June 23, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



659 



Besides the direct way in which an institu- 

 tion like this, devoted to research in some phase 

 of pure or applied science, benefits humanity, 

 there is also an indirect influence, not so fully 

 appreciated. This is the reflex effect upon the 

 university as a whole, for only by the posses- 

 sion of such centers of intellectual concentra- 

 tion does the university become a university in 

 fact rather than in name. Every great teach- 

 ing institution should be surrounded by a con- 

 stellation of independent institutes such as this, 

 devoted to the amassing of pure knowledge, 

 without a view necessarily to its future use or 

 practicality and without the encumbrances to 

 effective thought which go with administrative 

 work of the teaching of large numbers of im- 

 mature students. Our men of genius in the 

 universities still do too much undergraduate 

 instruction and teach the teachers too little. 

 This is one of the great defects of the present 

 scheme of education, in that it accentuates 

 routine and overlooks the spirit. When a uni- 

 versity possesses a genius he should be tenderly 

 protected and cherished. The ragweed will 

 outgrow the orchid, as has been proved a thou- 

 sand times. Why sacrifice another orchid to 

 the test? But in research institutions lies true 

 freedom of thought in the university. While 

 to the undergraduates we must temper some- 

 what the boldness of our theories, in the re- 

 search laboratorj' everything must be free. No 

 one can foresee in what direction investigation 

 must proceed. No hampering politicians, as in 

 some state institutions, should be allowed to 

 control the direction and type of investigation 

 to be done, their equipment for this function 

 as regards the natural sciences being usually 

 somewhat less than that possessed by our 

 Great Commoner, who is making so brave and 

 useless a fight against the dangerous theories 

 of evolution. 



Who in his wildest moments could have 

 imagined that the classification and anatomical 

 study of the fleas which infest lower animals 

 could ever have been of use in the saving of 

 human lives? Yet when the Oriental plague 

 threatened this country, in the results of such 

 studies was found the means of combatting 

 the disease, the uncontrolled ravages of which 

 can best be learned by a reading of that old 



classic of Daniel Defoe's, "A Journal of the 

 Plague Year." When we realize that because 

 of our knowledge of public health obtained by 

 research on apparently unimportant matters 

 the repetition of such a plague is now impossi- 

 ble, we must be grateful to some of those who 

 have made heavy sacrifices in the cause of 

 science. 



A few institutions like this will answer most 

 effectively the statement recently made in the 

 daily press that the foot-ball coaches had done 

 more for Harvard than all the professors would 

 ever accomplish— and this of a university which 

 can claim Agassiz, Lowell, Norton, Child, Gibbs, 

 Shaler, Royce and William James as only a 

 few among those who have passed on. To 

 enumerate the names of the living v%fho are still 

 doing for Harvard what these men did would 

 be an insult to the intelligence of my audience. 



The new building which we are gathered to 

 inspect shows in its very architecture the 

 thoughtfulness of those who planned it — simple 

 as every workshop should be, for that is all a 

 laboratory is, a place for labor. It shows that 

 the money which has been given has gone on 

 the inside rather than on decoration. I look 

 forward to a day when architects will sacrifice 

 all their art for the practical in laboratory 

 building, and reserve the demonstration of 

 their skill for libraries, museums and other 

 structures which may properly give room for 

 the display of artistic qualities. 



But the building is not important. An insti- 

 tution of this type is always, it has been well 

 said, the lengthened shadow of a great man. 

 Those who are to work in it are far more im- 

 portant than any physical structure. The name 

 in itself gives promise of long and useful 

 service, bearing as it will the title of a line of 

 famous surgeons. The annual reports of the 

 Harvard Cancer Commission show how much 

 has already been achieved. There are few 

 groups of investigators in any country who 

 have produced with relatively small means so 

 much of sane, cautious, solid research work 

 in cancer, biology and physics as have those 

 who in the past have worked in the Huntington, 

 and who are now to enjoy greater facilities, 

 and so may properly be expected to do more 

 and more as the laboratory expands. For 



