

FOREWORD 



It is not often that a man's calling is both his vocation 

 and his avocation; not often that the interests and inclina- 

 tions of his youth, much as he may want them to, are permitted 

 to shape and determine his career. More often than not, 

 those youthful enthusiasms turn out to be nothing more than 

 passing fancies or end in wishful thinking. Charles Rupert 

 Stockard was the exception. Nor was this due to chance or 

 circumstances, for if circumstances make the man — then Doc- 

 tor Stockard was determined to make his circumstances, and 

 determined to fashion them to his purpose. Beginning with 

 his boyhood interests, it was apparent that his enthusiasm 

 was along zoological and biological lines; this with his love 

 of nature and all living creatures, and his natural curiosity 

 marked him as destined to be a scientist in the field of 

 research and experimentation. 



The spirit that animated his teaching', the philosophy that 

 guided him in his relations with students, graduate students 

 and colleagues, and influenced his attitude toward his pro- 

 fession is best illustrated by Doctor Stockard 's own words, 

 quoted from a lecture given at the dedication of the Theobald 

 Smith Laboratory at the Albany Medical College in 1937. 

 He believed that a laboratory should be "invaded by that 

 shy and intangible spirit which inspires enthusiasm and 

 creates devotion to research, a free dwelling for students of 

 nature conscious of and charitable to the faults and virtues 

 of all that surround them." 



Doctor Stockard was a true lover of animals. Anyone who 

 visited the Cornell Dog Farm at Shrub Oak must have been 

 impressed with the fondness of the Doctor for his animals 

 and their affection for him. He kept them in the best of 

 health and their living quarters and conditions were far 

 better than those of thousands of pet household dogs we see 



