August -22, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



171 



relation with industry. The example given us 

 by the United States, which has produced and 

 knows how to produce on such a vast scale 

 without losing sight of scientific research, must 

 be followed to the farthest possible limit. The 

 great industries of Ansaldo, Pirelli, Fiat, the 

 Galileo factories, the Filotecnica, the Eossi 

 Electrochemical factories, and many others 

 which are based on the studies and researches 

 conducted for years by the Italian scientists 

 and engineers, are now having the opportunity 

 to continue their work with the assistance of 

 research laboratories which will perfect, in- 

 crease and improve their production along 

 lines peculiar to these establishments. But if 

 it were possible for these laboratories to spe- 

 cialize in some branch of pure science without 

 an immediate application, it would all be for 

 the moral and educational gain of the estab- 

 lishment itself and still more of the country. 



By means of the special representatives sent 

 to the allied countries, we have been able to 

 compare, step by step, with those made in our 

 country, the conditions and development in the 

 various Allied countries, the improvements 

 made, and the researches which have increased 

 and bettered the methods of offense and de- 

 fense. Our cooperation with the United 

 States has been and still is of great interest. 

 Though they are geographically very far from 

 the theater of war and have thus lacked the ad- 

 vantage of knowing at each moment what was 

 needed and which ways were the most useful 

 to follow, still their great richness of means 

 and of materials have made it possible that 

 from them and them alone could come that 

 help which has brought us to victory. And 

 close cooperation in scientific and technical 

 matters is of the same importance as that ex- 

 clusively military. The researches which we 

 could begin with our better knowledge of the 

 necessities and problems which were constantly 

 arising on earth and on sea and in the air, 

 could immediately be developed here where 

 means and materials are not lacking. 



When the great struggle is completely at an 

 end, it will be possible to enumerate for the 

 sake of history and as a help in times of peace, 

 the studies and researches made; then we will 



se6 what an amount of work has been aceoin- 

 plished and what part has been taken by' 

 Italian scientists and engineers in the field of 

 mathematics, and its application in ballistics,, 

 in engineering, in electrotechnies, in the nat- 

 ural sciences, in chemistry, in the navy, in 

 artillery, in aeronautics. N'otable results have 

 already been attained in utilizing raw mate- 

 rials, which we could dispose of at home or in 

 our colonies, and certain minerals have been, 

 discovered which are used in producing steel. 



The progress made by Italy in aeronautics 

 is already known. Especially in the construc- 

 tion of aeroplanes have notable results been 

 obtained recently, by employing a Sva engine 

 which has been evolved through the coopera- 

 tion of theory and practise at the Direzione 

 Tecnica dell' Aviazione at Turin. And that 

 this collaboration was necessary and perfect 

 is demonstrated by the aerodynamic qualities 

 of this engine and its exceptional characteris- 

 tics of flight — especially the small velocity 

 necessary to support it in the air and its great 

 stability. 



In the field of dirigibles and of aerial artil- 

 lery the Central Aeronautical Institute in 

 Eome, which already long before the war had 

 made and published aerodynamic studies under 

 the direction of Crocco, Ricaldoni, Prassone, 

 Bianchi and many others, was ready to do 

 their share in the present war, in which the 

 operations of our dirigibles have been uni- ' 

 versally noted. These dirigibles, which are 

 certainly among the most perfect engines of 

 their kind, are the results of long years of 

 theoretical and practical study at the Insti- 

 tute of Eome. The aerial artillery, under 

 Volterra and Crocco, has had a beginning 

 which will make it a powerful weapon as soon 

 as we can use it on a large scale on airships 

 of any type. 



Aerial navigation was made the object of 

 special study, particularly on the part of 

 astronomers, the necessary instruments were 

 constructed, and for its practical application, 

 courses for aviation pilots were instituted. 

 The tables for the determination of the point, 

 the lessons, in aeronautics by Bianchi, and the 



