CONFERENCES: Progressive Chrysanthemums

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Along with the late-blooming asters and chrysanthemums, the end of summer brought a blossoming of learned conferences, all dedicated to the hopeful (and frequently alarming) pursuit of progress: ¶The British Association for the Advancement of Science, in Belfast, was greeted at its 114th session by its previous president, the Duke of Edinburgh. Theme of the conference: "Of what use is science if man does not survive?" Discussion ranged from the number of mouse hairs contained in a pound of flour (there may be as many as 180), to a time-motion study of the Royal Navy (only 15% of British tars shave before noon), to problems of parthenogenesis among humans (verdict: unisexual reproduction, common in insects, is unlikely to be achieved by women, but it would cause a dickens of a problem if it should be). ¶ The Interparliamentary Union, in Bern, Switzerland, attracted 350 junketing parliamentarians from 33 nations, including Senator Estes Kefauver (see PEOPLE). Chief topic: a Universal Parliament. The majority was for it, but old Tom Connally of Texas, retiring chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sturdily announced: "If there had been one world government, the Continental Congress, the French Revolution and the Latin American Republics would not have been possible."