NATURE 



409 



THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1S87 



ENDOWMENT OF MEDICAL RESEARCH 



OUR readers will probably have seen that a memorial, 

 signed by some of the most able and trusted leaders 

 in science and in medicine, has been presented to the 

 Council of the Royal Collcije of Surgeons, asking it to 

 consider the propriety of establishing a new institution for 

 the prosecution of such branches of science as are most 

 closely connected with the objects of the College. There is 

 no doubt that the memorial will be carefully and maturely 

 considered in a spirit worthy of the eminent men who 

 guide the policy of the College, but it seems fitting that 

 in these columns the excellence of the suggestion should 

 be acknowledged, whatever may be found to be the best 

 method of meeting it. 



In the first place, all who care for English biology and 

 English surger)' can heartily rejoice that the College 

 which has done so much for both is now in a position not 

 only of dignity but of affluence. Just before the founda- 

 tion of the present College, the Company of Surgeons 

 which preceded it was almost bankrupt, and, by want 

 of observing a legal formality, well nigh forfeited its char- 

 ter. But for fifty years past the College has grown in 

 honour and in wealth. Its Membership stands deservedly 

 first among the surgical diplomas which admit to practice. 

 Its Fellowship involves higher training and more thorough 

 e.\amination than most University degrees. It possesses 

 the second Medical Library in the kingdom, and the most 

 complete, extensive, and well-arranged Museum of Ana- 

 tomy — human, comparative, and pathological — which 

 exists in the world. The original Hunterian Collection 

 which was purchased by the nation after the death of 

 the great anatomist, was intrusted to the care of the 

 College of Surgeons on condition of providing- a suit- 

 able buildingjand a competent Curator. The trust has 

 been nobly dealt with. The museum left by Hunter, 

 still cherished with reverence and still remarkable in 

 varied aspects, has been many times multiplied by suc- 

 cessive additions. Buildings of great size and admirable 

 design have again and again been added. Curators have 

 been appointed who have made their names familiar 

 through Europe — Clift, Ouekett, Owen, and Flower. 

 And Hunterian Professors and Lecturers have been 

 appointed who have made the Museum as well known 

 as that of the Jardin des Plantes— Sir Everard Home 

 and Sir Richard Owen, Hu.xley, Flower, and Parker, 

 among anatomists ; and, among surgeons, Abemethy, 

 Cline, Astley Cooper, Laurence, Hilton, Fergusson, and 

 Paget. Far from reserving its theatre for the veterans 

 only, the College has shown a laudable liberality in 

 founding Junior Lectureships ; and now some of the most 

 industrious, thoughtful, and brilliant of the younger gener- 

 ation of anatomists and pathologists are describing their 

 new investigations from the Chair of the Hunterian 

 Museum. 



Now, however, there seems to be a probability of the 

 College making another and an enduring addition to the 

 benefits which it has conferred on science. 



A large bequest has enablecj them seriously to consider 

 the foundation of such an institution as is suggested in 

 the memorial above mentioned. With some the impulse 

 Vol. XXXV.— No. 905 



to save is stronger than the impulse to spend ; and even 

 if it is determined to spend the Wilson bequest, part at 

 least might be safely applied to further extension and 

 improvement of the Museum, fresh buildings, and an 

 increased staff of officials. Still we hope that it may be 

 found possible to meet such current needs by current 

 income, and that the large sum placed at the free disposal 

 of the College will be devoted to some new, useful, and 

 appropriate scientific purpose. 



The appropriate purpose is not far to seek. A museum 

 is necessary for the study of anatomy, the one half of the 

 science of living creatures ; but for the prosecution of the 

 other half, for the study of physiology, a laboratory is 

 needful, where the physical, chemical, and vital pheno- 

 mena of man and animals can be observed. Hunter 

 himself was never content with the mere demonstration 

 of a fact in living structures, normal or diseased. His 

 acute and fertile intellect at once inquired : How came it 

 about? What is its use? Of what process is it the evi- 

 dence? How can that process be either checked or 

 fostered for the relief of suffering and preservation of 

 life? 



The progress of knowledge since Hunter's day has 

 vastly increased our power of dealing with these ques- 

 tions : many have been already more or less perfectly 

 answered ; more are ripe for solution to anyone who can 

 give time and pains to the work ; and most lie still 

 untouched, a rich and virgin field ready to reward the 

 man of thought as well as skill. But the methods of 

 research have become more and more elaborate. 

 The easy things have been done ; or rather what 

 was once hard has now become easy, and what 

 once was impossible is now practicable, with greater 

 expenditure of time and money. The change is only 

 what has taken place in navigation, in war, and in 

 engineering. Few scientific investigations can now be 

 carried on except in properly equipped laboratories. 



There are many departments in which work is urgently 

 needed, and in which our own country is discreditably 

 behindhand. In Germany and France and America, even 

 in smaller countries like Holland and Sweden, adequate, 

 or something like adequate, provision is made for the 

 investigations of which we speak. Edinburgh has made 

 great strides of late years, and there the L^niversity 

 laboratories of physiology and pharmacology are worthy 

 of the place. Cambridge has, since Prof. Foster was 

 called to the University, been known through Europe 

 for the first time as a great school of physiology. Oxford 

 has lately built and furnished a laboratory for Prof. 

 Sanderson. But London is still far behind the three 

 chief Universities of the kingdom, and behind Paris and 

 Lyons, Strassburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Bonn, and a host of 

 petty towns in Germany. 



It is true that before he was carried away to Oxford 

 Dr. Burdon Sanderson had established a laboratory at 

 University College which is a credit to London, and 

 where work of the best kind has been and is being done. 

 At King's College, though the accommodation is not 

 what it should be, Prof. Gerald Yeo and his assistants put 

 forth no less excellent results. In two at least of the 

 great medical schools physiological laboratories have 

 long existed, and have contributed to the progress of 

 knowledge, as well as to instruction. Lastly, the titular 

 University of London has, owing to the exertions of two 



