NOVEMBEB 4, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



615 



germs. As a result of his research we have 

 his doctrine of phagoc3'tosis, which is the 

 basis of the now generally accepted theory 

 of immunity from disease that has enabled 

 us to do so much to reduce the danger of 

 infection from disease. 



All will recall the valuable work of 

 Major Ross, of the Indian Army Medical 

 Staff, in demonstrating by patient and 

 persevering experiment the relation of the 

 malaria parasite to a particular species of 

 mosquito ; and the investigation of our own 

 Major Reed and his colleagues of the 

 Cuban Commission in connection with yel- 

 low fever. The results of both investiga- 

 tions are common knowledge and have done 

 much in making inhabitable by the white 

 man the vast tropical regions of the earth. 

 It is well, however, for us to remember that 

 these brilliant discoveries had been pre- 

 ceded and made possible only by the long 

 and patient scientific study of the mosquito 

 as such, withoiit any thought that the facts 

 obtained by such research should ever have 

 any significance in controlling or eradica- 

 ting a dangerous disease. As one writer 

 of prominence in the scientific world has 

 put it : 



The biologist has thus come into closer touch 

 than ever with the profession of medicine, and 

 the time has arrived when the professional stu- 

 dents of disease admit that they must bring to 

 their great and hopeful task of abolishing the 

 diseases of man the fullest aid from every branch 

 of biological science. I need not say how great is 

 the contentment of those who have long worked 

 at apparently useless branches of science, in the 

 belief that all knowledge is good, to find that the 

 science that they have cultivated has become sud- 

 denly and urgently of the highest practical value. 



The contributions of scientific research, 

 in recent years, to the general progress of 

 civilization have been indeed noteworthy, 

 and no less gratifying has been the service 

 rendered by science in the development of 

 our national resources and in the growth 

 and the expansion of our industrial and 



commercial enterprises. There is at this 

 time, however, in response to an awakened 

 public interest, another and equally im- 

 portant development of scientific activity 

 demanding our serious consideration. I 

 have reference to the relation of the sci- 

 ences to questions of public health and 

 preventive medicine, and it is to this as- 

 pect of our educational activity that I wish 

 to direct your attention so far as I may in 

 the time at our disposal. 



In these times when we are discussing 

 with great enthusiasm the conservation of 

 our national resources and attempting to 

 insure our continued prosperity by antici- 

 pating the problems that will confront us 

 when we shall have become a nation of half 

 a billion people, we are bound to recognize 

 the fact that after all one of the greatest 

 resources of this or any other nation is the 

 preservation and protection of the health 

 of its people. As our former president, 

 Mr. Roosevelt, said in one of his messages 

 to Congress: 



This problem is but a part of another and 

 greater problem to which we as a nation are not 

 yet fully awake, and with which we must grapple 

 in the great contest of nations — the ■problem of 

 national efficiency. 



It is but natural that the American 

 people, busy as they have been in the con- 

 quest of a continent, should have disre- 

 garded somewhat the problems of sanita- 

 tion and public health to consider first 

 those interests which have developed our 

 industrial life and established our com- 

 mercial standing. The time has forever 

 passed, however, when a man may be re- 

 garded as fulfilling his entire duty when 

 he jarotects the members of his immediate 

 family from the inroads of disease. It has 

 become a matter of public concern as to 

 how far we shall allow our families or our 

 community to be exposed, through the ig- 

 norance or carelessness of others, to infec- 



