for large-scale production of luminal, a specific for epileptics, are well forward.

7. Committee on the chemistry of dyestuffs and textiles.-This committee has cooperated with the War Industries Board and the United States Bureau of Standards in the preparation of standard specifications for the waterproofing of fabrics; a report is in process of preparation. Cooperation with governmental agencies has also been secured in a study of problems connected with dyestuffs and dyed fabrics.

8. Committee on the chemistry of colloids.-This committee has cooperated with governmental agencies in the preparation of standard specifications for glues and gelatin.

9. Committee on chemical engineering.-This committee has aided effectively in preparing an organization for bringing the services of American chemical engineers more directly and more fully to the aid of the Government.

COMMITTEE ON EXPLOSIVES INVESTIGATIONS.

This joint committee was created July 1, 1918, with the approval of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy

(1) To survey the investigations on explosives now under way and to keep closely in touch with their subsequent progress.

(2) To gather and communicate to the proper military and naval authorities all information available in regard to such investigations. (3) To bring to the attention of the proper military and naval authorities proposals for supplementary investigations relating to explosives, and to arrange for the prosecution of such investigations by the civil bureaus of the Government, by industrial companies, and by universities and endowed research institutions.

The committee was composed of Col. W. C. Spruance, Ordnance, United States Army, nominated by the Chief of Ordnance of the Army; Lieut. Commander T. S. Wilkinson, United States Navy, nominated by the Chief of Ordnance of the Navy; Mr. L. L. Summers, representing the War Industries Board; with Dr. Charles E. Munroe, designated by the National Research Council as chairman.

On the recommendation of the committee, Mr. G. A. Rankin, of the Bureau of Mines, was appointed technical assistant by the National Research Council, while Maj. J. H. Hunter, Ordnance, United States Army, Lieut. (Junior Grade) H. H. Armstrong, United States Navy, and Mr. M. F. Chase, of the War Industries Board, were designated liason attachés for their respective services.

It was decided that to perform the assigned duties a record should be made of the investigations on explosives which were completed or

in progress; with this object a canvass was made of all the divisions of the Government, of the industrial companies of the United States engaged in the manufacture of explosives, of the universities, and of the private research institutions. It was decided at the outset that the committee should seek only the titles of these investigations, with sufficient data relative to the filing of the reports on them to identify them when sought, and that this information should be carded in such form as to be readily accessible. It is gratifying to report that in every instance the investigators, though connected with manufacturing establishments, have promptly furnished full reports of their investigations. By order the records of the War and Navy Departments relating to explosives investigations were also made available. The returns from the canvasses made have been most gratifying. This information has been supplemented by the reports from the scientific attachés in London, Paris, and Rome of the investigations made and in progress in Great Britain, France, and Italy sent directly to the National Research Council, and by reports from these sources supplied to the War and Navy Departments. This information is being carded, there having been over 2,500 cards thus far prepared.

As information has been received it has been communicated to the officials of the War and Navy Departments, sometimes by correspondence, but usually through liaison attachés, and it has repeatedly occurred that certain of these reports have been requested as bearing upon the work in hand. Advice and counsel on matters relating to explosives has frequently been sought by many divisions of the Government. Incidentally the committee, through the scientific attachés of the National Research Council, has furnished information requested by the allied Governments.

The committee at its meetings has thoroughly considered the duties set forth in (3) and after a review of the record has assigned subjects for investigation. Some of these investigations have already been reported upon and the results have been considered valuable by the authorities.

COMMITTEE ON NITRATE INVESTIGATIONS.

In May, 1918, the Secretary of War requested the National Research Council to designate two or more research men, to be appointed consulting chemists to the Ordnance Department, and who, together with the officer in charge of the research section of the Nitrate Division, shall constitute a small executive committee whose duties shall be (a) to survey the researches now in progress, (b) to plan further investigations relating to nitrogen-fixation processes, (c) to arrange for the active prosecution of such investigations, and (d)

to exercise close oversight over their progress; the actions taken by this committee and the allotment of funds recommended by it to be subject to the approval of the chief of the Nitrate Division.

This committee was immediately constituted by the National Research Council, with Arthur A. Noyes, chairman of the Nitrate Commission of the War Department, as chairman, and with John Johnston, chairman of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the National Research Council, and Lieut. Col. Alfred H. White, in charge of the research section of the Nitrate Division of the Ordnance Department, as the other two members.

During the past year this committee has kept in close touch with all the research and development work in progress under the Nitrate Division. It has specifically been largely instrumental in arranging for the following activities:

1. Through an understanding with the Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture and the Secretary of that department, the unfinished laboratory of that bureau located at the Arlington Farm was temporarily placed at the disposal of the Nitrate Division, was equipped with the necessary machinery, and was utilized for the study of the production on a semi-industrial scale of the catalyst used in the synthetic ammonia process at United States Nitrate Plant No. 1 at Sheffield, Alabama.

