424 PHYSIOLOGY 



distinctly not the best field for the trained specialist in physiology. 

 There is a large domain discovered by the pioneers of other times 

 which needs development. Crude methods will not suffice for this 

 work, and it constitutes the special field for the best-trained artisans 

 in physiology. This most difficult and most fundamental work 

 must be accomplished through the agency of the exact methods of 

 physics and chemistry, and if those who have the requisite training 

 are devoting themselves energetically to this duty, those of us who 

 may lack the ability or special training for such complex under- 

 takings should not be too critical of the results. In the nature of 

 things the work of the pioneer is likely to bring greater glory and 

 recognition to those who make a success of it, but the regions he 

 opens must be subsequently explored and developed. Those who do 

 this latter work are the ones who really determine the importance 

 of each new discovery; they are the ones who ascertain for us 

 whether it is a barren country that has been opened up, or one rich 

 in the possibilities of wealth. This, as I see it, is the kind of work 

 in which the great body of physiologists is actually engaged at 

 present, and it is a kind of work in which the technical methods of 

 physics and chemistry must be of increasing importance. 



But whether physiological work is directed along purely physical 

 or chemical lines, or is, to use a current designation, biological in 

 character, so long as its experimental side is emphasized, it is pure 

 physiology, and must, if pursued with energy and ability, contribute 

 to the advancement of our science. This has been the line of devel- 

 opment of modern physiology from the time when its founders first 

 pointed out the inadequacy of observational methods and unsup- 

 ported speculative reasoning. Those who were responsible for 

 giving* it this direction of growth felt that its future was thereby 

 assured. "La physiologic, " said Bernard, 1 " de'finitivement engaged 

 dans la voie expe"rimentale, n'a plus qu'a poursuivre sa marche." 

 For a long time we have been advancing along this path, and it is 

 only necessary to look back to realize the great progress that has 

 been made. When we look forward, however, difficulties present 

 themselves that have made some physiologists doubt whether after 

 all the experimental way will lead us to the end that the science 

 has in mind. The apparently insuperable obstacles continually 

 obtruding themselves always alarm unduly some of our leaders. 

 Fifteen years ago a well-known physiologist, who has himself done 

 much valuable experimental work, exclaimed that our present 

 methods of investigation had reached their limit. 2 "The smallest 

 cell exhibits all the mysteries of life, and our present methods of 



1 Bernard, De la physiologic genfrale, Preface, Paris, 1872. 



2 Bunge, Physiological and Pathological Chemistry, Introduction, English trans- 

 lation, London, 1890. 



