The division this year has had to consider the matter of necessary American support, through the payment of dues, for the maintenance of the International Research Council and certain of its associated unions. These bodies, in so far as organized, are the International Research Council, the International Astronomical Union, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the International Mathematical Union, and the International Union of Scientific Radio Telegraphy.

The council has been able to pay the American dues for these organizations for the current year by a gift from the William Ellery Hale fund. But as the dues from most other countries included in these international organizations are paid by the Governments of the participating countries, the division of foreign relations has carried on negotiations with the Department of State looking toward the payment of these dues in future years by the Government of the United States. The sympathetic attitude of the Department of State has resulted in the introduction by the department in its current appropriation bill of an item for the payment of the next year's dues. Just as this report is being prepared the House committee of Congress has presented this item for the approval of the House in the Diplomatic and Consular appropriations bill.

The division has been closely in touch with the work of the council's special committee on Pacific exploration and has recommended that this committee be reconstituted and attached to the division of foreign relations on account of the fundamental international relations which will be involved in the work of this committee.

With the cooperation of the Research Information Service, the division is also engaged in the attempt to arrange for international cooperation in abstracting and listing scientific literature by the most efficient and convenient methods.

DIVISION OF STATES RELATIONS.

[JOHN C. MERRIAM, Chairman.]

(For present personnel, see Appendix A.)

The work of the division of States relations during 1920 has been directed upon two problems:

1. A study of the facilities for research at the command of scientific departments in State governments, such as boards of health, boards of agriculture, fish and game commissions, conservation commissions, offices of the State forester, State geologist, State highway engineer, etc. This inquiry includes also a study of the forms of State government in so far as the organization and relationship of these departments is concerned in order to ascertain whether the governmental

machinery provided by the States affords the best means for developing scientific knowledge and promoting its application.

Reports upon the organization and activities of research activities are in process of preparation for 10 States. It is believed that in certain cases the best interests of this movement for strengthening the position of science in State governments can be assisted by the publication of reports of this nature. Arrangements have already been made for the publication of the first of these statements, which comprises a report upon the organization and activities of the scientific departments of California.

2. A study of the nature and extent of the cooperation in scientific work between Federal bureaus and corresponding State scientific departments or other non-Federal agencies. This project has been undertaken jointly with the division of Federal relations.

It is hoped that the results of these studies can be made useful in connection with the present movement for the reorganization and consolidation in State government by indicating ways in which the organization of State scientific departments may be improved and their relationships to each other and to other agencies can be made more effective, their research power and output increased, and their activity in the application of scientific knowledge to the public welfare extended.

DIVISION OF EDUCATIONAL RELATIONS.

[VERNON KELLOGG, Chairman.]

(For present personnel, see Appendix A.)

The principal undertaking of the division during 1920 has been the continuance of the survey of the research conditions in the colleges and universities of the country. This survey has been made by correspondence and especially by personal visits. One hundred and sixteen colleges and universities have been visited by nine representatives of the council, of which six were chairmen of council divisions. The carrying on of the survey has been made possible by the financial support of the General Education Board.

While conducting the survey, which seemed necessary before planning and entering on any extensive program for the encouragement of research and the training for research work in educational institutions, a beginning has been made in the encouragement of the establishment and cordial administrative and financial support of special research committees in the colleges and universities. About 60 of these committees now exist, a few of prewar standing, some established during the war, and some since the beginning of the division's survey work.

A gratifyingly cordial response has been received by the division from the colleges and universities in the course of its activities, especially in connection with the personal visits of its representatives and with its efforts to encourage the development of research committees.

In November an executive committee of the division was formed, which met in December and authorized the active prosecution of a plan whereby the division, in cooperation with the division of anthropology and psychology, proposes to institute a study of the possibilities in connection with the discovery and special encouragement of upper-class students especially capable of development into research workers. As a first step in the study, Dr. George W. Stewart, professor of physics in the State University of Iowa, will devote most of his time in the first half of 1921 to visiting a number of colleges and universities in States in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys to discuss the matter with administrative officers, faculty members, and students.

Certain special reports, prepared and distributed for the purpose of stimulating interest in and comment on the research situation in the colleges and universities, have been sent by the division to college and university presidents, deans of graduate schools, and chairmen of research committees. These reports have been given much attention and have brought to the division a most enlightening series of critical comments and constructive suggestions.

Altogether the division feels that it has a right to believe that its efforts are helping to stimulate a special interest among scientific men and university authorities in the present research situation in the institutions of higher education in the country, a situation which just now may fairly be regarded as critical.

