4 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



I have entered into this subject at some length because it so admir- 

 ably illustrates the kind of research which is now in progress ; it is also 

 of interest to others than mere physiologists. I have not by any means 

 exhausted the subject, but for fear I may exhaust my audience let me 

 hasten to a conclusion. I began by eulogizing the progress of the 

 branch of science on which I have elected to speak to you. Let me 

 conclude with a word of warning on the danger of over-specialization. 

 The ultra-specialist is apt to become narrow, to confine himself so 

 closely to his own groove that he forgets to notice what is occurring 

 in the parallel and intercrossing grooves of others. But those who 

 devote themselves to the chemical side of physiology run but little 

 danger of this evil. The subject cannot be studied apart from other 

 branches of physiology, so closely are both branches and roots inter- 

 twined. As an illustration of this may I be permitted to speak of some 

 of my own work? During the past few years the energies of my 

 laboratory have been devoted to investigations on the chemical 

 side of nervous activity, and I have had the advantage of 

 cooperating to this end with a number of investigators, of whom 

 I may particularly mention Dr. Mott and Dr. T. G. Brodie. But we 

 soon found that any narrow investigation of the chemical properties 

 of nervous matter and the changes this undergoes during life and 

 after death was impossible. Our work extended in a pathological 

 direction so as to investigate the matter in the brains of those suffering 

 from nervous disease; it extended in a histological direction so as to 

 determine the chemical meaning of various staining reactions presented 

 by normal and abnormal structures in the brain and spinal cord; it 

 extended in an experimental direction in the elucidation of the phe- 

 nomena of fatigue, and to ascertain whether there was any difference 

 in medullated and non-medullated nerve fibers in this respect; it 

 extended into what one may call a pharmacological direction in the 

 investigation of the action of the poisonous products of the breakdown 

 of nervous tissues. I think I have said enough to show you how inti- 

 mate are the connections of the chemical with the other aspects of 

 physiology, and although I have given you but one instance, that which 

 is freshest to my mind, the same could be said for almost any other 

 well-planned piece of research work of a bio-chemical nature. 



