PROGRESS IN PROTOZOOLOGY

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION AMONG PROTOZOOLOGISTS 305
Further modifications in the area of publications were introduced at
the Fourth Congress, held at Clermont-Ferrand. The participants
received a volume at registration containing summaries of the plenary
lectures and contributed papers. This volume, prepared by photo-offset,
carried the traditional title of "Progress in Protozoology". In addition,
the organizers of the Congress published, in 1974, "Actualités Protozoologiques,"
containing the summaries prepared by the chairmen of
individual round-table discussions. The Fifth Congress, which was held
in New York in 1977, followed the French pattern, i.e., pre- and post-
Congress publications were offered to the participants.
In Warsaw, participants in the Sixth Congress were given a volume
("Progress in Protozoology") containing summaries of the various presentations.
Two volumes of post-Congress publications were also planned.
The first one appeared at the end of 1982, and the second is to appear
during 1984.
4. Final Remarks
Protozoology, which can be traced from the work of Anthony van
Leeuwenhoek, did not become a separate discipline of biology before
the latter part of the 19th century, but it became the subject of international
collaboration much later. This collaboration started on a large
scale only after the second world war, and it assumed a more organized
form during the last 20 years. From this viewpoint, one can observe some
analogy between biophysics and protozoology. The former also came into
its own in the 19th century, and the first Congress devoted to it took
place in 1961. There are, however, real differences between the two
disciplines. These pertain not only to the number of investigators, but
also to their very structure. Protozoology is a science whose unifying
factors are the organisms investigated (i.e., protozoa) while in biophysics
the unifying factors lie in methodology. It is evident that either group
of factors is strong enough to stimulate the development of the two
disparate disciplines.
A critical analysis of developments in protozoology during the past
20 years reveals a continuous change in direction of this discipline. Also
evident is the steady improvement of international collaboration among
world protozoologists, as fostered by the quadrennial International
Congresses and by the activities of the International Commission on
Protozoology.
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