NOT FOR PUBLICATION 
 
 
 
                                  MEMORANDUM 
 
 
         About 3000 scientists, the world over, have devoted part of their
ener- 
gies to the study of rhythmic fluctuation. Usually these studies have been
merely 
incidental to their main field of interest. Thus, a mammalogist, interest
in mink, 
let us say, or in game preservation, might write a paper on the rhythmic
cycles 
in the abundance of wild life; a geologist might notice that every so many
years 
thicker layers of sedimentary rock were deposited; an economist might observe
a 
tendency for the ups and downs of prices or production also to come at reasonably

regular time intervals. All in all, workers in about thirty-six different
branches 
of natural and social science have concerned themselves with rhythm. 
 
         One reason for their interest is a very practical one. When we have

regularity we have predictability. If mice, for example, tend to be much
more 
numerous at four year intervals, as they are in Eastern United States, mous

plagues can be forecast and preventive measures can be taken by the farmers
and 
others concerned. If grouse tend to die out at six year intervals, as they
do 
in Scotland, game conservation measures can be taken in advance of the decline;

conversely, unlimited shooting can be permitted at times of abundance. And
if 
any of the ups and downs of business tend to come at reasonably regular time

intervals, a knowledge of this fact can be used to help stabilize the business

cycles. 
 
         A second reason for the interest of scientists in rhythmic fluctuation

is the challenge posed by behavior of this sort. Why do things behave this
way? 
At present in most instances, no one knows. And unsolved mysteries are one
of 
the forces that drive scientists forward. 
 
         The third reason for scientific interest in rhythm is the hope that
the 
rhythms themselves may help provide the answer to the very questions they
pose. 
For example, if Canadian lynx have a cycle of abundance of 9 2/3 years, as
they 
do, it may throw light on the cause of this cycle when Professor Huntington
of 
Yale discovers a 9 2/3 year cycle in the abundance of ozone, with peaks and
val- 
leys in the abundance of ozone coming a little ahead of corresponding peaks
and 
valleys in the abundance of lynx. Perhaps excess of ozone in the air causes
in- 
crease in the reproductivity of the lynx. Or perhaps both ozone abundance
and 
the reproductivity of lynx are influenced by some third factor. 
 
         As yet no one knows the answer, but an interchange of knowledge
of cycle 
length and cycle timi-g gives hints which can be obtained in no other way---

hints which, when run down and verified, should throw a great deal of light
on 
the problems of many aspects of science. These hints could never arise out
of 
the work of any one discipline. These hints can logically be expected to
come 
only from a central clearing house, which keeps track of cyclic research
every- 
where and itself conducts research into rhythmic behavior where such research
is 
necessary to fill in the gaps. 
 
         It was the need for such a clearing house and such cycle research
that 
lay behind the creation, in 1940, of the Fqdgatio     _f or th- t     cycles---

a non profit scientific and educational institution located at Riverside,

Connecticut. 
                                        -1-