THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: PROFILE OF AN INSTITUTION (III)

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 STATINTL
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tomol. Ohocr. 16, 211 (1917)] reports that
are apternus?
some are apterous.
females are e
11
19
L
61.
7. C. nridwell, Proc. Hawaii Erttomol. Soc. 4,
E
ri [Ann.
,
acustre
(1 L. HenrikSsen [Ann. Biol.
(1922)] suggests the existence of a thelytokous.
like R. Hevmons [Deus. Entontol? Z.
.
291 (19201 Aptery occurs, but rarely, C.
Keeler iPsiche 36, 41 (1929); Ibid., p. 121]
.
females, as in Sciara coprophila and Chryso-
?tyla ruff/acies [C. W. Metz, Ant, Naturalist
72 4R5 (1938): rt. H. Ullerich, Chrontosoma
for 3rd-instar hosts.
56. A. F. Satterthwait, J. N.Y. Entomot. Sac. 39, 63. E. Pussard-Radulesco, Ann. Ephipttyties 16, bark beetles and Dr. T. Lewis for information
,. about thrlps.
NEWS AND COMMENT
National Academy of Sciences:
Profile of an Institution (111)
Two principal positions exist on the
use that the National Academy of Sci-
ences should make of what are consid-
ered to be' its greatest assets, prestige
and public confidence.
The first position is centered on the
belief that the Academy should active-
ly, and, if need be, on its own initiative,
use these assets to promote the progress
and wise use of science and technology.
In a period of limited expansion of fed-
eiai support for scientific research, some
advocates of activism would like to see
the Academy devise and recommend
priorities for allocating the available
funds. Concerning the uses to which
science and technology are put, there
are persons in this camp who would
like to see the Academy initiate studies
and issue pronouncements on contro-
versial matters such as missile defense
and chemical and biological weapons.
The second point of view is repre-
sented by those who contend that, how-
ever desirable such a role may be, the
Academy can never be an effective ve-
hicle for carrying it out.. They argue
that prestige and confidence are fragile
commodities that are rarely enhanced
ably aspire to take up complex issues
and arrive at positions that reflect the
informed conclusions of the member-
ship. They also point oftt that the
Academy possesses a modest mandate
-to advise when advice is requested.
No one need request the Academy's
advice, nor, having requested it, need
one follow it. Furthermore, they note
the Academy has very limited resources
for addressing itself to matters outside
the interest of its clients. Its income
from endowment last year came to
$398,000--as compared with $19.4
million that it received in grants and
contracts from its advice seekers. (The
Academy pays its way mostly with
overhead fees, usually 28 percent, that
it charges its customers.) Therefore, the
holders of this viewpoint believe, the
Academy should not go out hunting for
trouble; rather, it should husband its
prestige and reputation so that it will
command respect when it deals with
issues that come its way.
Now, until quite recently the second
camp wholly prevailed in Academy af-
normal reproduction and 2.88V for male
But if, for example, Gg gives all
haploidy]
.generally come under the heading of
"science and society." And, is an in-
stitution, it still tends to be tone-deaf
to these concerns. Recently, for ex-
ample, 127 Academy members joined
several thousand scientists in petitioning
President Johnson to order a study of
chemical and biological weapons
(CBW). There is no legal or technical
impediment to the Academy's studying
at least the nonclassified aspects of this
subject on its own initiative. But, in
raising the CBW issue the petitioners
obviously hoped to encourage the ad-
ministration to renounce the use of such
weapons. Johnson was not inclined to
snap at the bait, and the Academy was
not inclined to volunteer itself into the
middle of a controversy over CBW.
When it comes to issues that can offend
those capable of counterattack, the
Academy still tends to avoid looking
for trouble. Furthermore, as an ad-
visory organization it prefers (and so
its clients have come to realize) chew-
able problems-clear-cut issues con-
cerned with how something might be
done, or what will be the consequences
of doing it, not with whether something
should be done.
