422 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



team-play which has not up to this time been at all fully de- 

 veloped. Incidentally, it seems not too much to hope that a 

 fuller knowledge among representatives of the scientific bureaus 

 of the Government, each regarding the work of the others, may 

 exercise a highly beneficial influence in discouraging radical 

 and inexpedient legislative action such as has been more than 

 once threatened in the ill-informed attempt to avoid duplica- 

 tion of government work where only the appearance and not 

 the fact of such duplication is involved. 



2. Foreign Relations Division. For many years past there 

 have been international organizations of a scientific character, 

 certain of which have enjoyed the official recognition and sup- 

 port of the Government, others of which have been conducted 

 independently of any such support. It appears at once, upon 

 the most superficial inspection, that certain types of scientific 

 problems can only be effectively attacked by international co- 

 operation. Astronomy, seismology, and meteorology afford 

 abundant instances of such problems. Prior to the Great War, 

 various international scientific unions had been developed, some 

 of which conducted extensive cooperative researches. These 

 organizations were inevitably shattered by the effects of the 

 war, and to take their place, there was created at Brussels in 

 July, 1919, an International Research Council, composed of 

 representatives of the Allied powers. To this organization 

 several of the neutral countries have already declared adher- 

 ence, and in due time it may be expected that the Central Pow- 

 ers will also be admitted. 



In the establishment of this International Research Council, 

 our own Council exercised a large measure of initiative, and 

 with the establishment of the new organization, the national 

 council has become its official American representative. Com- 

 plete details of the international organization are still in process 

 of development, but in general, the plan involves a series of 

 constituent unions, e. g., astronomy, mathematics, biology, 

 chemistry, etc., as described by Dr. Hale in Chapter XXIII. 



To the Foreign Relations Division of the National Research 



