Research Institutes

Research institutes are institutions engaged in the specialized development of scientific problems and conducting scientific research and investigations in corresponding fields. The task of scientific research institutes is to unite scientific forces around specific problems that lie within the scope of a single discipline or require the organization of comprehensive research in a number of related fields. Since modern institutes closely link their activities with the demands of life, alongside theoretical problems, they always develop immediate practical questions and implement practical measures in their area of work. The proper organization of institutes requires that, while developing scientific problems, they should be able to provide practical conclusions, and conversely, while conducting practical work, they should organize it in such a way that, based on accumulated data, it is possible to resolve questions of theory and methodology. In addition to research work, institutes also conduct educational work to prepare specialists, and often perform production functions (manufacturing instruments, therapeutic and preventive preparations, etc.). Historically, institutes are the latest form of scientific-creative and cultural construction in all areas of scientific work. One of the first to recognize the significance of such research institutions was Wilhelm von Humboldt. In his grand plan for the proper organization of science and higher education, drawn up as early as 1810, he provided for three types of scientific institutions: universities, academies of sciences, and auxiliary institutes (Hilfsinstitute); the latter correspond to modern institutes. According to his idea, each of these types of institutions should have its own significance, a definite purpose, and be under the general guidance of the state. The development of sciences and economic conditions in the early 19th century did not yet provide sufficient prerequisites for the full implementation of this idea. Official science was concentrated either in universities or in academies. The activities of the latter developed predominantly in the fields of humanities and exact sciences in accordance with the then level of science and the requirements of the time. Until the 18th-19th centuries, universities were exclusively educational institutions where absolutist governments prepared educated specialists and officials. With the further development of science in the 19th century, research work began to acquire and in universities increasing importance. The network of higher educational institutions expanded and strengthened, basing its activities on research work and developing special laboratories for this purpose. This was facilitated by the deepening of scientific work and its specialization within each scientific discipline. The triumph of the experimental method and its penetration into the most diverse fields of natural science and medicine was also of great importance. The technique of research work itself became significantly more complicated. Under these conditions, research work grew so much and such demands were made on it that it could no longer develop normally within universities. The organization of affairs in universities, their equipment, and the scope of work no longer satisfied all the requirements of life in the field of modern scientific research. The discrepancy between the tasks of pedagogical and research work became more pronounced: on the one hand, teaching activities should be based on verified and firmly established facts; on the other hand, the task of research work is to develop issues that still await resolution. Pedagogical work in universities, being the primary one, thus suppressed research work. The solution was the creation of institutes as independent institutions outside of universities. The interests of the development of industry and the national economy and the growth of knowledge and culture in all cultural countries caused particularly rapid development of scientific research institutes in all fields of knowledge at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Research work has developed most widely in recent years in the USA, although they began to create institutes quite recently. Large sums are now spent there for this purpose both by the state and by private individuals. Among other issues, special attention is paid to work in the field of natural sciences, experimental and practical medicine.

_t Scientific research Institutes began to play a certain role in the field of public health only at the end of the 19th century. The impetus for their development was the discoveries and work of Pasteur and Koch. The exceptional importance of the discoveries of these scientists and their closest students marked a revolution in medicine. Through the work of these scientists, new branches of medical knowledge were created—medical microbiology, immunology, the doctrine of infectious diseases, and epidemiology. In these works, medicine for the first time became an experimental scientific discipline. By giving new concepts of infection, epidemiology, and hygiene, these works also indicated new paths not only for the study of the etiology of contagious diseases, but also for their prevention and control. To achieve these goals, in the 1880s the first scientific research medical Institutes were established: the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the Koch Institute in Berlin (see Bacteriology). The result of the work in these Institutes was that in the following years, with the active material support of private individuals and individual states, Institutes of the Pasteur and Koch type began to appear in many places. The most important of these are: the British Institute of Preventive Medicine named after Lister (founded in 1891), the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo named after Kitasato (1892), and others. Basically, the program of work of these Institutes is everywhere the same: the study of the etiology and methods of treatment of infectious diseases with attention paid to diseases prevalent in the given country, prevention and control of epidemics at their places of origin, training of specialists (courses), consultation on questions of their specialty. Practical conclusions were drawn from the theoretical doctrine of immunity. These include the preparation of bacterial preparations—therapeutic and preventive sera, vaccines, etc. The discovery of Behring and Roux (1894), which gave a method for preparing antitoxic sera (diphtheria and tetanus antitoxin), is a new motivating factor for both the expansion of existing Institutes and the construction of new ones. These include the Serotherapeutic Institute in Vienna (1894), Pasteur Institutes in Lille (1894), Brussels, Tunis, Algiers, Tangier, Indochina, Kindia (Guinea), the Institute of Experimental Pathology in Rio de Janeiro (1901), and many others. The work on the preparation of sera and other bacterial preparations (vaccines) had not only practical value: they contributed