264 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1130 



work with us, you keep constantly before you 

 the ideas and ideals of the institution here so 

 sketehily described. 



Wm. E. Hitter 

 La Jolla, Calif. 



THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 



On April 19, 1916, at the closing session of 

 the annual meeting, the National Academy of 

 Sciences voted unanimously to offer its serv- 

 ices to the president of the United States in 

 the interest of national preparedness. The 

 council of the academy was authorized to 

 execute the work in the event of the presi- 

 dent's acceptance. 



On April 26 the president of the academy, 

 accompanied by Messrs. Oonklin, Hale, Wal- 

 cott and Woodward, was received at the White 

 House by the president of the United States.- 

 In presenting the resolution adopted at the 

 annual meeting, it was suggested that the 

 academy might advantageously organize the 

 scientific resources of educational and research 

 institutions in the interest of national secur- 

 ity and welfare. The president accepted this 

 offer, and requested the academy to proceed 

 at once to carry it into effect. 



Immediately following this visit, the presi- 

 dent of the academy, in harmony with resolu- 

 tions adopted by the council on April 19, ap- 

 pointed the following organizing committee: 

 Messrs. Edwin G. Conklin, Simon Flexner, 

 Robert A. Millikan, Arthur A. Noyes and 

 George E. Hale (chairman). 



At a meeting of the council of the academy, 

 held in New York on June 19, the organizing 

 committee presented the following statement 

 of work accomplished up to that date. 



Much time was devoted during the first five 

 weeks to the organization of committees to 

 meet immediate needs, including those on 

 Nitric Acid Supply (A. A. Noyes, chairman), 

 in cooperation with the American Chemical 

 Society; Preventive Medicine (Simon Flexner, 

 chairman), in cooperation with the Committee 

 of Physicians and Surgeons, and Synthetic 

 Organic Chemistry (M. T. Bogert, chairman), 

 in cooperation with the American Chemical 

 Society. Special attention was also given to 



arrangements for cooperation with the scien- 

 tific bureaus of the government, the committee 

 of physicians and surgeons, the naval consult- 

 ing board, the national societies devoted to 

 branches of science in which committees were 

 immediately needed, the national engineering 

 societies, the larger research foundations, cer- 

 tain universities and schools of technology, 

 and the leading investigators in many fields of 

 research, both on the industrial and the edu- 

 cational side. The hearty encouragement re- 

 ceived from all of these men and institutions 

 leaves no doubt that, as soon as a general re- 

 quest for cooperation is sent out, it will meet 

 with universal acceptance. 



During this preliminary period a more 

 comprehensive plan of organization was 

 developed, and finally embodied in the form 

 indicated below. It was recognized from the 

 outset that the activities of the committee 

 should not be confined to the promotion of 

 researches bearing directly upon military prob- 

 lems, but that true preparedness would best 

 result from the encouragement of every form 

 of investigation, whether for military and in- 

 dustrial application, or for the advancement 

 of knowledge without regard to its immediate 

 practical bearing. The scheme of organiza- 

 tion must be broad enough to secure the co- 

 operation of all important agencies in accom- 

 plishing this result. 



After considering a variety of plans the 

 organizing committee presented to the Coun- 

 cil of the Academy the following recommenda- 

 tions : 



That there be formed a National Eesearoh 

 Council, whose purpose shall be to bring into co- 

 operation existing governmental, educational, in- 

 dustrial and other research organizations with the 

 object of encouraging the investigation of natural 

 phenomena, the increased use of scientific re- 

 search in the development of American industries, 

 the employment of scientific methods in strength- 

 ening the national defense, and such other appli- 

 cations of science as will promote the national se- 

 curity and welfare. 



That the council be composed of leading Ameri- 

 can investigators and engineers, representing the 

 Army, Navy, Smithsonian Institution and various 

 scientific bureaus of the government; educational 



