Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1908 [PAGE 57]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1906]

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

29

If elected, I can probably arrange to visit the University at some time during the winter for consultation with yourself and the other members of the department, as you suggest. In such a case I should, however, expect the University to pay my expenses. If I am elected, Dr. Stratton would be glad to have the announcement deferred as long as possible. Yours sincerely,

W. A. NOYES.

Voted that the President of the University be authorized to assure Professor Noyes that a research assistant will be allowed the head of the laboratory, at a salary not to exceed $800 per year; further, that in addition to the present stenographic service for the chemical laboratory, as long as the work of the laboratory includes the present scope of work, a clerk who shall act as stenographer at a salary not to exceed $60 per month will be allowed for the office of the director of the laboratory; further, that the files of chemical journals shall be placed in a room in the chemical laboratory, provided that proper assurance of protection from fire can be secured and the necessary space can be found.

2. A l e t t e r from E d w a r d Tilden, Esq., Chicago, in w h i c h h e s t a t e d t h a t t h e American Meat P a c k e r s ' Association w i l l be glad t o assist in t h e proposed inv e s t i g a t i o n b y t h e U n i v e r s i t y i n t o t h e effect u p o n t h e h u m a n body of t h e s a l t p e t r e used in c u r i n g m e a t s , t o t h e e x t e n t of fifteen t h o u s a n d dollars ($15,000) or m o r e if necessary, a n d a p p r o v i n g a p l a n w h i c h h a d been subm i t t e d to h i m b y t h e p r e s i d e n t of t h e University for t h e conduct of such investigation. 3. A l e t t e r from Professor S. A. F o r b e s a s k i n g for leave of absence w i t h o u t pay from University d u t i e s from t h e first of J a n u a r y for t h e r e m a i n d e r of t h e college year, in o r d e r t o complete a n d g e t r e a d y for t h e press a r e p o r t on t h e i c h t h y o l o g y of t h e S t a t e .

Voted that such request be granted.

S T A T E LABORATORY OF N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y . 4. A r e p o r t from Professor S. A. F o r b e s u p o n t h e w o r k of t h e S t a t e Labora t o r y of N a t u r a l History.

The report was received and ordered printed in the minutes.

I L L I N O I S STATE LABORATORY O F NATURAL H I S T O R Y . URBANA, ILLINOIS, U. S. A,, Dec. 7, 1906.

To the Board of Trustees of e University of Illinois: The State Laboratory of Natural History has just now in hand three principal enterprises: the completion of the report on the fishes of the State; a systematic survey of the bird life of Illinois; and a study of the plant and animal life of peculiar situations, such as the sand areas of certain parts of the State and the bog region of northern Illinois. We are also engaged this winter in one of our regular distributions of Illinois insects to public high schools, and in the preparation of systematic lists of Illinois insects as a study in the geographical distribution of species. The report on Illinois fishes is now all in manuscript form, except three chapters of the introduction, the materials for which have been collected and arranged. The descriptive part of the text is in its final form for all the species, but the general discussions of the species are in a preliminary form only, and will require my revision and completion. Fifty-five colored plates have been made ready for printing, and 1 have colored drawings for twenty-two others. I have also photographs and black and white drawings for eighty-five illustrations additional, and about 140 maps of the State, showing the distribution of our collections and the exact distribution within the State of all our Illinois species. The preparation of this report has involved the critical study of 1.800 collections made from 450 Illinois lo alities, distributed through ninety-six counties. These collections are contained in 13,000 tanks, bottles and jars, and number about 200,000 specimens, everyone of which has been handled and determined as to species. We have also scanned and abstracted the whole literature of American ichthyology, including articles in fishing and sporting journals and other miscellaneous sources of information. I particularly wish to bring this work to completion, ready for the press, because I am impatient to enter energetically upon the preparation Of the next volume of the series of biological reports, which I propose shall be devoted to the economic entomology of the State. A very great amount of material has been made ready for this latter report, which I hope to make a comprehensive and amply illustrated treatise on the whole subject of Illinois insects in relation to all phases of human welfare. Our statistical investigation of bird population of Illinois will add to our knowledge of ornithology, an element which is now wholly wanting, and for lack of which it has been im-