304 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECORD. 



them that of agriculture. It constituted the first assemblage in the 

 name of science to be held in North America by representatives of 

 the republics of the Western Hemisphere, thus bringing into closer 

 relations and acquaintanceship a body of scientific workers with 

 many interests in common but hitherto relatively strangers. The 

 wide range of topics embraced in the two weeks' program served to 

 reveal in a comprehensive manner tlie substantial progress which the 

 Pan American nations have been making along many scientific lines, 

 as well as to indicate some ways in which these countries may col- 

 lectively advance scientific progress in several directions in which 

 their interests are mutual. 



The official nature of the congress constituted one of its distin- 

 guishing features, and attested the realization by the governments 

 of the participating nations of the importance of fostering scientific 

 work. xVppropriations aggregating $85,000 were made by the United 

 States for the expenses of the congress, and the invitations to the 

 Pan American nations to send delegates were extended by the Sec- 

 retary of State. Membership in the congress included official dele- 

 gates and also representatives of universities, societies, and various 

 scientific bodies. The list of institutions and societies in this country 

 appointing delegates was a long one, and included this Department, 

 the United States Bureau of Education, many of the agricultural 

 colleges, and a considerable number of societies immediately asso- 

 ciated with agricultural science. Delegates from the entire twenty- 

 one Pan American nations eligible were in attendance, and with the 

 unofficial delegates made up an aggregate membership of several 

 hundred persons. 



The congress was organized into nine sections, most of which were 

 further extensively subdivided. None of these sections was devoted 

 exclusively to agricultural science, but Section III on the conservation 

 of natural resources included subsections on the conservation of the 

 animal and plant industry and forests, irrigation, and the marketing 

 and distribution of agricultural products. Agricultural education 

 constituted a subsection of Section IV, Education, and meteorology 

 and seismology a subsection of Section II, with considerable atten- 

 tion to agricultural meteorology. In Section V, Engineering, papers 

 were presented on such branches as the engineering features of irri- 

 gation and drainage, highway engineering, farm implements and 

 machinery, and sewage disposal ; and in Section VII, under economic 

 geology and applied chemistry, the topics dealt with included the 

 conservation and handling of the nitrate and phosphate resources, 

 the preservation of foods, and chemical problems related to rubber 

 and the utilization of pine forest products. Section VIII, Public 

 Health and Medical Science, included discussions of insect-borne dis- 



