August 22, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



175 



continue the collaboration between the scien- 

 tific and industrial elements of the country 

 and the exchange of proposals and the united 

 action for scientific and moral progress be- 

 tween the allied countries, specially what con- 

 cerns the United States and Italy, who, dur- 

 ing this war, have had opportunity to know 

 and appreciate each other more thoroughly 

 than before. 



The institution, which, in the United States, 

 is parallel to our Ufficio Irivenzioni e Ricerehe 

 and the analogous institutions in France and 

 England, is the National Research Council 

 founded by Dr. G. E. Hale, which works as a 

 scientific and research office acting as a de- 

 partment of the Council of National Defense. 



In regard to the cooperation of the United 

 States with the Allied countries we remember 

 that on the entrance of the United States into 

 the present struggle the following telegram 

 was sent by Dr. Hale, foreign secretary of the 

 Arnerican National Academy of the Sciences 

 to the Royal Society of London, the Academie 

 des Sciences, to the Accademia dei Lincei of 

 Rome, and to' the Russian Academy of Sci- 

 ences, namely, to all the important scientific 

 units with which the American Academy has 

 cooperated for many years in the Interna- 

 tional Association of Academies: 



The entrance of the United States into war 

 unites our men of science with yours in a common 

 cause. The National Academy of Sciences acting 

 through the National Research Council, which has 

 been designa.ted by President Wilson and the 

 Council of National Defense to mobilize the re- 

 search facilities of the country, would gladly co- 

 operate in any scientific research still underlying 

 the solution of military or industrial problems. 



. As a result of this invitation missions com- 

 posed of men of science were exchanged by 

 the various allied nations and a research in- 

 formation committee was established in the 

 National Research Council, represented at 

 Rome, Paris and London by scientific attaches 

 ^t those embassies. Exchange of ideas and 

 progress in their common work have been and 

 are still continuous and constant, and, speak- 

 ing especially of Italy, they have brought their 

 results, although greater progress' is expected 



with the increase in exchange of persons, 

 ideas and facts. 



The extended program of Dr. Hale for an 

 interallied research council also plans for after 

 the war an interallied institution that pro- 

 vides the means of reaching a common agreer 

 ment as to what researches are most vital and 

 ought to be begun because of the pressure of 

 economic necessity or in light of recent prog- 

 ress, and has the privilege of selecting the 

 countries or institutions best adapted to under- 

 take certain researches and of finding the best 

 methods to coordinate the work of the in- 

 vestigators of the different countries. This 

 project was presented by Dr. Hale with com- 

 plete success at the meeting of the academies 

 in London. Thus were laid the foundations 

 for a cooperation which will surely be fruit- 

 ful of results, esjDecially in the long work of 

 readjustment and reconstruction which is go- 

 ing to begin with the desired conclusion of 

 peace in the world. 



Giorgio Abetti 



Italian War Mission, 

 Washington, D. C. 



THE PERSONAL RELATION OF THE 

 INVESTIGATOR TO HIS PROBLEMi 



As president of the local chapter it is my 

 privilege to welcome you to membership in 

 Sigma Xi and to say a few words concerning 

 the main purpose of the society, the further- 

 ing of original investigation in science. I 

 shall confine myself to the question of the 

 personal relation of the investigator to his 

 problem. 



As a preliminary consideration it is well to 

 emphasize the unlimited possibilities of scien- 

 tific investigation. I have been asked by a 

 member of our faculty, not in scientific 

 branches, what scientists will do when they 

 have discovered everything that is to be known 

 about natural phenomena. The obvious an- 

 swer is of course that instead of approaching 

 such a consummation we are rapidly moving 

 away from it. The number of things to be 



1 An address to newly initiated members of 

 Sigma Xi at the University of Illinois, May 21, 

 1919. 



