SACRIFICED TO SCIENCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10386, 4 May 1925, Page 6

SACRIFICED TO SCIENCE

HEROES OF THE LABORATORY. To the roll of those who have given their lives in the cause of scientific progress there have just been added two more names, those of Dr. Dcmenitroux, of Paris, and Professor Bergonie of Bordeaux, who died as a result of experiments, unflinchingly pursued, with X-ray. Their death tragically revives the memory of other victims in this sphere of investigation, notably Dr Ironside Bruce, of Charmg Cross Hospital, London, and Dr. Adolphe Leroy of St. Antoihe Hospital, Pans. But while no line of medical research has engendered greater heroism, it is to be remembered that investigations in other directions have prompted selfsacrefice equally inspiring. Think of yellow fever, one of the most terrible scourges of mankind, and the comparative immunity which is ours to-day. What we know of the disease and its prevention stands almost entirely to the credit of a handful of experimenters whose names are all but unknown outside medical circles. Nurse Clara Mead was one of the first to give her life in the course of the experiments—she volunteered to l>e innoculated with the deadly germ—and her death was almost immediately followed by that of three other workers. Leprosy, now a curable disease, has taken a heavy toll of valuable lives. The tragedy of Dr. George Turner in this connection is remembered by too few. An English medical officer of health, he went to South Africa 30 years ago to tackle the problem of rinderpest, the devastating cattle plague. In the course of this work he became interested in leprosy, and spared no effort to find relief for those so afflicted.

Borne time later, after he had returned to England, Dr. Turner found that he himself had contracted the disease, a casually noticed mark on his left hand being the clue that led to the terrible discovery. With characteristic unselfishness he at once made arrangements to be isolated, although he refused to discontinue his experiments. Gradually lie was bereft of the power of using his limbs, until there was almost no personal service that he could render himself unaided. On the King's own initiative he was knighted, but, unhappily, he did not live long to enpoy the honour. The evolution of poison gases in the war resulted in the loss of a number of

lives made doubly valuable by their contributions to science'. One martyr in this category, Colonel Harrison of the Royal Engineers, was warned time after time that his health was imperilled by his efforts to find an antidote to certain of the more virulent gases, but he refused to abandon the task.

Finally, he succumbed to pulmonary disease,' directly attributable to his experiments. Another worker for science, Dr. Fox, of Melbourne, lost his life in the course of experimenting with snakebite serum. While examining some snakes in the Calcutta Zoological Oardens he received four punctures i» the wrist from a venomous snake. r»-» applied some of his serum to three of the wounds, but overlooked the fourth. A few hours later he was found dead in bed, where he had gone to rest after his fateful experience—" John o' London."