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William Henry Welch
Simon Flexner was chosen by William Henry Welch to be the first director of the Rockefeller Institute, a major institution in American medical research that was founded in the late 19th century with money from John D. Rockefeller. Flexner was a former juvenile delinquent but overcame his troubled background by studying intensely. He made a name for himself early with successful experiments on treating bacterial meningitis; this work would inspire Paul Lewis’s important work on influenza during the 1918 pandemic. He was also known for the 1910 “Flexner Report,” which offered a harsh assessment of the state of American medical schools, suggesting that many of them would be better off closing down. During the pandemic, Flexner was one of many who tried to develop a successful cure targeting Pfeiffer’s B. influenzae, but his version wasn’t effective. After the pandemic, Flexner tried to help Lewis find his next big research topic, but despite his support, Lewis remained depressed and unproductive. When Lewis died abroad of yellow fever, Flexner wrote the obituary. Flexner represents the extraordinary work ethic of scientists during the 1918 influenza pandemic, and he shows that, while many of the prominent scientists of this era came from privilege, it was also possible for a select few to overcome their backgrounds thanks to the mobility provided by new institutions.
Simon Flexner Quotes in The Great Influenza
The The Great Influenza quotes below are all either spoken by Simon Flexner or refer to Simon Flexner. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
The Rockefeller Institute Hospital opened in 1910. By then the best of American medical science and education could compete with the best in the world. But an enormous gap existed in the United States between the best medical practice and the average, and an unbridgeable chasm separated the best from the worst.
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Chapter 16
Quotes
As the virus moved, two parallel struggles emerged.
One encompassed all the nation. Within each city, within each factory, within each family, into each store, onto each farm, along the length of the track of the railroads, along the rivers and roads, deep into the bowels of mines and high along the ridges of the mountains, the virus would find its way. In the next weeks, the virus would test society as a whole and each element within it. Society would have to gather itself to meet this test, or collapse.
The other struggle lay within one tight community of scientists. They—men like Welch, Flexner, Cole, Avery, Lewis, Rosenau—had been drafted against their will into a race.
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Chapter 23
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Lewis knew full well that little of what he was doing was good science. It was all, or nearly all, based on informed guesswork. He only worked harder.
As he worked, the society about him teetered on the edge of collapse.
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Simon Flexner Quotes in The Great Influenza
The The Great Influenza quotes below are all either spoken by Simon Flexner or refer to Simon Flexner. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
The Rockefeller Institute Hospital opened in 1910. By then the best of American medical science and education could compete with the best in the world. But an enormous gap existed in the United States between the best medical practice and the average, and an unbridgeable chasm separated the best from the worst.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16
Quotes
As the virus moved, two parallel struggles emerged.
One encompassed all the nation. Within each city, within each factory, within each family, into each store, onto each farm, along the length of the track of the railroads, along the rivers and roads, deep into the bowels of mines and high along the ridges of the mountains, the virus would find its way. In the next weeks, the virus would test society as a whole and each element within it. Society would have to gather itself to meet this test, or collapse.
The other struggle lay within one tight community of scientists. They—men like Welch, Flexner, Cole, Avery, Lewis, Rosenau—had been drafted against their will into a race.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23
Quotes
Lewis knew full well that little of what he was doing was good science. It was all, or nearly all, based on informed guesswork. He only worked harder.
As he worked, the society about him teetered on the edge of collapse.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
