News Notes 
The Congress of the Republic of the Philip- 
pines, in a special session, has made funds avail- 
able for expenses in connection with the Eighth 
Pacific Science Congress. The Eighth Congress 
is to be held in Quezon City, The Philippines, 
from November 16 to 28, 1953. Dr. Vidal A. 
Tan is President of the Congress, and Dr. Patro- 
cinio Valenzuela is Secretary-General. (From 
the Pacific Science Association Information Bul- 
letin. ) 
According to Dr. Gilbert Archey, Secretary- 
General of the Seventh Pacific Science Congress, 
the final volume of the Proceedings of the Sev- 
enth Congress is now in the hands of the print- 
ers. All volumes should be issued by February 
or March of 1953. The Meteorology and 
Oceanography volume is being distributed at 
the present time. Enquiries and orders for the 
set of the Proceedings or for the separate vol- 
umes are being handled by the Secretary, Royal 
Society of New Zealand, Victoria University 
College Buildings, Wellington. (From the Pa- 
cific Science Association Information Bulletin.) 
Dr. Alexander Spoehr has been appointed 
Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 
Honolulu, succeeding the late Sir Peter Buck. 
Dr. Spoehr, who is Curator of Oceanic Eth- 
nology at the Chicago Natural History Museum, 
will assume the directorship in January, 1953. 
He is an authority on native kinship and social 
organization, and is recognized as an expert on 
field and museum technique. (From the Pacific 
Science Association Information Bulletin.) 
The South Pacific Commission has appointed 
as its Executive Officer for Economic Develop- 
ment, Dr. A. H. J. Kroon, a Dutch agricultural 
scientist with many years’ experience in agri- 
cultural development in Indonesia. 
In association with Dr. E. M. Ojala, Deputy 
Chairman of the Research Council, Dr. Kroon 
will be responsible for carrying out the Com- 
mission’s projects for fostering the economic 
development of Pacific territories. He will work 
in collaboration with the Executive Officers in 
charge of the two other main fields of Com- 
mission activity — health (Dr. Emile Massal) 
and social development (H. E. Maude). 
From the summer number of the American 
Council of Learned Societies Newsletter we re- 
print, by permission, this delightful poetic 
comment by Kit Berry: 
O SYLLABUS, O SYLLABI 
Servitude Scholastica Grandifiora 
"The Oxford don, with brow so high, 
Pronounces it gladioli’ ”, 
And Cambridge, Mass., aspiring higher. 
Builds Babel’s tower the heavens nigher. 
O syllabus, O syllabi. 
O octopus, O octopi. 
The antique hybrids still appear, 
With Grecian front and Latin rear, 
Embodied in our English tongue 
By no true graft, but stiffly hung, 
Mere fossils from an ancient lore. 
Which learning with less effort wore, 
And, when it grafted, grafted true. 
And made a hybrid live and new. 
O syllabus, O syllabi. 
O omnibus, O omnibi? ? 
Yet it has been said by a liberal scholar that 
"Culture is forgotten learning,” and by a 
prophet that "The letter killeth, but the spirit 
giveth life.” 
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