THE IMPORTANCE OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 



Man lives in a world replete with other forms of life com- 

 peting with him for his food supply and even striving to con- 

 sume the very substance of his body. Human existence is a 

 constant struggle with the insects and the other things that 

 consume the grains and other crops, the cattle and the poul- 

 try, and with the diseases that consume the flesh. 



Most of us live far within this battle front and are unap- 

 preciative of the constant warfare carried on in our behalf by 

 the farmers and the doctors. But when this battle front is 

 pierced and swarms of army-worms or locusts devastate our 

 crops, or brown-tails or gypsy-moths destroy our trees, or in- 

 fluenza kills us by the thousands, we are for the moment cog- 

 nizant of our constant peril. 



Our army and our navy are our protection from outside 

 aggression, while our police protect us from the internal enemies 

 of our social order. 



Our farmers grow the crops and stock by which we live. In 

 doing this they spend their lives in constant costly warfare 

 with the insects. The number of people who could be fed by 

 the wheat or corn or other grain destroyed by insects or clothed 

 by the cotton or wool lost every year represent the casualties 

 on this battle line. We discount these casualties as "losses to 

 the farmer." But take these numbers and read them as "los- 

 ses to our army" and see what that would mean. The two are 

 really alike in being both losses to our man power and all that 

 that implies. 



The weapons of the fighting armies always represent the 

 highest attainable perfection of the moment. We know that 

 this is necessary; we also know our fellow men. The farmer 

 does the best he can, but his weapons seldom represent per- 



-'54 



