Rabbit Island 
Rabbit Island Plaque. Photo courtesy of Leslie Gifford. Rabbit Island is a very small island at the southern end of Spitfire Lake in the channel leading to Upper St. Regis Lake.
In the summer of 1886, Dr. E. L. Trudeau devised a simple experiment which demonstrated the beneficial effects of climate, fresh air and ample food on the course of tuberculosis in infected animals. He infected a number of rabbits with the tubercle bacillus and then confined half of the infected animals, along with a control group of healthy rabbits, giving them a minimum of food, sunlight, fresh air and exercise. The rest of the infected rabbits were set free on a little island (now called Rabbit Island) in Spitfire Lake near Trudeau's camp. Here they ran wild in the open air with plenty of food and water.
After a period of time he examined the animals. The infected rabbits that were confined all developed tuberculosis and died, yet the healthy ones merely failed to thrive in confinement; they did not come down with TB. On the island, however, all of the rabbits thrived, despite their infection.
The results provided the proof which Dr. Trudeau had sought. First was the conclusion that bad conditions in and of themselves could not produce tuberculosis. His second and more far-reaching conclusion was that in the presence of tuberculosis infection, a subject's resistance could be directly affected by the environment. Fresh air, good food, ample rest, and moderate exercise could actually slow down or stop the progression of tuberculosis. Dr. Trudeau published the results of his experiment in July 1887 in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences and read a paper on the subject at a national meeting of the American Climatological Association that same year.
A commemorative plaque was placed on the island in 1972. Under a Trudeau Institute seal showing Little Red, the inscription reads "On this island in 1886 Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau conducted his historic experiment to determine the effect of environment on the incidence and progress of tuberculosis in a colony of rabbits. This plaque was placed by Trudeau Institute, Inc. in commemoration of this pioneering study in experimental epidemiology, October 7, 1972."
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, October 12, 1972
"Rabbit Island" dedicated by Dubos
By JACK DELAHANT
SARANAC LAKE — A small island of significant importance to the world of medicine was dedicated at ceremonies held over the weekend on Upper St. Regis Lake. "Rabbit Island," as it is known, is owned by John B. Trevor and is located offshore from the Trevor summer camp. The dedication was performed by Pulitzer prizewinner, Dr. Rene J. Dubos, scientist and author, former professor of Rockefeller University in New York City and trustee of the Trudeau Institute, who said that "there was no doubt that the island was famous for its contribution to the understanding of tuberculosis." "But," the scientist declared. "this island will turn out to be much more important in the future because it symbolizes an approach to the problems of disease which is only now beginning to be defined and only now beginning to yield fruit."
Addressing approximately 150 guests, medical men and scientists gathered for the event, and standing near the bronze placque placed on the island. Dr. Dubos noted that 100 years ago tuberculosis meant bad living conditions, poor food, corrupted air, fatigue and all sorts of unpleasant ways of living. He said that at that time the only approach to the treatment of tuberculosis was to try to remove the tuberculous from poor living conditions, which led to the establishment of sanatoriums "of which the Trudeau sanatorium was by far the most famous."
He explained, however, that in 1881 "a new point of view was introduced in the understanding of tuberculosis, namely, the discovery that the disease was caused by a special kind of microbe, a special kind of germ, that one called the tubercle bacillus."
He said that with this discovery, the approach to the control of tuberculosis suddenly changed completely. People, he said, became concerned only with the tubercle, the germ itself, and began to direct all their thoughts, all their work, all their methods to control of the germ, instead of being concerned with the improvement of the environment. "The importance of this is that Dr. Edward L. Trudeau realized in the most precise manner, long before the evidence existed, that it was wrong to separate those two aspects of the disease: the quality of the environment and the germ that causes the disease."
Dr. Dubos outlined the experiment in which Dr. Trudeau placed 15 rabbits on the island, infecting a group of five with the tuberculosis germ and placing them in unpleasant living conditions in a chamber; five uninfected rabbits were placed under similar unpleasant conditions also, while the remaining five were infected and allowed to roam about the island. The final results, he said, showed that the five infected rabbits living under poor living conditions all died of tuberculosis; the five uninfected rabbits living under similar poor living conditions, all survived although all lost weight and did not look well; the five who had been infected and avowed to roam freely about the island all survived.
"This experiment he declared, "symbolizes the problems that those of us who are concerned with infectious diseases must always keep in mind: 'Yes, there is the germ and we must learn to deal with it; but there is the quality of the environment, and it is that which makes you more capable of resisting the infection'".
The Pulitzer prizewinner said that the experiment, in addition to its scientific significance, "was immensely important from the standing of tradition and evolution of scientific work." He noted that a tradition of studying the problems of infection had always existed in the Trudeau Foundation and now the problems of cancer at the Trudeau Institute. He pointed out that the institution which has only tradition soon loses vigor and ceases to exist. In explaining further, Dr. Dubos said that in 1888, Dr. Trudeau had written in his notes: "The two ultimate elements in the struggle for existence of the rabbit — or man — are the bacillus and the cell. Although in its infancy, bacteriology already points to the cell as an active factor in resisting the progress of bacterial invasion."
He said that people are generally aware that the body is made up of cells, "Trudeau was emphasizing here," Dr. Dubos asserted, "that in the final analysis, the ability of the body to deal with the Tubercle bacillus, with infection, depends upon the ability to of the component cells of the body to deal with the bacillus."
He said that for the scientists, tuberculosis is the conflict between the germ and the cells of the body, and he said Dr. Trudeau understood this.
The Trudeau institution, he said, had focused its interest on the germ of tuberculosis for 50 years, and observed that it was essential to do it at that time. "We now know an enormous amount about the tubercle bacillus," he continued, "but we still know very little about those properties of the cells of the body which enable the body to resist infection. This is precisely what the Trudeau Institute is involved in."
Dr. Francis B. Trudeau of Saranac Lake, grandson of Dr. E. L. Trudeau, introduced Mr. Trevor who told the group that he had first made a trip to the island in 1927 and that at that time, one could see what was purported to be the hutches in which the experiment took place.
