4 io THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



with our Allies or with the Germans. Moreover, even if per- 

 sonal meetings were immediately possible, they would delay 

 rather than hasten the ultimate resumption of friendly relations, 

 because of the bitter arguments that would certainly occur. 



Under the circumstances, the Conference decided to recom- 

 mend withdrawal from former international organizations and 

 the formation of new ones, in which nations that had been 

 neutral in the war would be invited to take part. It was recog- 

 nized, of course, that some of the old organizations would 

 doubtless be reconstituted and these need not be duplicated. 

 But in other cases, as the illustrations just cited sufficiently in- 

 dicate, there were important reasons for complete reorganiza- 

 tion, notably in astronomy, geophysics, and chemistry. There 

 was also a strong demand for a body with more general func- 

 tions, to carry out the tasks that the International Association 

 of Academies had failed to perform. 



A plan for the establishment of an International Research 

 Council, prepared by the Council of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, was presented to the London Conference by the 

 American delegates. This proposed the organization, by the 

 '"National Academy of each of the countries represented, of a 

 National Research Council, so constituted as to be a federation 

 of research agencies. The details of organization were to be 

 left to each country, but the general principle of uniting re- 

 search interests in a single representative body was approved. 

 The International Research Council would then consist of a 

 federation of these National Research Councils. 



A second Inter-Allied Conference was held in Paris under 

 the auspices of the Paris Academy of Sciences from November 

 26 to November 29, 1918. Delegates were present from the 

 countries represented in London, and also from Poland, Portu- 

 gal, and Roumania. The International Research Council, pro- 

 posed in the resolutions adopted in London, was provisionally 

 constituted of the delegates attending the Paris Conference, 

 with the understanding that the various National Research 

 Councils, as soon as formed, would take their place in the 



