Dedication Ceremonies National Library of Medicine


                         Thursday, December 14, 19613 p.m.

[ Musical opening; U.S. national anthem playing]

Rev. William R. Andrew: Let us pray. Almighty God, who dost inspire the hearts and minds of
men. We beseech thee to bless us as we dedicate this National Library of Medicine to the
health and healing of thy children. Oh Lord, who has set mankind and families and nations,
binding us by ties of common concern for the health and welfare of thy people, we thank thee
for the increase of social sympathy among us and the growing discontent with needless
suffering and disease, for all who have been pioneers and leaders in the fight against sickness of
body, mind, and soul and for all men and women who have faithfully assisted them in their
daily work. We thank thee for all honest public service for the good of the community in this
Christmas season. We thank thee that above all, above all the bewilderments of life rises the
song of man's unconquerable faith, his assurance that thou art the eternal spirit of truth,
justice, and mercy, that thou hast better things in store for thy sons than they can ask or desire
and that through the darkness and through the light thou art the abiding father of the
brotherhood of men whose will is peace among all men of good will. Give us the spirit of praise
and accept the devotions of our hearts to thee and to thy purposes. Amen.

[Silence]

Worth B. Daniels: Today, we come together to dedicate a great new facility for the greatest
medical library in the world, the National Library of Medicine. By happy circumstance, we are
also celebrating the 125th anniversary of the institution founded in 1836 by the Surgeon
General of the Army, Dr. Joseph Lovell.

The library's had many homes during its lifetime. During the Civil War, in rented rooms over the
old Riggs Bank building, then in the old Ford Theater, and since 1887 in the Red Brick Building
on the mall. Now at long last, the library has a magnificent new home commensurate with its
impressive programs. It is a matter of profound regret that construction has been delayed and
that the building is incomplete and unfinished at this time. The actual move of library collection
and operations cannot be completed before early spring. In the name of the Board of Regents, I
call upon all those whose responsibility it is to oversee construction, to see to it that this
building is completed and made ready for occupancy at the earliest possible date.



                                                  1
We have received many messages of congratulations on this occasion from all over America
and all over the world. I cannot read them all, but there is one which I wish to share with you. It
is from the President of the United States who because of the pressure of world affairs is
unable to be with us on this occasion. He has written us as follows: "The dedication of the new
National Library of Medicine perpetuates a distinguished history extending back to the early
days of our nation. This enterprise has my congratulations and best wishes for a new era of
outstanding service to medical research and the dissemination of medical knowledge
throughout America and around the world." Signed John F. Kennedy.

My association with this library has been a memorable experience, one which I am proud to
have shared with many others who are here today. It is a pleasure on behalf of the Board of
Regents to extend thanks to all those who have supported this institution through the years, to
all those who fought the good fight, never gave up hope, to all those who's counsel served so
well in the planning and bringing to fruition the programs which contribute to the library's
greatness, to all those whose ethics are embedded in the very fabric of the library structure.

Many of these people are here today. I wish I could introduce them all, but obviously, I cannot
do that, the list is long. I must content myself with naming a few of these people individually.
The distinguished group at the rear of the platform is the present membership of the Board of
Regent of the library. I shall introduce by name only two of them to represent them all. General
Leonard Heaton, General Heaton, the Surgeon General of the United States Army. If the Army
had not carefully nurtured this library for over 100 years, we would have little to celebrate
today. Dr. Luther L. Terry, the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service. Dr.
Terry heads the service, which is now responsible for the stewardship of the library's activities.
We have with us today, the Representative in Congress of the sixth district of Maryland, the
district in which the library makes its new home, Congressman Charles Mathias, Jr.

Nice to have you here, sir. [Laughter]

There are many distinguished medical men here, a few of whom I shall introduce. In the
interest oftime, please withhold applause until all of have stood and have been recognized. The
Dean of the Georgetown University of Medical School, who is Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the American Medical Association and represents that organization today, Dr. Hugh
H. Hussey, Jr. Hussey. The Dean of the Haward University School of Medicine, Dr. Robert Jacey,
Dr. Jacey here. The Dean of the George Washington University of Medical School, Dr. John
Parks, John, nice to see you.

