Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-27

w in medical science could save the little
ones life, the eminent fnancer began thinking
harder than he had ever thought before He was
should not want for funds for the deeper study
of disease; and he called five learned to talk
They told him of the researches of profound sci
entsts like Koch, Pasteur Lister Duclaux, Roux,
and Metchnikoff, of Pasteurs triumphs in France,
of Prince Alexanders endowment school at st.
Petersburg, of Lord lveaghs two hundred and
fifty thousand pounds for the British Institute of
Preventive Medicine, of DR.. Ehrlichs at Frankfurt,
of Henry Phipps efforts at Philadelphia; and he
saw more clearly than that if medicine to
be advanced there must be ceaseless original work,
done in the highest spirit of self sacrifice; also that
the latest discoveries in science must be applied
to the problems connected with the prevention and
cure of disease.
He then gave two hundred thousand dollars to
set the plan going, and not long afterward added
two million dollars more, established a perpetual
trusteeship, built and equipped monumental five
story brick and stone laboratory in Greater New
York placed fifty learned men in charge, and told
them to go ahead. within year, Mr.. and Mrs.
Harold Mccormick founded Memorial Institute,
Chicago, also for special medical sclence) And
this is the story behind Americas greatest labora-
tory for special research dedicated to humanity and
science.
One must travel far before he finds another labo-
ratory generously equipped. Certainly there
is nothing in America quite equal to the Rookie
Teller Institute of Medical Research and it is not
too much to add that the donors far sighted bene-
faction marks epoch in American medical prog
ress, likewise in the advance, slow but sure, of the
human race in the battle between science and nature
Too Soon to See Its Value
IT is too soon yet ask in elaborate detail what
the Rockefeller Institute has accomplished for
the doors opened only two years ago; and scen
tifc research usually moves with snails pace. But
the laboratory has plan of work broad that
the profound researches of Pasteur might well be
challenged in friendly emulation. staff of highly
trained men, in measure educated by the institute
itself, devoting their time, day and night; and
in addition part of the design is to send scientists,
or funds, events may require, to investigate
emergency problems anywhere in the world. In
brief the scope of the institute may be Defined
we'll as summed up in Mr.. Rockefellers words
in his letter of trust: 1.-The trust is to be admin
istered in such way to accomplish the most
for humanity and science But one must get it
clear in his head that it is all experimental, that
nothing is promised and nothing paraded, nothing
patented, nothing sold Progress, made, will be
reported from time to time in the official journal of
the institute.
The practical side, matter of course, is always
of first interest to busy Americans, who quite natu
rally will wish to know specific examples of
the value of research work, of the type under
taken by the Rockefeller Institute. 1t will be clear
that in the of the Panama Canal the first
problem to provide proper sanitation the
isthmus; and if the canal is built the victory
may we'll be divided between engineering and medi-
cal science. Then, remember that before DR..
Jenners time smallpox wiped out it's tens of thou