FEBRUARY 23, 1912] 
practical tasks of the first magnitude, tasks 
which only a world organization could suc- 
cessfully undertake. Among them may be 
mentioned the publication of a complete edi- 
tion of the works of Leibnitz, an encyclopedia 
of Islam, a critical edition of the Mahab- 
harata, an annual publication of physical and 
chemical constants, the measurement of an 
are of the thirtieth meridian, the organization 
of a central committee for the study of the 
brain and the development of the work of the 
Institut Marey and the laboratories on Mont 
Rose. 
The International Association of Academies 
still lacks, however, a permanent home and an 
opportunity for correlating its efforts with 
those of similar organizations dealing with re- 
lated work in various branches of applied sci- 
ence and art. This is the dream of the Foun- 
dation for the Promotion of Internationalism, 
a series of such strong international bodies 
representing the most important fields of in- 
tellectual endeavor, all with permanent 
bureaus at the Hague, and all working to- 
gether on definitely correlated lines for the 
organization of human effort. 
This is not merely a dream. Two such 
bureaus are already well under way and a 
third has just come into existence. The 
Bureau de la Commission permanente des 
Congres internationaux de Medecine was es- 
tablished at the 16th International Congress of 
Medicine at Budapest in 1909. Its functions 
include the general planning of congresses and 
the arbitration of disputed points, the desig- 
nation of place of meeting, standards for mem- 
bership, official languages, number and scope 
of sections and number of papers presented, 
serutiny of the votes passed by sections, cor- 
respondence with other international con- 
gresses and societies in order to avoid conflict, 
the promotion of the study of medical ques- 
tions requiring international cooperation and 
the institution of commissions for such pur- 
poses. At the Brussels meeting of the Inter- 
national Congress of Pharmacy in 1910, a 
similar organization was effected in the shape 
of a Bureau permanent de la Federation in- 
ternationale de Pharmacie, also with offices at 
SCIENCE 
295 
the Hague. The objects of this international 
federation are fully and definitely outlined 
and include the collection and dissemination 
of data in regard to scientific and practical 
pharmacy, the promotion of uniformity in edu- 
cational requirements for pharmacists, the 
study and dissemination of information in re- 
gard to laws relating to pharmacy, the organi- 
zation of international pharmaceutical con- 
gresses, collaboration with other international 
societies and many more. The third perma- 
nent international bureau at the Hague has 
just been established in the form of a Bureau 
permanent de J’Institut international de 
Statistique. 
The Foundation for the Promotion of In- 
ternationalism, which was an active agent in 
the creation of these three bureaus, is 
anxious to continue its admirable work by the 
development of similar permanent organiza- 
tions in related fields. Dr. Eijkman, its di- 
rector, is at present in America with a view 
to arousing interest in three such undertak- 
ings which seem of immediate practical im- 
portance. The first of these is a permanent 
international bureau for pure science and let- 
ters which would seem to be a natural develop- 
ment of the International Association of 
Academies and might properly be undertaken 
under its auspices. The second is a similar 
bureau for hygiene (public health would be a 
far better term, but the word hygiene is prob- 
ably too firmly entrenched in European par- 
lance to be dislodged). Public health has far 
outgrown the bounds of medicine, since it in- 
cludes specialists in engineering, biology, bac- 
teriology, chemistry and statistics, as well as 
in medical science; and the Permanent Com- 
mission of International Medical Congresses 
at its first meeting in London endorsed the 
plan for a bureau of hygiene at the Hague. 
No field of scientific effort has more manifold 
‘international relations than public health and 
it is to be hoped that the International Con- 
gress of Hygiene and Demography may take 
definite steps toward this end at its meet- 
ing in Washington next fall. Finally, the 
Foundation for Internationalism hopes to se- 
cure the establishment of a third new bureau 
