THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 421 



sential that the Council should operate in the closest possible 

 contact with the scientific agencies of the Federal Government. 

 Not only because of the magnitude and variety of the enter- 

 prises conducted by government scientists, but also because of 

 the close connection thus afforded with issues of crucial mo- 

 ment for the public welfare. It is quite indispensable, if the 

 . Council is to achieve its intrinsic purposes, that it should be 

 kept in intimate relations with all this work. To achieve this 

 end, the so-called Government Division has been formed, upon 

 which, by appointment of the President of the United States, 

 are representatives of each of the scientific and educational 

 bureaus of the federal service. These include not only such 

 scientific groups as are represented by the Bureau of Standards 

 of the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Chemistry 

 of the Department of Agriculture, but also the scientific and 

 technical services of the army and navy. 



The constituency of this Division at the present moment is 

 made up of forty-one members. Several beneficial results are 

 hoped for from the work of the Division. As indicated above, 

 it will serve as a liaison agency to keep the several Divisions 

 of the Council in touch with the scientific work which is being 

 done by the Government. It will also afford opportunity for 

 the converse of these advantages in bringing constantly before 

 the notice of representatives of the Government the more im- 

 portant scientific projects which are going forward under other 

 auspices both in this country and abroad. Finally, it is believed 

 that the Division may serve to perpetuate and develop a full 

 and frank cooperation among the scientific forces of the Gov- 

 ernment, such as was successfully initiated by the Council 

 during the war, but which prior to that time had not generally 

 existed. Moreover, it may be hoped to offer a channel through 

 which cooperative enterprises may be launched. These may 

 affect either the relations among the Government bureaus 

 themselves, or the relations of these bureaus to outside scien- 

 tific agencies with which they have not hitherto been in active 

 contact. There is, in other words, obvious opportunity for 



