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In his novel Arrowsmith, Sinclair Lewis portrayed spirited characters in relation to science with a focus on scientific research aimed at fighting infectious diseases.  The German character, Professor Max Gottlieb, is a bacteriologist and a mentor to young Martin Arrowsmith who is much impressed by Gottlieb's dedication to pure research, and influenced by his quite unfair -for an educator- sarcastic despise for medical doctors.  Dedication to the mentor will push Arrowsmith to make scientific choices that quite undoubtedly should be construed as unethical to most research scientists and medical doctors.  It is because of his promise to Gottlieb that Martin Arrowsmith shall experiment on human beings without any doubt or even remorse, for the sake and integrity of science.  Indeed a control is needed as a standard for comparison therefore only half the patients must be treated.  As stated by Gottlieb- the scientist is intensely religious--he is so religious that he will not accept quarter-truths, because they are an insult to his faith.  In this context Sinclair Lewis failed to significantly focus on the ethical issue at hand.  Can experimentations on human beings be justified for answering the mere curiosity of a few scientists?  Is there an adequate justification for establishing the validity of a serum before its inoculation to dying human beings? Here stands an open conflict between the scientific method (need for control) and ethical values.  How far, however, can we use the rules of science in justifying such experimentation?

Martin Arrowsmith is a captivating rebel combating the force of ignorance and greed to pursue scientific truth.  He is resisting pressure to become obedient, a new hero to scientific individualism.  He sees external pressures from institutions, like the powerful McGurk Institute of Biology, as a threat to pure science.  Indeed scientists need a great deal of freedom to pursue their educated curiosity besides fortitude in resisting pressure from institutions insuring their livelihood.  However his insistence in conducting 'his experiment' in the Caribbean where plague is spreading is quite astonishing.  After he sees the suffering of the plague he "had been tempted to forget experimentation".  In the Caribbean he finds opposition among the officials however he carries on with experimentation until he is himself confronted with the death of his wife Leora from the plague.

Paul de Kruif, author of Microbe Hunters, contributed significantly to the elaboration of Arrowsmith.  He and Lewis spent time together in the Caribbean establishing the material and characters for the novel.  No doubt Paul de Kruif influenced Lewis into thinking that medicine is not a science, by his contention of lack of controls in medical research.  However Paul de Kruif formed an opinion on experimentation with human volunteers when he wrote in Microbe Hunters "But science is cruel, microbe hunting can be heartless, and that relentless devil that was the experimenter Walter Reed (the yellow fever hunter) kept asking: But is your experiment really sound?".  Was it in the interest of science and for humanity?  Yellow fever was at the time eradicated by Walter Reed and his team of brave volunteers which prompted Paul de Kruif to acknowledge the benefit of human experimentation.

At present regulations and ethical guidelines for human experimentation exist.  They stress the voluntary consent of the human subject as being absolutely essential, and the experiment to be such as 'to yield fruitful results for the good of society'.

An ebook of Arrowsmith, from Project Gutenberg Australia

In 1930 Sinclair Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature 'for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters'.  Read his Nobel Lecture, at Nobelprize.org

Regulations and ethical guidelines for human experimentation, from the Office of Human Subjects Research at NIH, the National Institute of Health