Abstract
INTERNATIONAL congresses of a general scientific character, like the British Association, have been held in various countries for about a century, but international meetings, limited to a particular branch of science, present greater difficulties, and are of more recent date. The disruptive effect of the Franco-Prussian war was long felt, and the meetings of physiologists, started on the initiative of Michael Foster thirty-five years ago, were at first anxiously confined to the smaller countries, like Switzerland and Belgium. In 1898 a Physiological Congress met at Cambridge, but no meeting took place in Germany until that at Heidelberg in 1907. After Vienna in 1910 and Groningen in 1913, Paris was chosen as the next meeting-place, but the regular succession was broken by the War. The Paris congress was indeed held in 1020, but some nations, who have contributed much to physiology, were not represented. As Prof. J. E. Johansson said in an impressive speech at the closing meeting of the congress held at Edinburgh on July 23–27, many will feel grateful to its president, Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer, for the return to an earlier tradition. It was, indeed, the truly international character of the Edinburgh meeting which contributed largely to its success. For successful it certainly was, both as regards scientific interest and personal relationships. Some twenty nationalities were represented, doubtless a record for physiologists and for Scotland, if not for Britain. The membership of 460 exceeded that of the very successful Groningen meeting (if ladies, not engaged in physiological studies, be deducted).
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The Eleventh International Physiological Congress. Nature 112, 342–343 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/112342a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/112342a0