REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1918. 21 



demands and the readiness of response to them are matters of 

 record in the minutes of the Executive Committee, in the special 

 reports from the Departments of Research and from Research 

 Associates, and in the extensive correspondence relative to this 

 emergency work; so that, when the proper time arrives, a com- 

 plete account of these unexpected activities may be rendered. 

 At the moment it need be said only that these activities have 

 taken precedence over all others. 



Thus it has happened that many investigations have been sus- 

 pended, that the staffs of some departments of research are at 

 work wholly or in part for the Government, and that many indi- 

 viduals have left their peaceful occupations in order to assist in 

 meeting the miUtary exigencies of the hour. The national needs 

 for speciaHsts of many kinds have drawn most heavily, naturally, 

 on the younger men of the Institution. The departments of 

 research and the Research Associates have lost thus, temporarily 

 it is hoped, many of their most effective and promising men. 



Nevertheless, in spite of the state of commotion in which the 

 world now finds itself, and in which all organizations must par- 

 ticipate to a greater or less extent, the primary objects of the 

 Institution have been well sustained. This is especially the case 

 with the departments of research, for although their programs 

 have been disarranged or suspended, and although many indi- 

 viduals of their staffs have been transferred to more pressing 

 duties, the departmental organizations remain essentially intact. 

 Hence, following the plan adopted in 1917, no noteworthy 

 departures from customary characteristics will be found in the 

 current Year Book. The reports of departmental heads and of 

 research associates and the annual bibliography are printed as 

 usual and are confined essentially to the conventional work of the 

 Institution. Special reports concerning emergency work for the 

 Government have been rendered and are on file in the office of 

 administration, but although these reports relate to services 

 which are in some instances of extraordinary national value, and 

 although they represent activities requiring relatively large aggre- 

 gates of time, effort, and costs, their pubhcation, for reasons 

 already indicated, is not deemed appropriate here. 



