SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1145 



to-day he supplements these studies with 

 the microscope, Roentgen ray, test tube, 

 and other instruments of scientific preci- 

 sion. Then, his conclusions were drawn 

 largely from guesses, now they are founded 

 upon exact and positive knowledge. A 

 large part of your undergraduate educa- 

 tion will consist in familiarizing yourselves 

 with the use and application of instruments 

 of precision for diagnostic purposes. Each 

 year brings forth advances in the funda- 

 mental sciences and medicine is ever ready 

 to utilize such discoveries as may be of serv- 

 ice in the prevention or cure of disease. It 

 has been demonstrated that the physiolog- 

 ical action and therapeutical effects of a 

 chemical compound can be modified by 

 changes in its molecular structure. The 

 genius of Ehrlich produced salvarsan and 

 its later substitutes in accordance with this 

 principle, and the possibility of finding 

 curative agents in other diseases by similar 

 investigations is now occupying the time 

 and energy of many laboratory students. 

 While the achievements of preventive 

 medicine have greatly reduced the numbers 

 of those infected, medicine is not neglecting 

 its curative agents and we can confidently 

 expect great results in this direction. 



The advance of modern surgery has been 

 marvelous. No greater gifts has science 

 brought to suffering man than surgical an- 

 esthesia, the discovery of which American 

 medicine can justly boast, and aseptic sur- 

 gery, made possible by the fundamental 

 work of Pasteur and given practical appli- 

 cation through the genius of Lister. These 

 discoveries enable the surgeon to penetrate 

 every part of the body and remove diseased 

 tissue, repair injuries, extract foreign bod- 

 ies and restore the individual to health and 

 efficiency while he sleeps wholly uncon- 

 scious of the operation. Plastic surgery 

 has become a fine art and the successful 

 transplantation of tissue is being practised 



in the base hospitals of Europe, where the 

 brutalities of man are being ameliorated by 

 skilful operation. The possibility of not 

 only preserving but of growing animal 

 tissue in vitro has been demonstrated and 

 has developed a reasonable hope that the 

 surgeon of the future may do still greater 

 miracles. 



The development of medicine must be 

 preceded by scientific discovery, because 

 medicine consists in the application of these 

 discoveries. It follows that the highest 

 duty of the medical man is to make contri- 

 butions to scientific advances. In the past 

 medical men have made an honorable record 

 in this direction and there is no branch of 

 science to which they have not brought val- 

 uable contributions. Even at the present, 

 the open field of knowledge is of small di- 

 mensions, while on every side extends the 

 boundless wilderness of ignorance. It has 

 been a great privilege and a joy to' have 

 lived at a time when my chosen profession 

 has been so rapidly moving forward and to 

 have met face to face so many of its lead- 

 ers. It has been my fortunate lot to work 

 in the laboratory of that great German, 

 Koch, to have listened to the words of that 

 great Englishman, Lister, to have enjoyed 

 the friendship of that great Russian, 

 Metchnikoff and to have looked into the 

 kindly face of the greatest man of the gen- 

 eration, if greatness be measured by good 

 done one's race, that Frenchman, Pasteur. 

 May some spark of the genius which led 

 these men to great accomplishments descend 

 upon and abide in you. 



V. C. Vaughan 



KEITH LUCAS 

 In the death of Keith Lucas on October 5, 

 1916, physiology suffered the loss of a really 

 great investigator. At thirty-seven years of 

 age he and his junior co-workers had already, 

 as' I see it, thrown more light on the funda- 

 mental functional properties of the excitable 



