SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE

Delegates:

(London, England, May 12–16, 1936)

Richard Kovacs, M.D., Clinical Professor of Physical Therapy, Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital, New York, New York; William F. McFee, M.D., Boston, Massachusetts;

H. A. Spencer, of Pennsylvania, Senior Surgeon, United States Public Health Service, London.

Seventeen countries were represented at the Congress by 200 delegates. The Congress was divided into the following sections: (1) Physical education;

(2) Kinesitherapy;

(3) Hydrotherapy and climatotherapy;

(4) Electrotherapy;
(5) Actinotherapy;

(6) Radiotherapy.

Eighty-one scientific papers were read before these sections. A number of resolutions were adopted, the Congress expressing its view that physical medicine should have a place equal to surgery and pharmacology in university teaching; that it should be a compulsory branch of teaching during at least two semesters and an independent subject of examination; that it should be given by an independent professor who must be provided with the necessary material and personnel, and also with patients; and that there should be university institutes of physical therapy, organized in the form of clinics and open to members of the local medical profession and visiting doctors. A complete report of the activities and results of the Congress will be published at a later date and will be obtainable from Dr. Albert Eidinow, General Secretary of the Congress of Physical Medicine, 4 Upper Wimpole Street, London, W. 1.

A committee was appointed to take a referendum on the place and date of the next meeting. The report of this committee has not yet been made.

TWENTY-FIRST SESSION OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS

(Geneva, Switzerland, May 18-June 5, 1936) Representative in an Expert and Advisory Capacity: Stuart J. Fuller, of Wisconsin, Assistant Chief, Division of Far Eastern Affairs, Department of State.

(Also attended the sessions of the Subcommittee on Seizures and Illicit Traffic, May 11-16, 1936.)

Ways and means of suppressing the illicit traffic received consideration, and a detailed survey of the world's illicit traffic in narcotic drugs in 1935 was prepared for publication. The Committee declared itself in disagreement with a statement made by the chairman of the Permanent Central Opium Board that "the present system of fighting the illicit traffic has broken down entirely", expressed an opposite opinion, and presented facts to support this stand. The question of surveillance over ships while in port was discussed and certain recommendations were made in regard thereto. The question of illicit traffic from China and Japan to North America, Egypt, and Europe was the subject of extended study. The subject of clandestine manufacture of narcotic drugs was discussed, as well as the vast extent of that manufacture in China as shown by imports to that country of acid acetic anhydrid.

The opium and drug situation in China was given extended consideration. The Committee recommended that the question of the practicability of drafting a convention for limiting production of coca leaves be considered separately from the similar question in respect of raw opium. The discussion showed that, in general, neither the opium-producing nor the coca-producing countries are yet ready to take up the question of limiting the production of raw materials. The world situation with respect to production of raw opium was discussed in considerable detail. The discussion of the world situation with respect to manufactured drugs showed that the quantities of heroin and of cocain legally manufactured in 1934 came increasingly near to medical and scientific needs, but that the quantities of morphin produced in 1934 for use as such were less than the total medical and scientific needs therefor. The American representative warned against the dangerous properties of dihydrodesoxymorphin-D, and the Committee is considering a recommendation that its manufacture be prohibited throughout the world. The Committee found that the work of special investigation in regard to cannabis is progressing.

The Committee decided to hold no autumn session in 1936, leaving the question of autumn sessions in future to be decided at the spring session in 1937. The Committee's Rules of Procedure were amended to conform to the general rules for League committees. The Secretariat of the League of Nations announced that it had finally succeeded in making arrangements to conduct the distribution to governments of laws, of annual reports, and of seizure reports prescribed by the Narcotics Limitation Convention which went into effect in July 1933 (48 Stat. (pt. 2) 1543).

TWELFTH MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
POLICE COMMISSION

(Belgrade, Yugoslavia, May 25-31, 1936)

Representative: John L. Calnan, of Massachusetts, Vice Consul, American Consulate, Belgrade.

Seventy delegates representing the following countries attended the meeting: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America, and Uruguay.

