. From the outset the construction of the

568 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

San Francisco pier was recognized as a major task. It was located
1,100 feet out from shore in water having an average depth of 65 feet.
The site was exposed not only to the destructive ocean winds and
waves, but also to tidal currents of 7 miles per hour. The difficulties
were multiplied by the fact that the floor of the strait was bare rock
and consequently it was difficult to anchor equipment and get a
“toe hold.” The completed pier would have to have the protection of
a very substantial fender to guard against damage from derelicts or
ships out of control. It was decided that this fender would be built
as a part of the pier—a wall 27% feet thick forming the circumference
of the pier. It was conceived that this wall could be built first in
small successive units so that as exposed surface to tides increased,
the mass of previously placed wall would afford a corresponding in-
crease in stability. The initial section could be placed by anchoring
to the rock a steel form about 30 feet square. Divers could place
forms around this frame and then the box thus formed could be filled
with concrete. The initial unit in place, succeeding units could be
built out in both directions, eventually encircling the whole pier site.
The pier within the wall could then be completed with full protection
against tides and storms.

This general scheme was carried out with frequent adjustments in
plans in order to meet the conditions. It was a battle between men
and the forces of nature. When one attack failed, new tactics were
employed and finally the job was done. The first operation in the
field was the excavation of the rock at the pier site until there was a
bowl-shaped hole about the size of a football field, with sloping rock
sides varying in height from 25 to 45 feet, and with the bottom at an
average depth of 100 feet below the surface of the water. Within
this bowl the circumferential fender wall was built. The lower course
of the wall projected toward the inside of the bowl] so as to interlock
with the central portion. Thus the pier and fender are united into a
solid mass from the bottom up to a point 35 feet below the water sur-
face. Above that point, the fender wall rises as an independent struc-
ture so that it alone must withstand any blows directed against it.
Two years of struggle brought completion of this pier. Meantime
the corresponding pier on the Marin side had been completed and the
steel tower erected upon it. Anchorages had also been completed in
readiness for cable construction which had to await completion of the
San Francisco tower. This required another 6 months, but in the
meantime the contractor for the cables was getting everything in
readiness so that there would be no delay after the tower was ready.
At each anchorage he set up machinery for unreeling the wire of which
the cables would be built. This wire was manufactured at Trenton,
N. J. It was shipped in coils of about 4,000 feet (400 pounds) each.
These coils were put onto reels at the “reeling plant.’’ Each reel

WORLD'S LONGEST BRIDGE SPAN—PAINE 569

held 40 coils all spliced together into one continuous wire 160,000
feet long. Splices were made by pressing an alloy steel sleeve onto
the two ends which were to be joined, the ends having first been placed
in an hydraulic press which made them oval in cross section and left
deep corrugations in their surfaces. ‘These splices were so good that
in most tests the wire broke outside the splice.

Before cable wire could be erected it was necessary to build ‘“‘cat-
walks” upon which the workmen could stand. These catwalks were
16 feet wide and reached from anchorage to anchorage passing up over
the intervening towers and following the curve which the cables would
take, but located so that they would lie about 3 feet below them at all
points. The catwalks were simply board walks carried by 12 wire
ropes 1%, inches in diameter and spaced 18 inches apart. These wire
ropes between towers were erected by fastening one end at the base of
one tower and then laying the rope along the bottom of the Gate to
the other tower. It was then hoisted into position and fastened at the
tower tops. Adjustment was provided in the attachment of the ropes
so they could be lengthened or shortened as required to suit the sag of
the cables which, of course, varied as the weight of the suspended
structure was applied. The wood floor of the catwalks was painted
with fire-resistant paint so as to minimize the danger of fire. At
intervals of 100 feet a 12-foot section was applied to a steel frame so
that it could be quickly removed to form a fire stop.

Essentially the ‘‘spinning”’ of the cables consists of taking bights
of cable wire from the reels at one anchorage and pulling them across
to the opposite anchorage where they are looped over a shoe which in
turn is fastened to the anchorage. Each shoe (called ‘‘strand-shoe’’)
is capable of holding all the wires that go to make up one strand.

The 61 strands that make a cable average 452 wires each. The
spinning wheel assemblies which shuttled back and forth consisted of
four sheaves, three of which always carried a bight of wire; thus six
wires were laid at each passage. The spinning wheels were attached
to endless hauling ropes by means of which they were pulled along their
course at the rate of over 600 feet per minute. Four such spinning
units were always in operation simultaneously spinning on four strands
at one time. Many days saw 1,000 miles of wire placed in 8 hours of
working time. The four strands during spinning were supported in
temporary position above and a little to one side of the cable. As each
set of four strands was completed, they were lifted one by one from
their spinning positions and placed in their final positions in the cable,
pinned in place at the anchorages, and then adjusted accurately to
length by taking up or letting out at the strand shoe where special
means for adjustment was provided.