I would like to introduce two distinguished visitors from abroad. The Professor of Serology at
the University of Tokyo and the President of the Japan Medical Library Association, Dr. Tamiya
Agata, [hello sir]. The representative ofthe Canadian Department of National Health and


                                                 2
Welfare, Dr. E.O. Hughes, Dr. Hughes is there. There are some 60 people who have served as
members of the Board of Regents, as members of the Armed Forces Medical Library Advisory
Group, as officers of the friends of the Armed Forces Medical Library, or as honorary
consultants to the Army Medical Library.

May I introduce the four former chairman of the Board of Regents at the library, Dr. Isidor
Ravdin, Professor of Surgery at the Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania. Sorry, Dr.
Ravdin isn't here. He's usually here. Dr. Champ Lyons of the University of Alabama, Dr. Michael
DeBakey of Baylor University, and Dr. William B. Bean, the University of Iowa. I would like to
introduce thi~ former chairman of the Friends of the Armed Forces Medical Library, Dr.
Benjamin Spector of Tufts University of Medical School, Dr. Spector. The President of the
America11 As;ociation for the History of Medicine and former chairman of the Honorary
             I
Consultants of the Army Medical Library, Dr. Chauncey D. Leake. [Silence] .

The library has received a very fine gift from Dr. Leake, in the form of his personal papers and
correspondence with many people who have made significant contributions to the history of
medicine. Materials of this kind are important adjuncts to the library's collections and surely
this library provides a most fitting and suitable home.

I'd like to introduce the Chief Surgeon of the United States Army, Europe and the Director of
the Army Medical Library from 1946 to 1949, General Joseph McNinch.

And now I'll call on another gentleman to make some additional introductions. Although his
name does not appear on today's program, he has played a major role in the remarkable
renaissance of the National Library of Medicine during the last decade. I call on the Director of
the library, Dr. Frank B. Rogers.

[Applause]

Frank B. Rogers: Mr. Chairman, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I will follow the
chairman's example and ask you to withhold applause until I have completed the list of people
whom I wish to introduce.

One of the most significant events in the 125-year lifetime of the National Library of Medicine
occurred in 1942 when under Rockefeller Foundation sponsorship, a survey of the old Army
Medical Library was conducted. One of the main recommendations of that survey was a new
building is an absolute necessity. The Chairman of the committee which conducted that survey
is here today. He also served as the library's consultant on the development of plans for this
building. He is Librarian Emeritus of Harvard University, Mr. Keyes Metcalf. Another member of
that survey committee is now a member of our Board of Regents, the Librarian of Congress, Dr.
Quincy Mumford. In addition to these two gentlemen, two distinguished ladies were members

                                                 3
of the survey group. They also served on various advisory bodies to the National Library of
Medicine and both are past presidents of the Medical Library Association. They are the librarian
emerita of the New York Academy of Medicine, Miss Janet Doe and the librarian emerita of the
Rudolph Mattas Medical Library of Tulane University, Miss Mary Louise Marshall. Another
member of that survey committee is now the Librarian of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons in New York City, Mr. Thomas Fleming.

There are a number of other distinguished librarians present. Of these I am going to introduce
the presidents. The President of the Medical Library Association and the Librarian of the New
York Academy of Medicine, Miss Gertrude Annan. The President of the Special Libraries
Association, Mr. Eugene Jackson. The President of the American Documentation Institute, Mr.
Gerald Sophar. The President of the District of Columbia Library Association, Mr. George
Moreland. The Executive Secretary of the Association of Research Libraries, Dr. Stephen
McCarthy. A former member of my staff who played a large role in the planning of these
facilities and who is now the Administrator of Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington,
Commander John A. Oley. Three architects responsible for the design and detailed plans of the
new building, Mr. Robert O'Connor, Mr. Walter H. Killam, Jr., Mr. Robert M. Beater. The two
men who direct the general contractors work of construction, Mr. Arthur Venneri, Mr. Joseph
Venneri.

We are happy to have with us today the children and the grandchildren of the founding fathers
of the library. First, I would like to introduce the three daughters of Dr. Fielding H. Garrison,
Mrs. Jack E. Klein, Mrs. James B. Pearce, Mrs. Hayden Estes. I would like to introduce the
grandson of Dr. Robert Fletcher, Colonel Robert Fletcher. I am sorry that Mr. John Shaw Billing
II, grandson of the great John Shaw Billings who directed the library from 1865 to 1895 is
unable to be with us today, but we do have with us the great granddaughter of Surgeon
General Barnes who assigned John Shaw Billings to duty at the library, Mrs. John Slidell.

