the matter. A full report of this discussion has been printed in the Proceedings of the Society (Vol. XVIII, Part II, pp. 1–63, 1918). It was thought desirable to draft some concrete schemes for cooperative research, similar to those which have been formulated by the British Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and an opportunity to do this was afforded by the newly organized American Zinc Institute, which requested the chairman of the Section to speak at its meeting in St. Louis on July 31, 1918, on the "Value of cooperative research work in the development of the zinc industry." The interest shown in this paper, which has been published in the Proceedings of the American Zinc Institute, 1918 (pp. 49-55), led the chairman to draft a provisional prospectus of a zinc research association. This prospectus was sent to the members of the Section, and with their approval was submitted to the American Zinc Institute, who are, we understand, giving this question very careful consideration.

One of the important industries upon which a large number of other industries depend is the refractories industry. This is more of a key industry than might at first sight appear to be the case. For instance, successful metallurgical practice depends upon satisfactory refractory furnace linings, and the need of chemical porcelain and glass is too well known to require further emphasis here. This industry has been in a relatively backward state in this country, and as most of the manufacturers engaged in it work upon a relatively small scale, it seemed to offer an exceptional opportunity for the establishment of a research association. Accordingly a scheme was drafted by Dr. E. W. Washburn, chairman of the Committee on Ceramic Chemistry, of the Council. This scheme is being presented to those interested in refractories and will be published in the near future. In this case, however, it is questionable if it will be feasible in the immediate future to get the manufacturers together; but it may be possible to arrange for research carried out by an organization supported by the users of refractories who, perhaps, are even more interested in the improvement of refractories than are the present manufacturers. Indeed, at a recent meeting of the Section it was considered that in many cases this might be the better way to proceed, and active steps toward the formation of an organization for alloy research on this basis are being taken.

Section on Relations with Educational Institutions and State Committees. The sections on state council relations (through state research committees) and on research in educational institutions have been combined into one Section on Relations with Educational Institutions and State Committees, with Dr. J. C. Merriam as chairman, on account of the close relation of the problems with which the former two sections had to deal.

The following states have formed committees on scientific research of their state councils, cooperating with the National Research Council: Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington. University research committees have been formed in 88 institutions of learning. In some states these committees have been extremely active on emergency problems which have been carried forward through many special subcommittees. Throughout the war it has been the policy of the Research Council to encourage state scientific committees, scientific institutions, and scientific men to undertake at their own initiative such investigations as might bear on the successful prosecution of the war, and to invite their cooperation in the solution of emergency problems forwarded to them. In some cases special appropriations were made by the states to assist research committees. and many institutions applied their research facilities to war work. Investigations thus undertaken frequently became so promising in their initial stages that they were taken over completely by federal or state authorities for continuation at government expense. The census of research men conducted in the states and institutions led to the recognition of investigators needed in government service, both civil and military. Many men have thus entered the national service through the activities of the state and university research committees in cooperation with the National Research Council. The service rendered the federal government in promoting the war has fully justified the establishment of state and university research committees. The results of this undertaking have been larger than could have been anticipated. At the same time a stimulus for scientific research has been created throughout the nation which will be of the highest importance in times of peace.

Reports of individual, state, and university research committees are being published by the state councils of defense and by the institutions.

At the request of the War Department's committee on education and special training the section has reviewed the qualifications of research men within draft limits for selection for governmental research work. The Research Council has accepted membership in the American Emergency Council on Education and has kept in close touch with this organization, which has done important work in bringing together the educational interests of the country, originally for war purposes, and since the armistice in connection with reconstruction problems. The Section has assembled a large amount of research information from the states and institutions, which has been distributed through the Research Information Service. It has also undertaken the compilation of research funds and fellowships available in the United States for research.

The university research committees will naturally continue without much change in organization or policy after the close of the war. At the request of the committee, the Bureau of Education has undertaken to bring together organized information concerning the present status of research work, of the training of investigators, and of research staffs in educational and research institutions. One of the purposes is to determine whether the supply of men being trained for future work in various fields of research seems sufficiently large to meet the needs of the country. Another aim is to study the possibilities of fundamental university work after the

war.

Special Committee on Education and Special Training (J. C. Merriam, chairman).-At the request of the Committee on Education and Special Training of the War Department, this Committee has undertaken, in cooperation with the Divisions of Science and Technology, the preparation of courses of instruction in the sciences contributing to the training of men preparing for military service and later more particularly of men enlisted in the Students' Army Training Corps at educational institutions. These courses of study have been forwarded by the War Department to the institutions in mimeographed form and have been of service in reorganizing curricula for the mobilization of their resources to meet the educational emergency needs of the Army and Navy. In some cases the science curricula have been expanded to syllabi and textbooks.

