THE VALUE OF EXPERIMENT. 185 



But when large and specially fitted up apartments are required for 

 experiments, these are naturally performed not only in the interests of 

 science but also for the purposes of instruction. In this respect we 

 are far behind our Western neighbours. The income of the only 

 physiological laboratory in Russia namely, that of the Institute for 

 Experimental Medicine, exceeds by three-and-a-half times, the income 

 of the physiological laboratory of such a colossal medical institute as the 

 Military Medical Academy of St. Petersburg. But it only approaches 

 the average for the corresponding institutes of the German Universities. 

 How is it possible therefore, under present requirements, for an experi- 

 mental chair to develop a tolerably extensive scientific and teaching 

 activity, upon an income of a thousand roubles. Further, the parsi- 

 mony is just as great in the personnel of the laboratory. For example, 

 the physiological laboratory of the Military Medical Academy, has 

 only one assistant. How can a department with so small a staff 

 teach the students a course of practical physiology ? And yet a direct 

 acquaintance with the materials of physiology, and a schooling in 

 physiological thought, is of the utmost importance for the physician of 

 the future. Elsewhere, for example in England, such practical exercises 

 are carried out on a large scale, and in the laboratories costly apparatus, 

 for example, recording drums, etc., are provided in large numbers for 

 the use of the students. With us, experimental research and experi- 

 mental teaching must take comfort in tho hope of better things. 



Once more let it be repeated : The final triumph of medicine can 

 only be achieved by laboratory experiment. With this conviction I 

 venture to predict that in any given country, and in any given medical 

 institute, whether it be devoted to scientific purposes or to teaching, 

 the progress of medicine will go hand in hand with the care and atten- 

 tion paid to its experimental departments. 



To-day I have set forth the work of our laboratory, its fundamental 

 idea, and my own views with regard to the relationship of experiment 

 to medicine, under the segis of a great name, the name of the clinician 

 whose memory we celebrate. Had I a right to do this ? I should not 

 have done so had I not been convinced of that right. I have had the 

 honour of being associated, during the course of ten years, with the 

 work of the depeirted clinician, so far as it concerned his laboratory. 

 Ten other years have now fled since the death of S. P. Botkin, and 

 yet his memory lives with us all. If anybody, it was the clinician 

 who was thrown into astonishment by his rare gift of recognising a 

 disease, and of finding the best remedy for it. His personality possessed 

 for the patient a really magic power; a word from him, or even the 

 mere fact of his visit often had an effect. How frequently have I heard 

 the confession from his clinical pupils, that the same prescription which 



