32 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



through Russia and Roumania and continues through Asia 

 Minor and Western Africa, to the Cape of Good Hope. This 

 is a continuous arc of meridian reaching from the north of 

 Russia to the Cape of Good Hope in which a number of govern- 

 ments, the British Government, the German Government, the 

 Russian Government and the Turkish Government are in- 

 volved, which is in process already, and is really nearing com- 

 pletion. 



It has become the practice during recent years that inter- 

 national organizations established independently place them- 

 selves under the protection of the Association of Academies, to 

 which they report periodically. Though the academies exercise 

 no control over such bodies they stand to them as a reserve power 

 willing to help when required. 



In all these respects the association has fulfilled the intention 

 of its founders, but has it left its mark to any appreciable extent 

 on the progress of science? Without wishing to underrate the 

 good that this body has done in the past I do not think I stand 

 alone in hoping for a wider activity in the future, and I doubt 

 whether it will long maintain its vitality unless it extends its 

 ambitions as it passes from the age of youth to that of manhood. 

 This is a critical period in its history, and much will depend on 

 the policy it will adopt on a question which may still be kept 

 in abeyance for a short time, but which will have to be faced 

 before long. 



An international organization which has no central office and 

 is not domiciled in any country is not a legally constituted body. 

 It possesses no property. It cannot accept gifts or legacies. The 

 question has been repeatedly raised whether it is desirable to 

 remove this restriction and to establish the association on a legal 

 foundation. For this purpose it would have to place itself under 

 the laws of some one country, and the selection of that country 

 complicates the decision on the main issue, as national considera- 

 tion and perhaps to some extent national jealousies have to be 

 taken into account. 



