The I. I.E. held regular meetings in 1912, in Freiburg (Germany), and in 

 1914, in Cambridge (England). Then the first world war broke out, and in 

 1915 Prof. Hubrecht died, followed shortly afterwards by Prof. Assheton. 



This would certainly have been the end of the I. I.E., had not the relatives 

 of Prof. Hubrecht, in co-operation with the Royal Netherlands Academy 

 of Sciences and Letters, established the Hubrecht Foundation in 1916, and 

 founded the Hubrecht Laboratory with the purpose that is was to be the first 

 of the international centres circumscribed in the statutes of the I. I.E. This 

 centre was established in memory of Prof. Hubrecht, and with the aim 

 of continuing his pioneer work. It should also accomodate the unique 

 collection of microscopical slides and alcohol-preserved material brought 

 together by Prof. Hubrecht himself, and extended by Prof. A. Dohrn 

 and some of the other members of the I. I.E. The Laboratory and collection 

 were housed in the former official residence of the Hubrecht family in 

 Utrecht, and placed under the supervision of the Royal Netherlands Academy 

 of Sciences and Letters; Dr. D. de Lange, a former pupil of Prof. Hubrecht, 

 was appointed as its first director in 1917. 



During the years of war, and the first decade after peace had returned, the 

 scientific activity of the Hubrecht Laboratory was the only remaining 

 symptom of the existence of the I.I.E. Any further activity was prevented by 

 the international, economical and political situation. Not before the year 

 1930 was a new initiative taken. At the third international Anatomical Con- 

 gress in Amsterdam, on August 6, 1930, the Dutch members J. Boeke and 

 J. W. van Wijhe brought together all the members of the I.I.E. present 

 in Amsterdam on that occasion. This led to the nomination of twenty odd 

 new members and the appointment of a provisional committee, consisting of 

 J. Boeke and the newly nominated members H. F. Nierstrasz and D. de 

 Lange, who prepared a revision of the old statutes of the I.I.E. 



Although experimental analysis had already found its way into the study of 

 animal development by the end of the last century through the pioneer 

 work of W. Roux and others, and was already achieving success in the 

 beginning of this century in the work of H. Spemann, R. G. Harrison 

 and A. Brachet and their schools, is was not until August 1930 that a 

 number of experimental embryologists were nominated as members of the 

 I.I.E., and not until September 1933 that the I.I.E. gave experimental embry- 

 ology a modest place beside the descriptive and comparative branches in its 

 revised statutes, which were adopted in that year at its fifth regular session 

 in Utrecht. With the revision of the statutes the number of active members 

 was increased from 40 to 50. Moreover, an emeritus membership was insti- 

 tuted, going into effect with the age of 70. 



After its revival the I.I.E. still retained the character of a private, interna- 

 tional club of distinguished embryologists, with a strictly limited number of 

 members. It continued its administrative and scientific activities by the organi- 

 sation of regular sessions: one in 1936, in Turin, and one in 1938, in London. 

 However, normal activities could only be carried on for a period of about 

 half a dozen years, after which threatening thunderclouds appeared again on 

 the international political horizon. The outbreak of the second world war led 

 once more to an interruption of several years in the international activities of 

 the I.I.E.; the scientific work at the Hubrecht Laboratory remaining once 



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