SEPTEMBER 20, 1918] 
because they were already performing chem- 
ical duties, 34 were requested to remain with 
their military organizations because they 
were more useful in the military work 
which they were doing, 12 were furloughed 
back to industry, 165 were not chemists 
in the true sense of the word and were, 
therefore, ordered back to the line, and 1,294 
have been placed in actual chemical work. 
There were being held for further investiga- 
tion of their qualifications on August 1, 1918, 
432 men. The remaining 23 men were unayail- 
able for transfer, because they had already re- 
ceived their overseas orders. Each case has 
been considered individually, the man’s quali- 
fications and experience have been studied with 
care, the needs of the government plants and 
bureaus have been considered with equal care, 
and each man has been assigned to the posi- 
tion for which his training and qualifications 
seem to fit him best. 
SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS OF THE ALLIED 
NATIONS 
At the invitation of the Royal Society, a 
conference between representatives of the 
Allied nations will be held in London on Oc- 
tober 9 to discuss the future conduct of scien- 
tific organizations. According to Nature it is 
expected that representatives from the acad- 
emies of Paris, Rome, Tokyo and Washington, 
as well as nominees of the governments of Bel- 
gium, Portugal and Serbia, will attend. A 
memorandum proposed by a committee of the 
Royal Society points out that international 
scientific organizations and conventions may 
be divided into four groups, according to their 
objects and methods of procedure. A first 
group consists of those important agreements 
which fix the standards of measurements, and 
are essential not only in purely scientific in- 
vestigations, but also in the development of 
many industries. A second group contains 
associations definitely formed for the investi- 
gation of scientific problems in which coordi- 
nation of observation is essential. A third 
group, which hitherto has not been large in 
numbers, but presents some special features, 
embodies the efforts to organize undertakings 
that might be carried out in one locality, but is 
SCIENCE 
291 
more economically dealt with by a division of 
work. The most prominent example of this 
type is the arrangement made between eight- 
een observatories to form a photographic. chart 
of the heavens. The organization dealing with 
the “International Catalogue of Scientific 
Literature” may also be ineluded in this 
group. In the fourth group is placed the large 
number of congresses called together by work- 
ers in some one department of science, and 
mainly intended to foster friendly personal re- 
lationships between those who pursue similar 
aims in different countries. There is, finally, 
in a group by itself, the International Associa- 
tion of Academies, which aims at coordinating 
the activities of international undertakings, 
and organizes work for which special perma- 
nent bodies do not exist and are not required. 
The council of the Royal Society will submit 
the following questions as subjects for discus- 
sion at the forthcoming conference: (1) Is it 
desirable for the Allied nations to establish 
organizations for scientific cooperation among 
themselves? (2) If this be agreed upon, what 
should be the particular forms of organization 
to be aimed at in geodesy, seismology, meteor- 
ology, ete? (3) Should particular academies 
be asked to submit proposals on those undertak- 
ings in which they have taken the leading 
part, such as: (a) The Académie des Sciences 
on the Commission Métrique and the Bureau 
International des Poids et Mesures; (b) The 
Royal Society on the International Catalogue 
of Scientific Literature? (4) What represen- 
tations should be addressed to the governments 
with regard to those organizations which have 
hitherto received their support? The confer- 
ence at present is intended to deal only with 
scientific subjects, but similar questions no 
doubt also arise on the literary side. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
SaMUEL WENDELL WILLISTON, professor of 
paleontology in the University of Chicago, has 
died at the age of sixty-two years. 
Maxime Boécuer, professor of mathematics 
in Harvard University, has died at the age of 
fifty-one years. 
