Scientific Research and Public Health 17 



and especially in the laboratories engaged in the study of tropical diseases. 

 It is a subject that at present is largely in the morphological stage, but 

 later it will widen out into the investigation of the functional sides and 

 if only adequate support can be found to provide workers and facilities 

 we may look forward to a practically complete mastery over such forms 

 of life so far as they are inimical to our lives or our possessions. What can 

 be accomplished in this direction is illustrated by the splendid triumphs 

 of bacteriology. "The brilliant beginning made by Pasteur has been 

 followed up and extended by a host of workers. Their combined labors 

 have enabled us to obtain a measurable control over many diseases 

 which formerly spread death and desolation over the entire world. The 

 work is very far from being completed. There are still disasters like 

 our recent epidemic of influenza before which we are almost entirely 

 helpless. But no one can doubt that the systematic application of the 

 methods of investigation which we now possess will eventually give us 

 control over this and similar diseases due to the action of living organisms. 

 The labor involved is great. One can get an idea of what it must cost 

 by looking back at the history of Bacteriology. This history is not long 

 for the subject came into existence only a generation ago. But if one 

 reviews the great volume of literature that has appeared in this subject 

 during the past forty years, and if further one pauses to reflect upon the 

 months and years of labor that have gone into the preparation of each 

 of the papers in this long list, he arrives at a conception of the enormous 

 expenditure of human energy and intelligence which has been necessary 

 to win for us our present position of advantage. We must be prepared 

 to do much more. We of this generation are the beneficiaries of the 

 labor of those who have gone before and in our turn we must do our part 

 in handsome fashion. It is not sufificient for us simply to make use of 

 the knowledge handed down to us, for great and important as it is, 

 it is nevertheless incomplete. We must know more — we must multiply" 

 our laboratories and workers and push our investigations along the lines 

 that have been so successful in the past. A second Pasteur may or may 

 not be born, the control of such events is not in our power, but what we 

 can do if we put our minds to it is to create a large body of workers. 

 The additive labor of many second rate workers in science is often 

 equivalent in importance to the output of a single genius of the first order. 

 I have referred so far only to our relations to the biological environ- 

 ment, but hygiene is equally concerned with our relations to the physical 

 environment. Under this term I would include all those physical and 

 chemical forces that react upon the body from within and from without. 

 The maintenance of health requires an unending series of adaptations 

 to changing conditions. These adaptations are carried out with aston- 



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