, Nevertheless, a careful examination
leads to the conclusion that here and
there things are stirring inside the ven-
erable institution, and at a few points
there is even to be found a definite
spirit of adventure. While the signifi-
cance and potential of these develop-
ments are difficult to assess, it is clear
that the affairs of the Academy are no
longer wholly dominated by cautious
has always been tone-deaf to the con-
by frequent involvement in controversy. corns that produced offshoots of the ' traditionalists, for in five separate and
They emphasize that the Academy is scientific community such as the Fed- most import-tnt areas there have been
with its oration of American Scientists and other changes and activity that in many re-
that
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 alteration in the chSanitizad roAppi"cgvp;l
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of the Academy in national affairs. scientists get preference is that gener- not to follow the placid caretaker patt_
Let us look at these areas in some ally they are smarter than engineers. tern that characterizes some of the
detail. But whatever the reason, the engineers NRC divisional secretaryships. The,
1;1 For the first time in its century- were pretty well fed up with the domi- consequences of this mandate sec not
long history, the Academy has a full- nance of the scientists, and talked of yet clear, but these is an unprecedented
time president. This may seem a small setting up their own Academy to honor amount of activit' in the division. And,
change, but actually it is it very large engineers and provide advice to the perhaps most important to date, the
one, for one of the banes of American government. The prospect of another Academy, in cooperation with the So-
science in the postwar period was the Academy on what, after all, is not a cial Science Research Council, has es-
unrealistic assumption that it could very heavily milli ?kcd corner brought tablished a Survey Committee on the
ook: after its affairs in Washington on forth .a. bit of st ; :r.,nship which sug- Social and Behavioral Sciences. Headed
a commuting basis. However, at last gests that maybe .~.h.,s s really are by Ernest R. Hil rad
t has been fully realized that, in politi- very smart. Aft, ;,;t, i g , ptheescor p, of .
al and bureaucratic struggle, the odds the engineers w., t',clr that chology at Stanford, the committee ,
re with those who remain on the field. Academy of Sc _ rr: ,t toy take n ent,dlplans, among a other things,tcto
n 1962 Frederick Seitz, vice president them under its ao, rtcr and into "evaluate the strengths and weaknesses"
or research and dean of the graduate its well-staffed bui is sparing the of the behavioral and social sciences
oiiege at the University of Illinois, engineers the tro::' ;la char- and suggest ways in which these sci-
;creeded Detlev W. Bronk in the ter and setting The cnces might be applied to an assortment
.cademy presidency. For the first 3 engineers have ;,; ,:?
Seitz held the job on the tradi- Eric A. Walker, P, of national problems. There is obviously State a long way to r:1:1i part-time basis. In February and they clcc; ~~tin members. bastion of the pl ysi b Yana n natural sci-
)o.7, both he and the council agreed At this point, both ,,. icot;sts and the ences yields and proper recognition is
at it would be dcsira.ale for the Acad- engineers feel hr ?cat is sails- given to the so-called soft sciences. But
r.y to have a full-tine head, Seitz factory, and the , ,:,,,Ors praise the one thing that encourages change is the
"k the job, which was accompanied Academy for its :co"tiiiy and coop. fact that a lot of physical and natural
an undisclosed salary and a presi- erasion. However, honeymoon scientists who once believed the meth-
~ntial residence, purchased for $250,- rhetoric, the outco:ae of this mixed ods and creations of their profession
0 out of Academy endowment funds, marriage remains in though one could be adapted to all manner of prob-
us $50,000 for renovations-which important effect is c
ate people feel add up to a rather be competitor undo:: its ow.vnt roof, tthe by Icnis
many of 1 this challengedcountry's but
domestic
fty sum for an organization that often Academy of Stites,: fe.?ls a good deal problems. The point was well put by
bads poverty as a defense for inaction. less complacent aba:it its comfortable Harvey Brooks, dean of engineering
a,9emy staff and members generally old position in the of science and and applied physics at Harvard and one
_1 that a beneficial difference has re- government.