Last but not least I should like to introduce the members of the library staff on whom falls the
responsibility for carrying out the library's operations. Manifestly, I cannot present all 200 of
them. Three people on the staff, on the present staff, who were also members of the staff at
the time of the hundredth anniversary celebration 25 years ago, may perhaps represent them
all. They are Mr. Leslie Faulk, Mr. Nathaniel Markfield, Mr. Herbert Smith. I would like to add
that Mr. Smith completed 42 years of service this spring and that one of his first duties 42 years
ago on reporting to the library was to carry a set of plans for the new library building from the
library to the office of the Surgeon General.

[ Laughter]




                                                  4
To all these people, to their colleagues here present, to the organizations they represent, I
bring the thanks of the library's officers. I would like to recite the names of a few men now
gone who in their time worked mightily for the end now here come to pass. Dr. John F. Fulton,
Dr. Alan Gregg, Colonel Harold Wellington Jones, General Charles R. Reynolds, Dr. Atherton
Seidell, and some there be which have no memorial, who are perished.

[Applause]

Worth B. Daniels: I'll sure I goof somewhere in this program and I neglected to introduce the
President of the Medical Society of the District of Columbi;3, Dr. Donald Stubbs. It so happens he
and I are very old friends and I couldn't forget you Don. The Secretary of a great department of
the federal government is at once the most enviable and most unenviable of men. Enviable for
the vast opportunities for service which are his; unenviable for the harassment and punishing
workload which he must carry.

I'm proud to introduce to you a great Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, a man who
served his country with passion and skill and who does not wince at the burden, the Honorable
Abraham Ribicoff.

[Applause]

Abraham Ribicoff: Dr. Daniels, Mr. Ambassador, Senator Hill, Dr. Rogers, Dr. Terry and Dr.
Shannon, you can always tell when you have an association with a man who introduces you, he
speaks kindly of you, and Dr. Daniels is my doctor, and you couldn't expect anything else.

About a month after I came to Washington, I, I found myself in the need of a doctor and, and I
got some very sage advice, which I must confess I haven't followed. The first thing he told me is,
I've been around Washington a long, long time and the first thing you ought to do Mr. Secretary
is cut out all that social stuff, that was very easy to follow. The second piece of advice he said
now I think what you ought to do is make sure that you take off at least one day in the middle
of the week and then of course if you like off, take Saturday and Sunday off too. Well, I found I
haven't been able to take off a day in the middle of the week and I haven't been able to take off
Saturday, Sunday either doctor, but for some reason I am still well, so it shows that even the
advice of a good doctor can be breached, but I hope that I don't have to call your service, on
your services soon Dr. Daniels.

With pleasure and pride, I greet you on behalf of the President of the United States. When he
was serving in the Senate, the President coauthored with a distinguished senator from
Alabama, Lister Hill, the legislation which authorized a construction of this building. And he
retains a very great personal interest in this library which enriches our lives, which contributes



                                                  5
to our growing intellectual heritage and which improves worldwide communication in the
sciences and humanities.

We are all proud today. We are proud that the National Library of Medicine is part of the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. We are proud of the contributions of the
Department to the library's development. We are proud of the interest and devotion of the
Board of Regents, the library's director and staff, and its many friends who have worked so hard
to make their dreams a reality. We are proud for the American people and this great national
resource for the public health and the advancement of medical science.

125 years ago as one of his last official acts, Dr. Joseph Lovell, Surgeon General of the United
States authorized a budget item which called for $150 for medical books. Thus, simply and
modestly began the amassing of the great collection, which is today the National Library of
Medicine. This country owes a great debt to Dr. Lovell and the generations of Army officers
who followed him for their vision and perseverance.

Great research and teaching libraries do not fall full grown from the vine. They require long
hard years of nurture and the gathering of materials and the assembling of a skilled staff for the
development of a wide range of facilities for the people who use the library. We say well done
to all who have carried on and who've added to the library's stature.

