November 4, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



617 



woman that it pays to make this expendi- 

 ture for the pi'omotion of interests so im- 

 portant. A bill was introduced in the last 

 congress asking that similar provision be 

 made in each state for an engineering ex- 

 periment station which should undertake 

 the scientific study of those problems which 

 are fundamental to the material and in- 

 dustrial development of our country. All 

 are glad to see these provisions made, for 

 we all not only have a pride in the indus- 

 trial and commercial prosperity of the 

 country, but we are all directly or indi- 

 rectly connected with it and depend upon 

 it. 



Why should we not do as much, however, 

 to promote the conditions for healthful 

 living among our people as to stimulate 

 the development of our national resources? 

 But few of us are agriculturists, and not 

 all are directly concerned in the prosecu- 

 tion of industrial enterprises needing the 

 assistance of a trained engineer, but every 

 one of us, irrespective of vocation, is 

 vitally concerned with those scientific facts 

 that mean better sanitation, better facili- 

 ties for overcoming and preventing the 

 spread of infectious diseases, in short, with 

 all that knowledge which will enable us to 

 live better, longer and happier. 



Until within the last ten years there was 

 not a single institute for medical research 

 in America, although France, Germany 

 Eussia and even Japan had such institu- 

 tions. These institutions and others of a 

 similar character have rendered an im- 

 portant and valuable service to medical 

 science and to mankind. Since the open- 

 ing of Pasteur Institute, for example, in 

 1888, more than 25,000 people have been 

 treated for hydrophobia at the Paris Insti- 

 tute alone, to say nothing of the thou-sands 

 who have been saved from the terrible con- 

 sequence of this disease the world over by 

 the methods perfected by Pasteur. To 



have cured such an army of human beings 

 is enough honor for any institution and 

 sufficient cause for its foundation. The in- 

 fluence of the institiite however has not 

 ended here. It is essentially a school of 

 bacteriology where the student and the in- 

 vestigator are given instruction and af- 

 forded an opportunity to extend both his 

 personal knowledge and that of the M'orld 

 in the application of science to the cause 

 and prevention of disease. It was here that 

 Calmette, the discoverer of serum treat- 

 ment for serpent-poisoning, and Yersin, 

 whose famous researches in the prevention 

 and cure of cholera are known to all, re- 

 ceived their training. The institute has 

 always had associated with it some of the 

 best scientific investigators of the world. 

 Here Roux did the work which will for- 

 ever connect his name with the serum 

 treatment of diphtheria, and Chamberland 

 has directed the work in economic bacter- 

 iology in its applications to hygiene, in- 

 cluding the development of serum for the 

 various diseases of domestic animals by 

 which it is said that a million sheep and 

 half that many cattle are annually given 

 immunity from anthrax. Here also 

 Metchnikoff has carried on his investiga- 

 tions which have done so much to improve 

 human conditions by immunity from dis- 

 ease. 



The record of achievements at the Pas- 

 teur Institute is typical of those of the 

 Berlin Institute of Hygiene and others 

 which have been founded for similar pur- 

 poses. There is no need to multiply illus- 

 trations. All are familiar with the results 

 and know something of the work of the 

 large number of brilliant investigators who 

 have thus been enabled to give their tijne 

 and attention to this fruitful field of re- 

 search. 



"Within the last ten yeai-s substantial 

 progress has been made in America in pro- 



