OCTOBEK 31, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



401 



pletely organized than that of the other sec- 

 tions, as it happened that there were present at 

 Brussels sis members of the pre-war Interna- 

 tional Magnetic Commission of the Interna- 

 tional Meteorological Committee, viz: Agnot 

 (France), Bauer (U. S. A.), Chree (England), 

 Palazzo (Italy), Schuster (England), and 

 Tanakadate (Japan). After the election of 

 the officers on July 24 and discussion of the 

 status of work of the pre-war International 

 Magnetic Commission, the following eight reso- 

 lutions were passed: 



1. That a coimnittee be appointed to consider 

 the best method of securing an adequate compari- 

 son of the magnetic instruments in use in different 

 countries, and to consider as to the best method of 

 measuring the magnetic elements in absolute units. 



2. That the Section of Terrestrial Magnetism 

 and Electricity concurs in the resolution of the 

 Meteorological Section that international work in 

 atmospheric electricity should be as far as possible 

 placed under the direction of a committee nomi- 

 nated partly by the Section of Terrestrial Magnet- 

 ism and Electricity, and partly by the Section of 

 Meteorology. 



3. That the Section of Terrestrial Magnetism 

 and Electricity would welcome cooperation with the 

 International Union of Scientific Eadio-telegraphy 

 in the investigation of the electric phenomena of 

 the higher atmosphere. 



4. That a committee be appointed on the syste- 

 matic exchange of magnetic curves. 



5. That special committees be appointed from 

 time to time for the investigation and report on 

 specific problems in terrestrial magnetism and elec- 

 tricity. 



6. That the Section of Terrestrial Magnetism 

 and Electricity would welcome cooperation with 

 the International Astronomical Union in investi- 

 gating the relationships between solar and terres- 

 trial magnetic and electric phenomena. 



7. That the ex-officio members of the executive 

 committee be empowered to elect additional mem- 

 bers to serve until the next ordinary meeting of 

 the Union. 



8. That the executive committee consult with 

 the executive committees of other sections of the 

 Union and report to the general secretary of the 

 Union the amount of funds annually required by 

 the Section during the period of the present con- 

 vention. 



The executive committee of the Section of 

 Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity on July 

 25, in order to carry into effect these resolu- 

 tions, appointed ten committees, the complete 

 composition of which was deferred until the 

 entrance into the Union of other countries. 

 Thus the committee-plan of distribution of 

 international researches in terrestrial magnet- 

 ism and electricity (atmospheric electricity, 

 earth currents, polar lights, radiotelegraphy- 

 strays, etc.), as adopted by the International 

 Astronomical Union, was also followed in sec- 

 tion (d) as, in fact, generally in the other sec- 

 tions, as far as they could be organized. 



Annual Funds. — The basis of votes and 

 financial contributions is that adopted by the 

 International Eesearch Council, viz : 



Number of Number of 



Votes on Units of 



Scientific Financial 



Ques- Contribu- 



Popnlation of Countries tions tions 



Less than 5 millions 1 1 



Between 5 and 10 millions. . 2 



Between 10 and 15 millions. . 3 



Between 15 and 20 millions. . 4 



Over 20 millions 5 



Each country may include the native in- 

 habitants of its colonies in its population. 

 Self-governing- dominions have a separate 

 voting power according to above scale. It is 

 expected that there will be at least fifty con- 

 tributing units, hence, the total annual funds 

 which may be available for the international 

 researches of a Union will be about 50 times 

 the unit of contribution, whatever that be 

 finally. The funds are to be obtained, by the 

 International Research Coimcil, through a 

 national research organization, academy, or 

 governmental agency. 



It is not possible under the present statutes, 

 for a country to join only one or more of the 

 sections of the Geodetic and Geophysical 

 Union. In this respect, then, the organiza- 

 tion of the new international associations 

 (unions) di£fers from the pre-war ones — a 

 country could join, for example, only the 

 International Geodetic Association, not, nec- 

 essarily, also the International Seismological 

 Association. As a matter of fact, however, 