::t(:d from having the president regard of the leading figures in Academy af-
e job as his principa occupation. Seitz Social S, icncrs sociated fairs today. Brooks, who was long as-
,1s further strengthened the presidential 3) There is at ]as; an open recogni- on Undersea tWarfare, noted othat i "to
lite by bringing in a number of ex- tion that the Academy has an obsolete build something like a Polaris system,
,ric.nced special assistants and con- approach in regard to the behavioral all you had to do essentially was to
yltants. Among them arc F. J. Wcyl, and social sciences. The dictum If you convince half a dozen people, and then
rmer chief scientist of the Office of can't measure it, it doesn't count" you could go ahead and build it. It's
aval Research; Alan T. Waterman, serves well in the natural and physical not that easy when you try to bring
retired director of the National Sci- sciences; when applied to the behav- improved housing technology to the
cc Foundation; and C. E. Sunderlin, ioral and social sciences, as the Acad- cities."
rmer director of research for d
f
e
ense emy has applied it, with few exceptions,
d space systems, Union Carbide. in electing new men-,bers, the result is
Academy of Ii.ngineering to exclude the producers of some of the
The Academy has worked out a
ly cooperative modus vivendi with
r;atless and complaining colleagues
engineering. With ample reason, en-
cers have long complained that the.
ademy has failed to give proper rec-
,ition to their profession. From this
,re, many engineers believe, have
:-c:d other consequences, principally
ose correlation between Academy
nhcrship and membership in the
est governmental advisory groups
:.dente and technology. Academy
rSIUL 1967
most important, exciting, and pioneer.
ing research in recent years. Seitz, in
an interview, remarked that "the time
is over-ripe for forming a partnership
with the social sciences, but we can
start." This intention leas already had a
number of tangible consequences. First
of all, Henry David. torn,cr president
of the New School for Social Research,
in New York, last year was appointed
executive secretary of the Research
Council's Division of Behavioral Sci-
ences. David, who came directly from
heading NSF's Office of Science Re-
Science and Public Policy
4) In 1962 the Academy responded
to a number of economic and political
problems affecting the scientific com-
munity by establishing the Committee
on Science and Public Policy, and giv-
ing it a mandate to address itself to any
matter related to science and public
policy-which today encompasses vir-
tually anything. COSPUP, as it is
known, came into existence with a
unique status: It is the only one of the
several thousand committees and panels
in the NAS-NRC complex on which
only Academy members may serve.
Now, there is a great deal of signifi-
Q&UFflFLtZlUU
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 holds to the
since the Academy rigidly isdiction, it is generally considered to be Congress to take a renter
ni#itzedas. #pp>>feve&Fortti a pltiA t;Ri? 3aOOi@01 KD 0 4008$0001-2
lion, it takes no stand on any issue:
All that it assumes responsibility for, it
contends, is selecting qualified commit-
'[cemen, usually through NRC, to study
the problems of its clients. The theory
is that what the committeemen say in
their reports is their business, not the
Academy's, though, on occasion, the
Academy hierarchy has been known
to prevent exceptionally asinine reports
from leaving the building.
Since COSPUP is composed only 'of
academicians, and has a boundless jur-
-despite protestations that COSPUP,
too, comes under the system of institu-
tional nonresponsibility. In any case,
the prime mover for COSPUP's crea-
tion was George B. Kistiakowsky, of
Harvard, who, while serving as Eisen-
hower's science adviser, felt that the
Academy was too enmeshed in trivial
advisory tasks and too little concerned
with major policy issues affecting the
growth and employment of science and
technology. Noting that pork-barrel and
budget-cutting instincts were impelling
Ktsttakowsky wai also
the fact that the Academy stet;
its historical pattern of
mainly as an affiliate of the Uxc,~a..;
Branch.
