APPENDIX A XLV 



2. To co-ordinate their scientific and technical resources. 



3. To contribute towards the progress of science in the whole of 

 its domain. 



The first assembhes of the unions have been fixed for this year. 

 It is expected that the estabUshment of a system of co-ordinating 

 committees, connecting the activities of these unions one with another, 

 will be the first of their efforts. It is generally recognized by students 

 of the recent development of science that the advancement in ex- 

 perimental sciences to-day is chiefly along the borderland between 

 sciences, e.g., between Physics and Chemistry, Biology and Chemistry, 

 Biology and Physics, Electricity and Chemistry, Geology and Geo- 

 physics, Astronomy and Physics, Botany and Pathology, etc. 



Of the various unions of the experimental sciences, that of Chem- 

 istry, pure and applied, is the most highly organized, because its 

 problems seemed the most pressing, and because, owing to its very 

 extensive application to the industries, it has a higher measure of 

 public financial support than say Physics, Biology or Mathematics. 



The Chemistry Union is the first of the unions to attempt the 

 difficult and expensive undertaking of compiling and publishing 

 compendia of the literature of its branch of science. 



The well-organized plan for the publication of compendia, mono- 

 graphs, etc., by this union illustrates both the magnitude and im- 

 portance of the undertaking. The almost exclusive use of German 

 chemical compendia and monographs throughout the whole civilized 

 world has given that country a world-wide influence and prestige, out 

 of all proportion to the value of its contributions to knowledge. 



It was agreed that sets of compendia of chemical literature shall 

 be published, some in English and some in French, i.e., a division 

 of the fields of labor. Each country will undertake the preparation 

 of definite volumes with independent financial and scientific organ- 

 izations for the carrying out of the work, but each country will also 

 undertake to organize support of the work in the other country. 



The part undertaken by the United States is the preparation of 

 critical volumes of physical and chemical constants and related 

 numerical data, leaving to the British commission the preparation of 

 compendia of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry. 



The physico-chemical tables will not be a mere compilation, 

 such as we have been receiving from Germany, but will represent a 

 critical digest of physico-chemical constants, an invaluable addition 

 to our reference libraries. 



