Am*  ju"y,i904.rm*}    Development  of  the  Medical  Laboratories.  339 
man,  but  whose  fate  was  to  become  the  centerpiece  of  a  physiologi- 
cal laboratory. 
The  Smithsonian  Institute  granted  me  $1,000  to  assist  in  a 
research  on  fever,  to  which  out  of  my  own  funds  another  $1,000  was 
added,  and  so  the  necessary  apparatus  was  invented  and  manufac- 
tured, and  all  went  as  merry  as  the  marriage  bell.  But,  mark  you, 
of  necessity  the  laboratory  contained  no  apparatus  except  that  which 
was  bought  for  some  special  investigation.  Much  horror  was  caused 
by  a  letter  received  from  a  distinguished  foreign  physiologist,  who 
wrote  directly  after  the  publication  of  the  v/ork  on  fever,  that  "  since 
you  are  making  such  large  researches  in  America  I  have  intended  to 
go  and  see  your  laboratories,"  and  the  relief  was  great  when  at  the 
end  of  the  letter  were  found  the  words,  "  but  I  find  that  circum- 
stances will  prevent  my  visiting  you." 
It  is,  perhaps,  worthy  of  record,  as  told  me  by  Professor  Reichert 
in  1886,  that  when  he  entered  upon  his  duties  he  found  in  the  labo- 
ratories no  apparatus  which  was  not  my  personal  property ;  so  that 
the  first  piece  of  physiological  apparatus  which  ever  belonged  to 
the  University  was  a  Ludwig's  kymographion,  presented  by  Dr. 
S.  Weir  Mitchell  shortly  after  Professor  Reichert's  election,  an 
apparatus  which,  like  its  donor,  was  so  well  constructed  that  up  to 
the  present  day  it  continues  in  its  career  of  usefulness  with  its  forces 
seemingly  unabated. 
During  recent  years  the  development  of  the  Experimental  Labo- 
ratory of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  has  been  rap. 
idly  progressive.  The  election  of  Dr.  Simon  Flexner  to  the  Chair 
of  Pathology  in  1899  led  to  rapid  growth  in  the  work  on  experi- 
mental pathology,  and  in  1895  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  experi- 
mental researches  by  the  creation  and  endowment  of  the  Pepper 
Clinical  Laboratory,  an  institution  that  has  already  made  itself  an 
enviable  reputation  in  the  recent  annals  of  experimental  science. 
That  much  work  has  been  achieved  in  these  laboratories  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that,  independently  of  the  Pepper  laboratory,  there  have 
been  published  from  them  250  experimental  papers  embracing  a 
very  wide  range  of  physiological,  pharmacological  and  pathological 
subjects. 
Hitherto  we  have  been  speaking  of  the  experimental  laboratory, 
but  the  term  "  laboratory  "  is  also  now  used  as  the  name  of  the 
workshop  in  which  students  are  taught  the  practical  details  of 
