March 24, 192 1] 



NATURE 



121 



plete skeletons and 1380 crania, irrespective of the 

 Barnard Davis collection consisting of 24 skeletons 

 and 1539 crania, which had been acquired in 1880. 



Shortly afterwards Macalister introduced anthropo- 

 logical work in his lectures at Cambridge. In 1884 

 Galton instituted an anthropometric laboratory at the 

 Health Exhibition, in which 10,000 individuals were 

 measured, and afterwards installed the laboratory at 

 South Kensington, where it, continued to exist for 

 some years. A similar laboratory was established in 

 Cambridge, and another in Dublin in 1891. In these 

 activities the institute was interested either directly 

 or through its fellows. In 1884 it organised a con- 

 ference in connection with the Indian and Colonial 

 Exhibition, at which a large number of papers dealing 

 with the native races of the Empire was read. As a 

 direct outcome of the conference a movement was 

 set on foot which led to the foundation of the Imperial 

 Institute as a memorial of the jubilee of Queen Vic- 

 toria in 1887. The institute also took an active part 

 in fostering the many movements with which Galton 

 was connected, including the study of the physical and 

 [ mental characteristics of our own population, the use 

 of statistical methods in anthrojxvlogy, and the intro- 

 duction into this country of the system of identifying 

 criminals both by anthropometric measurements and 

 by the classification of finger-prints. In 1894 the position 

 of Adviser to the Home Office on Criminal Identifica- 

 tion was established, and continued to be held by a 

 fellow of the institute for some years. 



The second period comes to an end in 1898. The 

 enthusiasm which characterised the 'eighties and the 

 early 'nineties had begun to wane, but with the intro- 



duction of new blood the institute made a vigorous 

 step in a forward direction. The Journal was en- 

 larged, the illustrations in particular being increased 

 in number and improved in quality, and the monthly 

 periodical Man was instituted, the first number being 

 published in January, 1901. A broader view was 

 taken of the institute's functions, and it entered upon 

 a period of activity which was continued without inter- 

 ruption until the outbreak of war in 19 14. 



The institute now began to urge with insistence the 

 practical bearing of anthropology and anthropological 

 data on administrative and legislative problems. The 

 native question in South Africa, physical deterioration, 

 anthropometrics in schools and the medical inspection 

 of school-children, and the necessity for a knowledge of 

 native customs and modes of thought in the govern- 

 ment of backward races and as an essential part in 

 the education of administrators of our Dependencies 

 are some only of the numerous questions in connection 

 with which the institute has urged its views upon the 

 public and the Government. These activities were 

 necessarily interrupted by the war. Setting aside 

 this gap of six years, the last period still stands 

 too close for us to gauge the direction of the insti- 

 tute's future development. Though the work of col- 

 lecting material still goes on apace, and will continue 

 so to do for some time, it may be permissible to 

 hazard a guess that the future line of development 

 must lie in the direction of the comparison and co- 

 ordination of facts in order that these may be presented 

 as an organised body of knowledge, and thus made 

 available for the educationist, the administrator, and 

 the legislator. E. N. F. 



Publications of the U.S. National Research Council. 



By J. W. Williamson. 



'"pHE National Research Council of Washington, 

 -*■ U.S.A., is the American counterpart of the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 

 this country. It was organised in 1916 at the 

 request of the president of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, under its Congressional charter, as a 

 measure of national preparedness ; and President 

 Wilson in 19 18, by executive order, reque'sted the 

 National Academy of Sciences to perpetuate the 

 National Research Council, and assigned to it definite 

 duties. We have before us a number of publications 

 issued by the National Research Council. It is ex- 

 plained that the Proceedings of the National 

 Academy of Sciences has been designated as the 

 official organ of the National Research Council for 

 the publication of accounts of research, committee 

 and other reports, and minutes. But the Council 

 publishes also at irregular intervals the Bulletin of 

 the National Research Council for the presentation 

 of contributions other than proceedings ; and it issues 

 from time to time, under the general title of "The 

 Reprint and Circular Series of the National Research 

 Council," papers published or printed by or for the 

 Council and relating to matters in its designated 

 field of action. Some of these papers have already 

 appeared in scientific and technical journals. 



The first four numbers of the Bulletin already 

 issued deal with "The National Importance of 

 Scientific and Industri?! Research," " Research 

 Laboratories in Industrial Establishments of the 

 U.S.A.," "Periodical Bibliographies and Abstracts 

 for the Scientific and Technological Journals of the 

 World," and " North American Forest Research." Of 

 the Reprint and Circular Series the first nine numbers 

 cover a wide and diversified area, including reports of 



NO. 2682, VOL. 107] 



the Patent and Psychology Committees of the 

 National Research Council ; papers on problems of 

 refractory materials, solar and terrestrial radiation, 

 sidereal astronomy, and industrial research ; and, 

 finally, a "" reading list on scientific and industrial 

 research and the service of the chemist to industry." 

 Some of these publications can, perhaps, better be 

 dealt with by way of separate review, but it may be 

 useful here to direct attention to certain points raised 

 that bear on the general question of scientific research, 

 i particularly in its application to industry. The 

 [ "reading list" referred to above shows the extent 

 ; of this field, for it contains something like iioo refer- 

 j ences to books, pamphlets, and articles under the 

 I popular classification of (i) scientific research and 

 (2) industrial research, and the flood continues. As 

 one writer says : " Newspapers, magazines, and 

 periodicals are continually publishing articles on in- 

 dustrial research ; vast numbers of people are talking, 

 more or less knowingly, about it ; and industries and 

 Governmental Departments, which up to a few years 

 ago had hardly heard of industrial research, are em- 

 barking or endeavouring" to embark upon the most 

 elaborate research projects." 



In all this restless stirring amongst the dry bones 

 there is a great need to keep constantly in mind a 

 few paramount and fundamental principles. The first 

 is that the main instrument of research is man, and 

 not machinery, instruments, or buildings. Mr. 

 Frank B. Jewett, chief engineer of the Western Elec- 

 tric Co., in a paper on " Industrial' Research," well 

 says : "The matter of an adequate supply of properly 

 equipped and trained investigators and directors of 

 research is absolutely vital to the growth of industrial 

 research, and I am as sure as one can be of anything 



