THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 423 



Council is confided responsibility for the administration of the 

 joint international interests of the several American organiza- 

 tions represented in the International Council, and also the 

 supervision of any other desirable international scientific mat- 

 ters. A representative of the State Department (at the mo- 

 ment, the Honorable William Phillips) acts as one of the vice- 

 presidents of the Division, and thus assures organic contact 

 with the affairs of that Department. The Division as at pres- 

 ent constituted includes the President and Foreign Secretary 

 of the National Academy of Sciences; the President or other 

 representative of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, of the American Philosophical Society, and 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; representa- 

 tives of the Department of State ; representatives of the leading 

 international scientific and technical organizations in which 

 the United States participates; certain officials of the National 

 Research Council; and a group of members at large, chosen 

 for their nationally representative qualities. 



The work of this Division is not only of signal consequence 

 from the strictly scientific point of view, it is also pregnant of 

 political consequences of prime importance, for nowhere are 

 sympathetic and appreciative international relations so easily 

 cultivated as in the realm of science. How sorely the new 

 world stands in need of such friendly bonds is already pain- 

 fully apparent. 



3. States Relations Division. In many states of the Union 

 there are important scientific and technical activities under state 

 control, dealing with geology, public health, fisheries, forestry, 

 and other subjects. During the war the formation of State 

 Councils of Defense brought representatives of such agencies 

 into groups, comprising also representatives of educational and 

 other institutions. In some instances, of which California 

 affords a notable illustration, very efficient Research Commit- 

 tees thus resulted, which dealt successfully with war problems 

 arising locally or making demands upon the natural resources 

 or agencies of the State in question. Some of these committees 



