4 



lated greatly experimental inquiry. I recall in 

 this connection the earlier days of my own 

 short scientific experience. A decade ago there 

 was hardly any scientific meeting for the bac- 

 teriological student who was not closely in 

 touch with the medical aspect of the work. I 

 remember some few of us used to attend the 

 meetings of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. This was long be- 

 fore the days of the Section on Preventive Med- 

 icine. The botanists were our sponsors, but 

 there was little time or opportunity for any 

 discussion on things strictly bacteriological. 

 In considering the development of American 

 bacteriology, it is not intended in any way to 

 intimate that there is an American school in 

 the sense that the Berlin or Paris school used 

 to be spoken of some years ago. The survival 

 of the fittest in matters of technique has now led 

 to the almost universal adoption of methods 

 that have been found to be best adapted to the 

 study of various problems, and these standard 

 methods are more or less commonly followed 

 everywhere. Fortunately, the training of 

 the majority of our American bacteriolo- 

 gists who have studied abroad has not been 

 confined entirely to any one country, although, 

 following the course of most American stu- 

 dents, the larger number have been German 

 trained. This more cosmopolitan training has 

 had its impress on American work, and has 



