28 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



anerobic bacteria of importance in war wounds; methods of 

 controlling trench lice and their eggs, and the preparation of 

 effective insecticides and methods of delousing; the develop- 

 ment of a method for the prevention of neuromata in amputa- 

 tion stumps after operations; improved means of sterilizing 

 drinking water for large bodies of troops; studies of strep- 

 tococcus infection, the cause and possible prevention by vac- 

 cination of Spanish influenza, skin grafting, a test for oxygen- 

 lack in the air of submarines, improved means of blood trans- 

 fusion, the velvet bean and its utilization as a food, substi- 

 tutes for cane-sugar, the minimum vitamin requirement 

 these represent the character, though by no means the full ex- 

 tent, of the activities of the Medical Division. 



The extensive work of the Psychology Committee, described 

 in Chapters 20 and 21, was one of the most novel applications 

 of scientific method made during the war. Here, as in many 

 other cases, the existing conditions called chiefly for serv- 

 ice rather than for research. The rating of soldiers on the 

 basis of mental alertness, actually applied to some 1,700,000 

 men, proved an effective means of promptly eliminating those 

 unfit for service and utilizing the others for purposes calling 

 for different degrees of intelligence. The aid of psychological 

 tests in determining the qualifications for flying, the fitness of 

 aviators, and the psychological effects of high altitudes, was also 

 of great importance. The recent adoption by Columbia Uni- 

 versity of psychological tests for entering students and the 

 widespread application of similar methods in industrial estab- 

 lishments, are significant illustrations of the effects of the war. 



Anthropology might be supposed a science remote from war, 

 but a previously unrecognized discrimination against the taller 

 native-born American was prevented when, on recommenda- 

 tion of the anthropologists, the minimum stature of 63 inches 

 for acceptance in general military service was reduced to 60 

 inches. The statistical methods employed in the measurement 

 of soldiers were also revised, and the resulting records have 

 been classified and studied with reference to the origin of in- 



