NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
53 
by the Commission that will have charge for the United States of peace 
negotiations. 
The results of the activities of the Committee unfortunately are not wholly 
encouraging. It finds on the one hand a number of simple, practical and from 
every standpoint desirable steps to be taken, and on the other the great diffi- 
culty of securing favorable action by the proper authorities. The only rec- 
ommendation of the Committee so far adopted is that relating to the necessity 
of reducing the minimum physical requirements in recruiting. Practically 
nothing has been done towards the improvement of the methods and instru- 
ments employed in the examination of drafted men. The blanks used for the 
examination of recruits are essentially the same as of old. The Manual of 
Instructions for examiners was printed but no directions were included respect- 
ing the methods or instruments to be used in the measuring. The Committee 
has found that a large percentage of the instruments used for the examinations 
are more or less defective; that the methods of taking the measurements are 
regulated by individual opinion, necessarily resulting in many errors; and that 
in cases the measuring is relegated by the examining physician to enlisted men, 
without adequate supervision. It is painfully evident that no improvement 
has been effected in this important matter since the Civil War, and that the 
millions of measurements to be taken will be entirely unreliable for scientific 
purposes. Thus we lose demographic data of the greatest value; data which 
would have given to science and to government for the first time reliable 
information regarding the physical characteristics of the American people 
in different parts of the country, in different occupations, and under different 
environments. 
During the latter part of August and the first part of September the Sec- 
retary of the Committee took up with Major Vaughan and Major Millikan, 
the Acting Head of the National Research Council, the question of sending a 
trained anatomist or anthropologist to Europe, to be attached to the Ameri- 
can base hospitals and to take charge of the collecting of data and objective 
material relating to post-mortem cases. As many races will be represented in 
the United States Army, this step is of particular importance. Both normal 
and pathological specimens should in suitable instances be preserved, to be 
deposited for future studies in the National and the Army Medical Museums 
and possibly other institutions. It was recommended that the specialist sent 
should be a man of high training and experience and that he be commissioned 
in the Medical Service of the Army so that his work could be carried on in a 
regular manner and not dependent on favors. It was suggested by the Com- 
mittee that if necessary the salary and working expenses of this officer might 
be provided for, but this suggestion met with a stumbling block in the disin- 
clination of those who are concerned, to commission the specialist who might 
be recommended. 
The next step suggested by the Committee relates to the preservation of 
