, the ignorant, the poor? That is the test
by which ultimately these experiments will be judged.

IV. The Rockefeller Institute, and Experimentation on Human Beings

In public esteem, the Rockefeller Institute undoubtedly occupies an
exceptionally hight position. It would seem to be generally believed,
that by reason of experiments made within its walls upon the lower
animals, discoveries of the utmost value to the human race are bing
added to the resources of medical science. Possibly, a careful
analysis of its work might disprove this belief, but that is aside
from present inquiry. A more important question confronts us,--the
extent to which under the authority of this Institution, human beings
as well as animals have been used as "material" from researches
altogether unconnected with their personal benefit. If such
experiments have in truth been made under the authority of the
Rockefeller Institute, it would seem to be of the utmost importance
that the exact truth be made known. It is not always easy to state
medical facts in popular language, but the attempt shall be made.
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When Columbus returned from his discovery of a new world, it is now
generally believed that he brought to Europe the germ of one of the
most terrible diseases which have ever afflicted the human race. The
extent of its malignancy has only been known within the past century.
The unborn infant may be touched by it with the possibility of great
suffering, and the probability of an early death. There is not an
organ of the human body which may not become the seat of its ravages.
The majority of other infectious diseases leave their victim after a
time; this makes its home within the body and may manifest its
malignity after almost a lifetime of quiescence. In its contribution
to the sum total of suffering which disease has occasioned the human
race, it is probably that with one exception, syphilis stnds above
every other human ailment.

On March 3, 1905, a young German biologist by the name of Schaudinn
discovered under the microscope what is now generally believed to be
the germ of this terrible disease. It is a minute, spiral-shaped
organism, with six or eight curves, and capable of movement in space.
Its place in the scheme of existence is not wholly certain, but the
probability seems that it is a protozoan, belonging to the lowest form
of animal life. Its very simplicity makes it appalling;