RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN PURE SCIENCE 55 



thus far so well withstood rigorous efforts of disproof, that without 

 doubt it has already greatly influenced general thought and attitude 

 toward the deep problems of human life, and will more and more influ- 

 ence them. In a matter so vital, and one about which general intelli- 

 gence is bound to be so widely astir for such information as can be had, 

 it is of the greatest moment that information from the best sources 

 should be readily available. 



The laws of heredity, particularly those discovered by Mendel, have 

 been tested to such an extent as to make them of positive moment to hu- 

 man life. The eugenics idea, started in England by Sir Francis Galton, 

 aims at a practical application of the known principles of inheritance 

 to the good of the human race. In view of the wide theoretic interest 

 attached to these laws, and to the possible good that may come from 

 their application to the propagation of man himself, the intelligent, 

 thoughtful members of the community could undoubtedly be far better 

 instructed than they are. Not only the possibilities, but the limitations 

 of eugenics as a practical program ought to be and might be presented 

 in simple readable language. 



That imperium in imperio of human concerns, the problem of the 

 relation between the sexes, is calling almost frantically to the biologist 

 for help at certain points where, it is coming to be seen, he alone can 

 help. A few investigators are doing splendid things in this domain, 

 though what has been done is but as molecule to mountain relative to 

 what remains undone. 



Finally, without a doubt, innumerable bald, unphilosophized facts 

 of living nature ihat would entertain and instruct, and consequently 

 Iceenly interest thousands upon thousands of generally intelligent per- 

 sons, are buried in the technical language of biological narration and 

 description beyond the possibility of extraction for such purposes except 

 at the hands of biologists themselves. Now many, perhaps not all, pro- 

 fessional biologists are abundantly endowed by nature with the ability 

 to do this extracting and preparing for general consumption. Acquir- 

 ing the knack to do it is dependent first and foremost on being con- 

 vinced that it ought to be done. The fact that many biologists develop 

 splendidly the talent for graphic art in response to the need of illus- 

 trating the organisms and organs with which they deal, is proof posi- 

 tive that the art instinct is not wanting in them; and there is every 

 reason to believe that this instinct would come out as literary skill here 

 and there, as well as in the form of skill in delineation, were the need 

 felt as keenly in the one case as in the other. 



Assuming the contention to be sound that biological knowledge 

 ought to be more widely disseminated than it is, and that so far as con- 

 cerns the capabilities and desires of people such dissemination is pos- 

 sible, the familiar question arises, " What are you going to do about it ? '' 