2. By a similar arrangement with the Department of Agriculture the laboratory of the Bureau of Soils at the Arlington Farm and its personnel were temporarily transferred to the Nitrate Division; and the plant already installed there for the testing of catalysts for the synthetic ammonia process was greatly enlarged and improved.

3. An arrangement was made with the director of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and with the president of that Institution, by which investigations on the cyanide process of nitrogen fixation and on catalysts for the ammonia synthesis were undertaken by the staff of the laboratory, assisted by men appointed by the Nitrate Division. The services of Dr. E. C. Franklin, one of the leading authorities on nitrogen compounds, were secured for this work.

4. An experimental investigation on the principles underlying the absorption of nitrous vapors in water was started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the process there worked out was afterwards tried out on a semi-industrial scale with successful results at the United States nitrate plant at Sheffield, Alabama.

5. There was actively enlisted in the nitrate research work the interest of Dr. W. R. Whitney, director of the Research Laboratory of the General Electric Co., who gave valuable advice in regard to the nitrogen problems in general and inaugurated experimental work in his own laboratory on catalysts for the ammonia synthesis.

6. The chairman of the nitrate investigations committee, in company with Mr. C. P. Townsend, was sent to England and France for a period of two months to study the recent developments of nitrogen processes and the researches in progress there.

7. A detailed plan for the organization on a permanent basis of a bureau of research and development to take charge of nitrate investigations was presented to the Assistant Secretary of War.

DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY.

WHITMAN CROSS, Chairmán.

The Division was organized early in January under the chairmanship of Dr. J. C. Merriam and succeeded to the work of the committee on geology and paleontology and the committee on geography. These committees were not discharged, but have been retained as advisory bodies on problems of general character. Much of the work of these committees was finished in 1917, but certain projects were further developed by the Division and will appear in the following statement.

The Division has held 29 meetings during the year. It has often called upon geologists and geographers of the country for conferences on special subjects.

GENERAL ACTIVITIES OF THE DIVISION.

1. A report on materials and facilities for rapid road and fortification construction in the coastal States from Maine to Texas was prepared by the Geology Committee, under the immediate direction of W. B. Clark, and completed on his death by Edward B. Mathews. This report has been placed at the disposal of the Chief of Engineers, and a copy has also been deposited with the United States Geological Survey, where it has been consulted by many Government agencies. It has been of especial use in connection with concrete construction work.

2. Information as to the geology and geography of the environments of Army cantonments and camps in the United States. At the suggestion of the Geology Committee, Federal State surveys undertook the preparation of bulletins, and several have been published during the year 1918.

3. Information as to the geography of the western front in Europe. Portions of the work, Topography and Strategy in the War, by Douglas W. Johnson, dealing with the western front, have been republished in separate form and gratuitously distributed among the officers of the United States Army at the cantonments and camps as

well as in Europe. This distribution was initiated by the Geology Committee and made possible by the generosity of one of its members. The American Library Association ordered several hundred copies of this separate for use in libraries at camps.

Several thousand copies of the Handbook of Northern France, by Prof. William M. Davis, chairman of the Geography Committee, have been gratuitously distributed among officers of the Army. This was possible through generous contributions secured by the author. The publication was issued at cost by the Harvard University Press and distributed without profit to the author.

4. The utilization of geologists as experts in the American Army. A memorandum on the usefulness of geological advice in the operations of an army was presented to the Secretary of War by the Geology Committee in 1917. During the past year the geological war service in the German Army, as described in German literature, has been brought to the attention of the Army authorities, and a considerable development of such service has taken place in our Army. The Division has improved every opportunity to make clear the value of this special service.

5. Maj. Johnson, a member of the division, was able to make important observations concerning geological and geographical work in several of the allied armies and in the German Army, and has submitted important reports upon this subject, which have been transmitted to the War Department.

6. Instruction in geology, geography, map reading, etc., in training camps and colleges. An effort to promote work of this kind was initiated by the geology committee in 1917. With the organization of the Students' Army Training Corps the opportunity for developing the desired instruction was offered. At the request of the military Committee on Education and Special Training the Division of Geology and Geography prepared courses in geology, geography, map reading, and meteorology. The evident need for textbooks in these courses was supplied by a special committee of the Division, of which Prof. Herbert E. Gregory was chairman, and the following textbooks were prepared: Military Geology and Topography, Introductory Meteorology, and a syllabus on the geography of Europe. Prof. Gregory acted as the editor of this series of textbooks. Introductory Meteorology was prepared mainly through the hearty cooperation of members of the staff of the United States Weather Bureau.

COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT BUREAUS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.

7. Research Information Service. The Division has supplied to our allies, through the Research Information Service, a considerable