FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 55 



Archaeological research, which had an important place in the delibera- 

 tions of the Section, serves to carry backward into the past the story of 

 the known peoples and to supplement this by the almost endless perspec- 

 tive of prehistory. These researches make clear the course of human prog- 

 ress from the first weak and halting step in the manual arts to the build- 

 ing of temples, the invention of the calendar, and' the inception of pho- 

 netic writing the latter the stepping stone to the state known as civili- 

 zation. Archaeology has to solve also the problems of chronology, to 

 determine the place of the race in the geological scale, and in the ordinary 

 scale of time. The solutions await, however, prolonged and profound 

 studies which involve also the sciences of geology, biology, climatology, 

 geography, and even astronomy, for man's career in the world has inti- 

 mate relations with all of these. 



It is believed that the time has now arrived when the many miscon-. 

 ceptions regarding the scope and significance of anthropological science 

 the science of human history must disappear and the importance of its 

 position in the hierarchy of sciences will be fully recognized. The Second 

 Pan American Scientific Congress has had a goodly share in the promotion 

 of this great end. 



ARTICLE 3. The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends 

 that the American Republics undertake as soon as practicable 



(a) Accurate, geodetic measurements which may serve to determine 

 limits, national and international, and to contribute to the 

 discovery of the true shape of our planet; 



(6) Magnetic measurements of their respective areas, and the estab- 

 lishment of several permanent magnetic observatories in which 

 it may be possible to carry on during long periods of time 

 observations concerning the secular variation of the magnetic 

 elements of the earth ; 



(c) To extend their gravimetric measures, obtained by means of 

 the pendulum, to those regions where such measurements 

 have not been undertaken, in order to obtain more informa- 

 tion to determine the true shape of the surface and the dis- 

 tribution of the terrestrial mass. 



The program of Section II, devoted to problems of astronomy, geodesy, 

 meteorology, and seismology, was planned to include topics of" general 

 international interest and importance, and in particular topics of Pan 

 American interest. Among these attention and discussion were concen- 

 trated upon the subject matter of the recommendations of the Congress 



