of the manner of reproduction of viruses can be answered, I think we will have gone a long way towards explaining the nature of life itself.
On the second day of the dedicatory exercises, 10 scientific papers prepared by 14 current and former members of the Institute staff were presented and discussed.
For the nonscientific generality of the public, these papers, written in technical language and addressed to a technically trained audience, were impressive but not altogether comprehensible. Better understood were the earlier remarks of the President of the United States, who said that he "did not come here to talk scientifically" but to dedicate a "great building" which, he was told, was "arranged better and more efficiently for the conduct of the work here to be done than any other that this country has erected."
In introducing the President, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson spoke of the new building as an example of unification. The President carried the idea further, saying, " * * * some years ago those of us who were advocating unification of the services saw something of this kind in the offing, even though we were ignorant of the exact form these developments would take. For that reason I couldn't be happier that all of the services are combined in this effort * * *.
"And so I dedicate this building to the conquest of disease so that mankind, more safe and secure in body, may more surely advance to a widely shared prosperity and an enduring and just peace." 23[1]
- ↑ 23 Dedication, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 26-27 May 1955. Military Medicine 117: 176-306, September 1955.
