THE i3lRTM AND GROWTH OF SCIENCE IN MEDICINE. 2 J 



animals. Almost without our being conscious of it the 

 idea of evolution has gradually effected a great change 

 in the standpoint from which we view a large number 

 of diseases, the symptoms and morbid changes in which 

 we now understand as efforts of the body to maintain its 

 integrity in face of the injurious agencies which threaten 

 it. One might almost re-write pathology from the 

 evolutionary point of view. 



Last, but not least, of the great changes which have 

 swept over medical science is that which was due in the 

 first place to Pasteur, was carried on by Koch, and 

 brought to triumphant practical application by Lister. 

 The discovery of the true nature of infection has of 

 necessity transformed the outlook of medicine and surgerj-, 

 but bacteriology and its daughter science, immunology, 

 would demand a Harveian oration to themselves. 



We loosely speak of such fundamental discoveries as 

 those I have just mentioned, as producing a revolution 

 in medical science. It is not revolution but upward 

 growth. With the establishment of each great principle 

 we gain a fresh height, from which the field of science 

 takes on a new and wider aspect, and we may be confident 

 that we shall reach yet greater heights, to reward us with 

 an even ampler range of vision. There is no sign that 

 the vitality of science in our civilisation is in any w-ay 

 spent : on the contrary its fertility is unchecked. During 

 the late war we saw for the first time the scientific forces 

 of this country fully mobilised, and no previous five years 

 have seen so many scientific problems brought to a 

 successful issue. So forcible has been the lesson that 

 science has gained mightily in public estimation, and 

 research is on the lips of everyone. New facts are being 

 gathered in, old facts are coming to be seen in a new 

 light ; we are almost bewildered by our own progress. 

 The workers in the field of medical science are many, 

 and it may not be given to any one of us to make an 

 immortal discovery such as that of the circulation of the 

 blcod. But the humblest of us can work in Harvey's 