to the further study of problems of immunity. In this regard, the Institute of Experimental Therapy in Frankfurt, created by Ehrlich (1896), must be especially noted. Its main purpose is to carry out state control of therapeutic sera. Here, for the first time, questions of immunity were developed from the point of view of physical chemistry. In this matter, the Pasteur Institute in Brussels, headed by Bordet, and the Serotherapeutic Institute in Vienna, founded by Pfaundler and now headed by R. Kraus, have great merits. The brilliant era of bacteriology, parasitology, and immunity in the last 20-30 years everywhere is directly connected with the research activity in this area of Institutes, now scattered all over the world. It was in them that the causative agents of many diseases were discovered, methods of their diagnosis were developed, and ways of combating them were worked out. These works then became a stimulus for the further development and expansion of the construction of Institutes. In this regard, the works of Bordet-Gengou, Wassermann, and Ehrlich played a particularly large role. Following the work of Institutes in the field of bacteriology and infectious diseases, the same tendency of the development of Institutes began to manifest itself in other branches of medicine. The works of Röntgen, which found wide application in diagnosis and treatment, are an epoch in medicine of recent decades. This can be said to an even greater extent about the discovery of radium by the Curies. Pavlov's research in the field of physiology of digestion and the higher nervous system is an important stage in research work. A special chapter in research activity is constituted by works on tissue cultures, internal secretion, etc. Along with these successes and achievements of science in general and medicine in particular, the indicated need for the creation of new Institutes for the study and resolution of these special medical problems also grew, to which must be added other problems, for example: social diseases, diseases of hot countries, malignant tumors, diseases of metabolism, physical methods of treatment, nutrition, etc. The largest research institutions of this new type are the institutions of the Rockefeller Foundation in the USA (1913), which currently have capital of 183 million dollars. At the center of its attention are questions of the etiology of diseases, epidemiology, public prevention, etc. The purpose of this organization is formulated as follows: 'To produce, promote, and encourage research in the field of hygiene, medicine, surgery and related fields, studying the nature and causes of diseases and methods of their prevention and treatment. The knowledge thus obtained is to be applied for the protection of public health and the improvement of methods of treatment of diseases.' Alongside the research Institutes (mostly of a practical nature), built in various places in America and other countries, the richly equipped Rockefeller Inst. for Medical Research was created in 1901, which includes 1) experimental laboratories, divided into departments: pathology and bacteriology, chemistry, experimental surgery, general physiology, biophysics and chemical pharmacopoeia, 2) a clinic and 3) a department of animal pathology. Thanks to enormous funds, this organization created conditions for research work on an unprecedented scale. Another most solid organization in America is the Carnegie Institution, organized in Washington in 1902 on a donated capital of 27 million dollars; it consists of 10 departments (Departments of Research); of these, related to biology and medicine are the departments: embryological, plant biology, geophysical, nutrition, genetics, consisting of the Station for Experimental Evolution and Eugenics Record Office. In Germany, the beginning of a broad organization of research work was laid by the founding in 1910 of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG). The state and representatives of industry participated in its creation and construction. Its main tasks are: 'To promote the development of science, mainly by creating and maintaining research institutes in the field of natural sciences.' Currently, KWG has 30 separate Institutes in different parts of Germany, and partly in other countries, working in the fields of chemistry, physics, technology, humanities, biology, and medicine. There are six scientific research medical Institutes in KWG: the Institute of Physiology in Halle, closely related to it the Institute of Occupational Physiology in Dortmund, the Institute of Microbiology in São Paulo (Brazil), the Institute for Brain Research in Dahlem (near Berlin), the Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, the Institute of Anthropology, Heredity and Eugenics in Dahlem. States that emerged after the war also began to build Institutes, for example Poland (State Hygienic Institute). A rapid growth of Institutes is also observed in Italy. Special mention should be made of the National Cancer Institute named after Victor Emmanuel III with clinical, experimental, and statistical departments, recently opened in Milan (1928). 10 million lire were collected for its creation. Similar to this is the Institute of Experimental Medicine (cancer Institute, existing since 1923) with departments: clinical, experimental (with laboratories: chemistry, physical chemistry, biology, experimental pathology, clinical diagnostics) and teaching. Along with the development of research institutions on state and private initiative, large production and analytical institutions were subsequently created, which also carry out major scientific work directly related to their production activities. These include: the New York Institute of Public Health (Bureau of laboratories of the department of health of the city of New York, 1892), the Institute of the Department of Health (Reichsgesundheitsamt) in Berlin (1874), the Sanitary-Bacteriological and Sanitary-Chemical Institutes of the Berlin Department of Health, the Hygienic Institute in Hamburg. In Hamburg (since 1901) there is the famous Institute of Tropical and Maritime Diseases, directed by Nocht. Here a school of specialists for the control of diseases of hot countries in America, Africa, and Asia has been created. The most recent in Germany is the Hamburg Institute for the study of tuberculosis (1928). Research work in Russia before the revolution was very limited and concentrated mainly at the Academy of Sciences and in universities. The existing special research institutions were mostly of an applied nature. The oldest Russian research-type Institute in the field of medicine is the Institute of Experimental Medicine (EKSEM), founded in St. Petersburg in 1890. The main tasks of EKSEM are formulated by it as follows: 'The comprehensive study of the causes of diseases, mainly of an infectious nature, as well as the practical application of methods of combating diseases.' Here questions are developed in various branches of medicine and biology, and the production of bacterial preparations is also carried out.

