320 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1292 



new International Union of Pure and Applied 

 Chemistry. 



In confirmation of action taken at the 

 London meeting it was voted that a critical 

 compendium of physical and chemical con- 

 stants should be prepared and published mider 

 the auspices of America as part of her contri- 

 bution toward an international program of 

 doctmientation which the new union proposed 

 to proceed with as rapidly as possible. The 

 formation of the necessary editorial board for 

 carrying this project into effect and the nec- 

 essary arrangements for financing it, are now 

 progressing toward completion under the di- 

 rection of the National Research Council of 

 the United States. This undertaking while 

 primarily under the direction of an American 

 committee which will be charged with com- 

 plete responsibility, both editorial and finan- 

 cial, will nevertheless be conducted on an in- 

 ternational basis with assistant editors and 

 collaborators in the principal nations of the 

 Union. The majority of the delegates felt 

 strongly that in nearly all cases where a pro- 

 gram of work was adopted by the Union, the 

 most efiieient manner of accomplishing it was 

 to center the responsibility for each part in 

 a given country, rather than to form a central 

 international committee with a consequent 

 distribution of the responsibility. 



The purposes of the International Union of 

 Pure and Applied Chemistry and its present 

 composition as set forth in Article I. of the 

 Statutes are as follows: 



ARTICLE I 



1. Each of the following coimtries — Bel- 

 gium, United States of America, France, 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, and Italy, through the agency of its 

 National Eesearch Council (Chemistry Divi- 

 sion), or its Federal Council of Chemistry, 

 or! failing such national federation, through 

 the agency of a national chemistry association 

 • — joins with the others in the formation of 

 an International Union of Pure and Applied 

 Chemistry, having for its objects the follow- 

 ing: 



(a) To cement among the allied peoples the 



bonds of friendship and mutual esteem which 

 have been developed and strengthened during 

 the coiu-se of the war. 



(6) To organize permanent eoofieration be- 

 tween the chemical associations of the differ- 

 ent countries. 



(c) To coordinate their scientific and tech- 

 nical activities. 



(d) To contribute to the advancement of 

 chemistry in all its branches. 



2. The Union thus constituted shall be 

 perpetual. Its provisional headquarters shall 

 be in Paris. 



The admission of a nation to the Union is 

 effected through some organization within 

 that nation which substantially constitutes a 

 federation of the principal chemical societies 

 of the coimtry. Thus the United Kingdom 

 of Great Britain and Ireland joined the 

 Union through her Federal Council for Pure 

 and Applied Chemistry, France joined through 

 her Federation Rationale des Associations de 

 Chemie Pure et Appliquee, Italy through her 

 Associazone Italiana di Chimica Generale ed 

 Applicata and the United States of America 

 through the Division of Chemistry and Chem- 

 ical Technology of the National Eesearch 

 Council. Ultimately it is the expectation 

 that in each nation there will be formed a 

 National Research Council somewhat similar 

 to our own and when this is formed, the 

 National Chemical Federation will become 

 merged with it as the chemical division. 



The voting strengths, number of delegates 

 and financial contributions of the countries 

 belonging to the Union are fiLsed in accord- 

 ance with six categories determined by popu- 

 lation. The new Union is to be administered 

 by a Council composed of the delegates of 

 the constituent countries and between meet- 

 ings of the Council by the Committee of 

 Officers, composed of the president, the four- 

 vice-presidents and the general secretary. 

 The statutes also provide that annual meet- 

 ings of the Union shall be held. The other 

 provisions of the statutes have to do prin- 

 cipally with the machinery of operation, 

 method of voting, financial provision con- 

 duct of meetings, duties of the of&cers, etc. 



