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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1173 



try; the National Eeseareli Council receives 

 its share of serio-comic attention and as a 

 climax of the ridiculous and absurd there is 

 mentioned the Committee on Zoology and Ani- 

 mal Morphology. " I doubt," he says, " if any 

 other nation ever responded to the prospect of 

 war with a scheme of national defense which 

 included a Committee on Zoology and Animal 

 Morphology." 



It should not be forgotten that the establish- 

 ment of the National Research Council ante- 

 dated the declaration of war by a whole year 

 and that one of its chief functions was and is 

 the promotion of research in all branches of 

 science in the belief that human progress de- 

 pends upon increasing knowledge of nature 

 and that national welfare can be advanced 

 most effectively by the cooperation of scientific 

 investigators. 



With the country at war it is but natural 

 that the activities of the Research Council 

 should be directed primarily to problems con- 

 nected with the war and patriotic men and 

 women in all branches of science, as well as in 

 every other occupation, are asking how they 

 may best serve the nation in this crisis. Zool- 

 ogists, no less than others, are asking this ques- 

 tion and it is with a view to answering it in a 

 general way that the Committee on Zoology of 

 the National Research Council has drawn up 

 the following suggestions. 



To the zoologists no less than to the New 

 Republic it is evident that this science is only 

 indirectly and remotely related to war — indeed 

 it has been claimed that hitherto the biological 

 sciences are the only ones which have not been 

 used for the destruction of human life. The 

 greatest national service which the biological 

 sciences can render in war as well as in peace 

 is in conserving human life, and also in pro- 

 tecting and improving useful animals and 

 plants and in controlling or destroying in- 

 jurious ones ; when it is remembered that prac- 

 tically everything which we eat or wear comes 

 from animals or plants it will be realized that 

 this is no slight service. 



Many of the practical and economic branches 

 of biology have long been well organized for 

 such service and this applies particularly to 



medicine, sanitation and agriculture, but in 

 each and all of these branches the trained 

 zoologist may render valuable aid. Probably 

 no other scientific men are better prepared by 

 training and no other institutions better fitted 

 by equipment to assist in medical and sanitary 

 work than are zoologists and zoological labora- 

 tories, and in the matter of the propagation 

 and improvement of useful animals and the 

 destruction of useless or injurious ones the 

 zoologist should be especially at home. In 

 many instances zoologists who have hitherto 

 confined their attention to theoretical and gen- 

 eral problems would need to turn their atten- 

 tion to new lines of work, but it can not be 

 doubted that practise in solving general and 

 theoretical problems would be of great value in 

 dealing with specific and practical ones. 



I. SANITAEY WORK 



1. Much sanitary work is primarily zoolog- 

 ical as, for instance, the study of the life his- 

 tories of parasitic protozoa, tapeworms, flukes, 

 roundworms, insects, mites, etc., together with 

 methods of their control or eradication. 



2. The elimination or control of animal car- 

 riers of disease-germs, such as flies, mosqui- 

 toes, bugs, fleas, lice, rats, etc. 



3. Assistance in medical diagnosis, as in the 

 microscopical or chemical examination of 

 blood, urine, feces, sputum, etc. 



4. Microscopical or chemical examination of 

 water and soil of camp sites, drainage areas of 

 cities, etc. 



5. The zoological aspects of the collection 

 and disposal of garbage and sewage. 



In view of the importance of zoological sci- 

 ence in dealing with old and new problems 

 which will arise in connection with sanitation 

 it would be very desirable to have at least one 

 trained zoologist connected with the medical 

 staff of each mobilization camp. 



n. AGRICULTURAL WORK 



1. Cooperation with the agricultural agen- 

 cies of the states and nation in the elimination 

 of animals which prey upon or are parasitic 

 upon domestic animals; of animal pests de- 

 structive to crops, fruits, forests, to stored 

 vegetables, grain and other food supplies, to 



