THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOCHEMICAL INSTRUC- 

 TION AND RESEARCH IN NEW YORK CITY^ 



JOHN A. MANDEL 

 (New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College) 



On carefully studying the condition of biochemical Instruction 

 and research in New York City, at the present time we find that we 

 have the four medical schools with well-equipped laboratories for 

 instruction of students and for research work ; the Rockefeller Insti- 

 tute for Medical Research, which is the most prominent institute of 

 its kind in the world; the several large hospitals, such as Bellevue, 

 New York, Roosevelt, Presbyterian, St. Luke's, Mt. Sinai, St. Vin- 

 cent's and many more, all of which have more or less extensive 

 laboratories for chemical and biological investigations. Incident- 

 ally, I should say that the recently erected laboratory building in 

 connection with the Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, and now in 

 progress of Organization, is the largest and most complete plant of 

 its kind in the world. Besides these we have a number of labo- 

 ratories in connection with the Board of Health, the Sage Founda- 

 tion, Montefiore Home, and other institutions, as well as a number 

 of laboratories maintained by private individuals, the most promi- 

 nent being the private laboratory started by the late Dr. C. A. 

 Herter in 1892. 



The directors of all these laboratories are experienced men in 

 the field of biochemical research, and these facts and others make 

 New York City without question the real center of biochemical 

 research in this country. These conditions are truly very gratify- 

 ing and instructive, but the most remarkable fact is that all this 

 development has taken place within the last fifteen years. Before 

 1896 there existed no laboratory in New York City where physio- 

 logical chemistry was solely taught and where biochemical research 

 was carried on in the present-day sense. 



*Read at the first annual dinner of the Columbia University Biochemical 

 Association, December 13, 191 1 (see page 334). 



377 