We hope that during the next hundred years we can carry out our responsibilities with equal
success. This will be no easy task. Medical literature has grown at an enormous rate. In the 82
years since the Index Medicus was begun, the periodical literature of medicine has multiplied
six fold. There is no doubt that it will increase still further as research expands and as medical
care is brought to more and more people. Undoubtedly, librarians must occasionally wonder in
despair, how soon the time will come as predicted by Harvey Cushing 35 years ago when every
tree has been felled for paper, every calf for leather, and a few long haired and ill-nourished
people left in the world will be madly making card indices of the volumes which have filled
every available cranny in which they can be stored.

But this, or something like this, is what an institution such as the National Library of Medicine
must anticipate and plan for. It must make room for an ever growing body of knowledge and
this is why a new building designed with an eye to the future was such a necessity. In thinking
about this library, I was reminded of a phrase used by a talented producing director of the
arena stage to describe the just completed new building, the enclosing of an idea. The structure
we dedicate today encloses an idea. This idea is nothing less than the condition of man. This
idea is a living fund of knowledge, serving health workers everywhere. This idea is a permanent
home of the highest quality, the finest design, furnished and equipped to meet the most
modern library standards for the world's greatest collection of medical literature.


                                                  6
                                                                             .



When we think of a library, we tend to think of a repository, a storehouse. The picture in our
mind is static. Actually, the key to greatness in libraries is movement. The most important thing
about a library is not what is there but how it is used. A great library is not a hoard of
knowledge but a relay station. It is more a transmitter than a receiver.

The National Library of Medicine has passed this test of greatness with high honors. Someone
has called a specialized library such as this one the collective memory of the profession. Like a
human memory it sorts, sifts, analyzes, and recalls information in a purposeful way. The
statistics on quantity and variety of materials received here are impressive, but the statistics on
materials disseminated are more meaningful. Every month despite cramped and archaic
facilities in the old building, the library staff has answered more than 10,000 separate requests.
Each of these requests comes here because this is the best, very often the only source.

Let us consider a few. Researchers are designing an elaborate and complex study on a form of
heart disease. Thanks to this library they learn of work reported only in an obscure European
journal in a language familiar to none of them, which enables them to redesign their project,
eliminate an area already explored, concentrate on another. A medical educator is in process of
developing a brand new course in a swiftly evolving specialty. Thanks to this library, his
students will receive the essence of the world's total knowledge on the subject. A surgeon,
thanks to this library, learns of a refinement of a technique with which he saves a life. A
practitioner, thanks to this library, is able to treat a patient suffering from a disease rarely seen
in our country. A scientist, thanks to this library, takes one clue from an Indian medical journal,
another from a great periodical, adds them to his own experience, and pioneers an entire line
of investigation.

The National Library of Medicine broadcasts thousands of capsules of knowledge every year.
Who can say where and when the vibrations stop? Who can say how many lives are touched
and prolonged? What is more, the improvement of medical communication is high on the list of
this library's objectives.

A few months ago, for example, the library proposed and I approved a project to develop a
computer based system for its bibliographical services. Known as MEDLARS, it will make use of
the latest electronic equipment. A pioneering venture in the library field, it will be designed to
process several hundred thousand pieces of bibliographic information each year. I understand
that in response to a specific request for publications on a single disease category MEDLARS will
be able to sort out and produce a list chosen from over a million possible articles in a very short
time. Of course, it'll take a few years to develop, install, and test the new system, but this is the
kind of operation that the new building is designed for that the library staff plans to stimulate.




                                                  7
Obviously, the National Library of Medicine, an ancient institution by American standards, is
still lively, still growing, still vigorous, ready to part the way through the jungle of medical
publications. And it is ready to think of new ways to dispense our great export, the export of
knowledge and ideas. As a layman, may I say the prognosis for the next hundred years seems
good.

Mr. Chairman, congratulations to you and the present and past members of the Board of
Regents who worked so hard to give this library this fine new home. Congratulations also to the
farsighted legislators who here demonstrated their concern for the progress of medical
research, medical education, and medical care and congratulations to the members of the
health professions on the rebirth of this marvelous facility which belongs to them. And I say to
the staff of the library you have our best wishes, you carry our high expectations as you set
about your tasks in this new building whose simple elegance of structure embodies at once the
great importance and the social usefulness of your work to our country and to all mankind.

