Abstract
THE Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies was dissolved by a resolution passed at a meeting of the Board held at the Royal Society on March 22. The Royal Society took the initiative in the formation of the Board in 1916; and when a few months ago the council decided that the society no longer desired to remain in this federation, whether under the original constitution, or the new one proposed, there was little hope for the continued vitality of a body so sharply truncated. The chief scientific and technical societies-about sixty in all-in the British Isles were represented on the Board, and the special committees appointed from time to time have produced a number of notable reports. Among such committees may be mentioned those on the water power of the British Empire, glue and other adhesives, national instruction in technical optics, timber for aeroplane construction, and the application of science to agriculture. A couple of years ago the Board appointed a committee to arrange for the publication of a world-list of scientific serials, with indications of libraries in the chief centres of Great Britain where such periodicals could be consulted. It is gratifying to know that the interests of the Board in the list, towards the publication of which the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust made a grant of 1000l., have been vested in three trustees, so that notwithstanding the dissolution of the Board the issue of the list is assured. For this provision thanks are due largely to Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell. In its early years the Board owed much to Sir Joseph Thomson, who, as president of the Royal Society, was president also of it. Sir Arthur Schuster and Sir Herbert Jackson were associated with the Board throughout its existence, and did invaluable work for it, while the devoted service rendered by the Secretary, Prof. W. W. Watts, created a sense of indebtedness which can never be adequately expressed. It is impossible not to regret that a federation of such early promise should have had so short a life.
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