When all strands were completed the cables were compacted by
means of a machine which encircled the cable and by hydraulic pressure

31508—38——40

570 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937

of 4,500 pounds per square inch squeezed it into a circular cross-section
36% inches in diameter. Under this pressure narrow steel bands were
applied about 3 feet apart to bind the cable together until the wrapping
could be applied. Finally, the cable is closely wrapped with steel wire
which holds it compact, and protects it against both mechanical injury
and the weather.

During the year required for construction of the cables, the steel
work for the suspended structure or bridge floor was fabricated and
delivered. This steel work was erected by means of traveling derricks,
two of which started from each tower, one working toward the shore
and the other toward midspan. These travelers simply attached the
steel to the suspenders which hang from the cables at 50 feet intervals.
They thus proceeded, laying their own track ahead of themselves.
The two main span travelers met at midspan and then each started
back toward the towers setting the handrailing, curbs, and the re-
mainder of the floor members, leaving behind them a completed steel
structure ready to receive the paving. Meantime, the other two trav-
elers from the shore ends also worked back to the towers, completing
erection of the side spans. Addition of the concrete pavement to the
structure completed it, ready for traffic.

The engineers on the Golden Gate Bridge were especially concerned
about the safety of the workmen on the job. According to all precedent
it was feared that anywhere from 6 to 12 men would be killed in the
erection of the structure. The very thought that the execution of
work called for by your plans may involve such a toll of lives gives you
a mighty uncomfortable feeling. Any conceivable safeguard which
would reduce the hazard must be earnestly considered. Many simple,
helpful measures were taken, and the result of these ordinary pre-
cautions is reflected in the low accident record. After a careful study,
the engineers decided upon a safety measure that had never been
applied on any other job. They concluded that as the suspended
structure was built out from the towers, huge nets should be stretched
across beneath and suspended from this steel work. It would be
possible so to devise this that even the workmen at the extreme
forward part of the work would be protected by a net carried on a
framework cantilevered out ahead of the traveler. The net would
extend for the full width of the bridge and 10 feet beyond on each side.
Upon completion of the floor erection there would be suspended from
it a continuous net 110 feet wide and 6,500 feet long, which, like a
safety net in a circus, would catch men who lost their footing and save
them from a drop of 250 feet into the sea and certain death. The cost
of this net, its erection, and subsequent removal would be about
$130,000. The engineers said this was not too much to pay for the
lives of the men who would be saved. They asked the Bridge District
to contribute $82,000 and the contractor the balance. The District

WORLD’S LONGEST BRIDGE SPAN—PAINE 571

immediately appropriated its share and then the contractor agreed
to go along. Likewise the California State Industrial Accident Com-
mission was won over to this novel safety scheme. The engineers
now have the satisfaction of knowing that their insistence on the
adoption of this safety net has resulted in saving the lives of 19 men.

In 5 consecutive working days, six men were caught by the net.
They came up smiling and went right back to work. Ask these men
and their families whether or not this $130,000 has been well spent.

It will be of interest to note the quantities of principal materials re-
quired for the main structure only. They are as follows:

omerepe i eel aera ar eh Own ee ee eT cubic yards__ 300, 000
SU option ses on we ee Re 2 es ee ee ae 2 tons__ 75, 000
Cable sree! and euspenderso..-s5 2. eens one ee ee does, 2571000
LECTIN SS 5 ee een An Seo ae get LA ana ey Lee ae gallons__ 50, 000
(Wementaee a Se ely 8) 4. ee Oe ae ee pee ees barrels__ 450, 000

The bridge was completed ready for traffic on May 27, 1937.

St Aen edule ko rosgibendiwed a te yodisaert aeth,
ahah “atid tig papa? ddyiay waw nut xia eta acho
yinty is

ie a dere dept ofeudbar aly ed! donc delet tet ws fut:

7 an “ss _r os a! eee
oa Pet ail mectert weal ROE) 54% + wil fo ae vt

¥

" a.
” Hy A
a gs ‘ *.* bat 2 aoay
5" sie Brad dul a3! Tht: Laat iy EGS eee Th) neeS waft! pa shut ny SPrioi enh
£ , a ae
at. Awe Sle ; toby) i at ase 2 sighed: vines irate i
¥ , *. o .
.

Jung a=
_o r

“OOSIDNVYA NVS LV 3D01¥g 3ALVD NAG1IOS FHL

| 3LV1d aureg—'/¢6| ‘qaodayy ueruosyzIWUg

i

*SSA1ESVD SHL ONILOVIWOD

¢@ 3LW1d auleq—/¢6| ‘Wodey ueluosy wg

Smithsonian Report, 1937.—Paine PLATE 3

SUSPENDED FROM THE CABLES IS THE STEEL FLOOR STRUCTURE UPON WHICH
THE CONCRETE ROADWAY WAS LAID.

