Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20
ORGANIZED. MEDICAL
RESEARCH is VITAL
New Federal Institute May Make Wash
ingtOn Center of Advance i'm
Medical Science.

guess Is that the discovery Cof a cure
for cancer) will be made when 1t comes
at last by some obscure fellow in q
homemade laboratory" There is
every reason to believe" DR.. Blood
good replies, that the slowneSs of dis
coveries in medical research is due to
the fact that the majority of people
within and without the medical pro-
feSsion, have been of this opinion"
Actually. of course. the miracle" may
happen. Some obscure physician, a.
predicted by Mr.. Mencken, may some
day hit empiracly on a specific for can
Ger or discover, with sudden flash OF
inspired insight. some simple fact which
everybody else has overlooked. But 1t
will be expensive business waiting for
the miracle. And If such an obscure
fellow" does make such a discovery he
probably will be riding on the shoulders
of other men who by systematic, CO.
| operative research have given him the
foundation. A cure for cancer may not
| come from the National Institute OF
Health, but a very great part of the alb
solutely essential background for such
a discovery is certain to come from
there.
Will Build Up Research.
The Government in its regulatory
health work and its necessary re-
searches naturally had butt VI a Won
dertul research machine which needed
only legislative recognition to function
Now has come frank recognition and
approval of research beyond the bounds
OF the Immediately practical. This i'm
mediately practical" which appeals so
much to the man on the street unfa-
miliar with scientific methods, has been
one of the great thorns in the side of
productive research in the past.
Of course various Federal nnodira1
agencies have done a great deal of i'm
menSely valuable work for the advance
ment of science in the past. The work
of the Public Health Service and the
HYGIENE Laboratory is only one chap
ter. There are equally colorful chap
tiers in the history of the Army and
Navy medical services. The medical
worthy younger brother of these.
Few finer examples of the work Of
Government agencies in medical re-
search can be cited than that Of ST.
EliZabeth's Hospital-theoretical q
place for the custody and treatment of
the Federal insane. Actually it has
functioned, because of the enthusiasm
and devotion of its staff, as a Federal
bureau for the investigation of prob
lens of the human mind and has be-
come a world center of psychiatric re-
search. All this has been largely with
out cost to the taxpayers, work for
which the workers were not paid. But
as was remarked at the recent World
Congress on Mental Hygiene here, up
to the present the Government has been
more concerned with the health of
pigs than with the sanity of its people. :"
DIR. BIoodgOOd's Viewpoint.
That day apparently Is passing. This
was pointed out by DIR, BlOodgood in a
recent address before the Louisiana
State Medical Society. Little more than
a generation ago, he explained, this
was very largely an agricultural nation,
when "the larger element Of our people
were farmers, and rural life was not
only larger but more healthy, and the
happiness and prosperity Of rural dis
tricts depended on the health of ami
mails and plants. AS the United States
raced to its present population and city
life neither the medical profession nor
the Government realized the impor-
lance of keeping the people informed
of changing conditions due to over
crowding of population, and only
minority have seen the necessity of
multiplying the number of research
workers to meet the new demands of
modern health protection"
To-day" DR.. Bloodgood continued,
practically every important method Of
diagnosis which allows us to recognize
disease in its earliest and durable stages
is the result of discoveries In the hos
pitfalls and laboratories of medical SCI
ence. Practically every means Of pre-
vention we have today, from vaccina-
ton against smallpox to the most re-
cent incubation against Rocky Noun
tain fevor, is due to the work of men,
berS of the medical profession giving
part of or all their time to research
Practically all the cures we have for
disease today and every method of
treatment which promises anything
toward a cure has been the result of
research.
Too Few Research Men.
"In spite of the fact that for the
majority of diseases we have neither q
prevention nor a cure, the number of
research workers and laboratories,
although decidedly on the increase, Is
far too small to meet the demands.
Neither the people nor its representa-
tives nor the medical profession think
in terms of preventive medicine or re-
search"
The plan for the National Institute
Of Health provides for the endowment
of research activities.
Now is the time to strike" says DR..
Bloodgood.
1t provides probably the finest oppor-
tunity to devote wealth to the real
service of suffering humanity.