OOTOBEE 31, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



403 



between sections of a union or between 8iffer- 

 ent unions. 



As far as tlie future advancement of the 

 particular subjects of Terrestrial Magnetism 

 and Terrestrial Electricity are concerned, it 

 is believed that a step of fundamental im- 

 portance was taken at Brussels by the assign- 

 ment of these subjects to a section by itself 

 rather than relegating or subordinating them 

 to some other branch of geophysics with 

 which they might have but a very remote, or 

 even but a purely administrative connection. 



Besides receptions tendered by the burgo- 

 master (Adolf Mas), the Minister of Edu- 

 cation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, op- 

 portunity was afforded for a visit and recep- 

 tion on July 26 at the Uccle Eoyal Observa- 

 tories, to whose director. Monsieur G. 

 Lecointe, the signal success of the local 

 arrangements is to be largely ascribed. 



Let us hope that the powerful stimulus 

 given geophysical research by the Inter- 

 national Eesearch Council will bear the 

 desired fruit and bring about in each country 

 adequate recognition of the needs for the 

 advancement of oiu- knowledge of the physics 

 of the earth! 



Louis A. Bauer 



A MEDICAL SCHOOL, IN THE WAR 

 AND AFTER 



Ladies and gentlemen of the classes enter- 

 ing the Cornell Medical College, on behalf 

 of the President, the Acting Dean and the 

 Faculty, I bid you welcome! A year ago the 

 college opened under the shadow of the world 

 war and saddened also by the death of our 

 great dean, "William Mecklenburg Polk. To- 

 day the college reopens with its ranks filled, 

 with new men added to its staff, and with im- 

 portant departments remodeled on modern 

 lines. Dr. Polk's policy of reorganizing one 

 department after another upon sound sci- 

 entific principles has been continued since 

 his death. 



The war brought to every one the oppor- 



1 An address of welcome to the students of the 

 Cornell University Medical College, September 29, 

 1919. 



tunity for public service and the lesson will 

 not be lost. The participation of our college 

 in the war is a cause for quiet satisfaction, 

 and perhaps we may pause for a moment to 

 glance at some of the activities of the insti- 

 tution which has been or is to be your in- 

 tellectual home. A member of our faculty 

 gave up his practise and went to Washington 

 to assume control of important matters there. 

 On speaking to him of his unselfishness, he 

 replied that his lot was not worthy of sym- 

 pathy when contrasted with the sacrifice of 

 the many young second lieutenants in the 

 medical service, who had their wives and 

 babies at home to be supported by the meager 

 salary paid by the government. This gen- 

 erous sentiment was illustrative of the spirit 

 that spent itself freely for the welfare of the 

 country. 



In 1914 Dr. Stimson, a veteran of our 

 Civil War, went from this college into the 

 front trenches with the Belgians and showed 

 them by candlelight antiseptic methods for 

 the treatment of wounds. He returned there 

 again in 1916 and was planning a third trip 

 before he died in 1917. 



One of our professors took the Wew York 

 Hospital unit to France. Another was chief 

 officer in charge of all the pathological lab- 

 oratories in France. We visualize such men 

 as healing the wounds of those hurt in battle 

 or seeking out new methods of cure in the 

 laboratories behind the lines. 



One of the women graduates of this college 

 went abroad as secretary to the head of the 

 BellevTie Hospital unit. Wlien later the chief 

 of that hospital went to the front he left her 

 in charge of the base hospital, the younger 

 men remaining there willingly recognizing 

 her superiority. 



Another of our professors was at first 

 chosen to standardize surgical dressings for 

 the American Eed Cross. He also trained 

 135 army surgeons in the surgery of war 

 wounds. This course aroused their enthu- 

 siasm both when it was given and later in 

 retrospect abroad, and it brought the com- 

 ment from the Surgeon-General's Ofiiee that 

 it was the best constructed and most compre- 

 hensive course given in the country. This 



