100 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1179 



In accordance with this request Dr. 

 Millikan is now acting as the representa- 

 tive of the National Research Council in 

 general charge of scientific questions re- 

 ferred to the council. Dr. C. E. Menden- 

 hall has been put in charge of the develop- 

 ment of the various instruments used in 

 connection with airplanes. Dr. Augustus 

 Trowbridge, also nominated by the coimcil, 

 has organized an important branch of the 

 scientific service for the army in France. 

 Other scientific services for the army are 

 in process of organization. 



The Navy Department has recently 

 established a special board of four naval 

 officers and four civilian advisory mem- 

 bers to coordinate and organize all prob- 

 lems relating to submarine warfare. The 

 National Research Council is officially rep- 

 resented on this board by its executive 

 officers. The general plan adopted by the 

 Navy Department contemplates the closest 

 possible cooperation between the Navy 

 Department bureaus, Navy Department 

 boards, the Naval Consulting Board, and 

 the National Research Council. A group 

 of forty leading physicists, convened by 

 the National Research Council for an ex- 

 haustive discussion of submarine problems 

 with the members of the French Scientific 

 Mission, is now represented by a committee 

 cooperating with the above mentioned 

 special board in tests and investigations 

 of various devices for submarine offense 

 and defense. Many physical laboratories 

 are also taking part in this work. 



The chairman of the council, Dr. George 

 E. Hale, has given his entire time to the 

 work in Washington, and the following 

 members of the council are residing there 

 as well: 

 Dr. Eaymond Pearl, chairman of the agricultural 



committee. 

 Dr. William H. Holmes, chairman of the anthro- 

 pology committee. 



Dr. S. W. Stratton, chairman of the committee on 

 census of research. 



Dr. M. T. Bogert, chairman of the chemistry com- 

 mittee. 



Dr. W. F. Durand, chairman of the aeronautics 

 committee, and vice-chairman of the engineering 

 committee. 



Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor, chairman of the food com- 

 mittee. 



Dr. V. C. Vaughan, chairman of the committee on 

 medicine and hygiene. 



Dr. Charles D. Walcott, chairman of the military 

 committee. 



Dr. L. A. Bauer, chairman of the committee on 

 navigation and nautical instruments. 



Dr. Van H. Manning, chairman of the committee 

 on noxious gases. 



Dr. E. A. Millikan, chairman of the physics com- 

 mittee. 



Dr. C. E. Mendenhall, vice-chairman of the physics 

 committee. 



During the past month the above-men- 

 tioned members of the councU have been 

 actively cooperating with the members of 

 the French scientific mission now in Wash- 

 ington, as a result of which it has been 

 possible to formulate various agencies for 

 the consideration of technical problems for 

 the solution of which definite need has 

 arisen at the battle front. The members 

 of this mission have recently been joined 

 by Dr. Giorgio Abetti of the Royal As- 

 tronomical Observatory of Rome, sent as a 

 representative of the Italian Government. 



Furthermore, most of the members of 

 the foreign service committee of -the coun- 

 cil, who have been in France and England 

 for a period of two or three months, have 

 returned to the United States and have 

 brought with them much valuable inf orma- 

 toin relative to the organization and de- 

 velopment of scientific activities in con- 

 nection with the war. A few members of 

 the committee have remained in France 

 to continue their observations and investi- 

 gations, under special detaU. Formal re- 

 ports have been submitted to the council, 

 through its executive and military com- 