Thus was born COSPUP, K......-
kowsky as the first chairman and :. -
vey Brooks his successor, when l:i.:...-
kowsky became Academy vice pres,-
dent. In its 5-ye!Ir existence, COSPUP
has issued a series of reports and
studies, and has achieved some progress
toward making the Academy at ;cast
better known in Congress. The reports
vary in quality and impact but, as a
group, merit attention simply because
they represent an unprecedented will-
ingness on the part of the Academy
voluntarily to commit its prestige to
objectives that it previously would not
seriously confront or even touch.
COSPUP's first published product,
The Growth of World Population,
.,which appeared in 1963, came to the
safe conclusion that uncontrolled popu-
lation growth was a menace to eco-
nomic development. It literally said
nothing that had not been said :;t least
a decade before, but the fac. :iat the
Academy said it attracted gr c,a atten-
tion. Jerome B. Wiesner, Kennedy's
science adviser, believes the Academy's
voluntary move in that controversial
area played a significant part in Ken-
nedy's decision to begin the long and
difficult process of providing govern-
ment support for family-planning pro-
grams.
Another notable COSPUP production
was Federal Support of Basic Research
in Institutions of Higher Learning. It
came in 1964, a period when Congress
was` both restless and relatively unin-
formed about the extent, use, and value
of federal aid to basic research. It is
doubtful, if many, or even any, con-
gressmeit plowed through it, but the
'report did take the pioneering step of
advising the scientific community that
a few chiselers in its ranks were
besmirching the reputations of all.
Whether the ethical tone improved as a
consequence is difficult to say, but the
message had validity, and the Academy
Officers of the Academy: President Seitz
(right) -- ii t Vice President Kistiakowsky.
deserves credit for delivering it.-
COSPUP has also engaged in the
preparation of studies on the needs and
opportunities in various scientific dis-
ciplines. These invariably conclude that
the p. ogress of civilization hinges on
getting more support for this or that
field. But when the studies are well
CPYRGHT
 inc. c result IS a valuable in- since 1961 by Iiarrison S. Brown, pro- the Philippines, and sevcr:d ot}:;;
tventory?of the status of a field of rc?? fessor of geochemistry at Caltech. tions; and workshops and co;tfe:,;,",
searcr 1 and +1n assc rent of ti e r v f c
sources needed to isi a moo h to t tc l,in, r,?counts that ~Q a nonuc development in various Latin
lines of inquiry. Whether or not this came Foreign Secretary at the urgings American and African nations. Through
does any good is a separate matter. It of Bronk, Wicsncr, and others, with Brown's office, the Academy is under
is universally agreed that the chemistry the intention of making the Academy contract to the Agency for International
report made a balanced, honest, and part of a triumvirate in international Development to provide advice and
persuasive case for more federal money scientific affairs. The intention was, he services for assisting scientific institu-
for chemistry; but by all accounts, in says, that the Academy, having the tions abroad. So far it has worked out
the 2 years that h
v
d
h
i
a
e passe
t
e
n flexibility of ai
,- nongovcrnment agency, programs wth Brazil, Peru, Nigeria,
crease amounts to a trickle. COSPUP would work closely with the President's the Philippines, and Taiwan, nnu others
has also become the Academy's emis- Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) are in the works. With the approval of
nary to the US C
I
i
d
ongress
t
s un
er
... contract to provide counsel to the
House Science and Astronautics Com-
nmittee, and is ready to do business with
any other committee that will have it.
In 1964, the Science and Astronau-
tics Committee asked COSPUP to ad-
vise on how much support the federal
government should provide for basic
research, as well as on the wisdom of
the allocations of existing funds. Those
questions were much too Micky for
COSPUP, or probably any committee
of scientists, as a whole, to answer.
So, COSPUP appointed a 15-member
committee, which presented the House
group with 15 separate essays, bound
within 336 pages under the title Basic
Research and National Coals. The
tame House committee asked COSPUP
o address itself to the problems of
echnology. COSPUP's response, soon
o be published, will consist of 16 sep-
irate essays. This performance leaves
onic congressmen privately cussing
icir new-found friend, the Academy.
