Evening star., 1922-04-06
Plan for an Institution Here
For Cooperation in Research

| into the millions. Nearly all of this
Is for technical or economic pur-
poses or in connection with law en-
forcement. Only very small part
OF IT goes for researches In the lines
under consideration. Except for some
more or less incidental but very
important work in the Department
OF Agriculture and work done by the
Army and Navy with special REFER
| ence to military problems, almost the
only research work bearing directly
| upon the health of men is that car
ried on in the public health service
and especially in the tyGienic labora-
| tory.
In the latter there is a small
division of chemistry and also a
| division of pharmacology in which
some chemical work is done. In re-
cent years the chief activities OF
the division of chemistry have been
directed to sanitary engineering, but
! fundamental work on the metabolism
OF bacteria. The chemical work in
the division of pharmacology has
been largely in connection with the
/, standards and legal control of drugs.
although there has been some work
on chemo-therapy and on the relation
OF chemical structure to physiological
action. At present chemical work in
connection with tuberculosis Is being
developed.
X X X X
From the advices he has received
from the authorities quoted above
Representative Woodruff has been
led to believe that of the present
government laboratories the hygienic
laboratory would be the best adapted
, for development into medium of
cooperative research such as he is
considering. Judging from the past
and present, he has come to the con-
clusion that Congress has never made
the positions in this laboratory suff1-
GENTLY attractive from the standpoint
of salaries. facilities and freedom to
work to retain long the services of
chemists of eminence. In the seven
teen years of this laboratory's ex-
chiefs of the chemical division, and
the position has been vacant for
about one-fourth of the time.
! Representative Woodruff argues
that every single biological change In
health and in disease is in turn funda-
| process. subject to the rigorous, ex-
act laws of chemistry and physics.
The problems Of life and health. as
safeguarded by medicine, are in their
successful advance demands the CO.
operative effort of scientists of the
highest type, each a leader in his
field and deeply interested in the cor
related fields of science, willing to
merge his talents and his efforts in
the common problem for the common
good.
A fundamental attack on the prob
lem of the more successful preserva-
tion of health and cure of disease de-
| chemist. the physicist and those ex-
perts in the field of biology who are
| most Immediately concerned with the
scientific study of disease-namely,
the pathologist, who studies the
changes in the organisms produced
by disease; the bacteriologist, stu
dent of our chief enemies, the micro
organisms or disease germs, and the
pharmacologist, who investigates the
effects of drugs Of all kinds on the
organism.
The biologist. pathologist. bacteri-
ologist or pharmacologist would be
wholly alta lozs in the thoroughgoing
effort to chart the seas Of disease and
health, Representative Woodruff
points out. without the aid of the
chemist and physicist to study mi
nutely and exhaustively those chem
ical and physical elements which
cal investigators are returning to the
universities for the study of more
chemistry and more physics, he says.
Above all, he stresses that the
United States locks cooperative re-
search. There is not single or
ganization whose purpose is a deter
| mined cooperative attack on the
problems of disease and health,
| where intense chemical and physical
research goes hand in hand with the
medical and biological study of dis
ease. The importance of chemistry
and physics has been recognized, but
! the direction of research is still es-
| sentially in the hands of medical men.
The point of Representative Wood
ruff's plan is that no one of the sci
entific groups alone should be in
trusted with leadership. All are
| needed for coping successfully with
| the complex and formidable prob
lens. Complete cooperation of
! staff of experts. peers in every case.
each in his own field, with emphasis
on the fundamental chemical and
physical character of the problems,
has nowhere been accomplished.
| Representative Woodruff proposes
| to urge this institution for co-opera-
tive research and hopes to get an
early hearing on the subject.