(Distributed to the Council C. 711. M . 423. 1922. X II. and the Members of th e League.) Geneva, October nth, 1922. League of Nations COMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL CO-OPERATION MINUTES OF TH E FIRST SESSION GENEVA, AUGUST lst-Bth, 1922 MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL CO-OPERATION. M. D. N. B a n n e r j e a , Professor of Political Economy at the University of Calcutta. M. H. B e r g s o n , Hon. Professor of Philosophy at the College de France ; Member of the French Academy and of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Mile. B o n n e v ie , Professor of Zoology at the University of Christiania ; Delegate of Norway to the Assembly of the League of Nations. M. A. de Ca s t r o , Professor of Medicine and Director of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Rio de Janeiro. Mme. Cu r ie -S k l o d o w s k a , Professor of Physics at the University of Paris and Hon. Professor of the University of Warsaw ; Member of the Academy of Medicine at Paris, of the Polish Academy at Cracow, and of the Scientific Society at Warsaw. M. J. D e s t r é e , Former Belgian Minister of Sciences and Arts; Member of the Belgian Academy of French Language and Literature. M. A. E in s t e in , Professor of Physics at the Universities of Berlin and Leyden; Member of the Academy of Science, Berlin, of the Royal Society, London, and of the Royal Academy, Amsterdam. Mr. G. E. H a l e , Director of the Mount Wilson Observatory; Foreign Member of the Royal Society, London ; Foreign Associate of the Institut de France; Member of the Executive Committee of the International Research Council ; Hon. President of the National Research Council of the United States. Mr. G. A. M u r r a y , Professor of Greek Philology at Oxford University; Member of the Council of the British Academy, and Delegate of South Africa to the Assembly of the League of Nations. M. G. de R e y n o l d , Professor of French Literature at the University of Berne. M. F. R u f f in i , Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Turin; former Minister of Public Education; President of the Union of Associa­ tions for the League of Nations; President of the Royal A cadem y at Turin. M. L. d e T o r r e s O u e v e d o , Director of the Laboratorio electro-mechanico at Madrid; Member of the Real Academia de Ciencias ; Member of the Junta para Amplia­ tion de Estudios ; Inspector-General of Roads and Bridges. Substitute for Mr. Hale : Mr. R. A. M il l ik a n , Director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at the Cali­ fornia Institute of Technology; Vice-President of the National Research Council of the United States; Exchange Professor in Belgium. A Iso present : M. I. N it o b e , Under Secretary-General of the League of Nations; Professor at Tokio University (woi king in collaboration with the Committee). M. J. L u c h a ir e , Inspector-General of Public Education in France. M. W. M a r t in , Technical Adviser of the International Labour Office. Secretary : M. O. de H a l e c k i, Professor of History at the University of Warsaw ; Member of the Secretariat of the League of Nations. Recording Secretary : M. A. T o l é d a n o , Member of the Secretariat of the League of Nations. LEAGUE OF NATIONS COMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL CO-OPERATION MINUTES OF THE FIRST SESSION. FIRST MEETING Held on Tuesday, August i st, 1922, at 10 a.m. In the Chair: Dr. N it o b e , succeeded by Professor B e r g s o n . Present : All the members of the Committee except Professor Einstein. 1. Opening Speech of Dr. Nitobe. Dr. N it o b e , o n behalf of the Council, welcomed the members of the Committee and thanked them for h a v in g consented to take part in the important work of intellectual co-operation. He recalled the manner in which the Council, which in this m atter had hitherto confined itself to giving official support to the Union of International Associations at Brussels, had been led, on the invi­ tation of the Assembly, to appoint the present Committee. The members of the Committee were all personalities eminent in the various branches of human knowledge, and their relations with their respective Governments, which they in no way represented, were those of complete independence. The work of the Committee, the scope of which had not been strictly defined, either by the Council or by the Assembly, was to submit to the Assembly a report on the steps to be taken by the League to facilitate intellectual relations between peoples, particularly in respect of the com­ munication of scientific information. In conclusion, Dr. Nitobe invited the Committee to elect a Chairman. 2. Speech of Professor de Reynold. Professor d e R e y n o l d wished, as a native of Switzerland, to convey to the Committee, in a purely personal fashion, a welcome from his country. He recalled the fact that the first meeting of the Committee was being held on the day of the Swiss national fête. He saw in this a happy coincidence and a proof that it was possible to reach a synthesis between the national and the international spirit. Such a synthesis had, in fact, been accomplished in Switzerland. The Swiss people, with no unity of language or race, and with a system of public education which varied in each canton, nevertheless constituted an energetic living nation, and particularly in the intellectual sphere. 3. Election of Chairman. Professor M u r r a y stated that a chairman must possess certain essential qualities. He must have had practice in presiding over an inteinational conference. He must know more than one language, and, lastly, he must be chosen by the members of the conference. While he felt sure that many members of the Committee fulfilled the above conditions, he was convinced that few fulfilled them in such a high degree as Professor Bergson. He therefore proposed that the Committee should elect Professor Bergson as Chairman. Professor R u f f in i seconded Professor Murray’s proposal. Professor Bergson was unanimously and by acclamation elected Chairman. The Ch a ir m a n thanked the Committee for the honour which it had done him in inviting him |° Preside over its work, the object of which was to render such signal services to science and to humanity at large and to fulfil the great hopes entertained of the Committee by the League of Nations. On behalf of his colleagues, he wished to extend a greeting to Switzerland and to the City of eneva, which were to-day celebrating their national fête. He also wished to thank Dr. Nitobe and Professor de Halecki for the careful and devoted spirit in which they had undertaken the preparatory work of the Committee. S'1 n.*S0(F.)+ SS0(A.).H/M. Imp.Knndig. — 4 — 4. Election of Vice-Chairman. Dr. H ale proposed as Vice-Chairman, Professor Murray, who, in addition to his scientific qualifications, had,, as a delegate to the Assembly of the League, interested himself most keenly in the question of intellectual co-operation. Professor Murray was unanimously elected Vice-Chairman. 5. Draft Rules of Procedure. The Ch a ir m a n thought it unnecessary to draw up any very elaborate rules of procedure. There were certain questions, however, which could be settled at once, notably the question of the publicity of meetings. Mme. Curie-Sklodowska considered that the best method would be to leave to the Chairman the task of making statements to the Press on the work of the Committee. No special commu­ niqué should be sent to the papers. Professor R u f f in i supported Mme. Curie-Sklodowska’s proposal. The proposal was unanimously adopted. The Committee then proceeded to examine the draft rules of procedure, article by article. Article i. No observations. Adopted. Article 2. The Ch a ir m a n considered that, if the Committee adopted Article 2 as it stood, it would prejudge at the outset the very important question of its permanence as a Committee. It would perhaps be better to defer until later the solution of this question. Dr. N it o b e explained that Article 2 had been drafted in its present form, because it had not seem ed possible for the Committee to deal in a single session with all the questions submitted to it. Professor M u r r a y agreed, and observed also that, in view of the proximity of the date of the Third Assembly, it was improbable that the Committee would be able to hold another meeting before the Assembly. The Ch a ir m a n thought that Article 2 might be allowed to stand provisionally. On the other hand, he was of opinion that the Committee should meet periodically. If it was understood that the object of the article in question was only to carry out important decisions, he was ready to accept it. Professor de R e y n o l d proposed that such discussion of this question as might be necessary should be postponed to the end of the session.