AmjJa°iy!i£Sarm'}     Latent  Power  in  the  Laboratory.  327 
This  is  what  the  laboratory,  when  made  proper  use  of,  does  for  the 
student  of  medicine.  It  helps  him  on  to  man's  estate,  to  the  free- 
dom of  intellectual  supremacy  ;  it  leads  him  into  the  field  of  logical 
reasoning  ;  it  teaches  him  to  see  and  to  think  for  himself.  It  affords 
that  training  which  leads  to  the  development  of  the  wise  and  skillful 
practitioner  of  medicine. 
Finally,  to  the  exceptional  mind,  to  him  in  whom  burns  the  un- 
quenchable fire  of  genius,  the  laboratory  provides  the  means  by 
which  discoveries  of  the  greatest  importance  are  brought  to  light. 
It  may  be  a  matter  of  purely  scientific  or  theoretical  interest.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  may  be  a  matter  of  the  greatest  practical  impor- 
tance; but,  whether  the  one  or  the  other,  knowledge  is  broadened 
and  the  world  is  enriched  by  a  new  fact  added  to  the  sum  of  human 
wisdom.  And  so  I  congratulate  you,  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, upon  these  new  laboratories  which  promise  so  much  for  the 
dissemination  of  true  knowledge,  and  which  hold  out  the  hope  of 
increased  enlightenment  on  many  dark  chapters  which  still  confront 
us  as  we  look  through  the  volumes  which  contain  our  knowledge 
of  the  structure  and  functions  of  the  human  body.  And  what  is 
your  gain  is  also  our  gain  and  the  gain  of  the  whole  world,  for 
science  knows  no  boundaries,  and  a  new  fact,  full  of  import  for 
health  or  disease,  once  brought  to  light,  becomes  the  property  of 
the  world  and  casts  its  blessing  upon  all.  May  these  laboratories 
fulfil  your  highest  expectations  and  constitute  a  never-failing  power 
for  good  in  the  University  and  in  the  community  at  large. 
It  has  been  said  that  medicine,  like  Janus  of  old,  in  a  good  sense, 
bears  a  double  face.  On  the  one  hand,  she  is  an  empiric;  on  the 
other  a  scientist — and  science  is  ever  rendering  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine more  rational,  more  scientific.  To-day  medicine  stands  closely 
interlocked  with  science.  It  is  a  truism  to  say  that  the  student  of 
medicine  must  have  training  in  those  underlying  biological  sciences 
which  are  so  essential  for  the  true  understanding  of  vital  phenomena. 
As  Professor  Sherrington  has  well  expressed  it  in  a  recent  address, 
it  is  "  necessary  that  the  man  go  forth  from  his  school  equipped  not 
only  with  the  present  applications  of  science  to  disease,  but  so  pos- 
sessed of  the  root  principles  of  the  sciences  adjunct  to  medicine 
that  he  may  grasp  and  intelligently  use  the  further  developments  of 
scientific  medicine  after  he  is  weaned  from  his  instructors  and. the 
school.    .    .    .    What  truer  safeguard  can  a  man  have — alone,  it 