[Applause]

[ End side 1 tape 1 ]

Worth B. Daniels: Thank your Mr. Secretary. When five years ago, the act which gave this
library legislative status and which assured the construction of this new building was finally
passed, it was all but inevitable that the sponsor of that legislation should be the senior Senator
from Alabama. No man of our generation, no man in the history of this nation has done so
much in fashioning the legislative bases on which major advances in health and welfare are
built. Senator Lister Hill will present the dedication address.

[Applause]

Senator Lister Hill: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ambassador, Secretary Ribicoff, members of the Board of
Regents, distinguished guests, and my friends. I am honored to be with you on this very fine
historic occasion and I feel privileged to be presented to you by the Chairman of the Board of
Regents, Dr. Worth Daniels. He was the first Chairman of the Board of Regents of the National
Library of Medicine and because of his leadership, his devotion, and his vision, he's again our
Chairman. He spoke of the legislation that brought this National Library of Medicine into being
as we know it today and as we so have it here in this magnificent building.

May I say that no major piece of legislation is ever enacted into Congress without marshalling
your forces, without rallying your army, and Dr. Daniels is a man who sounded forth the call,
who brought in the witnesses, and made sure that they had the right testimony, too. [ Laughter
] He was the man that made the case before our committee, the Senate Committee on Labor
and Public Welfare for this magnificent home here and for the National Library of Medicine.

                                                   8
On this now hallowed ground that only a quarter of a century ago was a sleepy Maryland farm,
we're assembled here today to dedicate this new home of the National Library of Medicine.
Although this library has been in existence for more than a 125 years, it now takes its
appropriate place among this great complex of buildings devoted to the pursuit of medical
research and the prolongation of human lives.

Five years ago in reporting the legislation creating a National Library of Medicine, the Senate
Labor and Public Welfare Committee summed up the importance of the library in these words,
and I quote, "The United States of America is the fortunate possessor of the greatest library of
medicine in the world. The value of its contents is truly incalculable in that if they were once
destroyed, they could never be replaced. The library's importance is immeasurable. In that its
services are essential to men and women engaged in medical research throughout the world, to
our medical and dental schools, to practitioners, in the health fields throughout America, to
scientists, to scholars, to public health workers, and hospital administrators, and to our
departments of government."

But my friends, this library is even more than this. It is the repository of medical knowledge
painstakingly accumulated over the ages. Each stone of this great edifice of knowledge is solidly
rooted upon the fundamental architecture of the past.

John Morley in his "Life of Gladstone" wrote that every man of us has all the centuries in him.
By this same token, every book in this library bears the invisible imprint of the timeless quest
for medical knowledge. From the ancient papyri of Egypt through the first crude anatomical
drawings of the Greeks, to the early printed volumes in Europe, runs this steady stream of
man's slow acquisition of knowledge concerning the human anatomy and the diseases which
plague it.

There as you well know my friends is much heartbreak in this story. For the pronouncement of
new theories, always run hard into the entrenched wall of the past. A William Harvey ridiculed
for his pioneer description of the circulation of the blood. A Semmelweis hounded into insanity
by his colleagues who scorned his insistence upon antisepsis in childbirth. The earlier surgeons
of America, in order to probe the mysteries of anatomy had to do their work on cadavers and
they were stoned by indignant publics for this work. These are but a few examples of the heroic
struggles which led to the medical progress we celebrate today.

In our present age of rapid communication, we sometimes fail to realize how difficult even just
a century ago the transmission of medical knowledge was. My father, a surgeon and
practitioner of medicine for more than half a century once illustrated the importance of such
chance transmission of knowledge by telling me how in 1864 Joseph Lister then at the
University of Glasgow, when walking home with the Professor of Chemistry Thomas Anderson


                                                 9
heard of certain papers on fermentation and putrefaction, which had been recently published
by a then little known French chemist, Louis Pasteur. Lister read these medical publications and
found himself convinced that minute living particles floating in the air often turned the surgery
of his day into a charnel house. This casual meeting with Anderson plus the reading of a medical
article on carbolic acid led in 1867 to Lister laying down the great principles of the modern
treatment of wounds.