The principal subjects discussed at the meeting were:

(1) Report on the work performed by the International Criminal Police Commission during the period from April 1, 1935 to March 31, 1936;

(2) Prostitution;

(3) Traffic in women and children;

(4) Repressive and preventive measures against crime or conduct indicating criminal designs;

(5) International circulation of fingerprints and photographs of international criminals;

(6) Uniform arrangement of police gazettes;

(7) Introduction of wireless transmittances of fingerprint formulae;

(8) Change of the Bertillon "portrait parlé" system for a more modified one;

(9) Suppression of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs;

(10) Revision of measures for the suppression of counterfeiting stocks and coupons.

Seventeen resolutions relating to various phases of crime were passed, all of which are to be acted upon at the next meeting, which I will be held at London after 1937.

Persons wishing to obtain information concerning the resolutions and more detailed information concerning the meeting may apply to the International Criminal Police Commission, Vienna, Austria.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS FOR THE PROTECTION OF
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

(Berlin, Germany, June 1–6, 1936)

Delegate: John A. Dienner, Chicago, Illinois.

The Congress, which was the biennial meeting of representatives of the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property, was attended by official delegates from 17 countries. The number of persons registered to take part in the activities of the Congress was 798. Many of these participants represented various national groups of their respective countries.

The Executive Committee of the International Association divided the work of the Congress among six committees. These committees devoted their attention to items on the agenda. In addition to these working committees there was a Committee of Revision, which put into final form the resolutions of the Congress.

The agenda of the Congress and the texts of the resolutions adopted on the topics comprising the agenda are too lengthy to be included here. They may be obtained from the International Bureau for the Protection of Industrial Property at Bern, Switzerland.

The chief points on which agreement was secured revealed the tendency of the various countries to approach more nearly a uniformity in respect to the main provisions of the national laws and the technical details of printing and issuing patents.

The officials of the Congress urged that countries which have not ratified the Hague convention of 1925 or the London convention of 1934 or which have failed to harmonize their national laws with the aforesaid conventions, should do so at an early date.

The Congress strongly reflected the general viewpoint that patents should be canceled by any country only in the most extreme cases and only when no other remedy for abuses is effective.

There was a general agreement that the life of a patent should be uniformly extended to 20 years, in view of the increased time and expense required to reach commercial development of most inventions.

The Congress accepted the invitation of the Czechoslovak Government to hold its next meeting in Prague in 1938.

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THIRD TRIENNIAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATED COUNTRY WOMEN OF THE WORLD

Delegates:

(Washington, D.C., June 1-7, 1936)

Grace E. Frysinger, of Illinois, Extension Service, Department of Agriculture, Member of the Executive Committee of the Associated Country Women of the World, Chairman for the United States Groups;

Ada Alice Bratton, President, West Virginia Farm Women's Council, Princeton, West Virginia;

Sara Bulette, Director, Country Gentlewoman League, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;

May Miles Colt, President, Kansas Home Demonstration Clubs, Manhattan, Kansas;

Nellie F. Conant, Vice President, Associated Country Women of the World, Dedham, Massachusetts; 1

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Evalyn Gatchell, President, New York State Federation of Home Bureaus, North Rose, New York;

Mattie Harlan Johnson, President, Kentucky Federation of Homemakers, Rockfield, Kentucky;

Mabel Potter Lewis, President, Woman's National Farm and Garden Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;

Mary L. Murdock, President, New England Farm and Garden Association, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts;

Ora G. Roop, President, Virginia Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs, Snowville, Virginia;

Abbie C. Sargent, President, Associated Women of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Manchester, New Hampshire;

Ruth Buxton Sayre, President, National Guild of Master Farm Homemakers, Ackworth, Iowa;

Alice Watts Search, President, Missouri Home Economics Extension Clubs, Seymour, Missouri; 1

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Lucile Needham Stevenson, President, Illinois Federation of Home Bureaus, Streator, Illinois;

Mable Tucker, President, North Carolina Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs, Grimesland, North Carolina;

Pearle H. Williams, President, South Carolina Council of Farm Women, Ninety Six, South Carolina;

Eliza Keates Young, Member of the Executive Committee, Associated Country Women of the World, Milton, New York.

'Did not attend.