Following a visit to the U.S.A. by the Society’s Foreign Secretary JL (then Professor E. D. Adrian) an invitation was received in October 1950 from Dr D. W. Bronk, For.Mem.R.S., President of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., suggesting I should visit Washington and spend some time meeting the staff of the Academy and the National Research Council and give an address on the Royal Society and its relationship to science in the State. The Officers and Council kindly agreed to my acceptance of the invitation and to my suggestion that I should also visit the Canadian National Research Council headquarters at Ottawa. In February 1951 Dr E. W. R. Steacie, F.R.S., Scientific Vice-President of the National Research Council of Canada wrote on behalf of the President, Dr C. J. Mackenzie, F.R.S., inviting me to extend my visit to include most of the universities of Canada where scientific work is being carried out. This further generous invitation was accepted with the warm approval of the Officers and Council and I planned to make the visit to North America in September and October 1951. I made preparations for the visit by acquainting myself with written accounts of scientific organizations, both in the U.S.A. and Canada. In this connexion I found the report of a Royal Commission on the cultural life of Canada a most valuable and interesting document. This Report of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences 1949-1951 is colloquially known as The Massey Report after the name of the Chairman of the Commission.
Merck Fellowships of the Canadian National Research Council