Januaby 14, 1916 



SCIENCE 



53 



cell-life progresses ; and it will aid in its 

 turn in the general advance. 



We have followed the history of the prob- 

 lem of fertilization from the metaphysical 

 stage through the morphological stage into 

 the physiological stage, and within sight of 

 the physico-chemical stage. Possibly the 

 results seem slight as a record of 265 years 

 of continuous study of a single biological 

 problem. But we read the history of 

 science very superficially indeed if we fail 

 to realize the constant interdependence of 

 all scientific thought. There has probably 

 been no time in the history of our partic- 

 ular subject when a greater amount of 

 work on its problems would have caused 

 a much more rapid advance. Scientific dis- 

 covery is a truly epigenetic process in which 

 the germs of thought develop in the total 

 environment of knowledge. Investigation 

 of particular problems can not be accele- 

 rated beyond well-defined limits; progress 

 in each depends on the movement of the 

 whole of science. 



Frank R. Lillie 



University op Chicago 



THE WORK AND OPPORTUNITIES OF 



A DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH 



MEDICINE IN THE 



UNIVERSITY 1 



If we analyze the discussions of present- 

 day problems of medical education we find 

 that an important if not the ultimate object 

 of any particular plan is greater oppor- 

 tunity for research. This we find in the 

 argument of those who support the plan of 

 the full-time teacher, the plan that the uni- 

 versity should own its hospital or control 

 one by close affiliation, and also it is evi- 

 dent in all plans for greater endowment. 



1 Address of the vice-president and chairman of 

 Section of Physiology and Experimental Medicine 

 of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, Columbus, January 1, 1916. 



Increased facilities for research and an 

 augmentation of the number of men en- 

 gaged in research, or combining research 

 with teaching, would ensure, it is con- 

 tended, not only important progress in the 

 science of medicine, but also a higher 

 development of both medical teaching and 

 medical practise. To what extent this in- 

 creased interest in research is due to the 

 popularization of medicine through the 

 practical application of discoveries in the 

 fields of bacteriology and protozoology and 

 to what extent to a dissatisfaction wi;h 

 time-honored methods in medical education, 

 it is difficult to say. Both undoubtedly 

 have had some influence but they alone can 

 not explain the rapidly increasing number 

 of experiments in medical education 

 which have for their avowed object the 

 stimulation of medical research in school 

 and hospital. As the most important of 

 such experiments I need only remind you 

 of the so-called "full time" scheme at 

 Johns Hopkins Medical School fostered by 

 the General Education Board, the affiliation 

 between Columbia University and the 

 Presbyterian Hospital of New York City, 

 the development in Chicago of the Otho S. 

 A. Sprague Institute which, without build- 

 ings of its own, utilizes for purposes of re- 

 search in medicine the already existing 

 laboratories and hospitals of that city, and 

 more recently in San Francisco in connec- 

 tion with the University of California, the 

 establishment of a well-endowed depart- 

 ment for general research in medicine. On 

 a smaller scale we find the establishment, 

 definitely within the university, of separate 

 departments for the investigation of trop- 

 ical diseases, of cancer, of tuberculosis, of 

 chronic diseases, or of departments devoted 

 less specifically to experimental medicine, 

 comparative pathology, comparative phys- 

 iology and the like. As all such founda- 

 tions must be considered for a time at 