Smithsonian Report, 1937,—Paine PLATE 4

THE SAFETY NET STRETCHED BENEATH THE SUSPENDED STRUCTURE WAS RE-
MOVED AFTER COMPLETION OF ALL WORK.

INDEX

A
Page
Abbot, Dr. Charles Greeley, secretary of the Institution—-_-__-_- iii, xi, xii, xiv, xv,
1, 5, 6, 22, 24, 36, 37, 42, 47, 57, 68, 98, 102, 105, 118
Adams, Leason H. (The earth’s interior, its nature and composition) __-_-_- 255
TUTTI GLE PUES" gE Sy i a ee Ee XV
Allantoin and urea, The healing properties of, discovered through the use

of maggots in human wounds (Robinson)_-----.----------------.--- 451
any ACRE PMAAP TUF ee 118
Alvarez, Walter C. (The emergence of modern medicine from ancient folk-

Ty RS Se cy ce ERNE ENO H. pS SEE tao ee ALES Ae 409
American Historical, Association, report.__—....-~...--~-Lo222/3-24L- 113, 118
American lake, An ancient, The biography of (Bradley) __----.-----_--- 279
Antarctica, The first crossing of (Ellsworth)_......._.._..-.-.-.-.---.-_- 307
Pau: Pietisi hres Lelia Fee Po bie tus hk el TS ta 2h 119, 120

Pectiime ieee b5y) ele wben te dime ipo rs tak oa fe ele ese dg 2 22
PTE CINPERUAIORY <9 cn oa 4,124

RR ha ns A LS PD Se Cen Ed ofa 99

CORE) TGR Se OES Ee ee nap ecae Gere y one Wee fey ie ey ene Pe he Coe ee oe XV
SES OT Oe TS CEE ORE ne eee ae NE ?y PT empty es eee) Seek See 120

B

Dae rnewinpitita, Pigs 22 ets oo eee tee 119, 120
Bacon traveling scholarship, Walter Rathbone__._.._._._.-.-_______--- 21
Stee Ue Aer ease le Ma eet eee ee SE 119, 120
Das imran enteric iene ere ee ee Se ee 119, 120
Sa OETS co STS ag A LB) el ee el et sep al pe it ipl hg 2 23
OI TE ONES CONT SG ie lle epee as area» ieee Be ia ae eS dS Sd Ma aaah xii, xiii, 30
PUES Eb Tair ons Sy Alea Sa IS die at a lela) Sched pe Se xiii, 22, 30
SEIS SURES DSS 007 sy Ul ey AS et gS gel lhe i anh Lal a kr ce xiii
ine teanery We APOReNh) 2. oo Ok ee oe oe xi, 6
Bishop, Dr. Carl Whiting, associate curator, Freer Gallery of Art_______- xiv

(Origin and early diffusion of the traction plow) __-_---_._---_-___- 531
Binekweldop, te aicuand: Pelle fyee ecco te yt Ne aha 21
Pivad-prounsiand pace (Millot) =o 9 3 a Pe be a ea 503
Bradley, Wilmot H. (The biography of an ancient American lake) _______ 279
Bridge span, The world’a:longest (Paine) .)s2-0 0 eolenli gece hk weeks 565
Brown, Ernest W. (Changes in the length of the day)____-__-_-_______- 169
Rene OA VIGIAK { Myreap 29) tosh lta Bie deeb alte Bit AN lat Da, Xiv
Bryant, H.S8., chief of correspondence and documents____.____-________ xiii
Bundy, John, superintendent, Freer Gallery of Art-__....__.._-_-_______- xiv
raat Orso ha a er a a eh asa 105

