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Paul Lewis
William Henry Welch was an influential figure in early modern medicine who was better known for his leadership and his mentorship than for the papers he published. Before and during the 1918 influenza pandemic, he worked closely with other scientists on pathology research, including Franklin Mall, Simon Flexner, and Rufus Cole. Welch is perhaps most associated with Johns Hopkins University, where Welch played a key administrative role in shaping what might be considered the first modern medical school in the United States. Previously, medical education and research in the United States had lagged far behind Europe, and Americans who wanted to study medicine at the highest level had to go abroad to countries like Germany. Beginning in the late 19th century, however, thanks to Johns Hopkins and other schools that followed its model, American medicine finally caught up with the rest of the world. Welch’s success at Hopkins made him a national figure in medicine and earned him prestigious awards and positions on boards. He was offered a position as director of the new Rockefeller Institute but turned it over to Flexner instead. All of these new institutions helped the United States—and the world—mount a more effective response against the 1918 influenza epidemic. When Welch died in 1934, he was one of the most prominent scientists in the world. His long life and career show how important institutions like universities, medical schools, and research institutes are for science and how strong institutions can help foster better education and research.
William Henry Welch Quotes in The Great Influenza
The The Great Influenza quotes below are all either spoken by William Henry Welch or refer to William Henry Welch. 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 2
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Nothing about the boyhood or youth of William Henry Welch suggested his future.
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Chapter 16
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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 22
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Nature chose to rage in 1918, and it chose the form of the influenza virus in which to do it. This meant that nature first crept upon the world in familiar, almost comic, form. It came in masquerade. Then it pulled down its mask and showed its fleshless bone.
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Chapter 34
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By World War I, the revolution in American medicine led by William Welch had triumphed. That revolution had radically transformed American medicine, forcing its teaching, research, art, and practice through the filter of science.
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William Henry Welch Quotes in The Great Influenza
The The Great Influenza quotes below are all either spoken by William Henry Welch or refer to William Henry Welch. 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 2
Quotes
Nothing about the boyhood or youth of William Henry Welch suggested his future.
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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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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22
Quotes
Nature chose to rage in 1918, and it chose the form of the influenza virus in which to do it. This meant that nature first crept upon the world in familiar, almost comic, form. It came in masquerade. Then it pulled down its mask and showed its fleshless bone.
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Chapter 34
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By World War I, the revolution in American medicine led by William Welch had triumphed. That revolution had radically transformed American medicine, forcing its teaching, research, art, and practice through the filter of science.
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