564 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE. 



THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 

 FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH. 



Scientific medicine in the United 

 States is to be congratulated on the 

 establishment of a laboratory for re- 

 search that may be compared with 

 those of the great European capitals. 

 There are in this country more than a 

 hundred thousand practising physi- 

 cians, somewhat over two hundred med- 

 ical journals and a large number of 

 medical schools, and many important 

 advances in technical medicine are due 

 to American practise. Opportunity 

 for systematic research has, however, 

 been hitherto lacking. This will be 

 supplied by the laboratory to be built 

 in New York City on the foundation 

 of Mr. John D. Rockefeller. It will 

 be remembered that two years ago Mr. 

 Rockefeller gave $200,000 for the es- 

 tablishment of an institute for med- 

 ical research and placed the endowment 

 in the hands of a strong and compact 

 board of directors, consisting of Dr. 

 William H. Welch, Baltimore; Dr. T. 

 Mitchell Prudden, New York; Dr. 

 Theobald Smith, Boston; Dr. Simon 

 Flexner, Philadelphia ; Dr. Hermann M. 

 Biggs, New York; Dr. C. A. Herter, 

 New York; Dr. L. Emmett Holt, New 

 York. 



The fund could be used for current 

 expenses, and with it grants have 

 been made, varying in amount from 

 $200 to $1,500, to over twenty investi- 

 gators who have carried forward their 

 work at American and foreign uni- 

 versities. The directors, however, be- 

 lieved that, in addition to such indi- 

 vidual studies, there was needed a 

 central institution for certain lines of 

 research with an adequate equipment 

 and permanent endowment. Towards 

 this purpose Mr. Rockefeller has given 



$1,000,000, which will be used for the 

 purchase of land, the erection of build- 

 ings and the organization of the work, 

 and it is understood that Mr. Rocke- 

 feller is prepared to give an additional 

 endowment when needed. A site has 

 been secured in New York City over- 

 looking the East river, and it is hoped 

 that the laboratory will be completed 

 and ready for the commencement of 

 work in the autumn of 1904. The 

 buildings will include a small hospital 

 which will be maintained in close asso- 

 ciation with the experimental work. 

 The institute has assumed the publi- 

 cation of The Journal of Experimental 

 Medicine, which will remain under the 

 editorial supervision of Dr. W. H. 

 Welch, professor of pathology in the 

 Johns Hopkins University and presi- 

 dent of the board of directors of the 

 institute. The directors will also 

 undertake the diffusion of knowledge 

 by the means of lectures, publications 

 and hygienic museums that will tend 

 to the prevention and cure of disease. 

 Dr. Simon Flexner, professor of pathol- 

 ogy in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 has been appointed scientific director of 

 the laboratories, and there will be asso- 

 ciated with him the heads of the dif- 

 ferent departments that will be estab- 

 lished. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

 The board of regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution held an adjourned 

 meeting on March 12, at which matters 

 of much importance for the institution 

 and for the progress of science in 

 America were discussed. It was de- 

 cided that in addition to the annual 

 meeting in January for the transaction 

 of routine business, there shall here- 

 after be held two additional meetings, 

 one in December and one in March, 



