140 FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 



the fourth proposition, that of a Pan American Intellectual Union in 

 which the others could be merged, was proposed by the following three 

 official delegates, acting in their private capacity: Messrs. ERNESTO 

 QUESADA, of Argentina; ALEJANDRO ALVAREZ, of Chile; and JAMES 

 BROWN SCOTT, of the United States. 



It will be observed that the recommendation was not an ordinary but a 

 special recommendation on the part of the Congress to establish an Intel- 

 lectual Pan American Union to bring and to bind the various associa- 

 tions of different character into a single continental union. It was felt 

 that it was unwise to enter into the details of the proposed union, as they 

 would naturally be many and varied as well as complicated, and that they 

 could only be worked out satisfactorily after the acceptance of the prin- 

 ciple. The projects themselves must be examined in order to under- 

 stand their nature and importance, and the Congress in its recommenda- 

 tion directed that they be embodied in the records so as to permit of easy 

 reference and consultation. Therefore, the first three projects referred to 

 above here follow in full : 



i. PROJECT FOR THE CREATION OF A PAN AMERICAN UNI- 

 VERSITY UNION. 



The Chairmen of the Argentine, Brazilian, and Chilean Delegations 

 submit for the approbation of the Congress a project for an inter- American 

 University Union, destined to complete, in the intellectual field, the work 

 initiated by the present Pan American Union in the political field. 



The reasons underlying this project are briefly stated as follows: 



The great European war is the most transcendental event recorded in the 

 history of mankind. 



If the great social upheavals, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic 

 wars and the emancipation of the countries of the New World produced 

 profound modifications in the political, economic, and social organization 

 of the States and in intellectual life, even greater changes are already 

 making themselves felt in all those fields of activity. 



A new period has begun in the history of civilization, characterized by a 

 series of problems of every kind, universal as well as American. 



On the other hand, and in the purely intellectual domain, the develop- 

 ment of the sciences during the course of the last century has made it con- 

 vincingly apparent that many doctrines should be perfected, recast, or 

 abandoned, to give way to new ideas more in harmony with the social con- 

 ditions now being established. The political and social sciences above all 

 should be the object of most exhaustive studies and these should be sub- 

 mitted to rigorous criticism and scrutiny by methods appropriate to the 

 object pursued. 



In order to achieve any degree of success in opportunities of study and 

 investigation now offered to men of science in the present epoch, the com- 

 bined force of all of them is necessary, free from preconceived convictions, 



