International Congresses 291 



e.g., the mathematical congresses. As historians are primarily interested in the 

 existence of congresses and their sequence, and only secondarily in their official enu- 

 meration, an effort has been made to give a list of the congresses without bothering 

 about the different methods of enumerating them. 



As most international congresses of science and learning devote some attention 

 to the history of their own disciphne, we publish here a fist of the most important. 

 Even when an international congress, say, of chemistry, did not include a special 

 historical section, its publications are still valuable for the historian of chemistry, 

 for they reveal the intellectual climate obtaining at the time of its meeting. Presi- 

 dential and other general addresses are often reminiscent, retrospective, and in vari- 

 ous degrees historical and philosophical. An examination of the archives of a series 

 of international congresses of a definite science or disciphne, enables one to under- 

 stand better the evolution of that science or discipline, its development into more 

 and more branches, or on the contrary its unification under a new synthetic point 

 of view. Of course, the international congresses enable one to measure the progress 

 of international cooperation and integration. It is of great interest also for historians 

 to know which were at this or that date the central or leading problems. The pro- 

 ceedings of the international congresses help to answer such questions. 



The periodic meeting of international congresses of any kind implies the existence 

 of a central office preserving the continuity of the meetings within a definite ( though 

 changeable ) frame, implementing the decisions and wishes of each congress and pre- 

 paring carefully the defiberations of the next one. Sometimes, international con- 

 gresses have been organized "hors serie," "^ outside of the frame already provided 

 for them; such irregularities, which may be due to national, regional or linguistic 

 vindications or to jealousies between various groups or schools, should be deprecated. 

 If the creation of a new discipline requires the organization of a congress ad hoc, 

 one should give the new congress a name sufficiently different from other names 

 already in use in order to prevent ambiguities or confusions. 



Some of the congresses had too broad a scope to be truly useful, that was the 

 case for the Congress of arts and sciences of St. Louis (1904) and for congresses 

 organized to celebrate the centenary of universities. "Qui trop embrasse mal 

 etreint." On the other hand, many congresses have too narrow a scope to be of 

 interest to others than the specialists taking part in them. However important they 

 may be within their own sector, the historian of science and the philosopher cannot 

 be expected to study their publications. Moreover, such very special congresses"^ 

 are far too numerous to be enumerated here. 



Irrespective of their scope or even of their subject some international congresses 

 have been far more successful than others, while other congresses have failed to 

 establish themselves. The miscarriages were generally due to bad organization, or 

 to jealousies or at least lack of cooperation between the leaders. Success was 

 generally due to the personal qualities of skilful organizers, as well as to the relative 

 popularity of certain disciplines. 



It is noteworthy tliat the longest traditions (in number of meetings) were built 

 by the Americanists (29 congresses, 1875-1949), the Botanists (28 congresses 

 1864-1954), the Orientalists (21 congresses 1873-1948). Then follow the Chem- 

 ists (20 congresses, 1860-93, 1894-1938), the Prehistorians (18 congresses, 1866- 

 1939), the Geologists (18 congresses, 1878-1948), the Physicians (17 congresses, 

 1867-1913), the Physiologists (18 congresses, 1889-1950), the Architects (16 con- 

 gresses, 1867-1949), the Geographers (16 congresses 1871-1949), the Historians of 

 art (15 congresses 1873-1939), the Ophthalmologists (16 congresses, 1857-1950), 

 the Veterinarians (14 congresses, 1863-1949), the Historians of medicine (13 con- 

 gresses, 1920-50), the Surgeons (13 congresses, 1905-49), the Psychologists (12 

 congresses, 1889-1940), the Zoologists (12 congresses, 1889-1935), the Pharma- 

 cists (12 congresses 1865-1935), tlie Mathematicians (11 congresses, 1897-1950). 



"^ For example, see congresses of the history of religion and congresses of philosophy, below. 



1^2 E.g., many medical congresses dealing with special problems or diseases, such as gout, 

 blood transfusion, cancer, brucellosis, etc. Of cotirse, the historian of each of those problems 

 or diseases will have to consult the publications of those special congresses, but he will be led 

 to that natiu-ally without need of our help. 



