Canadian raps Yank for slander on Soviet delegates at physiology meet MONTREAL A USS. delegate’s attempt to inject cold war politics into the 19th International Physiology Congress here last week was roundly condemn- ed by Canada’s Dr. Charles H. Best, president of the congress and the members of the local organizing committee. An official apology to the 10-man Oviet delegation was issued by the organization. W. Horsley Gantt of the U.S., who studied in the Soviet Union under the late Professor’ Pavlov and who handles publication of Soviet medical books in the U.S., gave an interview to a Montreal newspaper in which he accused the Soviet Union of using Pavlov’s developments in conditioned reflexes to force U.S. POW’s in Korea to accept Communist philosophy. The charge was not only denied by the Soviet delegation, but at the conclusion of the conference, a formal statement was issued by Dr. Best which dissociated the congress eee DY Ep ey METAL FRATERNAL GREETINGS FROM VANCOUVER DISTRICT & CHEMICAL WORKERS’ UNION - LOCAL No. 289 4 CLL Y MMM My) = SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 — 6 P.M. Yee 55 PENDER STREET EAST Sy . : iim «emt tt LL BANQUET CELEBRATION 4th ANNIVERSARY PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA Bamboo Terrace VANCOUVER, B.C. Admission $3.00 each im Tickets at Pacific Tribune Office, Suite 6 - 426 Main St. Te aaa | ya MRR _| facilities. Oil companies holds Burnaby waterfront BURNABY, B.C. With work now in progress on Standard Oil’s new property east of Confederation Park, oil com- panies now occupy or hold all Bur- naby’s Burrard Inlet waterfront- age from Willingdon Avenue east to Westridge. where the new Trans Mountain dock is nearing completion and Shell Oil jis en- gaged in an expansion program (below). Only exceptions are Con- federation Park (see map above) and the small beach at Barnet won for public use by popular de- many on the council. The Standard Oil development was forced to a plebiscite by pub- lic opposition in North Burnaby, alarmed by Burnaby council’s in- adequate parks policy and_ its money-grubbing failure to prov- ide adequate public waterfront Standard Oil obtained a favorable vote but was com- pelled to agree to link its prop- erties either side of Confedera- tion Park by an underground pipe- line instead of the above-ground line originally planned. “from the opinion attributed to a member of the congress in a sec- tion of the press.” The statement said the congress “deeply regrets any embarrass- ment that may have been caused to Soviet members of the congress by the articles referred to.” It was co-signed by F. C. McIntosh of McGill and Dr. Eugene Robil- lard, University of Montreal. It was the only-untoward inci- dent at the congress in which 2,200 delegates, including many Canadians, took part. Dr. Best, co-discoverer of in- sulin with the late Sir Frederick Banting, was honored by being chosen not only to head the con- ference throughout, but to be president of the new organiza- tion established here, the Inter- national Union of Physiological Sciences. This body replaces the permanent committee of the congress which has been in exist- ence since 1887 with headquart- ers at Basle, Switzerland. A com- mittee of 11 was set up, includ- ing the leader of the Soviet delegation, Dr. C. M. Bykov. Another Canadian scientist who won considerable attention at the congress was Dr. R. A. Waud of the University of Western On- tario, who demonstrated an ad- vanced design of a mechanical heart which he declares may soon be used to provide patients with a mechanical heart and lung beat while damaged parts are being re- paired under surgery. : Dr. Harold N. Segall, Montreal heart specialist, stirred wide inter- est with his .paper on diagnoses of heart problems. Several other Canadians presented papers on various subjects. ; Dr. Bykov, of the Pavlov Insti- tute of Leningrad, read a paper on the experiments of the great scientist Professor Ivan Pavlov, whose work had been lauded years ago by .Dr. Banting. Dr. Bykov said that Soviet science, ‘‘in concert with capable and talented investigators throughout the world” will dis- couver the laws which eventually Labor briefs Street Railwaymen hold parley in city More than 600 delegates from bus and tram drivers unions across Canada and the United States will attend the Street Railwaymen’s in- ternational convention opening in Hotel Vancouver here this coming Monday. * xk * Steelworkers opened their new $40,000 hall at 33 East Broadway on Labor Day. An unexpected visitor was Labor Minister Lyle | Wicks. * ok * A new government order which bars radios in post offices is being protested by Vancouver postmen. Union membership in British Columbia has increased from 170,- 036 to 174,894 in the last year. * * * Vancouver Labor Council (CCL) this week went on record con- demning Canadian Pacific Rail- ways and BCElectric for buying a ferry and transmission towers from foreign countries ‘“‘as these ships and towers could be built in existing plants in Greater Van- couver by local labor skilled in these lines.” * * * : The British Empire Games stad- ium may be the site of a Labor Day sports meet next year. will lead science to understand the laws of thought and behavior. “This,” he said in his 9,000 word paper, “will mean that we are gaining the highest blessing — that of knowing ourselves.” Dr. Bykov defended Pavlov’s theories against the attacks of “some Western physiologists who have failed to understand him.” He said the approach of many Western investigators, including American, to the question of psy- chical processes ‘‘is permeated with ideological survivals of dual- ism.” Ideas about something un- conscious, deep-seated, guiding the inclinations and behavior of. hu- mans, as preached by Freud and others, have led physiologists into “reactionary and mystical ideas about psychical processes.” He dealt with new experiments in the field Dr. Pavlov pioneered, condi- tioned and unconditioned reflexes. The Soviet delegation brought several color films dealing with this aspect of their work, and these were shown to delegates. Dr. Bykov said Pavlov was to physiology what Copernicus was to cosmogeny, Newton to physics and Darwin to biology. “Pavlov,” he® said, “raised himself above the concepts of Cartesian thought holding sway in the natural sci- ences. He went over to an historic method in natural sciences, ap- proximating the conceptions of dialectical materialism.” The Soviet delegates were popu- lar at the congress. Several of them made a specially-arranged trip to Valleyfield where they were feted by the mayor and after hear- ing some French-Canadian songs, sang some Russian songs in return. At the conclusion of the con- gress, Sir Henry Dale of Britain lauded the delegates for what he termed their ‘“unclouded spirit of international coopera- tion.” More than 700 papers were presented and seven sym- posia held. On behalf of the visiting dele- gations, Dr. R. A. Houssay of Ar- gentina paid tribute to the Can- adian organizers of the congress. He said Canada was now “‘one of the leading countries in original research in physiology.” Dr. Best, who opened the con- gress in six languages—includ- ing Mohawk Indian—said the congress was paying a tribute to Jacques Cartier, the famed French explorer and the first European to sail on the St. Law- rence River. Cartier had written some learned material on scurvy, which had afflicted his men and had made use of an Indian cure, an herb drink from the ‘“‘an- neda” or white cedar tree. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Best saw a bright future for phy- siology, but added: “The limita- tions in many countries will be financial in nature.” Where this limitation was least, there had been a flow of new talent and rap- id development of new workers. He expressed the “fervent hope that the benefits of the advances of physiology will, in the future, be shared in increasing amounts, by all the people of the world.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 11, 1953 — PAGE 7