The times., 1901-06-16
MEDICAL RESEARCH.

To THE EDITOR OF TIE TIMES: In the
press of this country we have heard of
! late that Millionaire ]. d. Rockefeller is
| about to add to the number of his public
| benefactions'' by the establishment of an
| immense institution for medical re-
search" Such an announcement is calcu-
lated to arouse IN the minds of many
thoughtful people not only feelings of ap-
probation for the enterprise and worthy
motives there displayed, but some other
thoughts as well. Win you allow in your
columns the brief expression of some of
these other thoughts?
We are told that the stated benefaction
is TO be on those lines which especially for
the past twenty years have held prece-
dence in the medical world-in fact, have
been. as it were, the rage" gigantic
system has been built up, founded on the
principle of animal experimentation and
the serum" products derived, which now
comprehends vast business interests and
extends its influence into the remotest
corners of the profession. So skillfully
has this been done that the average citi
zen is transtixed with wonder and admi-
ration at the spect tIcle.
But what let us ask, has been the re-
suit of all the energy expressed in this
complicated and marvellous system of re
search?" BY their fruits ye shall know
them" Disease is increasing. The bac-
tcriuIogists, it is true, are discovering new
bacteria every day, but with the dscov-
cry of every fresh mcrobe the scythe Of
death is cutting a wider swath in the hu-
man grain, There is at this moment be-
fore me the sixtieth report of the Regis
trar General of England, showing that in
the twenty years from 1877 to 1897 during
which these methods secured their strong
est hold on the medical mind the mortal
ity rate of twenty of the most dreaded
and common Diseases to many of which
these methods have been specially ap-
Piled, has increasedr-in some cases nearly
100 per cent, This includes the very dis
ease for which we are told the "one spe-
cifc of wide applicability has been dis
cOVered-diphtheria-w in Great Brit
ain claimed a death rate of 2i6 per mill
lion in 1897 to 40 per million in 1871
Why is this so? Why is it. for in
stance, that the best known, best ad-
vertised, and most eXtolled of all the
serum products of these modern methods
was, at the April o l90O meeting of the
Medical Association of the Greater city
Of New York almost unanimously con-
demned by those who spoke and is fast
losing credit with fearless and honest in
vestigators? Why is it that George Will
son. NJ. D.. LII. D.. President of the State
Medicine Section of the British Medical
August 2 1899 that! these same methods
of research cannot be proved to have
saved one human life or lessened in any
apprCcia bic degree the load of human SUI
fering?' Why, but for the reason that
these methods, ''steepcd,' as he declared,
with commercial interests, are contrary
to natural laws and repehant alike tc true
science and humanity! for we see IN
place of the benignant, healthful !nhu-
ences of cleanliness, right food and right
living substituted the grewsome products
4fagnf-.a tori of
ture. IN the list of directors for the fu-
ture institute / see the names of no less
than three physiqlogists in whose re
search" Laboratories have been inflicted
upon animals, according to the published
records. the most cr11ei Sufferings. These,
Of course. viii be repeated, with many ad-
ditions, in the new institution. Let me
ask, is this the fogpdap ppn upon which we
are to build the physical and moral in
tegrity of the future?
We are told that the proposed insti-
of the famous Koch and Pasteur in
stitutes of Europe-a fact we might
readily suppose. Andi" we turn from
a contemplation of the vast business
enterprise of those institutions to find, on
the one hand, that in fifty years IN this
country there haze not been so many
cases of ''hydrophSbia' mas have occurred
in one year In Paris tha home of the Pas
teur Institute. since, that institute was
established; and 10 ind. on the other
hand that the chief event making famous
the D1 kOCn was the CONSTRUCTION
of a colossal edifice of, Pretenslon to which
cluug the desperate hopes of countless
consumptives-only to be crushed when 1t
fell.
Before the American Social Science As
sociatiou. ut its annual meeting in Wash
ington, D. c., May, 1863, member of that
association. q well-known physician of
New York City voiced this sentiment:
Bodily health is to be obtained by tenn
perance, purity, cleanliness. fresh air,
Contented and cheerful spirit; not by IN
ocuIating toxin poison into our veins or
from the secrets to be dug out OF the
brains and entrails of tortured brutes. l
have been thinking what a glorious thing
II would be If the wealth now turned into
the channels | have described could be di-
verted to the establishment Of great in
stitutions where the well-known grand
and vet simple truths Of hygienic living
truths verified continually wherever tried
could be open to all; where the mourn
fuI process of endeavoring TO extract your
health from another's disease. your com
fort from anothers misery, could be eX-
changed for the bnuntiful gifts of that
true preventive medicine'-an untainted
system Would that some benefactor of
his race with an eye to these great
truths might thus render his name i'm
mortal j. NJ. GREENE.
Boston June l3.