INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION 415 



of securing the cooperation of chemists engaged both in funda- 

 mental investigations and in industrial research. 



The objects of this Union are to provide for permanent co- 

 operation between the chemical societies of the nations repre- 

 sented, to coordinate their scientific and technical procedure, 

 and to contribute to the advancement of chemistry in all of its 

 aspects. 



The first task to be undertaken by authority of this Union 

 will be the preparation and publication, under American 

 auspices, of a critical compendium of physical and chemical 

 constants, as part of the contribution of the United States 

 toward an international program of documentation which will 

 be developed as rapidly as possible. The National Research 

 Council, with the support of the American Chemical Society 

 and other national societies, has been requested to organize 

 the editorial board and secure funds for this large project, 

 which will naturally involve considerable expense. This board, 

 while charged with complete responsibility, will conduct the 

 work on an international basis, with the aid of assistant editors 

 and collaborators in the principal nations of the International 

 Union. Other large cooperative projects will be taken up later. 



The International Research Council provides the long- 

 desired means of coordinating the activities of international sci- 

 entific bodies, which in the past have almost invariably worked 

 independently a condition no longer possible if real efficiency 

 is to be expected. Similar confusion has prevailed in each 

 of the participating countries, where no agency has existed to 

 bring together men engaged in different classes of international 

 research. In the United States this difficulty has been over- 

 come by the organization of the Division of Foreign Relations 

 of the National Research Council. This division, the organiza- 

 tion of which is more fully described on page 424, acts for the 

 National Research Council in dealings with the International 

 Research Council, promotes cooperation in matters of common 

 interest between the American National Committees or other 



