464 



NATURE 



[August 3, 19 16 



IV. In order to develop industries which especially 

 require the services of scientific workers, adequate 

 remuneration and improved prospects should be offered 

 by the Government, by municipal corporations, and 

 by manufacturers to men who have received an effec- 

 tive scientific training. Means should be found of 

 compensating and rewarding persons whose researches 

 have proved of decided national or public advantage 

 without being profitable to themselves. 



V. A knowledge of science should be regarded as an 

 essential qualification for future appointments in the 

 departments of the public service concerned with indus- 

 trial, scientific, and technical developments. The 

 Royal Commission on the Civil Service recommended 

 in 1914 that a Committee should be appointed to con- 

 sider the present syllabus of subjects of examination 

 for clerkships (Class I.). This Committee should be 

 constituted without delay, and science as well as other 

 branches of modem learning should be adequately 

 represented upon it, and upon the Civil Service Com- 

 mission itself. 



VI. Measures should be taken to revise the educa- 

 tional courses now followed in the public schools and 

 the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 



VII. In elementary and secondary schools super- 

 vised by the Board of Education, more attention should 

 be given to scientific method, observation, and experi- 

 ment, and to educational handwork. 



THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



Preliminary Statement. 



IN response to a request from the President of 

 the United States, the National Academy of 

 Sciences has undertaken to organise the scientific 

 resources of educational and research institutions 

 in the interest of national preparedness. 



Public welfare and national security depend 

 upon industrial progress and military efficiency, 

 and these in turn result from practical applica- 

 tions of scientific knowledgfe. A superstructure, 

 no matter how perfect, must have firm founda- 

 tions, and thus the development of our industries 

 must go hand in hand with the advancement of 

 science through research. 



Euclid, working out problems in pure mathe- 

 matics in Alexandria, prepared the way for the 

 calculations of the engineer. Galileo, discovering 

 the satellites of Jupiter, convinced the world of 

 the truth of the Copernican theory, broke down 

 absurd medieval conceptions which prevented 

 scientific progress, and stimulated exploration and 

 advance in every field. Pasteur, studying the 

 optical properties of certain crystals with no 

 thought of practical result, was led to his investi- 

 gations of bacteria and his epoch-making dis- 

 coveries for the benefit of mankind. 



Thus scientific research in the laboratory, 

 whether for the advancement of knowledge or for 

 direct industrial application, is a most fundamental 

 form of national service, which should be encour- 

 aged by every possible means. Since the begin- 

 ning of the war this fact has been recognised in 

 England by the creation of a Scientific Council, and 

 in Australia by the establishment of a National 

 Institute of Science and Industry. Both bodies 

 will devote their efforts to the promotion of scien- 

 tific and industrial research. 



MO 9AAn. VOT,. Q^l 



Organisation of the National Research 

 Council. 



During the Civil War the need of scientific 

 advice was clearly recognised by our Govern- 

 ment. Accordingly the National Academy of 

 Sciences was chartered in 1863 by Act of Con- 

 gress, which stipulated that " the Academy shall, 

 whenever called upon by any department of the 

 Government, investigate, examine, experiment, 

 and report upon any subject of science or art. ..." 

 During the war, and frequently in later years, the 

 Academy has been consulted by Congress, by the 

 President, and by various members of his Cabinet. 



The Naval Consulting Board, recently appointed 

 by the Secretary of the Navy, has recommended 

 the establishment of a naval experimental and 

 testing laboratory and taken steps of far-reaching 

 importance in the mobilisation of the industrial 

 resources of the nation. The National Academy 

 is now requested by the President to organise the 

 extensive scientific resources of existing research 

 laboratories in the interest of preparedness. To this 

 end it has established a National Research Council. 



The purpose of the Council is to bring into 

 co-operation existing Governmental, educational, 

 industrial, and other research organisations, with 

 the object of encouraging the investigation of 

 natural phenomena, the increased use of scientific 

 research in the development of American indus- 

 tries, the employment of scientific methods in 

 strengthening the national defence, and such other 

 applications of science as will promote the national 

 security and welfare. 



Membership. — The Council will be composed of 

 leading American investigators and engineers, 

 representing the Army, Navy, Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, and various scientific bureaux of the 

 Government; educational institutions and research 

 endowments ; and the research divisions of indus- 

 trial and manufacturing establishments. 



In order to secure a thoroughly representative 

 body, the members of the Council are being chosen 

 in consultation with the presidents of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 the American Philosophical Society, the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American 

 Association of University Professors, and the 

 Association of American Universities, and with 

 the advice of a special committee representing the 

 American Society of Civil Engineers, the Ameri- 

 can Institute of Mining Engineers, the American 

 Society of Electrical Engineers, and the American 

 Chemical Society. Members of the Cabinet will 

 be asked to name the representatives of the 

 various departments of the Government. 



Research committees of two classes will be 

 appointed : central committees, representing 

 various departments of science, comprised of lead- 

 ing authorities in each field, selected in consulta- 

 tion with the president of the corresponding 

 national society ; local committees in co-operat- 

 ing institutions engaged In research. 



The Council of the Academy will recommend to 

 the National Research Council the following plan 

 of procedure, subject to such modification as may 

 seem desirable : — 



