ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH. This institution was incorporated 14 June 1901, with Dr. Wil liam H. Welch, of Baltimore, president; Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden, of New York; Dr. Christian A. Hester (since died in 1910) ; Dr. Theobold Smith, of Boston; Dr. Hermann M. Briggs, of New York; Dr. Simon Flexner and Dr. L. Emmet Holt, of New York (secretary and treasurer), for a board of scientific directors. Mr. Rockefeller pledged $200,000 to the board to be drawn upon at their discretion during a period of 10 years, for preliminary work, his letter of gift expressing his desire eto accom plish the most for humanity and science.' Scholarships and fellowships were created and distributed to the existing laboratories through out the country, to enlist the co-operation of various investigators, to aid some promising lines of research which could not previously be continued for lack of funds, and to discover who and where were the persons who desired to undertake research work and what were their qualifications. At the end of the first year it was decided to centralize the most important lines of work in the Institute's own labdratory under a competent head and with special equip ment. Mr. Rockefeller gave $1.000,000 at the second annual meeting of the board in June 1902 for this object. The Scherrnerhorn prop erty, fronting East River at East 66th and streets, New York, was chosen for the site, and a plot comprising 261/2 city lots, upon which the present building stands, was deeded to the Institute. Dr. Simon Flexner resigned his position as professor of pathology in the University of Pennsylvania to become director of the Institute and began his work 1 July 1903. The cornerstone of the building was laid 3 Dec. 1904, a building at the corner of Lexing ton avenue and 50th street being used tempo rarily.
The present organization provides for the following departments: Pathology, bacteriology, physiological and pathological chemistry, phys iology, comparative zoology, pharmacology and experimental therapeutics.
The purpose of the Institute is research. not instruction; yet it exerts a considerable influence on medical education. Upon the basic sciences above mentioned the future discoveries on medical science must largely rest. The In stitute endeavors to apply the latest discov eries in science to problems connected with prevention and cure of disease.
The Institute has co-operated with the Health Department of New York in the study of conditions surrounding the production and distribution of the milk supply of the city, and the effects of milk upon the health of children in the tenements; also with the commission appointed by the city in 1904 to study the prevalence of the acute respiratory diseases, and with that appointed in 1905 to investigate cerebro-spinal meningitis. It has united with Harvard University in sending men to Manila to study certain phases of smallpox; and it has made grants each year to assist important in vestigations which were being carried on in various places.
The work done by the Institute is published in various scientific journals and collected in volumes of (Reprints.) In February 1905 the Institute took charge of the publication of The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Mr. Rockefeller gave an additional $3,820, 000 when the hospital of the Institute was opened on 7 Oct. 1910. This made the income bearing endowment $6,420,000 and the total endowment, including grounds and buildings, $8,240,000. In the hospital the closest scientific study is given to obscure pathological condi tions such as heart disease, pneumonia and in fantile paralysis. The board of trustees of the Institute consists of John D. Rockefeller, Tr., Frederick T. Gates, William H. Welch, Starr J. Murphy and Simon Flexner.