4 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
preservation of health among the workers.” The Department has through- 
out maintained that an improvement of conditions and efficiency of labour 
is essential for the effective organisation of British Industry. 
A brief review is given of the development of industrial research in our 
Overseas Dominions, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South 
Africa, and India, and also in the United States of America. The most 
striking feature in this review is the reference to the recent executive 
order of the President of the United States which shows his determination 
to place the organisation of scientific research on a permanent basis. The 
National Research Council, which was established in 1916, under the 
auspices of the National Academy of Sciences, before the entry of America 
into the war, is to be perpetuated. Some of its duties are comprehensive 
and far-reaching as may be judged from the following selection : — 
(1) In general to stimulate research in the mathematical, physical, and 
biological sciences, and in the application of these sciences to engineering, 
agriculture, medicine, and other useful arts, with the object of increasing 
knowledge, of strengthening the national defence, and of contributing in 
other ways to the public welfare. 
(2) To survey the larger possibilities of science, to formulate compre- 
hensive projects of research, and to develop effective means of utilising 
the scientific and technical resources of the country for dealing with 
these projects. 
(3) To promote co-operation in research, at home and abroad, in order 
to secure concentration of effort, minimise duplication, and stimulate 
progress; but in all co-operative undertakings to give encouragement to 
individual initiative as fundamentally important to the advancement 
of science. 
The section of the report of the Advisory Council dealing with grants 
to students and research workers demands special notice. The aim of the 
Department in making these grants is “ to select a body of leaders in scien- 
tific research, who by choosing and training students in its methods, and 
by gathering round themselves bodies of competent investigators, will 
supply the needs of the nation in the future.” In making these awards 
the Department is largely guided by the head of the department who 
recommends the student on the ground of his having given promise of 
becoming a competent research worker. During the academic year 1917— 
18 grants in pure and applied science were made to fifty-eight students, 
research assistants, and research workers. The expenditure under this 
head is increasing, and the Department reports that the work done is 
satisfactory. 
