j-j^ THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



our nationalities, and will even repress our patriotism, unless for the 

 promotion of a friendly rivalry, so will we in our work, whether here 

 and now or everywhere and always, have one end and one design the 

 promotion of the whole science and whole art of healing. 



It may seem to be a denial of this declaration of unity that, after 

 this general meeting, we shall separate into sections more numerous 

 than in any former Congress. Let me speak of these sections to de- 

 fend them ; for some maintain that, even in such a division of studies 

 as these may encourage, there is a mischievous dispersion of forces. 

 The science of medicine, which used to be praised as one and indivisi- 

 ble, is broken up, they say, among specialists, who work in conflict 

 rather than in concert, and with mutual distrust more than mutual 

 help. 



But let it be observed that the sections which we have instituted 

 are only some of those which are already recognized in many countries, 

 in separate societies, each of which has its own place and rules of self- 

 government and its own literature. And the division has taken place 

 naturally in the course of events which could not be hindered. For 

 the partial separation of medicine, first from the other natural sciences, 

 and now into sections of its own, has been due to the increase of knowl- 

 edge being far greater than the increase of individual mental power. 



I do not doubt that the average mental power constantly increases 

 in the successive generations of all well-trained peoples ; but it does 

 not increase so fast as knowledge does, and thus in every science, as 

 well as in our own, a small portion of the whole sum of knowledge has 

 become as much as even a large mind can hold and duly cultivate. 

 Many of us must, for practical life, have a fair acquaintance with 

 many parts of our science, but none can hold it all ; and for com- 

 plete knowledge, or for research, or for safely thinking out beyond 

 what is known, no one can hope for success unless by limiting him- 

 self within the few divisions of the science for which, by nature or 

 by education, he is best fitted. Thus, our division into sections is 

 only an instance of that division of labor which, in every j^rosperous 

 nation, we see in every field of active life, and which is always justified 

 by more work better done. 



JMoreovcr, it can not be said that in any of our sections there is not 

 enough for a full, strong mind to do. If any one will doubt this, let 

 him try his own strength in the discussions of several of them. 



In truth, the fault of specialism is not in narrowness, but in the 

 shallowness and the belief in self-sufficiency with which it is apt to be 

 associated. If the field of any specialty in science be narrow, it can 

 be dug deeply. In science, as in mining, a very narrow shaft, if only 

 it be carried deep enough, may reach the richest stores of wealth and 

 find use for all the appliances of scientific art. Not in medicine 

 alone, but in every department of knowledge, some of the grandest 

 results of research and of learning, broad and deep, are to be found 