The beginning of the construction of research institutes in Russia is also associated with the development of bacteriology and the application of its achievements for the study of infectious diseases and the fight against them (the preparation of preventive and therapeutic serums, vaccines, etc.). Among the first institutes that developed work in this direction even before the Institute of Experimental Medicine, we should name: the Odessa bacteriological station (1886), now the San.-Bact. Institute named after Mechnikov, the Bacteriological Institute of the Kharkov Medical Society (1887), the Bacteriological Institute named after Gabrichevsky in Moscow (1896), and a number of laboratories of provincial zemstvos (Samara, Smolensk, Perm, Tambov, Ufa, etc.). One of the reasons for the development of bacteriological institutes as independent institutions in Russia was that for a long time this new discipline was not included in the university program. This in turn called upon the institutes to engage in pedagogical activities (courses, etc.). After the revolution, the attitude toward research work changed radically. It became generally recognized that research work should create a scientific basis for the work of state and economic bodies. Accordingly, in the USSR, scientific research activities are planned by state authorities and directed by them to resolve the current tasks of socialist construction. At the people's commissariats, special institutions are created: the Scientific Medical Council under the NKZdr., the Main Science Directorate under the NKProse, the Scientific-Technical Administration (NTU) of the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR, the Experimental Department under the NKZem, etc. The network of institutes under the Scientific-Technical Administration of the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR is particularly extensive. This administration is the center that brings together major scientific institutions conducting large-scale research work in all types of industry (textile, sugar, construction, chemical, electrical, thermal engineering, etc.). In the field of electrical industry, there are two institutes - the State Physical-Technical Laboratory (GFTL) and the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute (VEI), whose individual work has indirect significance for medicine as well. These include their work in the fields of acoustics, vacuum technology, X-ray technology, lighting technology, etc. In addition, the Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute is under the jurisdiction of the NTU, which is directly connected with health authorities through its work. According to the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of December 5, 1929, on the reorganization of industry management, the merger of the NTU and the Planning-Economic Administration (PEU) of the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR is planned. Under this plan, a number of research institutes directly related to industry (such as the sugar industry, the aforementioned All-Union Electrotechnical Institute, etc.) are transferred to the jurisdiction of the respective trusts. Institutes of general importance (such as chemical institutes, metallurgical institutes, etc.) remain under the jurisdiction of the newly organized Administration. The organization of the People's Commissariat of Health, first in the RSFSR (1918) and then in other Soviet republics, contributed to the rapid and broad development of research in our country, as the difficult task of broadly organizing healthcare on new principles required authoritative scientific substantiation. In 12 years (1918-29), the number of research institutes has grown significantly. Their capacity has increased, and at present they serve almost all branches of medicine. As the attached list of institutes shows, health authorities first paid attention to preventive and social-hygienic disciplines; at the same time, theoretical questions such as heredity, nutrition, etc., were not neglected. On this principle, the State Scientific Institute of Public Health of the RSFSR in Moscow (GINZ) was primarily built, whose institutes work along three main lines: 1) the fight against infectious diseases - microbiology, epidemiology, immunity; 2) hygiene, sanitation, nutrition; 3) biology. A little earlier than GINZ, the Institute of Biological Physics was created, which for some time was part of its composition. The creation of the Institute of Social Hygiene should be noted, which has great significance for developing the methodology for studying the living conditions and labor and for setting up research and regulatory work in this field. This institute also plays a major role in the development of teaching preventive sciences in medical universities. Then institutes with special purposes emerged - the study of regional diseases, such as the State Regional Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology of the Southeast (Saratov, 1918), mainly for the study of plague in the steppes of the southeast of the USSR, a number of tropical institutes - for the study of malaria and other diseases in the southern outskirts of the Soviet Union. Those few institutes that already existed earlier have now received exceptional development and have been significantly reorganized and expanded. (For the significance that bacteriological and sanitary-bacteriological institutes have in the USSR, existing in all major centers, see Bacteriology.) It should also be noted that in addition to their production and practical activities, they conduct extensive scientific work in the fields of microbiology, immunology, hygiene, sanitation, and epidemiology. In connection with the preventive and social orientation of Soviet medicine, new in the USSR are institutes in the field of studying the social causes of diseases and methods of combating them. Tuberculosis and venereal institutes play a major role in this regard. For the first time, they study in the full breadth tuberculosis, venereal, and skin