CONCLUSION 



Remarks Made at a Dinner in the Hotel Astor, New York, after the 



Conference on The Mechanism of Nerve Activity, Sponsored by 



The New York Academy of Sciences, February 9, 1946. 



By J. F. Fulton 



Sterling Frojessor of Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 



New Haven, Connecticut 



No set speeches have been planned for this evening, since those who 

 arranged the Conference wished to keep our proceedings entirely in- 

 formal. The Committee has asked me to express our most sincere 

 thanks to The New York Academy of Sciences and, particularly, to Mrs. 

 Miner and her gracious assistants, who have done so much, both before 

 and during the Conference, to make it outstandingly successful. 



In this connection, I must also mention the man — and I do this 

 without instructions from the Committee — who originally conceived 

 the idea of having the Conference and who, with Tracy Putnam's ener- 

 getic backing, has been so largely responsible for working out the de- 

 tails. David Nachmansohn came to the United States, in the summer 

 of 1939, under the sponsorship of the Dazian Foundation, and since this 

 is something of a family party, I will, perhaps, be forgiven for telling 

 you a family secret. The Dazian Foundation had wished to sponsor 

 a physiologist from Europe. David Nachmansohn was chosen, and I 

 can only say that American Physiology has been vastly stimulated by 

 his presence in this country. He and his wife have made a solid place 

 for themselves here; and, in the language of George Eliot, David, 

 "through his mild persistence, has urged Man's thoughts to vaster is- 

 sues." 



We feel particularly fortunate in being able to welcome so many dis- 

 tinguished colleagues from abroad, this having been made possible by 

 the vision of the Rockefeller Foundation and of the Commission for 

 Relief in Belgium. Our colleagues from France bring us heartening 

 news of the revival of their laboratories and of their faith in the uni- 

 versal fellowship of scientific men. We are also happy to see Pro- 

 fessor Augusto Pi-Sufier of Barcelona and Caracas, and his son, Dr. 

 Jaime Pi-Sufier. Also, Arturo Rosenblueth from Mexico. In Doctors 

 Hober and Michealis, we have distinguished representatives of the 



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