506 
ence, and sought to offset them by the creation 
of appropriate agencies. Thus arose through- 
out the British Empire a group of councils 
for scientific and industrial research. The 
first of these was established in England by 
an order in council issued in 1915. Subse- 
quently, Canada, Australia and South Africa 
followed the example of the mother country, 
and New Zealand proposes to do likewise. 
The world-wide movement swept across the 
empire, and its benefits will be felt in every 
country under the British flag. A similar 
awakening was experienced in France and 
Italy, but in both of these countries the pres- 
sure of the war concentrated attention for the 
moment upon military problems. At present, 
the needs of industry are also under consider- 
ation, and research organizations are being 
developed to meet them. 
Without entering here into a detailed dis- 
cussion of these councils, we may mention 
certain typical illustrations of their activities 
from the report of the British Advisory Coun- 
eil for Scientific and Industrial Research for 
the year 1916-17. In this period it devoted 
itself mainly to the organization of industrial 
research, partly because of the prime impor- 
tance of stimulating and fixing the interest 
of manufacture in the development of in- 
dustry through research, and partly because 
the effect of the war has been to render in- 
dustrial leaders more susceptible than ever be- 
fore to the growth of new ideas. In pure sci- 
ence, on the contrary, the war has seriously 
affected the prosecution of research, because - 
so many investigators have been drawn into 
military and industrial activities: Thus, while 
the advisory council strongly emphasizes the 
fundamental importance of pure science, it 
has been forced to postpone its activities in 
this field until the arrival of more favorable 
conditions. 
Research for the development of the indus- 
tries may be conducted in several different 
ways. In this country a stimulating example 
has been set by such great corporations as the 
- American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 
the General Electric Company, the Eastman 
SCIENCE 
[N. S. Von, XLVIII. No. 1247 
Kodak Company, the Dupont Companies, and 
the Westinghouse Electric Company, which 
have established large research laboratories. 
The value of this example has been en- 
hanced by the remarkable success achieved by 
these laboratories in matters affecting public 
welfare, such as the reduction in cost of elec- 
tric lighting caused by the development of the 
Mazda lamp and the possibility of transconti- 
nental telephony, not to mention the latest ad- 
vances in the field of wireless telephony. 
Self-interest will sooner or later induce 
many other corporations to adopt similar 
methods of improving their products, but the 
heavy expense of establishing independent re- 
search laboratories will sometimes prove an 
insurmountable obstacle. Other means must 
then be resorted to. A useful example is that 
afforded by the National Canners’ Association, 
which has established a central research lab- 
oratory in Washington, where any member of 
the association can send his problems for 
solution and where extensive investigations, 
the results of which are important to the en- 
tire industry, are also conducted. 
The British Advisory Council, aided by a 
government appropriation of one million 
pounds, is actively promoting the organiza- 
tion of trade research associations for the 
mutual benefit of the members of the great 
industries. Thus a provisional committee 
representative of the British cotton industry 
has proposed the establishment of a coopera- 
tive association for research in cotton, to in- 
elude in its membership cotton spinning, 
doubling the thread making firms, cloth, lace 
and hosiery manufacturers, bleachers, dyers, 
printers and finishers, which will conduct re- 
searches extending from the study of the cot- 
ton plant to the “finishing” of the manufac- 
tured article. So long ago as 1835 Baine 
wrote in his “ History of the Cotton Manu- 
facture”: “The manufactory, the laboratory 
and the study of the natural philosopher, are 
in close practical conjunction; without the aid 
of science, the arts would be contemptible; 
without practical application, science would 
consist only of barren theories, which men 