Although the vast expanses once separating the countries of the world have been greatly
reduced through the advances of modern transportation and communication, the chance
transmission of medical knowledge is still an occasional and wondrous phenomenon. One night
in 1949, in a Boston medical library, a prominent cardiologist read a paper by an Indian
physician on the tranquilizing effects of an ancient snakeroot plant. Although this snakeroot
plant had been used in India over the centuries for a wide variety of illnesses -- epilepsy,
insomnia, mental illness -- it was practically unknown to our western world until the publication
in 1949 of a scientific article on it in a British medical journal. Thus, a chain of tenuous events
across thousands of miles opened the way to the present development of reserpine, which is
today one of the most effective tranquilizing agents against hypertension and forms of mental
illness.

In this connection, it is interesting to note that the staff of the National Library of Medicine has
reported that modern researchers borrow a great deal of older material, the rare books, the
publications from remote portions of the globe and in many foreign languages.

As that great doctor and man of letters Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "Not all of the old
literature of medicine is dead and not all the dead literature is old." Without the resources of
this great library, the research, the medical research, which our government is undertaking to
aid its citizens, to aid all mankind would we might say be tragically delayed.

Research men might unwillingly do again what some research worker had many years ago done
in a faraway land. All available pieces of information might not be brought to bear on current
problems. As the Secretary has well said, "This library is the collective memory of mankind. Its
purpose is to provide and maintain the record, for in a fundamental sense, it is the guardian of
the research results that may be fruitfully exploited and incorporated in new efforts, new
problems, and new achievements." Above and beyond its task of carefully preserving the
archives of medicine, the National Library of Medicine has the obligation of bringing the right
medical book into the hands of the medical man at the right time.

This it undertakes in its bibliographic publications, its Index Medicus, its catalogs, and its other
guides to the medical literature. In recent decades, as the stream of medical publications



                                                  10
cascaded into a flood, the library faced the challenge of developing new methods to digest this
knowledge and make it rapidly available to the medical profession.

Under forward looking leadership such as we have here in Dr. Rogers it has adapted a number
of high speed electronic machines to cope with the avalanche of medical literature. Indeed we
are told that new electronic and computer developments just over the horizon will provide
additional keys to unlocking the precious treasures piled upon the miles upon miles of its
shelves.

It is most appropriate my friends that this great library does now reside in close union with the
National Institutes of Health. Over the past quarter century, these institutes have been
expanded into what is today the world's largest research center dedicated to our mighty
offensive against the many diseases, which beset the family of man. This great complex of
buildings is a magnificent affirmation of our country's dedication to the alleviation of the
sufferings of people, not only in America but in all parts of the world.

Today, the National Institutes of Health is the Mecca of medicine, the scientific shrine to which
medical men from all around the globe make their pilgrimages each year. It stands today as a
physical reminder of the truly international nature of medicine, for as the great Pasteur once
wrote, "Science does not belong to any country because knowledge is a patrimony of
humanity."

In the dissemination of this precious knowledge, the National Library of Medicine plays a vital
role. In a discussion with John Shaw Billings, one of the original founders of library, a colleague
remarked to him and I quote, "Libraries are quite as necessary as hospitals or armies. Libraries
are the bridges over which civilization travels from generation to generation and from country
to country." Many, my friends, of the building blocks of our civilization will be preserved here in
this National Library of Medicine and the record will celebrate man's eternal quest for
knowledge. As John Milton so aptly said, "A good book is the precious life blood of a master
spirit in bond and treasured up, on purpose to a life beyond life."

We stand today at the threshold of a mighty era, a golden age of medicine. May I be so bold as
to predict that within a relatively few short years the world will see a momentous breakthrough
of medical knowledge that will enable us to overcome many of the dread diseases that have
plagued and baffled mankind through the ages. Yes, there's reason for confidence that this
breakthrough will yield many answers in the battle against heart disease, cancer, mental illness,
and other crippling and degenerative diseases.

In this present time of seemingly interminable crises, when we hear much or too much of the
forces of destruction, it rekindles our faith. Yes it rekindles our spirit to draw refreshment from


                                                 11
the deep well of the past in venerating the memory of those who through the centuries have
dedicated themselves to improving the lot of man.

