Martin is upset by all of this, but he decides to continue his research and add to what D'Herelle has already published.
Terry Wickett returns from war, and Martin continues working on his phage experiments. Tubbs approaches him and tells him he must put the phage to practical use and run experiments using the phage on pneumonia, plague, typhoid, and so on. Martin, for fear of losing his job, is forced to abandon his search for the "fundamental nature of phage" and turn to studying its healing purposes. Martin finds that he can cure pleuro-pneumonia in rabbits and is excited about his results.
Meanwhile, Tubbs resigns in order to start, along with the millionaire Pete Minnigen, the "League of Cultural Agencies," which, according to the narrator, is an agency that is meant to "standardize and co-ordinate all mental activities in America." The institute is left to find a new director and, after much fighting for the position on behalf of Holabird, Pearl Robbins, and even Dean Silva of Winnemac, the position is given, surprisingly, to Max Gottlieb, who accepts.
Under Max Gottlieb there is hardly any standardization and organization and, thus, the institute begins to fall apart.
Meanwhile, Gustaf Sondelius has come back from a sleeping sickness study in Africa with plans to found a school for tropical medicine in New York. However, Sondelius soon becomes Martin's assistant when he begins to make advances with his phage concerning the plague. Martin begins to make experiments that show the possibility of curing the plague with the phage, and Sondelius offers his help for free.
The pressure that the commercial world of the institute applies on scientists is heightened in these chapters. Gottlieb, speaking from his own experiences at the Hunziker Company, advises Martin not to share his results with the department heads and directors at McGurk. And yet, Martin is forced to share his results if he does not want to lose his job. The director immediately moves Martin to publish because of a fierce competition that exists within the medical profession—one that existed at the time in which this book was written and one that exists until this day. Under the guise of "helping humanity" Tubbs pressures Martin to publish and makes a plan for Martin's discovery, writing himself into the glory of the discovery.
