June 18, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



891 



reason for this splendid showing is the use 

 of the antityphoid inoculation. If instead 

 of its being only voluntary in the British 

 army it had been compulsory as in our own 

 army, the results would have been even 

 better. And yet a blatant band of men and 

 women both in England and our own coun- 

 try are doing all they can to oppose the use 

 of this life-preserving remedy! 



Let us now in conclusion take a general 

 review of the surgical progress I have so 

 inadequately sketched. 



During the horrible days of Pare, Bell, 

 Simpson, and our own Civil War there was 

 still gradual improvement, but no funda- 

 mental change occurred for three centuries 

 after Pare introduced the ligature and 

 banished the boiling oil. 



But about the middle of the nineteenth 

 century, and especially in its last quarter, 

 experimental research took the field. 

 Everything that could be put to the test 

 of accurate experiment in medicine and sur- 

 gery was thoroughly investigated phys- 

 ically, physiologically, chemically, micro- 

 scopically, biologically, bacteriologically. 

 Laboratories were founded and research 

 workers vied with each other in countless 

 investigations. A flood of light was thrown 

 upon every problem. And see the result in 

 the long list I have just read to you ! Medi- 

 cine proper, obstetrics, all the specialties, 

 sanitation and hygiene, furnish equally im- 

 pressive calendars of progress — ^principally 

 the result of experimental research. 



Chief among these experimental re- 

 searches were those of Pasteur (of whom I 

 have said far too little for want of time) 

 and of Lister. They inaugurated a wholly 

 new era in surgery. 



Then followed the battle for the germ 

 theory and antiseptic surgery, ending in 

 final victory. Meantime a new science, 

 bacteriology, was born. 



Next came the wide extension and appli- 



cation of the new surgery to almost all the 

 surgical ills that flesh is heir to. The 

 wonderful results to both life and limb that 

 I have recounted have naturally followed. 



Even amid the disabilities and obstacles 

 of war itself Lister's work has been a boon 

 beyond price. 



While the soldier and the scientist have 

 been busy devising ever more frightful 

 engines of destruction to maim and to kill, 

 we surgeons have been equally busy devis- 

 ing means for saving thousands of lives and 

 limbs in civil life, and even amid the car- 

 nage and savagery of war. 



Surely our hearts should be lifted in 

 gratitude to God for giving us such splendid 

 powers of reasoning, experiment and re- 

 search — all for the service of our fellow 

 men. 



W. W. Keen 



THE TWENTIETH ANNIVEMSABT OF THE 

 NEW TOBK BOTANICAL GABDEN 

 The twentieth anniversary of the appro- 

 priation by the City of New York of 250 acres 

 of land in Bronx Park for the use of the New 

 York Botanical Garden will be commemorated 

 at the garden during the week commencing 

 September 6, 1915. Botanists from all parts 

 of North America are invited to attend. The 

 following program is planned: 



Monday, September 6 



Assemble at the Garden as convenient in the 

 morning. 



1:30: Lunch at the Garden. 



2:30: Addresses of welcome and an account of 

 the history of the Garden. 



3:30-5:30: Inspection of a portion of the 

 grounds and ibuildings. 



5:30-7: Visit to the Zoological Park. 



Tuesday, September 7 

 10:30-1: Session for the reading of papers. 

 1:30: Lunch at the Garden. 

 2:30-4: Session for the reading of papers. 

 4—6: Inspection of portions of the buildings and 

 grounds. 



