"Discovery Is Our Business"

It was on a late winter afternoon in 1951, in the Battle House, Mobile, Alabama, after an interview lasting five minutes, that Mr. Ben May consented to serve as patron of the group which has worked for a decade in the Laboratory which bears his name. The Laboratory was inaugurated on July 1, 1951. This booklet describes some of the findings made during its first decade; it is incomplete in this regard but will convey some flavor of the work.

In the present state of imperfection of knowledge of the nature of life, cancer research is largely intent and a state of mind. Provided the experimentalists are cognizant that cancer is one of the gravest problems of the people and that they realize that they are the sole custodians of the hopes and prayers of man for its solution, any discovery in the biological field is cancer research. In this vein, The Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research was conceived as an institute for advanced study in experimental medicine, with emphasis on chemical and physical reactions and dynamic processes rather than on static events.

The principal aim of the Laboratory in its first decade has been to provide opportunity for young scientists to unfold in a climate where they might enjoy maximal encouragement-privileges without responsibility.

It has provided the writer the greatest satisfaction to observe the development of the many talented young people in the Laboratory. Many of our young scientists now adorn chairs in this and other universities and on three continents. But to discover a young person fit for the professoriate is also our business.

Science is the Art of our century.

Charles Huggins.