<624 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1457 



■ating the opportunities offered by surveys and 

 universities. It can scarcely be said thart men 

 have left other studies for this work. In most 

 •cases they have merely been asked to direct 

 4heir efforts toward a certain point, or to have 

 in mind their bearings on another principle. 



Having set forth something of various ways 

 in which tho Research Council works, it should 

 scarcely be necessary to guard seientifie men 

 against certain misconceptions. There have 

 •been such and they have dome some harm. 



The first of these possible misconceptions is 

 ■that ithe council was designed to superintend 

 reseai-eh workers and see that they did the 

 right thing; per'haps to assign problems to this 

 :and that man and to itell others what fields to 

 -keep out of. Such a situation is pui-ely imag- 

 inary. No doubt some newspaper writera, not 

 knowing the ways of science, did give utter- 

 ance ito such dreams, but ithey should not have 

 deceived scientific men. 



Another assumption, less absurd but just as 

 wrong, is that the council is an ''institution" 

 •carrying on researches on its own account. It 

 has no laboratories, not even a library, except 

 a few reference books. It hires no investiga- 

 tors. It is merely a mode of cooperation. 

 There is something almost fallacious about 

 speaking of the Council as "it"; there is no it; 

 nothing but we. The council does nothing ex- 

 icept what men in groups have always been 

 trying to accomplish. The only valid claim is 

 ithat men's combined efforts are being spent to 

 better advantage. Greologists alivays have con- 

 ferred, analyzed their problems, cooperated 

 and looked aixmnd for help. The only ques- 

 tion before us is whether such activities can be 

 facilitated by a bit of machinery for confer- 

 €nee, correspondence, record keeping and ad- 

 ministration. 



To guard againa:t misunderstanding it should 

 be stated explicitly that it is highly desirable 

 that the Division of Geology and Geography 

 ■should have funds for its own projects. But 

 the point which needs emphasis just now is 

 that the thing which is to justify the existence 

 of the Research Council is something quite 

 different. When the geologists of our country 

 have definitely adopted the National Research 



Council as a mode of operation they should by 

 all means undertake to enlarge its usefulness 

 by financial aid. 



Nevix M. Fenneman 

 National Eeseaech Council, 

 Washinoton, D. C. 



NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL'S 

 MEDICAL FELLOWSHIPS 



Early this year 'the Rockefeller Foundation 

 and the General Education Board jointly 

 pledged to the National Research Council for 

 the administration, through its Division of 

 Medical Sciences, of medioal fellowships the 

 total sum of $500,000, payable annually 

 through a period of five years in sums not to 

 exceed $100,000 a year. 



A special board for administering these fel- 

 lowships was selected with the approval of the 

 National Research Council and the itwo foun- 

 dations. The board is composed of the follow- 

 ing members with the chairman of the Division 

 of Medical Scdenees of the Natiional Research 

 Council (at present Dr. F. P. Gay, professor 

 of bacteriology, University of Calif oiiiia) as 

 chairman, ex officio; David L. Edsall, pro- 

 fessor of medicine and dean of the Medical 

 School, Harvard University; Joseph Erlanger, 

 professor of physiologj', School of Medicine, 

 Washington University, St. Louis; G. Carl 

 Huber, professor of anatomy and director of 

 the anatomic laboratories. University of Michi- 

 gan; E. 0. Jordan, profe^or of bacteriology. 

 University of Chicago ; W. G. MacCadlum, pro- 

 fessor of patihology and bacteriology, Johns 

 Hopkins University; Dean D. Lewis, professor 

 of surgery, Rush Medical School, Chicago ; La- 

 fayette B. Mendel, professor of physiological 

 chemistry, Yale University; W. W. Palmer, 

 pix)fessor of medicine, Columhia University. 



This boai-d met for the first time on April 

 18, 1922, and in this and subsequent meetings 

 outlined certain i-egulations that should govern 

 their decisions in conneotion "with the appoint- 

 ment of fellows and the method and place of 

 their work. Since that time two additional 

 meetings of the iboard have been held for the 

 purpose of appointing fellows from the list of 



