FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 45 



The desire, it would seem, was not merely to have official and other 

 representatives meet and read papers to their mutual delight and edifica- 

 tion, although the discussion of the topics contained in the program by 

 persons of admitted authority and competence in the matters discussed 

 would no doubt have justified the conference. The indirect results, or 

 what may be called the by-products of a Congress, are something more 

 than the advancement of knowledge, for by an exchange of views its 

 members are brought into close and intimate contact and learn to respect 

 their associates as they never would have learned to respect them had 

 they not come together in a Congress; and as a result of this contact 

 and personal intercourse foundations are laid for friendly and harmo- 

 nious cooperation. The preamble further states the aims and purposes 

 of the Congress to be 



to increase the knowledge of things American, to disseminate and to make 

 the culture of each American country the heritage of all American Repub- 

 lics, to further the advancement of science by disinterested cooperation, to 

 promote industry, inter-American trade and commerce, and to devise the 

 ways and means of mutual helpfulness in these and in other respects. 



Therefore, laying aside the direct scientific and practical results of the 

 Congress and they are valuable in themselves and are destined to render 

 services of no mean order to the Americas as a whole the mere meet- 

 ing of this Congress will be not only of inestimable advantage to the 

 succeeding Congress but it will also be a genuine service to the peoples 

 of the different countries, by strengthening friendly feelings where they 

 exist and by creating them where they do not exist; by laying the founda- 

 tions of good understanding and by inspiring a willingness and inducing 

 a desire to cooperate in advancing not merely science but the good rela- 

 tions of their respective countries. 



Passing now to the organization of the Congress, it should be said that 

 it was in charge of an Executive Committee of twelve citizens of the 

 United States, of which the nucleus was appointed by the First Congress 

 at Santiago and enlarged by members selected by the nucleus. The 

 original members of this committee were : 

 LEo S. ROWE. 

 The Director of the Bureau of the American Republics (Pan 



American Union). 

 The Commissioner of Education of the United States. 



WlIvUAM H. HOLMES. 



GEORGE M. ROMMEL. 