574 INDEX

C
Page
Canaanite civilization and language: Ras Shamra (Harris)__..________ 479
Cantleia olisetaan fund * oS os oe oh ean eee ee ee ee 119, 120
Cannon, Representative Clarence (regent) __-..--.__.-------_--_--__-___ xi, 6
Camegpteerl. Shamans Been ocd ee 119, 120
Campy, weeame a. oes a ee eae ae xiv
Chamberlain fond, Wraneis Ton: sh ae eee eee 119, 120
Chanhu-daro, Excavations at, by the American School of Indic and Iranian
Studies and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Season 1935-36 (Mackay). 469
Chain, oe, Tidward sk 20th. ee eee so xii, 21, 30
Rimes Alpaos Wed ek ee Skee ee xiii, 33
Chief Justice of the United States (chancellor and member of the Institu-
TI fig cle Ghisccescernittat get Net nc ak et ae cies ciate dca Boe eee xiv
Chinese cultures, Early, and their development: A new working hypothesis
A RPPRRE RIL) on soon erie ne rr we eee awien to eles ed a ee 513
Clark, Rustin Fo oo Seen ee ee xiii, 23
Clerk taeda Phe Se te seco e a ee xv, 108, 105
Clare; Lelia. I. asaistant Whvrerien. o.oo aetna oe Sot ace eee xiv
Gonlesie, Dr: Doria: Me. . 2. li ee ee xii
Calas Ponry.2.,.3t.. inches teed Se ce ee xii, 23, 28
elie Toe. TR, LOO. oso ke a Lee Lees ee a ee 31
Compton, Karl T. (The electron: Its intellectual and social significance).. 205
Cook, E. Fullerton (National and international standards for medicines)_. 431
fo te te | i Om ae ee ie! 4 22, 31
Corbin, William L., librarian of the Institution...._._._..__._.______- xi, 112
Cotton gin, Historical notes on the (Lewton)_.........-.._-_-------.-- 549
Copii. Le. Proderick Vers0n.... oc. osiwns eden Cccudechesncne eens 34
Cummings, Homer 8., Attorney General (member of the Institution) ______ x
D
Daughters of the American Revolution, National Society of the, report____- 118
Day, Changes in the length of the (Brown) __...........------_--------- 169
TOT EN NT en Ao ee cee igs bes EN a eee oe 22, 29
eens: srenerte A. Srementy 08 237 eos ol oe ee xi, 6, 125
Dorsey, Harry W., administrative assistant to the Secretary___________- xi
Dorsey, Nicholas W., treasurer and disbursing agent of the Institution___ xi, xiv
E
Earth’s interior, The, its nature and composition (Adams) _______-__--_- 255
Eberhard, Wolfram (Early Chinese cultures and their development: A new
working hypothesis) = 2 2 << chap cee en nee see eee 513
Eclipse expeditions, solar, Discoveries from (Mitchell) __.__________-___-_- 145
Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley (Constitution of the stars)_.___.____-___--- 131
Podgeil, Dr. George Harold oii! 2 UE li) ree ee ee 2, 36
Electron, The: Its intellectual and social significance (Compton) __------- 205
Ellsworth, Lincoln (The first crossing of Antarctica) ____.__._.___------- 307
Entomology,- What is (Strong) ou &2 tie! toss el ek ee 377
Ethnology, Bureau of American... <2 .<2.. 2225-042. oe ee 3, 24
DOREY Ss j0c20 5 Ae Oe eee et Sn ee 56
LT 1) |, aes ke ee ae ae fee RUM he eee eA GSS 7 DL xo 56, 118, 117
PREG oir cri ee 2 we ee ee ee ee 49

INDEX 575

Page
Evans, E. A., and McEachron, K. B. (The thunderstorm) ______--__--_-- TE
Pxchange pervice, Lnbernatiomal== === sos) 2225252 x222- 6-2 sssl lle xiv, 4, 124
TES ONG DH ps Ra a ra eg ar ne fa ne 59
Seether ree eee PEs ee ee a i A ee xiv
Tie pieeOnsemucenteld: Wotle = As — <6 # = a2 eee ee Hoenn ee 22
F
Farley, James A., Postmaster General (member of the Institution) -_ ~~ __-_- xi
perenne 16
Fishes, Fresh-water, and West Indian zoogeography (Myers) ---_--------- 339
are ibe ee 8 ene ew anit oe ee or eNotes oe xili
Serer bee ee it hither ee ng hie Se S08 So Se oe eee xv, 102
Pierre eer eee 28a ae nes ee eee ante sp hte eee eee 121
PCE ccmmcrn nants F340 Qe! 28k. 2. SoS ee ek kee Sede Stee 3
SURE Sul Gem eeeames oe PRN Sete EB Se he ee ee ee 47
UAV G | 2 ae 2 IR Se Te a ST Sa ee ke ep my eae eS 121
TECCURDGRSSY 2h, ap aie ae me a Eat op aR ae NRE BE NR eRe eye ED 47
ATS eT. eeee ee BY oe a 107, 110, 111
RRUECA pa ts. Ae) Pie eens ot Ae, OF ee ES Se Ee its
Bie ce saa aaa Se Soe Oe BLY ee ee xiv
Me emta A edn. A ORMOP Eo arene eee eerie = DSM UDSLE 2B xii
G
Moree Us st Se eg i Ws tes. 2. Te ie xiii
Garner, John N., Vice President of the United States (regent and member
SMEG SE TiestUUED MOE 2 eee eee PS er eee xi, 6
CanmrEree Wewises _£ SOE (0s er ade ees eee ewe 2 shes ess eee xiii, 22, 31
Geologic time, Measuring: Its difficulties (Lane) _._________-__-_-------- 235
Gifford, Representative Charles L. (regent) .-_.___._---_--------------- xi, 6
(ET Cg i Seal es 02) ea ee ie he ee ae aR Se RON Ty Aa xiv
ET OAPOTE AeA VICN WW nom ae ek Mn oe as ee ae See ae xili, 31, 54
Golden Gate Bridge. (See Paine.)
Goldsborough, Representative T. Alan (regent) ____-___-_-------------- xi, 6
Graf, John E., associate director, National Museum__-___-__-_---------- xii
(EVE orrrar SUIT ata DO yao 8 CMe em gt ie a a aes CARN a 29
Great Lakes basins, Origin of the (Shepard)__.______._-___-__--------. a BS
Guest, Grace Dunham, assistant curator, Freer Gallery of Art_________-- xiv
H
EFS OC Lath cheers Serene Bh Rae ws Sen cel ee ee Se PS ee Me 120
iachenberrund a2 kant yaw er eek Ses eee a eS 120
LTC OTe UT) Cee == so Senne RN RR SS Pec See at ee See 120
HarrmantAlasks Txpeditiony- reports = 22s 5 fe 2 eS ee ee 113
rr ccon Wr Ohi, baa ase eee i Se eee Shy, By Hilly GA 5B)
Harris, Zellig S. (Ras Shamra: Canaanite civilization and language)____ 479
artiond, ts. sbundingston & nts 2/8 eecgts odin geil Ss te Vey poy SL see lt as 30
Jlendersomeha wardéP =-34- - = Jasper ot ee eet abt tS xili, 22, 31
EMCO Gain (Ea e epee cel tol Baie 5). ois ed ee, 120
HewittwdobnoN. Bio. cos a tena ee ee ae pepe eee xiv, 4, 28, 55
Balls James Fis property, clerks t-.6o98 J yund ee eho det OT. ap Ee aed xi
ill yersmund eVangil] jo. Se es ee ea ie oT ee el ® 119, 120
Pingeiiisendes pees 2S foe oe ek ee oe Ree RN cE 120

