One of my first cares was to have trees planted in the limited grounds of my laboratory. I feel it very necessary for the eyes to have the comfort of fresh leaves in spring and summer time. So I tried to make things pleasant for those who were to work in the new building. We planted a few lime trees and plane trees, as many as there was room for, and did not forget flowerbeds and roses. I well remember the first day of bombardment of Paris with the big German gun; we had gone, in the early morning, to the flower-market, and spent all that day busy with our plantation, while a few shells fell in the vicinity.
In spite of the great difficulties, the new laboratory was organized little by little, and I had the satisfaction of having it quite ready for the beginning of the school-year -, the period of demobilization. In the spring of , I organized special courses for some American soldier students, who also studied with much zeal the practical exercises directed by my daughter.
The entire period of the war was for me, as for many others, a period of great fatigue. I took almost no vacation, except for a few days, now and then, when I went to see my daughters on their holidays. My older daughter would scarcely take any, and I was obliged to send her away sometimes to preserve her health. She was continuing her studies in the Sorbonne, and besides, as said before, was helping me with my war work, while the younger daughter was still in the preparatory college. Neither of them wished to leave Paris during the bombardment.
After more than four years of a war which caused ravages without precedent, the armistice came at last, in the autumn of , followed by laborious efforts to re?stablish peace, which is not yet general nor complete. It was a great relief to France to see the end of that dark period of cruel losses. But the griefs are too recent and life still too hard for calm and happiness yet to be restored.
Nevertheless, a great joy came to me as a consequence of the victory obtained by the sacrifice of so many human lives. I had lived, though I had scarcely expected it, to see the reparation of more than a century of injustice that had been done to Poland, my native country, and that had kept her in slavery, her territories and people divided among her enemies. It was a deserved resurrection for the Polish nation, which showed herself faithful to her national memories during the long period of oppression, almost without hope. The dream that appeared so difficult to realize, although so dear, became a reality following the storm that swept over Europe. In these new conditions I went to Warsaw and saw my family again, after many years of separation, in the capital of free Poland. But how difficult are the conditions of life of the new Polish republic, and how complicated is the problem of reorganization after so many years of abnormal life!
In France, partly devastated and suffering from the loss of so many of her citizens, the difficulties created by the war are not yet effaced, and the return to normal work is being attained only gradually. The scientific laboratories feel this state of affairs and the same condition prevails for the Radium Institute.
The various radiologic organizations created during the war still partially exist. The Radiographic Nurses' School has been maintained at the request of the Board of Health. The emanation service, which could not be abandoned, is also continued in a considerably enlarged form. It has passed under the direction of Doctor Regaud, Director of the Pasteur Laboratory of the Radium Institute, and is developing into a great national service of radiumtherapy.
The work of the laboratory has been reorganized, with the return of the mobilized personnel and the students. But in the restrained circumstances under which the country still exists, the laboratory lacks ways and means for its efficient development. Particularly are wanted an independent hospital for radiumtherapy (which is called Curietherapy in France), and an experimental station, outside of Paris, for experiments on great quantities of material, such as are needed for the progress of our knowledge of radioactive elements.
