Such intercourse is of mutual benefit and renders possible a
entente cordiale between ourselves and the laboratories visited. The
entire independence of the Nutrition Laboratory from all other existing
institutions, the broad principles of administration adopted by the
3oard of Trustees and the President, and the select field, of research
have raised this laboratory above many others and hence entree can he
secured to many laboratories which are not usually freely opened to visit¬
ors. 1 am therefore brought into contact with the greatest men in physio¬
logy, hygiene, and medicine, not superficially, but in frequent and inti¬
mate intercourse for periods of days or weeks, The Physiological Congress
held triennially in different European cities gives an opportunity for
making known to each other the workers in the various scientific fields
0p research. It has not been necessary for me to attend these congresses
for I have had the opportunity to visit these men in their laboratories
and frequently at their homes, and thus see them at work, tell them of our
own work, and exchange ideas and criticisms.
Through these trips, also, it is possible to find candidates
among the younger members of the laboratory staffs for Research Associates
in the Nutrition Laboratory. Furthermore, as 1 meet many men who are com¬
piling the results of others investigations for use in textbooks, handbooks,
and encyclopaedia articles, it is possible to put them in touch with the
sources of information regarding the work of the Nutrition Laboratory and
make surs of a proper representation of ovir own results.
The opportunity to study the most recently devised apparatus,
become familiar with its technique, and if thought desirable, order direct
from the mechanician or the manufacturer a duplicate for use in the Nutri¬
tion Laboratory is a valuable one. It has likewise been possible to intro¬
duce into European laboratories apparatus which has been devised in this