July 23, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



77 



working with a diminishing marg'in of profit 

 owing to the vast increase in cost of materials 

 and in wages. In view of the national im- 

 portance of these problems, the creation of a 

 chair of transport at one of the leading uni- 

 versities would be a deserving object for pri- 

 vate beneficence. The two institutions of Civil 

 Engineers and Mechanical Engineers should 

 be more frequently consulted by the govern- 

 meni; in regard to road transport, and the 

 National Physical Laboratory had done excel- 

 lent work. The problem, however, was so vast 

 as to demand continuous research at a special 

 establishment. 



The annual report of the executive commit- 

 tee, summarized by Lord Bledisloe, dealt with 

 various aspects of the work of the Guild. The 

 second British Scientific Products Exhibition, 

 held in 1919, was honored by a visit from both 

 King George and Queen Mary, accompanied 

 by Prince Henry and Princess Mary, and dem- 

 onstrated the growing appreciation by British 

 laanufacturers of the value of applied science. 

 During the present year it is hoped to arrange 

 a conference on science and labor in associa- 

 tion with the Labor party. A representative 

 committee is being set up to collect full data 

 on the utilization of science, not only in the 

 civil services, but also in all government de- 

 partments, and the Parliamentary committee, 

 which has already intervened with good effect 

 in the Forestry Bill, will watch all prospective 

 legislation involving scientific and technical 

 issues. The education committee of the Guild 

 is still pressing for a real survey of the ex- 

 isting provision of university and higher tech- 

 nical education in the country, considering 

 that the new standing committee on university 

 grants, acting under the Board of Education, 

 is inadequate as regards composition and refer- 

 ence. The revised specifications of the tech- 

 nical optics committee in regard to microscopes 

 have already been adopted by two British 

 firms. 



THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL 



TECHNOLOGY OF THE NATIONAL 



RESEARCH COUNCIL 



The annual meeting of the Division of 

 Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Na- 



tional Research Council, held in Washington, 

 on May 7, is reported in the Journal of In- 

 dustrial and Engineering Chemistry. There 

 were present Messrs, Alsberg, Bancroft, Blein- 

 inger, Derick, Fink, Francis, Johnston, Lamb, 

 Moore, Noyes, Stieglitz, Washburn; and by 

 invitation Messrs. Angell, Christian, Cottrell, 

 Kellogg, Mendenhall, Munroe, and Terkes. 



The following officers were elected for the 

 ensuing year: Vice-Chairman, Julius Stieg- 

 litz; Members-at-Large, A. A. Noyes, E. W. 

 Washburn. The members of the Executive 

 Committee will be the chairman and vice- 

 chairman, C. L. Alsberg, A. B. Lamb, John 

 Johnston, and W. D. Bancroft, ex-officio, 

 retiring chairman. The American Chemical 

 Society nominated C. L. Alsberg, W. D. Ban- 

 croft, and C. G. Derick as members of the; 

 division, and the American Institute o£ 

 Chemical Engineers nominated H. K. Moore. 



In connection with the meeting of the 

 International Chemical Union to be held in 

 Rome, Dr. Charles L. Parsons was appointed 

 delegate. The admission to the Union of 

 Poland and Czecho- Slovakia was favored, the 

 division expressing the unanimous opinion 

 that any neutral nation, eligible from the 

 point of view of its scientific activities, that 

 might apply for admission should be admitted. 



In presenting the report of the Committee 

 on Synthetic Drugs, Julius Stieglitz, chair- 

 man, pointed out the valuable work done by 

 this committee in furnishing information and 

 advce to manufacturers. The report of the 

 Committee on Explosives Investigations was 

 presented by the chairman. Professor Charles 

 E. Munroe. The Committee on the Thermal 

 Properties of Explosive Matei-ials was not 

 continued, the work being transferred to the 

 Committee on Explosives Investigations. This 

 latter committee was requested to associate 

 with itself W. P. White and others interested 

 in the study of the thermal properties of ex- 

 plosives. In the absence of H. N. Holmes, 

 chairman of the committee on colloids, the 

 report of the committee was presented by W. 

 D. Bancroft. 



Upon the suggestion of C. G. Derick, a 

 committee on methods of organic analysis was 

 appointed. The need for cooperation between 



