SMITHSONIAN'S PART IN WORLD WAR II 467 



considerable work was done on the problem of a simple, portable de- 

 vice for obtaining drinking water from sea water. 



In geology, one staff member was in the field continuously through- 

 out the war years directing an investigation, in cooperation with the 

 United States Geological Survey, of Mexico's resources of strategic 

 minerals. Another member took part in an economic survey of the 

 ore and mineral deposits of northern Mexico, and later investigated 

 Devonian stratigraphy in Illinois in connection with oil resource 

 studies. 



Much of the work in the field of biology was in the nature of con- 

 tinuous assistance to war agency personnel through identification of 

 specimens, instruction in various fields of medical biology, conferences 

 on recognition and control of harmful organisms, reports on the oc- 

 currence and identification of strategic plant material, and other simi- 

 lar activities. 



In anthropology, staff members prepared a number of reports and 

 articles involving research on the native peoples of various war areas 

 at the request of Army and Navy intelligence officers. Studies of Arc- 

 tic clothing were made for the Army Quartermaster Corps, based on 

 the extensive collections of Eskimo garments in the National Museum. 

 For use in the design of oxygen and gas masks, data were worked 

 out and supplied to the Army on the variations of the human head 

 and features. 



These are but a few of the war research problems investigated by 

 the Smithsonian, but they will serve to show the type of work the 

 Institution was qualified to do. The problems came in various ways: 

 Through personal contacts with Army and Navy officials, through the 

 War Committee or the Ethnogeographic Board, or through direct 

 approach by the agencies with urgent problems to solve. Technical 

 assistance was also given by making laboratories and personnel avail- 

 able for the working out of mechanical problems. Thus, the engi- 

 neering laboratory and its staff worked on several devices that were 

 under study by the National Inventors' Council, building models and 

 mock-ups for test purposes. 



INTER-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES 



With the outbreak o,f war came the realization that Western Hemi- 

 sphere solidarity was not only desirable but essential to the safety of 

 the countries of both continents. It became an urgent duty of the 

 United States Government to take the lead in promoting good will, 

 cooperation, and a feeling of unity among all the American republics. 

 The Smithsonian Institution was qualified to take part in such a pro- 

 gram through its long years of friendly contact with scientists and 

 scientific institutions in South and Central America, Mexico, and the 

 West Indies, and its continuous program of field explorations in those 