In the last decade of the nineteenth century, in the preparation of his monumental 14 volume
practice of medicine, the eminent physician and renowned scholar Sir William Osler drew
extensively upon the riches of this library. Let his words speak to us this day. He said, "We are
here to add what we can to and not to get what we can from life." To you librarians who are the
heirs of the inspired founders of the National Library of Medicine, those immortals John Shaw
Billings, Robert Fletcher, and Fielding H. Garrison, to you whole are the guardians of this
knowledge which has been accumulated over the centuries and to you whose proud task it will
be to preserve and enshrine the advances of tomorrow, we at this hour turn over this
magnificent building which will be a repository of ancient truths and future discoveries. May
your beacon light ever be those words of beauty, those words of profound meaning from the
Old Testament -- great is truth and mighty above all things.

[Applause]

Worth B. Daniels: Thank you Senator Hill. I appreciate your over-praise for what part I took in
this library, it rather reminds me ofthe groundbreaking which Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Lyons will
remember that Senator Hill at that time was overgenerous in his praise of me and said things
that were excessively nice. He and Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Lyons had a shovel and were breaking
the ground, he invited me to join, but I replied that since he read my epitaph I was afraid to get
anywhere near the shovel.

[Laughter]

The history of medicine is a proud history and we of the medical professions cherish it. We are
happy today to remember that the cradle of our western civilization and of medicine was in
Greece and we are happy to have with us the Ambassador of the Royal Greek Government, his
Excellency Alexis S. Liatis who will make a presentation on behalf of his government. Mr.
Ambassador.

[Applause]

Alexis S. Liatis: Dr. Daniels, Mr. Secretary, Senator Hill, ladies and gentlemen, it's a privilege for
me to attend this ceremony and on behalf of the Town of Kos formally present to the National
Library of Medicine this cutting, I'm awfully proud to see how thriving it is, from the venerable
tree under whose shade according to legend Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine examined his
patients and taught his students some 2500, 25 centuries ago.




                                                  12
This ancient tree of Hippocrates is the most important site in the Central Square of Kos. With a
circumference of nearly 50 feet, it is said to be one of the oldest and largest living trees in
Europe. Its heavy branches extend in all directions around it and pillars have been built to
support their weight. The town of Kos with a population of about ten thousand is the capital of
the Dodecanese Island by the same name, which lies in the southeast of the Aegean Sea.

A prosperous port in antiquity, it was also a center of health and medicine by reason of its
salubrious climate and its renowned ferrous and sulfuric springs. Among the other centers of
medical science in the Greek world of the fifth century BC, notably those at Knidus in the
nearby Island of Rhodes, at Crotona in Italy and also in Sicily, Kos achieved the greatest fame as
the birthplace and home of Hippocrates. Under the leadership of this great master, Greek
medicine was freed from the mysticism of the past with its reliance on supernatural forces as
well as from the doctrinal approach of philosophical theory and developed a new system based
on scientific observation and experiment. Every illness, said Hippocrates, has a natural cause
and without natural causes nothing ever happens. Great stress, great stress was laid on the
examination of pathological symptoms. Every part of the patient's body could be examined
thoroughly. The symptoms of the illness would be carefully observed and compared with those
of other recorded cases. When all the evidence had been gathered and evaluated, the physician
would proceed to diagnosis and treatment, satisfy that he had done his best, and could now
make a reasonably accurate prognostication as to the future cause of the disease. The object
was to save what has been, to know what is, and to predict what will be. Great emphasis was
also laid on hygiene, proper body care and diet. If necessary, and only then, the Hippocratic
physician would resort drugs, cuttings, or cauterizing.

Hippocrates' teachings are preserved in what is known today as the Hippocratic collection, a
group of about 70 treatises on various medical subjects. Experts theorize that these treatises
are the work of many authors. They even classified them into three distinct schools. Seven or
eight of these treatises, however, can readily be recognized as the product of the genius. Their
authorship is attributed either to Hippocrates or to his closest disciples. The achievements of
the medical scientists of the Hippocrates era are remarkable. Particularly if one considers the
limited means at their disposal and the fact that dissection was prohibited by the morals of
their time.