rs] DS) Tk Chap tad ee fees Se eee ee) aN See 119, 120

576 INDEX

Page
Beover, William . Fe . fccdoseiseusls oni} th ol menial breaches xv, 103
RRR I Bad Sin a Sapo pe amie eck, Sts es oe a xii
a a a gd bere en ee ee xii, 2, 23, 29
Hughes, Charles Evans, Chief Justice of the United States (chancellor and
member of tho Insucseen) —.. . 2. - owe ewe oe ube le be ee xi, 6
RR UNTACE UNTAGL, CARTON manana acband enameled Ne epee 120
Hull, Cordell, Secretary of State (member of the Institution)__...______- xi
I
Ickes, Harold L., Secretary of the Interior (member of the Institution) ____ xi
International Exchange Service__-.........-....----.------1--2 xiv, 4, 124
III pce i os Se hos So nig ee eee ew oc el 59
WIN de. Joo ak Zoic Oe iin bs 1 St oe ee xiv
J
AME CE AMT Ble ket an cen emi eases bee on ekale =e xv, 105
Is NN TE tana aad ices et deed ws enc ive ete dade eter Sh A ek gs a xii
K
Kazeeff, W. N. (Moving photomicrography) ---.--.------------------- 323
Rotions; Dr: Renington.. 42 oe ak ek ee eee xii, 29
Kempton, J. H. (Maize—our heritage from the Indian) -_____________~- 385
Ketchum, Miriam B., librarian, Bureau of American Ethnology - ---_--_- xiv, 56
mee, Mawes Bae 8 2s lee beets desccascsteceaneecoe eee xiii, 23
Krieger) Herbert We suai 2) Sac adeeb) 10 Jk Dirk Bale ee xii, 23, 28
L
Lake, ancient American, The biography of an (Bradley)____.--_--___---- 279
Lake Uinta. (See Bradley.)
Lane, Alfred C. (Measuring geologic time: Its difficulties) ______________ 235
eendras,; Mire. Biase Fobra. oS P05. a ccaasaead 4tett epee nena 37
Renae Catery MSs ase: oak coe ee ok ea ae en xiii
TEACUOn, Urs POO GriGk Gite oS 2 eo es i oo hes Se ee ee oe xiii
(ilisterieal notes onthe cotton gin) o.oo 2k pe Soe Sh cece ates 549
Libraries of the Institution and branches-_-__-...._.------------------ 24
120) “t= |<< MS i RS Ba J Ska nad Se Sn, tape eh ete Tes ae 107
GIIMDIETY OL. RCQORNIQUS oon oe. eee een ae ae eee 110
Light, polarized, Photography by (McFarlane) ------------------------ 225
Ee Oe, a a a ie, onan ser Moe Se sere ee Pe AT 22, 29
Lodge, John Ellerton, curator, Freer Gallery of Art___..--.----------- xiv, 47
Loee,,cenator Ii. Bt. GWement) ios eit ee ie oe xi, 6
Losing, Aumurtus P.. (remem) oid 6 onc ban ohne ceatedbitene aaleseh ae xi, 6
M
Mackay, Ernest (Excavations at Chanhu-daro by the American School of
Indic and Iranian Studies and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
Beate: 1905-06) 5. oaiGi ces cess edesdesudtessdcesaseeemeeee 469
Maize—our heritage from the Indian (Kempton) -_--_----------------- 385
Mann, Dr. William M., Director, National Zoological Park__-__- xiv, 1, 4, 71, 98
Manning, .Mre..C. L., philatelist.... 2.2.2 s<ssucse seeders US. xiii

