86 MORRIS LOEB 



of microbic origin, may turn out eventually to be a purely 

 chemical problem. 



The whole domain of hygiene and preventive or state 

 medicine is a field of investigation which only those well 

 trained in chemical research can deal with intelligently. A 

 chemical training is, therefore, an essential part of the educa- 

 tion of the health officer, who plays so increasingly important 

 a r61e in the economy of our modern civilization. 



It is hardly necessary to maintain at length here the boon 

 to humanity which such chemical substances as ether, chloro- 

 form, and cocaine have been, and the important role which 

 many of the coal tar products have played in pharma- 

 cology. 



The law against arsenic in wall-papers was the result of 

 a movement which was started from the University Labora- 

 tory, being put on a scientific basis by Professor Sanger's 

 proof that arsenical wall-papers were injurious, by analyses 

 of the urine of patients. The debt which surgery owes to 

 this University for the part it played in the introduction of 

 ether as an anesthetic in surgical operations should not be 

 forgotten. 



The structure of many physiologically active substances 

 has now been made out, and by making allied substances 

 with similar structure, by an experimental transposition of 

 molecules in the hands of trained workers, many new and 

 equally valuable drugs may be obtained. This scientific 

 search for medicine, which is still in its infancy, is sure of 

 bringing great results in the future. 



Finally, from a purely business point of view, the encourage- 

 ment of chemical research is of the highest importance. As 

 competition increases, the successful man will more and more 

 be the one who lets nothing go to waste, but adopts the most 

 efficient processes and devises new ones still more efficient; 



