JUNE 28, 1912] 
of the application to our local conditions of 
the methods used in other places. 
The smoke problem is not an easy one to 
handle. There are many obstacles to over- 
come and many prejudices to set right. With- 
out power to act, knowledge in itself would be 
of little avail. Therefore the legal aspect of 
the situation will form no small part of our 
investigation. 
In brief, then, we have in this research the 
twofold object of scientifically ascertaining the 
true economic status of the smoke problem in 
all its phases and the devising of ways and 
means of making the smokeless combustion of 
soft coal the rule rather than the exception. 
R. C. Benner 
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 
CANCER RESEARCH 
Durine the past winter important develop- 
ments in the field of cancer research have oc- 
curred in New York City which have hitherto 
escaped public notice. By the addition of 
$100,000 to the endowment fund of the Gen- 
eral Memorial Hospital to be used for the 
maintenance of 20 free beds for cancer pa- 
tients, a well-known scientifi¢é man has pro- 
vided the staff of the Collis P. Huntington 
Fund for Cancer Research with greatly in- 
creased facility for the study and treatment 
of cancer in the human being. 
The General Memorial Hospital for the 
Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases was 
originally chartered for the study and treat- 
ment of cancer but at the time of its founda- 
tion, cancer had little interest to any one but 
the surgeon. To-day the wide field of re- 
search opened up by the experimental study 
of cancer is too costly to be undertaken by 
any hospital without an unusually liberal en- 
dowment; and it may be said that no hospital 
in New York possesses to-day an adequate 
endowment for this purpose. 
The General Memorial Hospital has en- 
joyed the support of the Huntington Fund 
for Cancer Research founded by Mrs. C. P. 
Huntington, since 1902. The trustees of this 
fund, of which the late Dr. W. T. Bull was 
chairman, placed the fund at the disposal of 
SCIENCE 
979 
Cornell University Medical College in whose 
laboratorjes systematic research has been con- 
ducted as far as the income of the fund and 
the resources of the university would permit. 
Under this arrangement three volumes of 
studies have been published relating chiefly 
to experimental observations on lower ani- 
mals, but the work has been limited in scope 
by the lack of hospital facilities, and a close 
cooperation between the laboratories and the 
hospital wards. 
The recent donor, himself a scientist of in- 
ternational reputation, a supporter of cancer 
research, both here and abroad, and fully ac- 
quainted with the proper organization of such 
work, determined to supply the needs of the 
Huntington-Cornell staff, and by his liberal- 
ity has opened a portion of the General Me- 
morial Hospital to cancer research under 
very favorable auspices. In addition to the 
endowment of 20 beds, chemical and patho- 
logical laboratories are now being constructed 
in the hospital and a complete X-ray and Ra- 
dium department is being provided for the 
early diagnosis and treatment of the disease. 
This latest addition to the resources of can- 
cer research is significant in several respects. 
It is a noteworthy instance of the discrimi- 
nating support of science by a scientific man 
who knows exactly what his gift may accom- 
plish. It supplies for the first time in New 
York City the opportunity for men trained 
by a university in many branches of medical 
science to study this disease at the bedside. 
It enables the pioneer institution founded in 
the city for the care of malignant disease at 
last to enter in earnest into the field for which 
it was established. Incidentally it points out 
a way for a most effective use of much larger 
endowments than are even now available. 
Although a considerable capital is repre- 
sented in the various branches of this institu- 
tion, clinical cancer research has been found 
to be extremely costly, and even the present 
endowment fails to provide all the important 
necessities in the work. 
Not the least gratifying result is that New 
York City is now provided with an institu- 
tion similar to those recently established in 