Waren, Dr. Wiliam Biwessceccecswewssceersuacsansendaeedee xiii, 33

INDEX 577

Page
feterniger. Pr bro 222 ee eo ee ee = Sie xv, 104
McEachron, K. B., E. A. Evans and (The thunderstorm) --------------- ihe
McFarlane, J. W. (Photography by polarized light) -------------------- 225
MeNary, Senator Charles L: (regent) ~~ ----=-+---------+--------------- xi, 6
Medicine, modern, The emergence of, from ancient folkways (Alvarez)--- 409
Medicines, National and international standards for (Cook) -_------------ 431
Miptor. Jor, arenee, Bio. 8 oe nn oe See n—- -- He xv, 105
Meinzer, Oscar E. (Our water supply) -------------------------------- 291
PER AURIS Vs oo xiv, 1, 2, 6, 16, 17, 35
Mellon, Art gift to the nation. _-—21+-+-.-=-+- 2+--------+-+--+-<-+=----- 4
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, A. W_---------------------- 9
Merriam, Dr. John; C.; @egent)- =~ 622+ 4-5 4<<4-b 44-2 2-4 -455-e5-85% xi, 6, 125
Pig melenn shir) rR oo Be xiv, 50, 51
Map Mt err flies. oon Sea f 2 aa a one += eS xli, 29
Millot, J. (Blood-groups and race) -~...--2-+----=-----+------------- 503
Matehell, Dr. Samuel. Alfred. _...__----- -$Basn2 5 -ee ba vedaerep ens 22
(Discoveries from solar eclipse expeditions) - - --------------------- 145
Bidoan Carl Wo 3 nn eee Samy oP eed —SHH= xiii
Micrel. Waltin (regent) <--— -— 2-2-2 = SS ne pec SREB xi, 6, 125

Morgenthau, Henry, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury (member of the Insti-
WANON) Ao 8 a ne ees bat wee ah -os82 6 Snes xi, xiv
Peper roland 6. (regent) 2-22. an a eo ~ see e g xi, 6
River tnd, Catherine Walden..__.._-..- ----2- =-4<-------=-----=-- a of, bau
Pierre MatOEee Mow 8 an Maceo gee ne ee eae 33
(Fresh-water fishes and West Indian zoogeography) --- - ------------ 339

N

iatwonsh Collection of Fine: Arts... ~~ 22-4 eee eee se xiv, 2, 124
Hetuin Girectors 6 220 eee ee ee ei cause xiv
rary. 2 SOS et RE fe sS 222 Se Pe Se eee 41
publications) U2. itisdt) Waid ee stolleslbvo stages aise 42,113
Ranger fund purchases, Henry Ward-_---------------------------- 41
mer r te ee Fre SATE OE ogee oe Sa ee eee 35
Specisiextipiiones = 242.2 2-22<2c225522-242565-2552+-2s5eeea 41
Mavens) Gallery of-Art. <2... 52.--- 3246-4564 5a50-- 5525 eee 1, 7-17
Mini IBOeNEUES.6 52 ae 5 oe el oe wee ee eee 10
ETUISUCOS ee eo ee ee ee eee Se re carne ee ee xiv
National Gallery of Art Commission_-__--_.-..-..--.~.-i22eg2- Juiu+ ie 35
National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Expedition-_----- 1,4, 71
SLE OIISC MINS ote ns en oe a anes oa ia ae oO 2, 124
Px IOMAAUIOCU he te ees oa cn eae ee 32
explorations’and field work=___..--.---~---_44--£- -U_ 22254 -L-= 28
publiestions. 23. 220.22 snes - j= Seen ee See 32, 118, 116
reporbwewey wie bas_aeisdiin tp poUscaens Bilan! osl gael se ate 25
Stall. 22 9.— ee ere rea 70k eee whee Bes ees ser See xii
MARCA IA hs 2 a and aa ea os ele 31
Piional Aoologics! Park 2.22222... -.--n-2--san acs aa nane eae 1, 124
BAC CESS TO eee ees es eh iS Se ee 73
animals in the collection, June 30, 1937_-------------------------- 80
GINGe Lory eee 2 ea es ee 4 ls Sees OE ote xiv, 1, 4, 71, 98
Ten erus ees») ee Ree le 2 a ee an aoe eee 69
Stab 22 Canin ett eta? 1 3 GG oo bere Eee xiv
VISL EONS ee eR lr epee oS se oh os oh le epee See RUE 2 Hees 72