DIVISION OF RESEARCH EXTENSION.

[HARRISON E. HOWE, Chairman.]

(For present personnel, see Appendix A.)

With but few exceptions the tasks undertaken by the division of research extension are long-time projects requiring considerable periods of time, not only for their completion, but for their actual organization. In addition to projects originating with the division or taken over by it at the suggestion of others, there are frequent calls upon it to assist various other divisions, notably those of science and technology, in perfecting plans for organizing work and in devising ways and means for securing necessary finances. The officers of the division are also called upon to render assistance on numerous committees of the council and to take over a large part of the work in a number of important cases.

The following activities may be noted, and these will serve to illustrate the type of work which falls within the field of the division of research extension.

Critical tables of physical and chemical constants.-The project to compile, and publish in English, critical tables of physical and chemical constants originated with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry of the International Research Council, and is America's contribution toward the effort to provide better tables of scientific data and source books in the English language. Following a report by a special committee of the division of chemistry and chemical technology, a board of trustees was appointed-H. K. Moore, representing the National Research Council, Julius Stieglitz, representing the American Chemical Society, and E. P. Hyde, representing the American Physical Society. To this group the chairman of the division of research extension was added in June, 1920, and later made executive secretary.

The present work of the trustees is principally that of securing a fund of $200,000 which is to underwrite the very considerable work necessary in preparing and publishing the volumes of constants. Literature has been prepared by Mr. Paul Moore, secretary of the division, and at the close of the year there had been obtained in money and service pledged the equivalent of a little more than 45 per cent of the total budget of $200,000.

During the latter part of 1920 the organization of the work was carried forward by the selection of representatives in various industrial centers, and steps were taken to interest chemists, physicists, and engineers in supplying information as to the importance of constants and preparing the way for securing subscriptions.

It is believed that the publication of such tables affords one of the most direct and immediate means for stimulating research, and a great deal of attention, therefore, is being given this project.

Crop protection institute.-In May, members of the division of biology and agriculture brought to the attention of the chairman of the division of research extension the opportunity for cooperation between scientific groups and industrial groups interested in the control of injurious insects and plant diseases. Subsequently a conference was called in Rochester, N. Y., and a tentative constitution outlined and circulated among those interested. This was followed in September by a well-attended meeting in Washington, where the constitution was ratified. The first meeting of the institute following this organization was held in New York in December, at the request of officers in the Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, to discuss ways and means to standardize calcium arsenate, and methods for its application in the control of the boll-weevil in the cotton districts. This meeting was well attended by both ento

mologists and manufacturers of the arsenate and dusting appliances, and it was the concensus of opinion that the meeting was very successful and demonstrated the good that could come from the cooperative methods of the institute.

Later in December it became apparent that the scope of the institute would have to be broadened to care for new industrial groups interested in the control of insects and plant diseases, but not manufacturers of insecticides and fungicides, and preliminary steps were taken working toward the necessary revision of the constitution.

Alloys.-A proposal to form an Alloys Research Association was the first definite project of the division, and during 1920 a number of difficulties which seemed to confront the plan were overcome, and at a largely attended conference of representative metallurgists with the division it was decided to organize an informational service as the first activity of the association. This work was intrusted to a special committee cooperating with the division of engineering and a tentative constitution and by-laws outlined under which the association is now being organized.

There have been several conferences with industrial and other interests regarding the matter, and, at their suggestion, the management of the association has been vested in a committee chosen from the divisions of engineering, chemistry and chemical technology, and research extension.

The informational service of the Alloys Research Association is regarded by the division as an experiment in assembling and disseminating specialized knowledge with the hope that this activity will speedily lead to cooperative research undertaken by the members of the association as a means of answering important questions which can not be answered from the literature.

Tanning.—The Tanners' National Council, which has supported a research laboratory for some time, has become interested in the possibility of founding a school of tanning, a plan to accomplish in the United States objects similar to those of the tanning schools abroad. Through the activities of the division of research extension, the council has requested the National Research Council to assist them with their problem of deciding upon the type of school, its field of activity, its location, etc.

With respect to the research laboratory of the Tanners' National Council, this is now being reorganized under an arrangement with the University of Cincinnati, and it is expected that it will undertake a new series of problems with promise of success.

The chairman of the division has also been in conference with State authorities of Massachusetts where the possibility of establishing a trade school for tanning is under consideration.