The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-26
Special Correspondence to Tns Sew.

PARIS, Nov. 26.-I have returned from
a " days visit to the hospital and
laboratory Of DR.. Alexis Carrel at Com
piegne with a stronger realization h a
war Is the natural enemy OF science.
Early in the war l went to see Prof.
Metchnikoff at the Pasteur Institute, only
10 be told that the chief effects Of war
In the intellectual, as In the material.
world were hatred and destruction and
that science would come back into Its
own again only after the scientific pep
pies Of Europe had quit slaughtering
Zach other.
had hoped to And DR.. Carrel In a
better state Of mind as regards the for
tunes OF science because he was work
ing within sound Of the guns rather than
In the Pasteur Institute. found him
in fact in a worse state OF pessimism
thar his venerable colleague at Paris.
Science, he said, had been almost forgot
ten amid the general distraction ana
horror. He knew of no developments In
the several sciences in which he Is
learned and he a the air OF feeling
that II would be astonishing to find that
such were not the case.
n temporary edTtuVudke tHOCh Hdu
suspended scientific endeavor along with
most other activities Of civilization and
the scientists had abandoned their
studies Just as the peasants had aban-
doned the soil to come to do their service
in the work of destroying the enemy and
OF preventing the enemy from destroying
them, while laboratories and farms were
choked with dust and weeds. Science
had become an Interest which modified
army surgeons had had In the past and
to which they some day hoped to return
n shells did not come their way TO take
6leir heads of.
war Interrupts Science.
The vast realm Of science exploring in
nature had got suddenly miraculously
narrowed down into n little bit OF "A
circle of light at the end Of IA microscope
with an uninteresting assortment or
familiar microbes feeding upon "A piece
of tissue blown out OF the body OF n
man by a flying fragment of base metal.
Upon this tiny spot science directed its
weary eyes for ediou months. while the
soul OF learning regretted the foolishness
OF man for precipitating so Involvement
a problem before science had got round
TO some sort OF real solution of the
whole question of the enmity between
microbes and tissue. 1t was indeed a
desperate situation for science to have
all its labors Interrupted By precisely
the sort OF catastrophe which II was all
the time trying to render impossible.
DR.. Carrel's establishment, at what
was In time Of peace the excellent
Rond-Royal Hotel for Sunday visitors
to the charms Of Compiegne, is remark
able among array hospitals for its
h~ygienic and aesthetic perfection. The
ground floor Is admirably arranged In
hospital wards containing about fifty
wounded. whose number Will he in
creased to ninety shortly by the add
ton OF other wards equipped IN the
same building. The quality OF the in
s~tallation IS superior even 20 the luXur-
ious American Ambulance at Neuilly.
Most Of the cases are OF more than ordi-
nary medical interest because of their
condition OF perhaps more than usual
degree Of infection.
The treatment By means of irrigation
Of the wound with the recently perfected
pakin fluid is IN use in practically all
Of the cases. Or. Carrel states that the
method has produced very good results
and that II represents an appreciate
progress over the treatments employed
in the vast majority of wal hospitals
throughout the country. He does not
attach an exorhitant degree OF scientific
significance to II, however. and egrets
the popular journalistic tendency to
make a sort of great discovery out