Year Book - Carnegie Institution of Washington (Volume 11)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912. Excerpt: ... REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. The following reports and abstracts of reports show the progress of investigations carried on during the year, including not only those authorized for 1912, but others on which work has been continued from prior years. Reports of Directors of Departments are given first, followed by reports of recipients of grants for other investigations, the latter arranged according to subjects. DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH D. T. Macdougal, Director. Progress in modern botanical science necessitates the correlation of a wide range of phenomena interlocking with the activities of plants, and the development of the main researches that have been taken up by the Department has been much like the building of cantilever bridges, the farther ends of which might come to rest upon piers in chemistry, physics, geology, or geography. The chief problems of the Department have been taken to lie in the domain of phyto-chemistry, in the water-relations of plants, and in the environic reactions of organisms. The development of methods and the broader interpretation of the results have extended far into the field of conjunctive science, and have led to the consideration of some physical, biological, and meteorological subjects, not usually included within the province of botany, but which are of the greatest importance in the geographical aspects of the subject. Thus it became apparent, early in the studies of the Salton lake, that the revegetation of the beaches emersed each year varied progressively, but more widely than justified by the simple concentration of the water. Next bacteriological examinations by Dr. Brannon showed that sulphur bacteria found in the neighborhood of decaying submerged trees were breaking up the sulphates and t...