3ut within the Academy leadership
here is little desire to get into the prob-
em of rating the needs of one discipline
,gainst another. Says Brooks, "I don't
,e how the Academy can establish in-
,rdisciplinary priorities. I can't figure
it any rational system that works bet-
-r than the present system of laissez
sire."
Though it is doubtful that COSPUP's
e:rformance has provided much en-
ghtenrncnt for the Congress, Congress
id the Academy are getting to know
rich other. It is difficult to measure the
onsequcnces of this relationship, but
inee Congress no longer leaves science
olicy affairs almost exclusively to the
xecutive Branch, it cannot hurt for
ongress and the scientific community
become better acquainted.
5) The final area of new activity
I be examined is the Academy's Of-
APF.IL 1967
-GPYBQUT
and the State Department's Office of
International Scientific Affairs to
promote international scientific coopera-
tion and the application of science and
technology to economic development.
Whatever the intentions of the parties,
nothing resembling the triumvirate plan
has endured beyond its first few years.
In recent years PSAC has taken little
interest in international scientific affairs,
and Dean Rusk's interest in this area
is generally thought to be reflected in
the fact that the directorship of the De-
partment's science office has been filled
on an acting ire, his by a nonscientist
State Departmc:~r ';, io;,;rotor for the
past 2'/a years. ,ow and then
Rusk 'makes a ,, high-
ranking scientist. :,:,,pion feeling
among many o; dies is that
Rusk assigns rela, tc importance
to the job and tl::. worth hold-
ing. It is clear, oo to
the administrati,. 1;11.1 policies
figures in at leas' n he rejections
of his offers.
Brown neverti:....io; ions persevered
with astonishing edgy in seeking to
carry through as nmeh of the original
design as possible. concentrating his
efforts in three arms: i) assisting the
growth of scientific ::;:,1 technical com-
petence in the devciopin- nations; (ii)
strengthening East-West ties through
exchange programs:: and (iii) strength-
ening international scientific organiza-
tions.
A great number nt activities has been
undertaken in pursuit of these objec-'
tives. These include a leading role in
strengthening the International Council
of Scientific Unions; administration and
expansion of important segments of the
Soviet-American exchange program, as
well as the establisl;m cn; of exchange
programs with most eastern European
nations; sponsorship of cooperative re-
search activities or conferences with
the Johnson administration, the Acad-
emy, the Social Science Research Coun-
cil, and the American Council of
Learned Societies have formed a Com-
mittee on Scholarly Communication
with Mainland China. The Chinese so
far have not chosen to communicate,
but the Committee keeps looking for
In view of recent disclosures about
the CIA's energy and perseverance in
infiltrating and subsidizing the interna-
tional activities of various private or-
ganizations, it is appropriate to con-
sider the situation with respect to the
Academy's many foreign operations.
It is a well-established fact of life in
the scientific conilnunity that the CIA
frequently approaches foreign-bound or
newly returned scientists to solicit their
cooperation. There is no evidence that
the Academy as an institution has ever
been a party to such proceedings, and,
in fact, Brown says that his office has
taken steps to keep the CIA away from
persons involved in the East-West ex-
change program. In pursuing this ob-
jective, he said, it has been useful to
have the services of several persons
with intelligence agency backgrounds.
Among them is Brown's chief staff
man, Murray Todd, who came to
the Academy in 1961, after having
served in the CIA's West Coast office.
"I have a protection, pr)blem with the
kids that we send to the Iron Curtain
countries," Brown said. "Todd knows
the agency and he can tell them to Ieave,
them alone." Serving with Todd in the
Foreign Office is Lawrence Mitchell,
who became head of the section on the
U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe in 1959.
