120 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1917. 
through all the suitable seas open to it is relatively insignificant. 
Zonal paleontology has answered Huxley’s question and shown that 
homotaxis concerns only the smaller divisions of geological time. 
It follows from the foregoing that I reply as follows: 
la. No; and that covers also 2, 3. 
ls. No. Retain them for sub-divisions. 
4. No: the Glacial beds may be on somewhat different horizons. 
5. The basis for correlation is reliable. 
7. Generally conformable. 
8. The view suggested in this paragraph is not yet established. 
Engineering Problems affecting the Future Prosperity of the 
Country.—Report of the Committee, consisting of Dr. H. 5. 
HELE-SHAW (Chairman), Professor G. W. Howe (Secretary), 
Professor HE. G. Coker, Sir Ropert HapFIELD, Sir W. 
MarHer, Mr. W. Maw, and Mr. C. EK. STROMEYER. 
Tuis Committee was formed as a result of suggestions of the Chairman 
in his presidential address at Manchester. 
The chief object in view was to prepare a report dealing with various 
problems which would affect the future of engineering of our country. 
At that time, two years ago, the war was comparatively young, and it 
seemed to many that we were as a nation not alive to the importance 
of certain far-reaching questions which confronted us at the time, and 
ef others which would require all our energy to prepare for the con- 
ditions which would arise after the war was over. 
The Committee held a number of meetings in London, and con- 
sidered carefully what problems should be dealt with as being of im- 
mediate importance. It was decided at once to form sub-committees 
to draw up reports on the four following subjects :— 
1. Scientific research in relation to engineering. 
2. Patent laws. 
3. Scientific and practical revision of our catalogues, especially 
in relation to the metric and decimal system. 
4, Froblems relating to labour. 
Reports on the first and last subjects were duly prepared and cireu- 
lated for consideration, and in others the work of collecting informa- 
tion and preparing reports was taken in hand. 
It happened that the members of the Committee engaged in pre- 
paring various reports became more and more occupied with war work, 
and it was found impossible through this and other causes to secure 
meetings of the Committee. Meanwhile, by degrees the great import- 
ance of the problems in view, which would have been dealt with by 
the Committee, became more clearly recognised by the British public 
generally, and these problems were not only taken up by various bodies, 
such as engineering societies and kindred institutions, but new bodies 
were formed for the purpose of dealing with particular subjects. The 
Government also has appointed committees and departments to deal 
with certain of these questions, notably on research and problems 
relating to labour. 
