SCOPE OF GENETICS 31 



therefore the chemical and the geometrical 

 phenomena of heredity must be inter-related. 

 Some one will say perhaps this is all very 

 well as a scientific curiosity, but it has nothing 

 to do with real life. The right answer to such 

 criticism is of course the lofty one that science 

 and its applications are distinct: that the 

 investigator fixes his gaze solely on the search 

 for truth and that his attention must not be 

 distracted by trivialities of application. But 

 while we make this answer and at least try to 

 work in the spirit it proclaims, we know in 

 our hearts that it is a counsel of perfection. I 

 suspect that even the astronomer who at his 

 spectroscope is analysing the composition of 

 Vega or Capella has still an eye sometimes free 

 for the affairs of this planet, and at least the 

 fact that his discoveries may throw light on 

 our destinies does not diminish his zeal in their 

 pursuit. And surely to the study of Heredity, 



