226 pkesident's address — section i. 



It is ueoessary that the doctor can follow his own material into 

 the laboratory, can see and understand the significance of the 

 processes of examination, and, as he becomes familiar with the 

 technique, carry out the operations himself. 



It i? urgently necessary for the proper application of the prin- 

 ciples of preventive medicine that laboratories devoted to the pur- 

 poses of preventive medicine should be established without further 

 delay. It is a sinister reflection on the famous phrase of Beacons- 

 field that " the first duty of a statesman is the care of the public 

 ; health,:" that, whereas no brewer, no condensed milk maker, no 

 ■^./h .^rniii§:management or metal refinery works, no water supply hand, 

 ' iio confectionery maker would dare to be without a chemist as an 

 important member of his staff, yet, in the all-important science 

 of medicine, the State does not attempt to make available the 

 scientific knowledge which could be used with encrmous profit to 

 t . the State. The care of the public health, in which all the 



''^;_ available resources of modern science should be at once used, is 

 ^ir*-' that -branch of public activity in which such knowledge is 

 "least used. 



It is necessarv to state definitely that, in so proposing to apply 

 scientific methods to the prevention of disease, there is no in- 

 tentio^n to introduce the question of research. That word " re- 

 search " se«ms toi have for the young medical graduate a lure and 

 a fascination out of all proportion to its real significance. The 

 discovery of new facts of value is not a, prize to be grasped by 

 a young graduate fresh from a university course, but requires 

 years of patient experience, learning technique, methods, the 

 mistakes and discoveries of others, and, above all, demands a 

 special temperament. Research work is a highly specialized branch 

 of scientific work, which can be successfully performed only by 

 a specially trained man in a specially prepared environment. 

 Pasteur stated the position when he said — " In the fields of 

 observation chance favours only the mind which is prepared." 



This research work should be carried cu, and the' routine labora- 

 tories should play an important part in connexion with it, but 

 it is the routine laboratory for the application of ascertained facts 

 which is immediately needed. 



A commencement might well be made by establishing one silch 

 at Kalgoorlie, Port Pirie, Bendigo, Bathurst or Tenterfield, Too 

 woomba, Rock'iarapton, Cairns, Thursday Island, Darwin, and 

 Launceston. Their value would soon be demonstrated and the 

 necessity for the establishraent of others recognised. 



In this way the English system of Primary Health Centres would 

 be commenced, and a beginning made in the application of scien- 

 tific knowledge to the practice of medicine for the prevention and 

 cure of disease. 



