396 
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION Proc. N. A. S. 
vestigations and the importance of organizing them in such a way as to 
render his efforts most productive. 
2. To indicate the possibihty of applying in other branches of science 
the special instruments, methods, or results developed in particular fields. 
3. To formulate large and important research projects, calling for 
special financial support or for the cooperation of investigators in the same 
field or of those dealing with other branches of science. 
4. To encourage more active investigation in the borderlands between 
the various branches of science. 
The first of the research surveys relating to astronomy was written in 
1917 by Dr. Henry Norris Russell, but withheld from publication because 
of the war. This has recently been revised, and will shortly appear among 
the Bulletins of the National Research Council under the title ''Some 
Problems of Sidereal Astronomy."^ The recent report of Dr. C. G. 
Abbot, entitled "The Larger Opportunities for Research on the Relations 
of Solar and Terrestrial Radiation, is also well adapted for publication 
as a Research Council Bulletin, and your committee recommends that it 
be brought out in this series in the near future. 
We also recommend that Professor E. W. Brown be requested to pre- 
pare for publication a survey of the gravitational problems of the solar 
system. Later Bulletins should deal with cosmogony, the atom and elec- 
tron in sidereal astronomy, the future possibilities of research in stellar 
spectroscopy, stellar distances, and other subjects. A synopsis of the adap- 
tation of physical apparatus to astronomical problems would also be a 
valuable contribution, especially if it indicated some of the astronomical 
possibilities of recently developed physical methods. 
Because of the importance of obtaining the personal views of leading 
investigators on the opportunities for research in their respective fields, 
it is not proposed that any single branch of astronomy be exclusively dealt 
with by a single writer. The suggestive value of these reports is likely 
to be greater if they are prepared by individuals rather than by committees, 
as in the latter case the average view, involving the consensus of opinion, 
is substituted for the special view of men who have approached the subject 
from different directions. 
Your committee requests that it be continued and authorized to ar- 
range for the preparation and publication of research surveys in astronomy, 
in conformity with any general plan that may be adopted by the National 
and International Research Councils. 
Gkorgk B. Hale, Chairman, F. R. MouivTON, Hari^ow ShaplKy. 
^ Reprint and Circular Series of the National Research Council, Number 5. 
2 Reprint and Circular Series of the National Research Council, Number 7. 
