6o6 



NATURE 



[July 15, 1920 



at liberty to take from the former subject the 

 more vital and interesting" parts with which to 

 render attractive his own particular hobby, 

 practical physiology. When his disciples carried 

 the new physiological gospel to Cambridge and 

 Oxford (thence to English-speaking- schools the 

 world over), histology and embryology were re- 

 garded as part of the work of the department of 

 physiology. This could not have happened if 

 anatomy during- the last half-century had had any 

 men like Sharpey, Foster, Burdon Sanderson, or 

 Gaskell to claim their rig-hts and obtain the neces- 

 sary laboratories and equipment for real research 

 in anatomy. Instead of this, while most of the 

 schools of anatomy fell into a condition of 

 inertia, the gospel taught in the one active and 

 dominant school was the complete repression of 

 the scientific imagination and the crushing- of all 

 research that was not a mere record of facts. 

 Franklin Mall was able to do what he did in 

 America because he was not subject to this para- 

 lysing influence which was crippling- British 

 anatomy. 



It is necessary clearly to appreciate these 

 historical circumstances in order to understand 

 the present contrast between the attitude to- 

 wards research in anatomy in American and 

 British schools. In many of our departments 

 no attempt whatever is made to add to 

 knowledge; in fact, in certain of them there 

 is not merely apathy, but even active op- 

 position to original investigation. But, for the 

 historical reasons I have mentioned, there is no 

 adequate provision in any anatomical department 

 in this country of the means for carrying on re- 

 search, even when the staff and students are 

 anxious to do so. Those anatomists who, in spite 

 of these obstacles, have been keen enough not to 

 be altogether discouraged by them have in many 

 cases done excellent research, but only to find, in 

 not a few instances, that their zeal was regarded 

 as an obstacle to their professional advancement. 



Now that this unfortunate and not very credit- 

 able chapter in British anatomy is coming to a 

 close, it is important to get a clear idea of the 

 aims of such an Institute of Anatomy as the 

 Rockefeller Foundation's gift will enable us to 

 build up in London. 



TSe chief purpose of the new building will be 

 to provide ample room and equipment to permit 

 the staff, graduate students, and even under- 

 graduates, to investigate any aspect of the pro- 

 blems of man's structure and development. There 

 will be dissecting-rooms and museums for the 

 NO. 2646, VOL. 105] 



study of macroscopic structure, and laboratories 

 and museums for the investigation of the mani- 

 fold problems of anthropology and man's evolu- 

 tion; but there will also be laboratories for the 

 practical study of embryology, histology, and 

 neurology, both human and comparative, and. 

 every necessary kind of equipment for work in. 

 any of these subjects. Proper provision is to be 

 made for research in radiography, with special 

 reference to the light it throws upon the struc- 

 ture and functions of the living body and its de- 

 velopment. In other words, the new institute is 

 intended to provide accommodation and equip- 

 ment for research in every aspect of anatomy and 

 anthropology ; and the close association which is 

 to be established with the departments of physi- 

 ology and vertebrate anatomy and with the 

 hospital will help to widen the outlook of investi- 

 gators in anatomy and give them a clearer vision. 

 Special importance is attached to this integrating 

 aspect of our scheme of work, because it is pro- 

 posed to create in the institute a department for 

 the experimental study of the factors that in- 

 fluence growth and development and the causation 

 of anomalies of structure and pathological mon- 

 strosities. Research in experimental embryology 

 has been one of the most fruitful and significant 

 fields of work in American anatomy departments 

 within recent years. It is difficult to exaggerate 

 the importance of the work carried on at the 

 Carnegie Institute of Embryology by such men 

 as Drs. Streeter and Lewis and their collabora- 

 tors, by Dr. Ross Harrison at Yale, and by Dr. 

 Stockard at Cornell Medical School, to mention 

 only a few out of many. 



In addition to these fields of investigation, many 

 of the schools of anatomy in America carry on 

 experiments in genetics, not so much for the 

 purpose of studying Mendelism as for correlat- 

 ing the results of breeding experiments with other 

 branches of work in anatomy and experimental 

 embryology. 



To carry out a programme of this sort it is our 

 aim to have a stafl' numerous enough to give 

 every member at least half his time free from 

 teaching to devote to research; for a teacher 

 who is not actually engaged in investigation is 

 merely a retailer of second-hand goods. 



At a time when this serious attempt is being 

 made to provide proper facilities for carrying on 

 research in anatomy, it is particularly gratifying 

 to know that the University of Cambridge has 

 appointed to Its chair of anatomy the most 

 learned British exponent of the technique of 



