Ihave been sorely tempted to follow the becoming example of~ predecessor and forego the generalizations which are expected to serve 3f) a forerunner to the serious purpose of these meetings. However, I can not refrain from taking this opportunity to comment briefly upon certain considerations of clinical investigation which are assuming progressively greater importance. These criticisms and pleas are primarily directed towards laboratory investigation, although they incidentally also apply to those phases of clinical research which deal with bedside observation and the statistical study of clinical material. Moreover, my remarks are concerned only with those endeavors