31508—38——38

578 INDEX

O
: Page
Oehser, Paul, editor, National Museum ---......~..-2- 3.2.2.2. xiv, 116
Oliver, Lawrence L., property clerk, National Museum_-_-_-_------------- xiv
eT oo WS oes oe ee ee ence Pewee es BON Be Fuk. 8 WA xili, xiv
Olmsted, Helen A., personnel officer of the Institution________...-.-_--- xi

rE
Paine, Clifford E. (The world’s longest bridge span)_------------------- 565
Parent Tune: <4 2298 _<ee ee 2 ee de ees eee eee es 2 120
Parran, Thomas (The aims of the Public Health Service)________-_--_-- 463
Pell fund, Cornélia Livingston... 1! 2 220i i 2 fede 2 ea. 120
Perkins, Frances, Secretary of Labor (member of the Institution) ~------- xi
Perryao, Wateon M iu. 2-2-2. 2 eee eee tee ee 22, 29
Pailips, Duneaa: io os so os eae eee ndesssteceasecesl Lee Ie xiv
Photography by polarized light (McFarlane)_--___-____.--------------- 225
Photomicrography, Moving (Kazeeff) ..._...-.-.-------=--2-0-22L--2- 323
Plow, traction, Origin and early diffusion of the (Bishop) ---_----------- 531
Fore fund,-Luey-T. and George W.2-2222--ccscccuccceatesetl Ae 120
Tope; John Russell = «22 2 cee tec eke tte D_ 16, 17, 36
Public Health Service, The aims of the (Parran)________-___-_---_----- 463
Publications of the Institution and branches_------------------------- 23
TOPONG 22 See ieee ee cae Pees Mee eee eee ae ss Dae SU ae ees 113

R
pecuation and Oreaniams, Division Of... «ioe. on ance ns nce wwones ane 1,5
GIN oie eam ee i Se Rit we i a aes 103
Ca A Soe SNe he XV
Banger. bequest,. Henry. Ward.......0 64... 00~<nas doen Sole eal 3
Ranger fund purchases, Henry Ward-..- ~~~. 2.---- 1-5 522 ncee oe 41
Ras Shamra: Canaanite civilization and language (Harris)_------------- 479
Regents of the Institution, Board:of_. tu. 8. -ssll eke Dee xi, 5
GxOcua ve CDIMMUbOCe EN Rees 2 es he ee ee eee xi, 125
ot 5, aS See LET 119
emer, tearaln A eee oe eed ese ae xii
A Fn ee ee ee toe one dedce nee ee 29
ee ter, Bea ee nee ee Ne os ee eee 120
Réséaroh fund, Boecieh 6) a eee) Je lie ~ 120
Réater, Dr. Charis Tic 0? nc atest ele tthae ct aie xiii
red TAME ee age are ese ere elo medi etal oe 120
BIDY, 0. ee a ee eee eee xii
Hoberta, Dr. Prank oH. ir oS so ees xiv, 3, 23, 53, 54, 55
Robinson; Senator Joseph T. (regent)... --.-2-.--3--<22n eee xi, 6

Robinson, William (The healing properties of allantoin and urea discovered
through the use of maggots in human wounds) ---------------------- 451
Meeting. Donne) 3 eek hl a ea oh eh ae 30
Robbling fund. 3s 2 s2beck 22 Cte ses cs ee Lee eee 120
Rbhwetyde. B.Acs. 92 /es. aad en Lecce. who See De eee xii
Rollins fund,.. Miriam and. William. —_ i). ot «wil. colt: slog eit ata 120
Roosevelt, Franklin D., President of the United States (member of the

institution} 1...) Shates. Weta Bese ese ol eee <i
Roper, Daniel C., Secretary of Commerce (member of the Institution) ----- xi

