THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 23 



war and the solution by research of outstanding problems. 

 Both of these phases of the work of the Division, including 

 the organization of the Sound-Ranging and Meteorological 

 Services of the Army, and the development and application of 

 improved methods of photography from airplanes, are de- 

 scribed in subsequent chapters by those who took part in the 

 work. 



A glance through the third annual report of the National 

 Research Council, which briefly surveys the war activities of 

 its many Divisions, occupied with every branch of science, and 

 with engineering, medicine, and agriculture, will indicate the 

 impossibility of giving in this chapter more than a few illus- 

 trations of the work performed. In nearly all cases the chief 

 purpose in view was to bring into a cooperating group the men 

 dealing with different aspects of a problem. A good case in 

 point is the work of the Committee on Explosives, authorized 

 by the Secretaries of War and Navy for the purpose of survey- 

 ing current investigations on explosives, bringing useful infor- 

 mation to the attention of the proper military and naval author- 

 ities, and arranging for the prosecution of supplementary in- 

 vestigations by governmental, industrial, or other research 

 agencies. (See Chapter 9.) The extensive work of the 

 Committee on Nitrate Investigations, appointed at the request 

 of the Secretary of War, and described in Chapter 8, is an- 

 other good illustration of the war researches organized by the 

 Council. If space permitted, much might be said of the re- 

 searches organized under the Chemistry Division, which cov- 

 ered a very wide range, from the preparation in university 

 laboratories of rare drugs and other chemicals rendered scarce 

 by the war, to the study of the physical properties of toxic 

 liquids and explosives, and of methods for combating toxic 

 gases. Committees studied the potash needs and resources of 

 the United \ States, and the availability of phosphoric acid for 

 plant food; the rubber content of certain California shrubs 

 and the preparation for the Quartermaster's Department of 

 specifications and tests for rubber compounds; the production 