Brown says that Mitchell, too, came
from CIA, though Mitchell's cur-
riculum vitae, as furnished by the Acad-
emy, lists him as a f?rmer Foreign
Service Officer. Brown Explains that he
and Todd became acquainted in the
1950's when Todd would debrief scien-
tists who had been abroad. He said
Ve or release; :' Mg--000-1000400380001-2
WPM
 competence, and, upon becoming stake, howev r, the Academy, just as The Academy has a committee on,
"ore gtt -secretary, recalled that Todd it tends to r6:re,,tc its image in elect- supersonic boom, appointed at the re-
had once said hSanilfildid wApproii@&Fvor)Ree+essetasOIAbRDP75QO0?f1 R W030001h2
CIA. He says that Todd's hiring was sensitively tt:dned to serving the status
for reasons of his competence, not his
CIA background, but that the back-
ground has proved useful. Seitz says
that he considers the intelligence back-
grounds of Todd, Mitchell, and several
others as being "completely innocent."
"We as an Academy cannot afford to
be involved in any clandestine activity,"
he said. Seitz adds that he was informed
that, before he became president, CIA
"informally raised a suggestion" con-
cerning "people going overseas." It was
turned down, he reports, and, as far as
he knows, CIA never again showed any
interest in the Academy. Seitz points
out that, since CIA is a government
agency, the Academy stands ready to
provide it with technical advice upon
request. But none has been forthcom-
ing, he says, adding, "I think they
quo in society. The charter stipulation
that it provide advice upon request,
coupled with a lack of substantial re-
sources of its own, means, by and
large, that the Academy serves the
"in's" and has little traffic with the
"out's" regardless of what issue is at
stake. The Academy can and does as-
sert independence in setting up ad-
visory committees, and it even dickers
'over the phrasing of the problems it.
will take on. But when one looks back
over the many major scientific and
technological problems that have af-
flicted the nation in recent years, it
turns out that our most prestigious
scientific society has quite an absentee
record. For example, since 1919 the
Academy has operated the Highway
Research Board, under which comes a
mammoth complex of advisory bodies,
sized us up and decided that we're not ,
their baby."
Recent disclosures about CIA's
markable record may inspire skepticism
toward these assurances, but there is no
available evidence to contradict them.
Any assessment of where the Acad-
emy is bound must reckon with the
fact that essentially it is a conservative
institution-sometimes in the best
sense of the word, often in the dullest.
What it does best, and what it does.
most, is attend to the housekeeping
chores of the scientific community.
The pulling power of its prestige is
such that it call get almost anyone to
come to Washington-gratis, except
for expenses-to sit for a few days on
an NRC committee. The demonstrated
willingness for further tasks suggests
that NRC committeemen believe they
have an opportunity to be effective on
matters they consider important. And
what these committees do, by and large,
is lubricate, and adjust the administrative
machinery of contemporary science and
technology. Is this or that subspecialty
of science being neglected? NRC will
convene a highly expert panel to look
into the matter, and though it usually
takes a good deal of time, often a year
or two, the committee will produce a
comprehensive study. This housekeep-
ing role is not to be scoffed at. Ameri-
can science and technology are better
its being done, and done well.
supported mainly with funds from state:
highway departments, for providing
technical advice and conducting studies
related to "the broad field of highway
transportation." The productivity of
the Board is incredible. Last' year, it
produced over 9000 pages of docu-
ments. The total inventory of its publi-
cations ranges from "Squeal of Tires
Rounding Curves" to definitive studies
of the cost and durability of competing
highway pavement materials. But with
all its expertise and resources, it never
got around to what is now acknowl-
edged to be a most critical element in
highway transportation: safely de-
signed vehicles. The view of one engi-
neer who occupies an extremely high
government position is simply, "The
Board is a dupe for engineers who
want to lay down pavement."
C. P. Snow writes that "scientists
have something to give which our kind
of existential society is desperately
short of. . . . That is foresight."
