October 22, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



547 



merable observations of just such individ- 

 ual cases. To each individual the physi- 

 cian applies the method which, based on 

 previous experience, would seem to offer 

 him the greatest aid. In receiving the best 

 that medicine has to offer, the patient is 

 contributing a part to further advancement 

 of medical science. It is universally con- 

 ceded that a university hospital with such 

 a relation to laboratorj^ and medical in- 

 struction affords its patients the most ac- 

 curate diagnosis and the best treatment 

 possible. 



Now, if in such a department of medi- 

 cine investigations are conducted by the 

 methods of the biologic sciences with the 

 view of adding something to the sum total 

 of human knowledge, is there any essential 

 difference between its methods and ideals 

 and those of any university department? 



Many studies of the heart beat in ani- 

 mals have been awarded a Ph.D. degree in 

 university departments of physiology. If 

 in a department of medicine the heart beat 

 of man is studied, should less credit be 

 given for equally good work? Surely, the 

 turtle's heart beat is of no greater import 

 than that of man. But you say that in the 

 turtle you can control the conditions of the 

 experiment— not in man. True, but in 

 man, natural disease often performs the 

 experiment for you. Take the condition 

 of heart-block in which disease has severed 

 the continuity of conduction impulses 

 between the auricles and ventricles of the 

 human heart, and produced disturbances 

 in the cardiac system which may be in- 

 vestigated during life by methods of the 

 physiological laboratory applied to man. 

 Investigations of these conditions eon- 

 trolled by animal experiments in the labo- 

 ratory have already thrown much light on 

 the physiology of the heart and seem ade- 

 quat-e for higher degrees, if higher degrees 

 are already awarded for quite similar 

 studies in university departments. This is 



merely an example of many others that 

 might be cited. Thought on these will, I 

 am sure, convince you that to accept cer- 

 tain forms of work in modern clinical de- 

 partments for higher degrees is not irra- 

 tional. Work of this type should afford 

 the best preparatory training for teachers 

 in clinical subjects, as is universally ac- 

 knowledged to be the case for other uni- 

 versity teachers. A medical school thus 

 organized as part of a university will form 

 both the best type of professional technical 

 .school and a real luiiversity medical school. 

 Nor will the advantage of such an organ- 

 ization be solely on the side of the medical 

 school. The sepai-ation, in this country, of 

 the medical school and the university has 

 taken from the university the activities of 

 men who, in other countries have added 

 much to the glory of the universities. The 

 medical school will find inspiration in the 

 ideals and spirit of university work, and 

 the essential unity of medical science and 

 other sciences will be realized in this 

 country when universities and medical 

 schools are closely united. 



The development in the west of great 

 universities has brought to the east the 

 stimulation of competition and has resulted 

 in increased development of the eastern 

 universities. The development of western 

 medical schools will, in the same way, stim- 

 ulate progress in eastern medical schools. 

 We, of the east, have welcomed the organ- 

 ization here in the west of university med- 

 ical schools, realizing that you will take 

 students that otherwise we might get, but 

 knowing that, from your work, we shall 

 learn, that as you grow we shall grow and 

 that American medicine in this way will 

 attain to that development which the re- 

 sources of this country amply justify. So 

 we all wish you God-speed in the under- 

 taking which you are inaugurating to-day 

 and gladly welcome you into the brother- 

 hood of medical schools. We shall watch 



