Am'ju?y;Xrm*}    Development  of  the  Medical  Laboratories.  341 
practitioners ;  but  what  has  been  gained  so  far  as  the  higher  uses  of 
the  man  are  concerned,  if  he  has  been  relieved  from  the  burden  of 
medical  practice  to  be  crushed  under  the  burden  of  excessive  teach- 
ing ?  This  is  the  peril  of  the  hour  so  far  as  medical  science  is 
concerned.  May  I  quote  from  the  published  report  of  a  sister  insti- 
tution, which  we  all  delight  to  honor?  From  1896  to  1900  the  pro. 
fessor  in  charge  published  thirteen  original  papers,  all,  I  believe, 
entirely  his  own  work,  and  as  valuable  as  pure  water  flowing  from 
a  mountain  spring.  In  the  fall  of  1900  a  new  and  much  expanded 
physiological  course  went  into  effect ;  in  the  three  years  subsequent 
to  this  the  professor  published  one  paper,  with  the  assistance  of  a 
co-worker,  probably  a  student.  Why?  Evidently  because  one 
back  already  loaded  with  a  crate  of  earthenware  cannot  carry  also  a 
pack  of  dry  goods,  even  though  these  goods  be  silken  fabrics  of 
deftest  weaving,  brilliant  with  the  sunshine  or  dreamy  with  the 
mystery  of  the  far-off  Orient. 
It  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  the  requirements  of  increasing  knowl- 
edge and  the  improved  methods  of  modern  teaching  make  instruc- 
tion far  more  laborious  than  it  used  to  be.  How,  then,  is  this  recent 
danger  to  be  averted  ?  Simply  by  increasing  the  personnel  of  the 
teaching  staff.  This  means  increase  of  expenses,  so  that  a  labora- 
tory like  the  present  increses  the  expenses  of  the  medical  school  not 
only  by  the  three  or  four  thousand  dollars  a  year  which  is  required 
simply  to  keep  it  clean,  warm  and  light,  but  also  by  requiring  an 
increase  of  its  staff  of  officers,  unless  its  great  opportunities  are  to 
be  wasted.  On  the  other  hand,  medical  classes  are  being  reduced 
by  the  higher  standard  of  education  required,  by  the  multiplication 
of  medical  teaching  institutes,  and  probably  in  the  near  future  by 
the  lessening  of  the  demands  for  the  profession  through  the  improve- 
ments of  sanitation. 
With  greater  need  for  money  there  is  less  income  from  students. 
Endowments  are  becoming  as  essential  for  medical  departments  as 
for  other  technical  schools,  and  the  institution  which  fails  to  get 
such  endowments  must  in  the  long  run  be  left  behind.  Better  to 
have  small  laboratories  with  large  endowments  than  large  labora- 
tories with  small  endowments.  Fortunate  it  is  for  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  that  in  the  character 
and  record  of  its  provost  it  has  a  guarantee  that  that  which  has 
been  created  shall  not  fail  of  use. 
