i8 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



could be no excuse for delaying action in order to await the 

 outcome of these researches. In time of war there can surely 

 be no justification for delays due to a desire to gratify per- 

 sonal or national pride in inventiveness or originality. 



When a scientific investigator undertakes any piece of re- 

 search, his first act is invariably to ascertain just what work has 

 already been accomplished in that field. It goes without say- 

 ing, therefore, that an organization composed of scientific in- 

 vestigators must proceed in the same way in attacking any 

 large problem involving research. Moreover, it must lose no 

 time in arranging for close cooperation with the scientific men 

 of other nations concerned with the same problem. 



Accordingly, the President of the National Academy, ac- 

 companied by the Chairman of the Committee appointed by 

 the Academy to organize the Research Council, made a pre- 

 liminary visit to England and France in August, 1916, in order 

 to learn the general character of the war services rendered 

 by the scientific men of these countries. They found the in- 

 vestigators, with whom they had cooperated for many years 

 in scientific research, actively engaged in the study of war 

 problems. Eminent physicists, always successful in research 

 and prolific in new ideas, were giving much attention to the im- 

 provement of airplanes, which were so greatly increased in 

 efficiency in England during the war. Others were attacking 

 the submarine problem, the full menace of which has finally 

 become known to the public through the recent articles of Ad- 

 miral Sims. The Astronomer Royal, most of whose staff was 

 at the front, was utilizing the facilities of the Royal Observa- 

 tory at Greenwich for the rating of chronometers and the ad- 

 justment of field-glasses. On the roof was a range-finder for 

 the location of Zeppelins and German airplanes, which had 

 recently dropped bombs in the Observatory garden. Distin- 

 guished physiologists were seeking means of alleviating the 

 new sufferings imported by the Huns into warfare. In fact, 

 all British men of science, if unable to enlist for duty at the 

 front, were devoting themselves to any available war service. 



