634 
discovery of new things and their understand- 
ing. Of course, there are many factors which 
enter into the life of the adventurer into the 
unknown. One of the most powerful con- 
trols in scientific life is criticism. Pfliiger 
has stated that criticism is the mainspring 
of every advance. Scientific criticism begins 
with the scientist himself, and then he ex- 
tends it to others and in turn receives ex- 
ternal aid in the revision of his own opinions. 
Sometimes this criticism is friendly; some- 
times bitter. Questions of priority also arise. 
It seems that in the future the most cour- 
teous treatment would be to commence all 
polemical discussions under the caption “ The 
errors of the author and his critics” and to 
remember that as far as priority is concerned 
a man’s influence is equal to the sum of all 
the influences of his life and that questions 
of priority as between men are usually in- 
significant and unimportant. I overheard one 
of Voit’s assistants say to him, “ Your views, 
Professor, are bound to win” and Voit turned 
upon him in anger, saying, “It makes no 
difference who is right, so long as the truth is 
found.” 
The quality of mind is of interest in con- 
sidering scientific types. Liebig was a dunce 
at school and his teacher ridiculed his am- 
bition to become a chemist. Helmholtz stud- 
ied the refraction of light with a prism under 
his desk during Latin recitations when he was 
a boy. Helmholtz, on the occasion of his 
seyentieth birthday, stated that he had never 
had a great idea come to him when he was at 
his desk, nor when he was tired, nor after 
taking a glass of wine, but usually such had 
come to him when he was walking in the 
garden musing of other things. The scientist 
must have leisure to think over the problems 
which offer and he must have a certain dis- 
crimination in order to distinguish between 
the things which are worth doing and those 
which are not. To do this requires a certain 
delay in action in order that plans may be 
matured. The individual who can not be 
happy unless he is at work at full power all 
the time is much less likely to accomplish 
successful scientific work than he who will 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8S. Von. XLVIII. No. 1252 
not commence a research until he has satis- 
fied himself that it is worth doing. It is not 
to be denied that this essential qualification 
of scientific life is frequently regarded with 
scorn by the busy practitioner of medicine, 
who gives himself no time either for thought 
or study. 
Though the capacity for discovering new 
things may not be given to all, yet all should 
have the training which comes from an enyi- 
ronment, such as that existing in the Harvard 
Medical School, where the students are edu- 
eated by men whose lives have been illumined 
by creative thought. Such men are patrons 
of the future, benefactors of mankind. 
The war brought a temporary halt to prom- 
ising activities. Many instances can be cited. 
In Bellevue Hospital Du Bois had just com- 
pleted his calorimetric studies upon malarial 
fever. He was investigating the water out- 
put of the body during the night sweats in 
tuberculosis and, for the first time, the technic 
had been perfected so that this factor in the 
regulatory mechanism of the -heat control 
could be studied. The declaration of war 
against Germany meant “down tools” for 
him, and he gave his services to his country. 
The important point now is to have the work 
completed with as little delay as possible. 
But the war has also developed much that 
is of great value to the nation and medical 
science has been notably advanced in many 
lines. The work on “Trench Fever,” edited 
by Major Richard P. Strong, of the Harvard 
Medical School, is one of the great medical 
triumphs of the war. It seems as though the 
value of science for the welfare of the nations 
of the world must have become more firmly 
defined in the minds of men than ever before. 
Let us hope that this is true. 
Now is the time to take up the work where 
it was left at the outbreak of the war. It is 
our duty not only to continue but also to ex- 
pand the work—to multiply facilities and to 
furnish a living wage. Scientific laboratories 
everywhere should be free from all commer-— 
cial taint, which distracts and finally destroys. 
A laboratory should be a little community, 
happy in its daily life, and doing work worth 