The committee has served as the connecting link between the Divisions of Science and Technology of the Council and the War Department's Committee on Education and Special Training in placing educational institutions on a war basis. It has cooperated with the War Department's committee, the Bureau of Education, and various other organizations in many other respects.

Committee on Reconstruction Problems (Vernon Kellogg, chairman; F. H. Newell, vice chairman).-The National Research Council, anticipating the end of the war, appointed a special committee on reconstruction problems, which completed its organization August 18, 1918, and adopted a program calling for a study of the agencies and activities that have to do with after-war problems.

The situation was discussed by conference, correspondence, and consultation of publications, and it was found that many organizations throughout the United States-federal, state, municipal, and private have taken up or are about to take up one or another phase of these far-reaching matters. With the signing of the armistice in November, the reconstruction problems at home and abroad have come into the foreground, and plans were considered by the Council of National Defense and the state councils interested.

After completing this general survey, the committee on reconstruction problems decided to limit its efforts to certain specific undertakings, which, as shown by the inquiry, have not been covered by other organizations. One of the most important and far-reaching of these is the research into details which relate to the control of water in its relation to food production and other industries.

At the present time there does not appear to be any one body or organization which is conducting a research into the mathematical, physical, and biological data bearing upon irrigation, drainage, flood control, and the application of these to engineering and agricultural science. It is recognized that many important undertakings are in the hands of several bureaus of the Government, each dealing with one phase or another of these subjects, and that a large amount of information has been collected and, by proper coordination, may be made available for research of the kind proposed.

The committee contemplates a report having to do with reconstruction, both at home and abroad, somewhat along the lines of a publication issued by the Division of Geology and Geography of the Council, entitled "Military Geology and Topography." The report, it is expected, will cover subjects of quantity, quality, and availability of water and its use in agriculture, power-production, and similar enterprises.

Under recent conditions the grouping, rounding out, and publication of data on water resources have peculiar value, since questions of water supply and control enter so largely into all reconstruction plans throughout the world.

In addition to the specific researches and preparation of the report referred to, the committee has also under consideration other lines of inquiry into reconstruction problems, which are in the course of development.

MILITARY DIVISION.

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Chairman; S. W. STRATTON, Vice Chairman.

The Military Committee of the National Research Council, which was one of the first committees to be organized, was very effective in securing the necessary cooperation with the Army and Navy in the solution of research problems. Under the war organization this committee became the Military Division of the Council. The most valuable results of its work have been the organization of the Research Information Service and the authorization and organization of the weekly conferences on war problems of the Divisions of Physics and Engineering, in which representatives of the Army and Navy as well as the civil bureaus of the Government regularly participated (see report of Physics Division).

DIVISION OF PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, AND GEOPHYSICS. ROBERT A. MILLIKAN, Chairman; CHARLES E. MENDENHALL, Vice Chairman. The membership of the executive committee of this division, fully set forth in the war organization appended to this report, includes representatives of physics, astronomy, mathematics, and geophysics. Effective cooperation between the various services of the Government was also provided for through the fact that these members were connected, respectively, with the Signal Corps, the Bureau of Aircraft Production, the Bureau of Ordnance of the Navy, the Bureau of Ordnance of the Army, the Chemical Warfare Service, the Weather Bureau, the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the Bureau of Standards, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The meetings of the executive committee were devoted to the discussion of war problems, and also to the preparation of plans for the permanent organization of the Division of Physical Sciences, the formulation of policies regarding the Research Information Service, the organization of research in the Army, and the establishment of the weekly conference of the Physics and Engineering Divisions. This conference was of such importance in connection with the war that a detailed statement regarding it should be included here.

In the spring of 1918 the Military Committee of the National Research Council, upon the initiative of the Division of Physics, authorized the establishment of a weekly conference of the Physics and Engineering Divisions for the discussion of the new scientific and technical problems facing both the Army and the Navy. These conferences were held each Thursday evening throughout the remainder of the year at the office of the Research Council, and were attended on the average by about 50 Army and Navy officers and civilian scientists engaged in war research. They proved, of the greatest utility in furthering progress through the interchange of ideas between the different research groups both here and abroad. At each meeting all of the reports received through the Research Information Service from the foreign research groups since the last meeting were briefly summarized and discussed and detailed discussion devoted to such reports as warranted it. Further, these meetings became a recognized place of report of officers of our own service. returning from Europe on scientific and technical missions and also of officers of foreign governments connected with the various foreign war missions. To preserve the necessary secrecy the meetings were held under the authority of the Army and Navy Intelligence Services, and the group authorized to attend consisted of the official representatives of the various war missions, officers specially delegated each week by the chiefs of the bureaus of the Army and Navy, and some

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