Indeed, it took mankind several centuries to advance medicine beyond the stage where
Hippocrates and his contemporaries left it. The most enduring contribution of Hippocrates,
however, is the spirit of humanity, which he imbued into medicine and the high standards of
ethics and devotion to duty which he set for the medical profession. An international
foundation dedicated to the Father of Modern Medicine was established at his birthplace a
little over 8 years ago. It is the International Hippocratic Foundation of Kos, a private nonprofit


                                                  13
organization. Its charter was unanimously endorsed by the delegates to the Seventeenth
International Congress on the History of Medicine held in Athens and in Kos in September of
last year. The principal objective of the foundation is to create in the island of Kos an
international medical center of research and study based on the humanitarian principles of the
Hippocratic philosophy and combining the spectacular achievements of modern medical
science with Hippocratic emphasis on clinical observation and close and personal relationship
between patient and physician.

The International Hippocratic Foundation of Kos aspires also to operate at its International
Medical Center at Kos, a permanent medical seminary for students sent here on a scholarship
basis from all parts of the world.

In concluding, I should like to say that I think it is extremely fitting that this little cutting from
Hippocrates venerable tree is to be planted here on the grounds of the new building of the
National Library of Medicine. This act, I believe, transcends the limits of a mere act of homage
to medical history. It is actually a symbolic recognition of the leading role this great country is
playing today in the ever continuing struggle to relieve human suffering and to free man from
the scourge of disease at bay. The torch of pioneering in medical science which was made on
the little island of Kos 2500 years ago has now passed on to this country. Hippocrates I'm sure
would agree as the citizens of his town of Kos do agree that it is in strong and able hands. Thank
you.

[Applause]

[ End side 2 tape 1]

Worth B. Daniels: Thank you Mr. Ambassador. In the spring, we will plant this tree on a
beautiful ground outside this building. May this tree and this library flourish together and may
the long future be as great as its splendid past.

You've all received as a memento of this occasion a facsimile copy of the first catalog of the
library, the Surgeon General's Library. Another important catalog was published by the library
last week. It is the Early American Imprints 1668 to 1820 by Mr. Robert Austin. This impressive
catalog lists 2100 books which might be described as the medical incunabula of America. I
command it to your attention.

I'm happy to announce that the 1775 first edition of John Jones' plain, concise, practical
remarks on the treatment of wounds and fractures had recently been presented to the library
through the generosity of Dr. D. Rees Jensen of New York City. This is one of seven copies of
this work still known to exist. To all book collectors in this audience, I may add the gentle hint



                                                    14
that I hope this gift marks the beginning of a trend. Colonel Rogers has let me down; he was
going to bring the book because as far as I can tell it's the only book in his library.

[Laughter]

It has the distinction at any rate of being the first book in his library because he brought it this
morning. At the conclusion of these ceremonies, the Board of Regents invites you to a
reception and coffee in the great rotunda immediately adjacent to this room.

Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock in this room there will be a symposium on the subject of books
and medicine to which you're all invited. Preceding the symposium at 9 o'clock there will be
guided tours of the building. For those who cannot be here tomorrow and would like to tour
the building now, there will be tour groups forming in the area behind the information desk
immediately following this ceremony. It is now my duty to bring this dedication exercise to a
close by calling on General William J. Moran, Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States
Army to pronounce a benediction. We'll all rise.

[Silence]

William J. Moran: Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and the earth who sustains the
universe in law and order, who redeemed man from destruction and crowned him with glory
and honor whose spirit ever works in the world to fulfill thy holy purposes, we give thee thanks
for this occasion which has brought us together. We thank thee for the spectacular advances
made by medical science through the years and for the significant contributions of many
outstanding people from all over the world. Grant us vision for the future that we may continue
to be dedicated to the healing of mankind and may we be ever mindful that all knowledge
comes from thee. May this National Library of Medicine serve to remind us continuously of the
dignity and worth of human personality. We pray that it shall be dedicated to the preservation
of a varied and timeless culture. For the enlightenment of youth, for the comfort of the scholar,
for the inspiration of inquiring spirits, as a rebuke to cynicism, as a refuge from contemporary
strife, as an assertion of faith, for the steadying of the mind, for the quickening of the heart, to
the glory of past workers, to the awakening of curiosity that man may here see the passion of
thought and be led in this day to dare their best. As undefeated souls may we sustain the
shocks of these volcanic days, master their handicaps, turn their threats into challenges, and at
last make even the wraith of man to serve thee. We pray this in thy Holy Name. Amen.

[ End of recording ]




                                                  15