Am-jour,  Pharm.  ^       Theories  of  Blood-Coagulation  701 
One  of  my  dreams  is  of  a  central  unifying  association  which 
shall  bring  together  and  co-ordinate  those  forces  of  which  I  have 
been  speaking.  The  union  of  these  forces — education,  qualification, 
research,  and  professional  conduct — should  result  in  the  evolution 
of  a  real  profession  of  pharmacy,  which,  co-existent  and  inter-de- 
pendent with  medicine,  should  work  for  the  advancement  of  the 
health  of  the  great  nation  to  which  we  belong.  Some  of  you  may 
say : 
"I  talk  of  dreams, 
Which  are  the  children  of  an  idle  brain, 
Begot  of  nothing  but  vain  fantasy." 
May  I  not  claim,  at  least? 
'T  had  a  dream,  which  was  not  all  a  dream." 
THE  THEORIES  OF  BLOOD  COAGULATION.1 
By  Jules  Bordet, 
Professor  of  Bacteriology,  Parasitology  and  Epidemiology,  Univer- 
sity of  Brussels,  Belgium;  Director  of  the  Pasteur 
Institute,  Brussels,  Belgium. 
First  of  all,  I  beg  of  you  to  excuse  my  imperfect  knowledge 
of  the  English  language  and  to  accept  my  best  thanks  for  the 
honor  you  have  conferred  upon  me  by  inviting  me  to  deliver 
the  Herter  lectures.  I  shall  try  today  to  give  a  brief  resumS. 
of  the  chief  theories  which  have  been  held  concerning  the  mechan- 
ism underlying  the  coagulation  of  the  blood.  This  phenomenon 
deserves  our  interest  not  only  because  of  its  physiological  import- 
ance but  also  as  a  striking  example  of  the  resources  of  experimental 
analysis.  It  can  occur  in  vitro,  and  this  is  a  very  favorable  condi- 
tion for  the  success  of  investigation.  Nevertheless,  and  although 
it  has  been  the  subject  of  innumerable  researches,  up  to  the  present 
time,  its  mystery  has  not  been  completely  disclosed.  You  will  not 
expect  me  to  attempt  a  detailed  review  of  the  whole  subject.  I 
shall  give  only  such  broad  outlines  as  will  serve  to  make  clear  the 
1  Lecture  I  of  the  Herter  Series,  delivered  before  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  on  Tuesday,  October  26,  1920. — From  the  Bulletin  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  Hospital. 
