THE PHYSICIAN AND THE LABORATORY * 
_ By Maj. J. E. ASH 
Medical Corps, United States Army 
Mr. PRESIDENT and GENTLEMEN: I am very sorry indeed that 
I cannot bring to you some epoch-making discovery which you 
might have taken back to your practices and by it wrought 
miracles on your patients. But this is not even to be a formal 
paper on a scientific subject, but more in the nature of a one- 
man debate on the relation of the physician and the laboratory 
to each other. By physician I mean just plain doctor—that 
ancient and honorable institution, the general practitioner—and 
please remember that by laboratory I mean the so-called clinical 
laboratory and not the institution for scientific research; the lat- 
ter needs no argument or defense. I know that the unthinking 
and superficial consider it unnecessary and are apt to look 
with more or less contempt on the patient and unselfish worker 
who devotes his time to such apparent trifles as counting the 
scales on the backs of fleas. But this contempt must change 
to gratitude when this very information comes to have an im- 
portant bearing on the study of the relation of the despised flea 
to still more despised diseases. 
While essentially a laboratory man—and despite appearances 
I have had considerable experience in clinical medicine and, 
through the laboratory, have had the opportunity of observing 
the work of a great many physicians, specialists and general 
of all classes, from the best in astute Boston to the worst in 
cruder parts of the country—and while I have not as yet reached 
the age of the reminiscent, nor can I afford to do only abstract 
philosophizing, yet the dual experience has given me the op- 
portunity of observing on the one hand the shortcomings, weak- 
nesses, and successes of the doctor, and on the other the value 
as well as the limitations of the laboratory in its relation to 
the practice of medicine, and it has given me a broader perspec- 
tive of these relations than is possible with a more highly spe- 
cialized experience. It is some of the thoughts and questions 
1 Presented by permission of the Department Surgeon, U. S. Army, 
Philippine Department. 
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