August 14, 19 19] 



NATURE 



465 



\ 



Minister of Science and Arts, welcomed them in 

 a short address in which he dwelt on the import- 

 ance of the occasion and on the valuable results 

 which would be obtained from international co- 

 operation in science, and wished them success in 

 their deliberations. 



M, E. Picard, the president of the Executive 

 Committee, was unfortunately prevented by ill- 

 health from being- present, and M. A. Lacroix 

 presided at the meetings of the General Assembly. 

 The first business was the consideration of the 

 statutes of the International Research Council 

 which had been provisionally agreed upon in 

 Paris, and now came up for consideration in the 

 final form as recommended by the Executive Com- 

 mittee. 



The objects of the Council are therein defined 

 to be : — 



(a) To co-ordinate international efforts in the 

 different branches of science and its applications. 



{&) To initiate the formation of international 

 associations or unions deemed to be useful to the 

 progress of science. 



(c) To direct international scientific action in 

 subjects which do not fall within the province of 

 any existing association. 



{d) To enter, through the proper channels, into 

 relations with the Governments of the countries 

 adhering to the Council to recommend the study 

 of questions falling within the competence of the 

 Council. 



The countries adhering to the Council are 

 those already mentioned as represented by 

 their delegates as well as Brazil, Australia, South 

 Africa, Greece, and Portugal— that is, those of 

 the Allied nations who were originally invited to 

 form the International Council as possessing 

 academies of science, and being engaged in scien- 

 tific work. To these, other nations may be added 

 at their own request or on the proposal of a 

 country already belonging to the Council, or 

 Union, by a three-fourths vote in favour of 

 admission. 



The work of the Council will be directed by 

 the General Assembly, which will meet ordinarily 

 every three years, but in the interval between 

 its successive meetings business will be trans- 

 acted by an Executive Committee of five members 

 nominated by the General Assembly and holding 

 office until the next meeting of the General 

 .\ssembly. In the present case the Executive 

 Committee, consisting of Prof. E. Picard, Dr. 

 A. Schuster, Profs. Hale, Volterra, and Lecointe, 

 has been re-elected and will consider its character 

 and constitution and report to the next meeting 

 of the General Assembly before its organisniion 

 IS finally laid down. 



The concluding meeting of the Council was 

 held on Monday, July 28, when it was decided 

 that all neutral nations should be invited to join 

 the International Research Council and the Inter- 

 national Unions created under its auspices, thus 

 providing for the reconstitution of international 

 scientific associations so far as is practicable at 

 the present time. 



NO. 2598, VOL. 103] 



The formation of unions for the organisation 

 of international work and co-operation in different 

 departments of science, which had been initiated 

 at Paris, was carried considerably further at 

 Brussels. In some cases unions with sections 

 for dealing with special branches of the field 

 covered by the union were organised. In other 

 unions the delegates present came to the con- 

 clusion that at the present stage it was preferable 

 to appoint committees to study the general posi- 

 tion, and to report later to the union with a view 

 to the formation at its next meeting of such 

 sections as might be needed, when the repre- 

 sentatives of the different countries would be 

 better able to estimate their requirements. 



The Astronomical Union, which was instituted 

 in Paris, was now able to complete its organisa- 

 tion by approving its statutes, and by deciding 

 upon the appointment of a number of committees 

 for organising international co-operation in vari- 

 ous branches of astronomical work, such an 

 arrangement being considered better than the 

 formation of separately organised sections. 

 M. Baillaud was nominated president, and Prof. 

 A. Fowler general secretary, of the union. 



The Geodetic and Geophysical Union, which 

 was also instituted at Paris in November last, 

 includes several branches of science for which 

 special organisations have existed for many years 

 before the war. These have now been recon- 

 stituted as sections of the union, each with its 

 own executive committee of international dele- 

 gates. The statutes of the union, which follow 

 generally those of the Council, were approved, 

 and sections were formed for geodesy, seismo- 

 logy, meteorology, terrestrial magnetism and elec- 

 tricity, physical oceanography, and vulcanology. 

 The section of geodesy takes the place of the 

 International Geodetic Association, now non- 

 existent, but which formerly had its bureau at 

 Potsdam. The triennial meetings of this asso- 

 ciation, at which reports on different kinds of 

 geodetic work were presented and new^ methods 

 and plans for work discussed, were of the 

 greatest value to geodesists, and the new section 

 has a large field of work before it. Variation of 

 latitude was formerly included among the subjects 

 grouped under geodesy, but at Brussels it was 

 agreed that it would be more conveniently dealt 

 with by the Astronomical Union, which appointed 

 a committee to consider and report upon this 

 subject. Major W. Bowie, of the U.S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, was nominated president, and 

 Col. Perrier, of the Service G6ographique de 

 I'Armee at Paris, secretary of this section. 



In seismology the old pre-war association is 

 still in being until .A.pril i, 1920, since the 

 countries belonging to it did not withdraw from 

 it before the commencement of the last four-year 

 period. Its central bureau was at Strasburg, 

 which is now a part of French territory, and 

 Prof. Rothe has been appointed professor of 

 geophysics there. It was decided, therefore, that 

 no definite action beyond the institution of a 

 section of seismology should be taken until the 