The Academy's record provides very
spotty support for this thesis. In regard
to drug safety, pesticide hazards, arms,
control, drug hazards, and a score of
other issues involving the wise use of
science and technology, the Academy
has not demonstrated any great fore-
sight prior to outbursts of public con-
cern. On the most painful and difficult
moral issues of our tine-civil rights--
Obviously, other organizations might the Academy's record is a total blank
attend to a good deal or even all of it. (though it has been stirred to take civil-
But the Academy is doing it, and its liberties stands, on its own initiative,
performance is highly respected. when the rights of scientists have been
determined to build a supersonic trans-
port, despite widespread fears that it
will be an economic and accoustical
calamity. "We cannot advise whether
such a transport should be built," Seitz
stated in an interview. "We can only
provide technical advice to assist the
appropriate agencies in their. decision-
making." To which he adds, "The most
we can do is to be a conscientious and
discerning catalyst in shaping events
that are already shaping themselves. If
you try to issue a dictum, you run into
trouble."
Science Space Board
Through its Space Science Board the
Academy serves as science adviser to
the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Early in the relation-
ship NASA made it clear to the Board
that it
in the
was .got the least bit interested
Board's views on whether there
should be a manned space program, or
on the relative allocation of resources
within the space program. For a variety
of reasons, it was indicated to the
Board, there was to be a large-scale
space program, and if the Board wished
to provide advice on its scientific com-
ponents, NASA would be pleased to
consider it. Later, however, it did ask
the Board to stake out various post-
Apollo possibilities.
It is, of course, not for the Academy
to determine whether or not there
should be a manned space program or
a supersonic transport. These decisions
properly lie with agencies that are ulti-
mately responsible to the nation's elec-
torate. But there should be no illusions
that the Academy is wholly independent
within the confines of its advisory role.
Occasionally in the hands of shrewd
agency administrators the Academy is
a useful and, at times, easily manipu-
lated instrument for employing scien-
tific prestige in behalf of their adminis-
trative and political designs. As one
former agency head put it, "When
you've got a problem, you sound them
out on what sort of committee they
might put together. If it looks like
they'll use poop le who will come out
the way you want it, you tell them to
go ahead."
Wholly by design, and in accord
with the political traditions of Ameri-
can science, the Academy has made
itself an intimate part of the system it
serves. In its substantive proceedings,
001-2",
 s. iGr.ce ocs not employ t e a versary
prc._e: s, -nc,: does it do so in its politi-
cal affairs. The stru$aziedcicAp ved
and-government relationship is based
on the assumption that wisdom emerges
from harmony, not from conflict. Thus,
Scitr.; sits on PSAC and chairs the Dc-
fcnse Science Board. Bronk was virtu-
ally everywhere in the science and
government structure during his presi
den~;;y.
When the progenitors of the Mo-
hole Project sought an administra-
tive base, they were accorded a place
as a formally constituted committee of
the Academy, of which Bronk was
president. And they got their money
from NSF, whose top advisory board
was chaired by Bronk. No collusion
was involved; if anything, Mohole
came about without Bronk or his as-
sociates paying very much attention to
what was then a minor operation with
commendable scientific objectives. In
the best tradition, it was all very har-
monious, and no one considered it his
task to ask hard questions.
The late Hugh Dryden served as
Hone Secretary of the Academy and
deputy administrator' of NASA, for
which the Academy's Space Science
Board is the principal scientific ad-
viser. And, as it turns out, most mem-
bers of the Board were doing research
with NASA funds, which was only
natural, since NASA pays for most of
this country's space research and it
m:,kes sense to have space researchers
on the Space Science Board. There is
no doubt that these arrangements in-
volve well-intentioned, honorable peo-
ple, volunteering large amounts of
uncompensated time to work on diffi-
cult problems of national importance.
At question, however, is not the virtue
of the people but the wisdom of the
sysstem.
Tradition and caution permeate the
halls of the nation's most prestigious
scientific society. But the science and
technology that produces its illustrious
membership is neither traditional nor
cautious, nor necessarily humane.
There is a spirit of change at the
Academy, but there is also timidity
and a membership that is largely in-
different to the affairs of their in-
sti tution.
