PROCEEDINGS FOR 1918 XVII 



To increase the number of those who are training for a career in 

 Scientific research, twenty studentships of $700 each and five fellow- 

 ships of $1,000 have been instituted. Owing to the depletion of the 

 student ranks in the Universities and Technical Colleges, primarily 

 through voluntary enlistment for the last three years, but also through 

 the operations of the Military Service Act, there has been a very great 

 decrease in the number of graduates qualified for these studentships 

 and fellowships, and, in consequence, only seven of these were 

 awarded, the holders of which are now engaged in research, three in 

 McGill University, two in the University of Saskatchewan, and one 

 each in the Universities of Toronto and Alberta. 



Assistance in the form of grants has been given to a number of 

 researches on problems which are of possible industrial importance, 

 among which are the following: 



The improvement of signalling in fog, 



The electrical condensation of tar and other constituents 

 in the vapours from the destructive distillation of coal, wood 

 and oils. 



The improvement of the flotation methods in the separation 

 of Canadian ores, 



The utilization of the waste straw to provide gas for heating 

 and lighting on the farms of the Prairie Provinces, 



The production of a variety of wheat that will resist the rust 

 which now causes annually enormous losses in the wheat crop of 

 those three Provinces, 



The utilization of the sulphite liquor of the pulp mills to 

 produce industrial alcohol, and 



The reduction of low grade iron ores. 



Amongst the questions of special interest dealt with by the Council 

 were Forestry Studies and the Carbonizing-Briquetting of the Lignites 

 of Saskatchewan. A grant was given through the Council to the 

 Forestry Branch of the Department of the Interior to inaugurate 

 investigations on the growth and rate of reproduction of our more 

 valuable species of forest trees, to be carried out on the Petawawa 

 Military Reserve. The preliminary steps in these investigations 

 were taken last summer and the work will be carried on during the 

 coming season. It is expected that the results of these investigations 

 will lead to systematic work for the preservation of our forest wealth. 



The briquetting of the Lignites of Saskatchewan for domestic 

 fuel has been carried out on a super-laboratory scale, under the auspices 

 of the Saskatchewan Government, and the Council proposed that it 



