74 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. lO/ 



first edition of 200,000 was revised on the basis of criticism and 

 experience before the second edition was issued. The Bureau of 

 Aeronautics brought out a special edition which added 16 additional 

 pages of specific survival information for airmen. Many subsequent 

 books and booklets on survival have utilized portions of the text and 

 many of the illustrations of this manual. In brief, this was definitely 

 the most important project undertaken by the Board. 



The Board's special interest in the survival problem has been 

 pointed out in the description of the survival library, the survival 

 reports, and the many spot questions about this subject. To reiterate, 

 ethnologists were stirred by accounts of airmen dying of hunger and 

 thirst in jungles because of ignorance of the edible food plants. This 

 feeling was expressed strongly in a letter from G. P. Murdock 

 to the Director, who in turn sent it on to both Army and Navy In- 

 telligence headquarters. As a result the Office of Naval Intelligence 

 requested the Board to prepare a series of short articles on survival 

 in the Pacific area. The articles, prepared by the Board and the 

 Smithsonian staff, and edited by Frank H. H. Roberts, have already 

 been described. 



Meanwhile, over 38 distinct sections of the Army, Navy, and war 

 agencies were working independently on the preparation of larger 

 survival manuals. Many individuals came to the Smithsonian and 

 to the Board's office seeking information. The staff assisted by 

 making all their materials available and, of even greater importance, 

 by introducing the various agency representatives to each other. For 

 some time the Board could do no more than act as a center of orien- 

 tation and assist the various projects wherever possible. Still the 

 survival manuals themselves did not in many cases appear, owing to 

 standard red tape and interagency complications. 



In the first month of 1943 the Navy Department, through the Bu- 

 reau of Medicine and Surgery, officially requested the Board to pre- 

 pare as rapidly as possible three separate manuals on jungle, desert, 

 and Arctic survival. The Bureau offered to lend its services for some 

 of the technical sections. Certain items were considered to be "musts," 

 from the Bureau's point of view, .and for these Dr. Roberts would be 

 given all possible aid, or, if necessary, the Bureau would write them it- 

 self. The need for speed is indicated by the Bureau's guarantee that 

 when the manuscript was submitted for review it would not be held 

 for more than 24 hours. 



Complications still continued in spite of the good faith. Even- 

 tually the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations took charge of 