piers bagels) iiss aires a ec in eee ee ee 35

INDEX 579

S
Page
Salmon and trout, The breeding habits of (Schultz)____________________ 365
See EAR SATORU RIEL ee eae enon hoe Wee re vee mae FeV ome rene ae Fre Se IT 120
ree RSET T RM Borg OL 6 Ca be 2 Rae pete ie ac Sty op yg ge Pe aed pee oe eae LE MY xii, 30
Cs a OER 2” Sey, See NE cee see ee Sse xii, 29, 33
(The breeding habits of salmon and trout)_.-._.____-._-_---_-___- 365
Searles, Stanley, editor, Bureau of American Ethnology__-_-_______- xiv, 56, 117
EE C2 ep ig ali Pha tp ches ee aan ac ey A NO mast Tide xii
PieeenE es a DY of oe were ee nae EN aa a Pa eS ee xiv
Shepard, Francis P. (Origin of the Great Lakes basins) -_--____________-- 269
SMC TISOT (Or hte A eee ee eke oS eA a hy ee. a a xii
BimCRICE OCMICR Wine e = a eees Vo ee ee es xiv, 68
Betidon teamed MEGNeR bens = oa oe eee ee Se ee 5
Nagy een es Hn ees a ae) a a ee ee 5
Poa RaCmiben mnt! LCMOLUS! — oJ. ee eevee tok eee es ee 1138, 114
Pea OIUOHS tO BNO WICUSe so. ..* sss. ok ee be eee oe 113
TCO AINCTNUPIUIG Cae cee cee ees 6 ce cee cs SE eins cer teen ee 119, 120
ecewOliAty, DIODOkeN. = 2-- 265 ue! 5 tue kee Jee ee 17
Wadeeuanecous COlecHOnSs: =.= 2.2. 22ccececn eke. anes kee Seo 113
TELECON) 0) MOY? 3 5 een ee Leer es ae as EA MnEe EY See eee, = 1,18
Serie NEA GMOnH. <2) tS oe o5 oe ok os ee ee ee 113, 115
(HUES Se 0 ULE Tin 6 Hau ea ile ip a a ea Ree ee oe yon SAR ea 120
Solar eclipse expeditions, Discoveries from (Mitchell)_________________- 145
Peron ite MENTO te aoe es see oe Ns 120
Biaes, Constitution of the (Eddington) —.......----....-..+--~.52-2.-4 131
PAME err errninnare 2. oo. 228 Ue Soe oe ee Le eee eee xii
Pierce b ran imag (io ke oe ee a ee xiv, 4, 23, 55
ETE AUIS rege Eno Ec BS an pn LL eee) ra Meee col xii, 29
Stirling, Matthew W., chief, Bureau of American Ethnology__-__ xiv, 49, 50, 57
Simone, bee A. (What, is: entbomolopy?)_.:. 2-222 .5525 222 sn see alee 377
bepesatier erat PS es ee ye Le xiv, 4, 23, 55
Swanson, Claude A., Secretary of the Navy (member of the Institution) __ xi
Pant Es PON bese. 2 arco Sh tee Le eae ES a ee xiv, 3, 50, 53
si
TDS LILY MDS iyi al IO Se ee Oe ce en On nee en var ee = eG a ee love pe xili
Thunderstorm, The (E. A. Evans and K. B. McEachron)-__--_-__-___-_- 177
Time, geologic, Measuring: Its difficulties (Lane)_______-__------------ 235
Tolman, Ruel P., acting director, National Collection of Fine Arts__xiii, xiv, 36, 42
Trembly, R. H., superintendent of buildings and labor________________- xiii
Troe, Webster P.,.editor of the Institution... .2..2 3-12.42. yc ap a 4
U
ULC rN setaglee). 2 t:< Vie es ee, ta tS ee ee AL AY oh Ne ee xiii, 31
Urea, Allantoin and, The healing properties of, discovered through the use
of maggots in human wounds (Robinson)-._-_.-__-_.---------------- 451
WwW
Wiitleot time, donarien ). and Mary Vaux ..22s5222-...22-2022-.25222 120
Walker, Ernest P., assistant director, National Zoological Park____----_-- xiv
Wallace, Henry A., Secretary of Agriculture (member of the Institution) - xi
eaten Supiy Our WeInZer)) eo! ee Pep ee Je 291

verte Ol rs, Wi lel nip wee a es oe eee xii, 29

580 INDEX

Page
Wenley, Archibald G., assistant, Freer Gallery of Art..--------------_- xiv
Wetmore, Dr. Alexander, assistant secretary of the Institution__.-_ xi, xii, 22, 29
Whiteread, Dr. Chari... So kn em kee ee ee xiii
Williains, Dr. Maynard Owen: =.->--..--~---2-2--- 32-2 -E see 9P ase 71
Woodring, Harry Hines, Secretary of War (member of the Institution) --_- xi
7
Siar 6 eee Bn Gg ee ace meen eee ee 125
Woumeer tend, TGlen Waist. —.. ~~ nce dn cnc nnne neon case nae 120
Z
ieee Pend, Keane Pres: oe pene nner’ serene 120
ROmIMnOGL OTK, NEWNESS oe tn eee nnn aesemegeenanneee 1, 124
aN 82 ee oi a eta tee le eucnininss oe ma Paneer ae 73
animals in the collection, June 30, 1937__-.----------------------- 80
CN Sr ea ate ta se TTS eS at xiv, 1, 4, 71, 98
OS iste ure en cd eee aA Se ORAS eee par cere 69
PT ie a eae leapt lar te ely ee SE are el i eg ead ech cep fee MG pe xiv
TN ene aie we aie mars Coe re sc a 72

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