diseases from microbiological, biochemical, clinical, and social points of view. They are also engaged in developing scientific substantiations for the social struggle against these diseases. Completely new is the attempt to unite all three sections that are included in the concept of social diseases, namely: tuberculosis, venereology, and narcology. On this principle, the Moscow Institute of Social Diseases is built. Another new group of institutes working in the field of mother and child protection aims to broadly and deeply study the organisms of the mother and child in both healthy and diseased states. On the one hand, they cover issues related to the biology of woman and her health, the function of childbirth, and on the other - the physiology, pathology, and pedology of early childhood. In their practical work, they establish close ties with many institutions of the ochmatmlda system. Close to this group are institutes for the protection of children and adolescents, which, on the basis of comprehensive pedological and social-hygienic study, are engaged in developing problems of normal childhood, mentally and physically abnormal childhood. With their work, they provide a scientific basis for the practical measures of the NKZdr. in the field of protecting the health of children and adolescents. Special attention should be paid to the network of institutes that work in the field of studying and preventing dangers associated with labor processes. They are engaged in studying issues of physiology, hygiene, and pathology of labor and related external conditions. All the work of these institutes is carried out in close contact with production and its requirements. In this connection, issues of medical professional selection, medical examination, disability, etc., as well as issues of labor rationalization, its health improvement, also fall within the scope of these institutes. The study of issues of traumatology and physical methods of treatment took root in our country only during the war (Institute of Physical Methods of Treatment named after Sechenov in Sevastopol). Currently, in the field of physical methods of treatment, as well as in the related field of balneology, there is a solid network of large and small institutes. The same is true for radiological and radiological institutes. The work of the latter consists in studying the effects of X-rays and radium on plant, animal, and human organisms and in the experimental study of malignant tumors and methods of combating them, in developing methods of X-ray diagnosis, X-ray and radiotherapy. All these institutions, in addition to their preventive and therapeutic activities, conduct extensive scientific research and educational work. A completely new group in our country is institutes working in the field of balneology and physical culture; they are engaged in studying the effects of various physical agents, resort factors on healthy and diseased organisms and in scientifically substantiating the application of the latter in medicine. Resort institutes also study the therapeutic properties of resorts scattered throughout our country. Many of the listed groups of institutes are connected in their work with a chain of practical institutions (dispensaries, etc.), as a result of whose activity valuable material is collected for development and study. With their help, favorable conditions are prepared for investigative work carried out by central institutes. Institutes for the improvement of physicians also conduct extensive scientific work (see Medical Education). At present, medical research institutes are also being built under the Main Science Directorate of the NKProse. Their difference from the institutes of the NKZdr. is that they are more theoretically oriented. But they also perform a major practical task of training young workers. Such institutes under the Main Science Directorate of the RSFSR numbered six in 1929. The most powerful of them is the Medico-Biological Institute, where the complex method is widely applied in the study of issues of biology and medicine. Among the institutes not under the full jurisdiction of the NKZdr., but in which the NKZdr. participates because they are of great interest to physicians, we should name the Institute for the Study of Crime and Criminals.

In its bio-psychological section, questions of sanity and insanity, psychiatric examinations, reactive psychoses of prisoners, the responsibility of the accused, etc., are developed. Chemical-pharmaceutical Institutes carry out extensive work on the search for new medicinal substances and forms, and on the study of medicinal and aromatic plant raw materials growing on the territory of the Union. With the development of independent research Institutes, research work in universities does not cease. At a number of higher educational institutions, separate Institutes and their associations are created. The significance of scientific research Institutes in the USSR, despite their recent emergence, is exceptionally great. Within their walls, questions of morbidity are studied from different angles, its causes are established, a scientific basis is laid for necessary measures in the fight against diseases, etc. Here also the paths to the improvement of the health of the broad masses of working people are indicated. By carrying out diverse scientific work, these Institutes serve as centers for training specialists. The growth of the work of Institutes can be seen at all-union congresses on various disciplines, the number of participants in which, as well as the number of reports coming from the laboratories of Institutes, systematically increases. The participation of Institutes in scientific literature is also growing. Special libraries developing at Institutes are acquiring ever greater significance. Abroad, great interest is shown in scientific works in the USSR, and many journals, especially German ones, give them very considerable space. Thus, Institutes play a prominent role in the practical implementation of cultural ties with foreign countries.