342       Development  of  the  Medical  Laboratories.  {Am/u°ySarm- 
But,  Fellow  Alumni  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  all 
persons  who  are  interested  in  the  growth  of  this  our  Alma  Mater 
not  only  as  a  centre  of  medical  teaching,  but  also  of  medical  thought 
and  progress,  we  have  no  right  to  expect  that  one  man  or  a  few  men 
shall  obtain  the  pecuniary  foundations  upon  which  medical  advance- 
ment must  rest.  It  is  an  extraordinary  fact  that  so  far  the  technical 
schools  in  America  which  have  received  the  least  support  are  those 
connected  with  a  profession  which  comes  into  the  closest  contact  with 
the  lives  of  the  whole  people.  Are  doctors  afraid  to  talk  freely  of 
the  needs  of  medical  laboratories  and  of  medical  schools  for  pecuni- 
ary assistance?  Is  there  a  lack  of  enthusiasm  among  us?  Or  is  it 
that  morbid  dread  of  financial  discussion  which  led  Dr.  George  B. 
Wood,  as  I  have  often  heard  him  say,  always  to  take  the  other  side 
of  the  street  when  he  saw  a  man  approaching  to  whom  he  had  sent 
a  bill  for  services  rendered  ?  I  know  not ;  but  certainly  we  are 
somehow  at  fault  in  not  making  plain,  not  our  needs,  but  for  the 
people's  needs — for  better  education  of  doctors  who  shall  serve 
them,  and  urgent  hurry  in  the  growth  of  that  science  which  each 
day  lifts  more  and  more  of  the  physical  ills  that  burden  the  race. 
The  profession,  however,  has  not  been  so  recusant  as  at  first  sight 
appears  in  this  matter.  To  the  modern  school  of  medicine  the  hos- 
pital is  a  necessity,  and  in  the  foundation  of  hospitals  the  medical 
profession  has  not  been  idle. 
Sometime  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixties  Professor  Stille  was 
delivering  in  the  Academy  of  Music  one  of  those  old-time  com- 
mencement addresses  in  which  the  central  waxen  lay-figure  of 
platitudes  was  clothed  in  the  finest  garments  of  pure  and  fashionable 
English.  While  semi-dozing  in  a  carefully  selected  dark  corner  the 
thought  came  to  me  "  we  must  have  a  hospital  when  we  move  the 
Medical  Department  over  the  river."  The  late  Dr.  William  F. 
Norris,  known  to  us  at  that  time  as  "  Bill  Norris,"  sat  next  to  me. 
I  nudged  him  and  gave  him  the  benefit  of  my  thought.  He  said, 
"  Let  us  talk  it  over  after  the  ceremonies  with  Pepper,"  whom  we 
were  already  selecting  as  the  natural  leader  of  our  party.  This  was 
done,  and  we  finally,  notwithstanding  the  almost  contemptuous 
disregard  of  our  elders,  obtained  permission  from  the  Board  of 
Trustees  to  make  the  attempt.  Dr.  George  B.  Wood  gave  us  a 
subscription  of  $10,000.  Mr.  Henry  C.  Lea  agreed  to  pay,  and 
subsequently  did  pay,  the  last  $2,500  on  every  $100,000  up  to 
