NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
441 
Electric Company, and the Jefferson Physical Laboratory of Harvard Uni- 
versity. These offers all placed at the disposal of the Research Council 
valuable facilities for conducting research. The Executive Committee in- 
structed the Secretary to prepare and transmit a resolution, expressing appreci- 
ation of these offers; and to inform the Council of National Defense that the 
National Research Council holds these facihties at its disposal. 
The Secretary presented Dr. W. M. Davis's report on the work of the 
Geography Committee. It was received, and the Secretary was instructed 
to inform Dr. Davis that the Executive Committee approves the proposed 
plan. 
The Secretary presented the report of Dr. J. M. Clarke, Chairman of the 
Geology Committee, requesting the Executive Committee to approve his ac- 
tion in taking steps to better the instruction in geology in the engineering 
schools and colleges of the country. The Executive Committee voted to 
endorse Dr. Clarke's action. Reports were also presented from Prof. E. C. 
Pickering, Chairman of the Committee on Astronomy, and Dr. V. C. Vaughan, 
Chairman of the Committee on Meditine. It was voted that an Engineering 
Committee be authorized, to consist of the following members of the National 
Research Council, with whom others may be joined from time to time by 
the Executive Committee: Gano Dunn (Chairman), J. A. Brashear, J. J. 
Carty, W. F. M. Goss, Clemens Herschel, C. F. Rand, C. E. Skinner, S. W. 
Stratton, Ambrose Swasey, and Elihu Thomson. 
It was voted to appoint a new Nitrate Supply Committee to consist of the 
Chiefs of the Departments of Ordnance of the Army and of the Navy, repre- 
entatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Mines, and Bureau 
of Standards, and Messrs. Leo H. Baekeland, Gano Dunn, C. H. Herty, A. A. 
Noyes, and W. R. Whitney, members of the former Nitrate Supply Com- 
mittee. (This committee was subsequently replaced by a similarly consti- 
tuted one appointed officially by the Secretary of War.) 
The Secretary reported that in response to the resolution adopted by the 
National Research Council, a resolution was adopted by the Council of 
National Defense on the 28th of February as follows: 
Resolved: That the Council of National Defense, recognizing that the National Re- 
search Council, at the request of the President of the United States, has organized the scien- 
tific forces of the country in the interest of national defense and national welfare, requests 
that the National Research Council cooperate with it in matters pertaining to scientific re- 
search for national defense, and, to this end, the Council of National Defense suggests that 
the National Research Council appoint a committee of not more than three, at least one of 
whom shall be located in Washington, for the purpose of maintaining active relations with 
the Director of the Council of National Defense. 
The Secretary reported the appointment of a Sub-Committee on Smokeless 
Powder by the Military Committee. This Sub-Committee is composed of 
Admnal Griffin, Admiral Earle, Messrs. C. D. Walcott, Comey, and Harry T. 
Brown. 
