International Co-operation in Science 



A call for efficiency followed the declaration of war. A desire 

 for co-operation has followed the declaration of peace. 



Just as the doctrine of relentness efficiency played its important 

 role during the mobilization for war, so to-day the gospel of voluntary 

 co-operation has penetrated and influenced the pohtical, industrial 

 and scientific activities of all the allied nations. It has strengthened 

 the bonds of esteem and friendship that existed during the war, and 

 has cultivated a closer moral and intellectual union among the allied 

 peoples. 



The general recognition of the value of co-operation may be 

 truthfully described as the best positive product of the great war. 

 It has given birth to what may be called the international mind, the 

 moving spring of which is the idea of a world-wide community of the 

 human race and the desire for its realization. Internationalism is 

 everywhere active. There is a growing tendency towards the consoli- 

 dation of various human interests, a drawing together of humanity 

 which tends towards mutual understanding and mutual happiness 

 among the nations. 



The highest ideal of the internationalist is the League of Nations, 

 for it is an effort at world-wide political and national co-operation, 

 "a unification of the whole human race into a single family, organized 

 group or community." Among the less ambitious of the international 

 movements is the International Research Council, which embodies 

 the concept of international co-operation in science. 



My task this evening is to present to you some idea of what this 

 International Research Council is and what it may become, and to 

 discuss the influence of international and national co-operation upon 

 the development of scientific research. I must ask your indulgence 

 if it appears too obvious that I am viewing the subject through the 

 eyes of a chemist, and if my illustrations are drawn chiefly from 

 science in the British Empire. 



A very few years ago the scientific workers in the British Empire 

 were generally content to work individually in the dissemination 

 of the knowledge of nature and the control of energy. Only in the 

 leisure afforded them from their professional duties did they seek 

 to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge and inspire others to undertake 

 pioneer work. The men of imagination, training and genius, who 

 were reaching out into the unknown and bringing back new things 

 of the greatest importance — the very fundamentals of the research 

 workers of to-day — were comparatively few in number. But through 



