



^N 2 NATURE 



341 



fHURSDAY, JANUAR 



UX \TION 1/ ORG WIS [TION OF 

 SCIENCE. 

 HPHE formation ol a considerable number oi 

 *- international organisations for the pro- 

 motion "i scientific observation and research is 

 the result ignition of the fact thai inter- 



national co-operation is highly desirable in all 

 directions, and is even indispensable in many 

 1 ases. 



A memorandum prepared by the Royal Society 

 early in 1918 gives a list of about seventy-live 

 such associations of scientific workers, and there 

 are many more. The Royal Society list is divided 

 into five groups, which include such subjects as 

 Standards oi weight and measure, atomic weights 

 ind physico-chemical constants, problems in 

 geodesy, seismology, meteorology, and explora- 

 tion of the sea, the chart Of the heavens, an inter- 

 national chart of the world, and the cataloguing; 

 of scientific literature. Eighteen congresses 

 which meet periodically are concerned with vari- 

 ous departments of pure and applied science, from 

 mathematics to medical radiology, while the Inter- 

 national Association of Academies aims at unify- 

 ing international work and the avoidance of dupli- 

 cation. There are many other associations, some 

 ol which have been long in operation, while others 

 have been called into existence by modern develop- 

 ments, as, for instance, in relation to aviation. 



Since the beginning of the war it has become 

 increasingly obvious that direct communication 

 between the Allied Powers (including the United 

 States) and the Central European Powers was no 

 longer possible. Neither did it seem probable that 

 the Allies would consent to personal communica- 

 tion with the German peoples, even after the 

 ol hostilities, until the latter had adopted 

 new attitude towards the rest of the 

 Of this change of mind and heart there is 

 but small indication at present, and cdnsequently 

 the time when cordial nd co-operation 



in mat nail)- exchanged between the Allied 

 rs and the German-speaking peoples seems 

 '!. 'llie problem, then, is, 

 \\ I ; n done with these international organ- 



ns? They must be treed from German mem- 

 bership and influence, and to accomplish this 

 either the Germans must be excluded or new and 

 *>endent associations must be formed by the 

 Allies, together with such neutral Powers as, after 

 ■.ration, chi hemselves from 



Teutonic combinations. The latter appeared to 

 the only practicable course, and at the con- 

 ice recently held in Paris, of which an account 

 XO. 2566, VOL. I02*] 



given in \vn re ol December a6, resolutions 

 arried affirming the necessity for the forma- 

 tion of new intern.ition.il associations in place oi 

 the old. These associations will provide Foj the 

 elopn of international action in relation ti 1 

 ill the subjects mentioned above, but leaving to 

 diplomatic agency the merely administrative rela- 

 tions between public services, such as those regu- 

 lating navigation, railways, telegraphs, weather 

 , etc. 

 The representatives of science in the United 

 Siate, propose to go further. An executive order 

 by President Wilson under date May 11, 

 1918, refers to the National Research Coun- 

 cil which was called into existence in 1916 

 by the U.S.A. Xational Academy of Sciences, with 

 an eye especially to national requirements in time 

 of war. The work of this council having proved 

 so valuable, it is now constituted on a permanent 

 basis, with duties specified in a series of para- 

 graphs. These duties include not merely the task 

 of bringing into co-operation for national purposes 

 the industrial, naval, and military agencies. The 

 council is expected to stimulate research in every 

 department of science, to survey the larger possi- 

 bilities of science, to formulate comprehensive pro- 

 jects of research, and to develop effective means 

 of utilising the scientific and technical resources of 

 the country for dealing with these projects. 

 Needless to add, co-operation, national and inter- 

 national, is to be freely invoked. 



At the Inter-Allied Conference held in London in 

 October, and at the later Conference in Paris, the 

 idea developed into the proposal not only to form 

 a Xational Research Council in each country, but 

 the meeting itself assumed provisionally the title 

 of "The International Research Council," with 

 an executive committee of five members and an 

 administrative bureau to be established in Lon- 

 don. The president of the new body is M. E. 

 Pic'ard, one of the permanent secretaries of the 

 French Academy of Sciences, the other members 

 being Prof. G. E. Hale, representing the United 

 States; Prof. Volterra, representing the Acci- 

 dentia dei Lincei of Rome ; Major Lecointe, repre- 

 senting Belgium : and Prof. Arthur Schuster, 

 representing the Royal Society. It will be the 

 duty of this executive committee to work out the 

 details of the organisation to be ultimately 

 adopted, and to submit its proposals to the 

 various bodies concerned. 



Among the subjects discussed at the conference 

 in Paris were the proposals, already under con- 



ation by many universities, 1 Ming to the 



d to students of one nationality by 

 teaching institutions in Allied countries. Ques- 

 tions relating to bibliography, the publication of 



