H4 Master Minds of Modern Science 



desperately against the strong current until he found air 

 once more above him. 



He was now in a section of the cave which had been 

 sealed off from the world by water for many thousands of 

 years, and, walking, swimming, and diving, he carried on 

 for more than a mile, when once more he came out into 

 daylight. The results were of the greatest importance, for 

 he discovered a number of rude statues of unbaked clay, 

 of a type hitherto unknown. Superb powers of diving 

 and great courage were needed for this really amazing 

 venture. 



Research of the kind mentioned in this chapter is now 

 being carried on in every part of the world, and by people 

 born in every continent. Sir Ernest Rutherford, whose 

 story is told elsewhere in this book, was born in New 

 Zealand; Bose is a Hindu; Hata, the man who helped 

 Ehrlich in his great medical discoveries, was a Japanese ; 

 Mendeleeff and Metchnikoff were Russians ; Banting, of 

 insulin fame, is Canadian ; while small countries such as 

 Denmark and Switzerland, and new countries such as the 

 Argentine Republic, are all producing good men, ready to 

 suffer as well as work in the cause of Science. 



But we have wandered quite away from the original 

 subject of this chapter. Mr Haldane is a man of 

 many parts, and his interests embrace plant as well as 

 animal life. One of his pursuits is the genetic study of 

 plant life, and the writer found him in the large garden 

 where he is the head of the Genetical Department. 



This garden, at first sight, resembles that of one of 

 those advanced seedsmen who work on the production of 

 new varieties of fruits and flowers, yet very soon a big 

 difference is discoverable. While it is true that a large 

 number of new varieties of plants are produced, many of 

 these are quite unfit for sale. For instance, there is a 

 large glass-house devoted entirely to primulas ; it contains 

 about one hundred and fifty different varieties all obtained 



