Rochester, Minn.

Why the Home City of the Mayo Brothers is Known Throughout the World

Fire destroyed the new animal experimental laboratory on the estate of Dr. Charles H. Mayo, famous surgeon, near Rochester, Minn., at a loss of $150,000, fully covered by insurance. Reconstruction of the laboratory, fortunately unoccupied at the time, will be started at once. Rochester is a country town of about 15,000 inhabitants, on the Chicago and Northwestern some 70 miles south of Minneapolis. Twenty-five years ago no one had ever heard of it. Today it is known throughout the world as the seat of the Mayo Clinic and Foundation, which a Dutch surgeon, Tange, has described as " within the limits of attainable perfection, a work of art, science and social service more complete than any other institution modern medical science has produced." Practically this entire development is due to the ability and ambition of two men--William James Mayo (born 1861) and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo (born 1865). The sons of a well-known physician who early settled in Rochester, their entire active life has been associated with Minnesota. Although they have received innumerable degrees and medical honors, they are purely home-bred products, owing nothing to European training. Both married Rochester girls and are affectionately known to all the local folks as "Doctor Will" and "Doctor Charlie." They stand high in the surgical profession, one or both having been president of the American Medical Association, the American Surgical Association, the American College of Surgeons, and prominent in many other professional bodies. Both were colonels in the medical corps of the Army during the war. When Mrs. Harding was seriously ill last year, Charles Mayo was called in consultation half across the continent, and their reputation keeps both the brothers constantly in demand as consultants throughout the country. Doctor Will established the "Mayo Clinic" in St. Mary's Hospital (a Roman Catholic institution of Rochester), in 1889, and was shortly joined by his brother. Its growth has been steady, and it soon began to attract more than local attention. The brothers were among the earliest to develop the " group clinic" idea, and associated with themselves specialists and nurses of ability in all branches. Their policy is to keep a keen lookout all over the scientific world for outstanding workers, and to make them part of the "team." Among the eminent specialists on the staff of the Mayo Clinic are Drs. Rowntree, medicine; Stokes, dermatology; Rosenow and Sanford, bacteriology; MacCarty and Wilson, pathology; Helmholz and Amberg, pediatrics; Kendall, biochemistry; Braasch, Henderson, Judd and Mann, surgery. William Mayo has specialized in gallstones, cancer and diseases of the intestinal tract, while Charles has made his name in goiter and other diseases ot the endocrine glands. The Clinic is annually visited by over 3,000 physicians, many of whom come to take postgraduate courses. More than 10,000 operations are performed every year. The Clinic is a Mecca for patients from all over North America, sometimes as many as 200 arriving in one day. In 1915 the Mayo brothers gave $1,650,000--the savings of a generation of lucrative practice--to the University of Minnesota for the establishment of the Mayo Foundation, which became part of the graduate medical department of the University and is devoted to teaching and research.