committee provided a pre-sessional programme which gave us our first taste of American hospitality and of American scientific and cultural organisations. Our opening function was a luncheon at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. This was the first of the delightful informal gatherings at which, while catering largely for our bodily needs, our hosts supplied rich intellectual fare and gave us eagerly accepted opportunities to make those friendships which mean so much to us all. Next came a luncheon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it was followed by our first visit, as a group, to an American university; we had dinner at the Faculty Club of Columbia University, meeting there the President and members of the Faculty. Next day we were entertained at the American Museum of Natural History. In each place there was the friendly welcome from colleagues, known or unknown, which was to be such a heartwarming feature throughout our visit to the United States. This series of stimulating personal contacts would alone be sufficient justification for our visit.

It is impossible to give details of impressions and reactions; one example must serve to illustrate. In the American Museum of Natural History, I had an experience almost overwhelming in its emotional intensity. I came face to face, in the flesh, so to speak, with Tyrannosaurus rex, with Triceratops, with “The Dinosaur Eggs,” and with similar things about which I had talked to students for twenty years.