June 20, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



591 



Falling Mountain in 1917 was still reacting 

 from subterranean pressure and anotlier moun- 

 tain fifteen miles to the eastward was also 

 sending down avalanches of rocks. The pres- 

 ence of the lava plug Novarupta upthrust 200 

 feet above the floor of the upper end of the 

 valley in 1912 is another bit of evidence that 

 the activity of the valley is not of a secondary 

 nature. 



No other volcanic region in America offers 

 such an opportimity for the study of the 

 products of volcanic activity as does this. 

 The vents are easily approachable, the gases 

 are issuing imder pressure and are not in 

 equilibriiim, the salts within many of the 

 vents are anhydrous due to the high tempera- 

 ture of the issuing gases. Sublimates are in 

 evidence every where. The valley will be a fer- 

 tile field of investigation alike for the geophys- 

 icist, geologist, chemist and mineralogist. It 

 is to be hoped that the preliminary work al- 

 ready commenced will be prosecuted vigor- 

 ously so that nothing will be lost through the 

 lapse of time. 



The setting apart of this valley as a national 

 monument is a fitting climax to the expedi- 

 tions of the National Geographical Society 

 and to the persistent and untiring efforts of 

 Dr, E. F. Griggs, director of the Katmai 

 explorations. 



J. TV. Shipley 



WiXNiPEO, Man. 



QUOTATIONS 



THE CONDITIONS ATTACHED TO GOVERNMENT 



GRANTS FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN 



GREAT BRITAIN 



May I again direct attention to the condi- 

 tions under which grants are made to individ- 

 ual research workers by the Conamittee of the 

 Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Re- 

 search (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1919. 

 Price £6) ? The matter is of some importance, 

 as not only are those who refuse to accept these 

 conditions debarred from participating in the 

 grants made from the public purse for scien- 

 tific research, but other sources which used to 

 be available, and to which such conditions 

 were not attached, are also being cut off. I 



understand, for example, that the Carnegie 

 Trust for the universities of Scotland intends 

 very largely in the future to discontinue its 

 grants in aid of research, and to refer appli- 

 cants to the government. 



By accepting a grant under these conditions, 

 a research worker undertakes not to publish 

 his or her results without the consent of the 

 committee, and gives up the ownership in the 

 conamercial rights of his discoveries, which 

 otherwise, under the patent law, belong to 

 him. It is the committee, not the inventor or 

 discoverer, that is to determine to what extent 

 and in what proportion the committee and 

 those who have made the discoveries are to se- 

 cure the ownership of the results by patent, 

 presumably on the ground that the committee 

 has provided the funds for the research. If 

 that is the ground, ought not the committee to 

 state precisely what is the share it claims, 

 whether the share is limited to the amount of 

 the monetary contribution, or if it intends to 

 make a profit? I understand the money was 

 given by Parliament to foster research, not to 

 exploit it. As it is, a worker accepting a 

 grant places himself absolutely, as regards the 

 legal right to his own property, in the hands 

 of a committee, and if, as is bound to occur, 

 differences arise as to what is the share of the 

 discoverer or who is the discoverer, the matter 

 is not put into the hands of an impartial arbi- 

 trator to settle, but is settled by one of the par- 

 ties in the dispute. In precisely the same way, 

 with existing secret patents, if a dispute arises 

 between a patentee and the government, it is 

 the treasury, who pays for the use of the 

 patent, that settles the dispute. 



The condition is justified on three grounds. 

 First, on the ground of national interest, espe- 

 cially in the present abnormal circumstances, 

 and that it is not in the national interest that 

 results of commercial value should be made 

 available to other countries to the detriment 

 of our own. As regards actual war condi- 

 tions, patents containing any information 

 likely to be of use to the enemy have not been 

 published, so this is secured independently of 

 the question of the ownership of the patent. 

 As regards the future, one is justified in ask- 



