U. S. VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
445 
among the sciences by his brilliant researches, which demonstrated the pathogenic 
relations of the Bacillus anthracis to the disease which we know as anthrax, and 
yet, in spite of the utmost activity in this field of work since that time, there are 
still many communicable diseases of the cause of which we are still in complete 
ignorance. To illustrate this it is only necessary to mention the fact that the 
cause of such common diseases as small-pox and cow-pox is still shrouded in 
mystery notwithstanding the ease with which material for study can be ob¬ 
tained, and in spite of the large reward offered by the Grocers’ Company for a 
successful method for artificially cultivating the vaccine virus. 
Unfortunately the greater part of the bacteriological researches which are 
published for the enlightenment of the world are absolutely valueless, and are 
a check to progress rather than an aid to it, because some one must disprove the 
conclusions which follow from them, and, even then, other workers must remain 
in doubt as to which observer was correct. The study of too small a number of 
cases, the failure to use a sufficient number of experimental animals, the neglect 
of scientific methods, the lack of proper facilities for work, are among the most 
common causes of failure in bacteriological research. The most complete and 
thorough study of a single case of disease is not sufficient to enable any man to 
write a description of the typical symptoms and lesions of that malady. Individ¬ 
ual cases in the same outbreak differ from each other in a surprising degree, 
while the type of one outbreak may differ very materially from that of another. 
These facts are well known, and for that reason the clinical history and patho¬ 
logical anatomy of any given disease cannot be considered reliable until man} r 
individual cases and a considerable number of epidemics or epizootics have been 
studied. 
, If this is true of the more superficial and easily observed characters, how 
much more is it to be remembered in connection with the obscure problems re¬ 
lating to the pathogenic germs, their morphology, physiology, life history, sus¬ 
ceptibility to germicides, their effects upon the animal body in which they are 
multiplying, and the toxic products which are developed during their growth. 
These are questions which require long observation, a division of labor among 
competent assistants, many experiments, proper experimental grounds and 
laboratories, and every possible precaution to avoid errors and many hasty gen¬ 
eralizations. In speaking to you, therefore, of the recent bacteriological work of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry, I hope you will not anticipate any startling 
novelty which has been wrenched from nature’s tenacious grasp within the last 
week or two, and which is destined to revolutionize or blot out all that we 
thought had been built up in the past. Such wonderful discoveries are few and 
far between, and when investigators claim them the chances are that they are 
mistaken. My purpose is rather to point out results which we have reached by 
gradual and careful advances during years of patient work; and while such a 
plan on my part may debar me from introducing those sensational features which 
make much of our modern science resemble a fairy tale in more respects than 
one, I feel sure that there are some advantages in dealing w 7 ith conclusions which 
are reasonably well founded upon carefully observed facts. 
Realizing the impossibility of thorough work being done by any one man in 
so difficult and complicated a field, it has been my constant endeavor to divide 