This series of articles opened with
the account of an incident in which
an influential Senator asked, "What is
the National Academy?" The truth of
the matter is that, at this point, the
Academy itself is riot certain of the
answer.-D. S. GREENBERG
CPYRGHT
For Re: ~~A
0 GOVERNMENT SOCIAL RE-
SEARCH: Federally sponsored research
in the social sciences, according to a
new study, has tended to be too small-
scale and academically oriented to make
any major contribution toward solving
the nation's social problems. In the staff
study, released by the Research and
Technical Programs subcommittee of
the House Committee on Government
Operations, federal agencies and uni--
versity social scientists were said to be
more interested in the pursuit of knowl-
edge for its own sake. The study, Rep-
resentative Henry S. Reuss (D-Wis.),
subcommittee chairman, said, will be
used as a basis for hearings on social
science research. Dr. Harold Orlans, a
sociologist on leave from the Brookings
Institution, conducted the study which
resulted in a four-volume omnibus re-
port. Questionnaires mailed to leading
scientists throughout the country re-
vealed that a majority favors the call-
ing of a White House conference on
the status of social sciences, but op-
poses the establishment of a National
Social Science Foundation (Science, 17
February). Critical comments in the, re-
port include: federally financed research
is often trivial or irrelevant, and if us-
able, goes unused; too much emphasis
is placed on small projects. rather than
large coordinated efforts directed at a
specific objective; and federal agencies
tend to withhold findings critical of
their programs or policies. Copies of the
study, The Use of Social Research in
Federal Domestic Programs, are avail-
able from the Superintendent of Docu-
ments, Government Printing Office, 710
North Capitol Street. Washington, D.C.
20402.
G "CHICKEN TRIAL": The six mem-
bers of the New Jersey Supreme Court
have upheld last year's lower court
ruling endorsing experimentation on
living animals by high school students.
(Science, 22 April 1966). The test case
involved an East Orange, N.J., high
school boy who injected Rous sarcoma
virus into four live chickens as part
of a cancer research project. After the
two surviving chickens, together with
details of the experiment, were exhib-
ited in a Newark Science Fair, the ex-
periment came to the attention of the
New Jersey Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty so A.iimals. The SPCA
brought the Est Grange Board of Edu-
"W 0038OOO1-2
cation to court, ch:,:ging that for tech-'
nical as well as substantive reasons, the
research violated the state's anticruelty
statutes. Fearing a threat to animal ex-
perimentation in general, the National
Society for Medical Research entered
the case as a code 'endant, and mobi-
lized support from the scientists associ-
ated with the Biological Sciences Cur-
riculum Studies, several of whose
representatives testified at the trial
about the importance to students of
early introduction to work with living
animals. Charles S. Barrett, the county
judge, supported the scientists' case in
all particulars, concluding that the ex-
periment did not involve "unnecessary
cruelty" and had rubstantial educational
value. The SuF?reme Court simply
adopted Barrett's opinion.
o FISH PROTEIN CONCENTRATE:
In order to get a head start on its re-
search on fish protein concentrate, the
Department of the Interior's Bureau of
Commercial Fisheries has been award-
ed a $200,000 grant from the Agency
for International Development (AID).
The funds will go for expansion of the
Beltsville, Md., pilot plant for food
technology studies, and for predesign
engineering on a new plant. The bu-
reau expects to receive its own funds
for expansion of its pilot plants in its
1968 budget which takes effect 1 July,
but the AID grant will enable it to
begin the work immediately.
0 STONY BROOK APPOINTS OM-
BUDSMEN: The faculty, staff, and
student body at the State University of
New York, Stony Brook, now have
three special emissaries to listen to their
complaints and suggestions, investigate
them if they are worthy, and possibly
bring them to the attention of the
University president. In response to a
suggestion at a recent faculty meeting,
President John S. Toll appointed three
ombudsmen. The position, which origi-
nated in Sweden, traditionally has no
specific administrative responsibility,
but broad independent authority to in-
vestigate problems brought out by mem-
bers of the community. The Stony
Brook ombudsmen are Homer Gold-
berg, English department, and Theo-
dore Goldfarb, chemistry department,
for the entire University, and Robert
Weinberg, physics department, for the
residential colleges.
ao1
Reieas - 8u001-2-~~