APPENDIX A XXXVII 



published the investigations of its members anonymously in the name 

 of the Academy. This, Dr. Levene in a recent address has character- 

 ized as "perhaps the most sublime example of self-obliteration in the 

 service of an ideal ever known in the history of science." 



Some years before the war, the learned societies had established 

 an International Association of Academies, which comprised the 

 National Academies of sixteen countries, and at its triennial meetings 

 far-reaching investigations were projected which involved the common 

 action of men of science distributed throughout the world. Each 

 Academy was pledged to support only such co-operative undertakings 

 as were endorsed by the Association. Although ^ts co-operative work 

 was confined largely to astronomical researches, results of great value 

 in Paleontology and in the establishment of standards of wave lengths 

 in Spectroscopy were attained. 



The absence of any national or other organized efïort to direct 

 and correlate science in England during the pre-war period was bal- 

 anced by the development of schools of research in certain institutes, 

 but chiefly in the universities. These groups of scientists were in- 

 vestigating not the application of science, but the most fundamental 

 problems of matter and energy, and found their inspiration in the 

 intellectual gratification they derived from their work, rather than in 

 material gain. 



England has had for over half a century a staff of officers of higher 

 command in science, perhaps the finest in the world, men whose 

 researches show the broadest generalizations, the greatest insight 

 and imagination in scientific investigation. They had the oppor- 

 tunities and the leisure to work out the strategy and perfect plans of 

 attack on problems of the highest importance. Unfortunately, 

 however, this remarkably able staff was not provided with the rank 

 and file of scientific workers — with brigades of scientifically trained 

 chemists, engineers and physicists, capable of taking to the army, 

 navy and industries of the country, the latest applications of science 

 to problems of every day life. In all her industries, the proportion 

 of university-trained men to artisans in England was one to 500; in 

 Germany, one to 40. Germany in the industries and associated with 

 her military activities had an army of scientifically trained men, 

 numerically far superior to those of England and France, but her 

 scientific headquarters was not occupied by officers of such vision, 

 training and scientific brilliancy as characterized the higher ranks 

 of science in England and France. 



It was not the want of scientific ability and knowledge that 

 placed the Allies at a disadvantage in 1914, but the stagnant con- 



