SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
for the sugar industry, in connexion with the existing school of beet 
culture; at Milan, for the development of the ‘refrigerating industry ; 
a third, probably at Rome, to study the distillation of gases and their 
by-products, and, in general, all the processes of combustion. One 
section of this last-named station will devote itself to the question of 
the utilization of national fuels and lignite. Later on consideration 
will be given to the creation of stations, on the initiative of the manu- 
facturers, for the electro-technical and photo-technical industries, and 
for dyestuffs. In order that the standard of vocational education might 
be raised, provision was made, at the end of 1918, for the establishment 
of laboratory schools. At first, there will be twenty of these schools, 
of which two will be at Milan. In addition to a Government subsidy 
of 25,000 lire each, the laboratory schools will receive appropriations 
from the local authorities and the obligatory support of the manufac- 
turers. The schools.established during the war at Turin, Milan, Genoa, 
Modena, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Palermo will be transformed into 
laboratory schools. Provision will also be made for the ordinary indus- 
trial schools, in all of which short courses of study, both practical and 
theoretical, will be instituted. 
CO-OPERATION BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL 
, EFFORT. 
Professor W. H. Walker, of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology, has introduced a scheme which he terms’ “The Technology 
Plan” for facilitating the introduction of technical research to the 
manufacturer, for making the application of science to industrial 
problems popular, and for creating an appreciation on the part of the 
leaders of industry of the value of science and the necessity of pro- 
viding for its continued growth and development. ‘The essential feature — 
of the plan is an agreement between individual industrial organizations 
and the Institute, under which the industry pays an annual retaining 
fee, in return for which the Institute assumes definite obligations. 
In explaining his scheme, Professor Walker draws attention to the 
fact that the great demand of the industries to-day is for men properly 
trained to solve the many problems with which the industries are con-. 
_ fronted. This requires, first, a knowledge of the principles of science; 
and, second, training in the application of this knowledge to the solu- 
tion of the ever-recurring difficulties. For this purpose a student must 
spend an additional year or more in a research laboratory in post- 
graduate study. The first point of co-operative contact in the plan 
is, therefore, that the Institute agrees to take up for its research work 
such problems as are submitted to it by persons engaged in industry, _ 
and thus to be in a position to maintain a steady stream of. trained 
men constantly flowing into industry with the best preparation .for 
scientific work which it is possible for it to give. The Institute also . 
agrees that if an industrial organization has special technical problems 
requiring extended consultations, investigations, or research work, it 
will advise the organization where and by whom such services could 
best be rendered. The Institute also provides for conferences between 
members of its staff, research workers, and the officers of industrial 
‘organizations, and thus to furnish a method by which the research 
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