STRATEGY 



of man or of domestic animals, the usual procedure is first to 

 find out as much as possible about any or all of the aspects of 

 the problem, without deliberately aiming at a particular objective 

 of practical use. Experience has shown quite definitely that a 

 fuller understanding of the subject nearly always reveals useful 

 facts. Sometimes one finds a vulnerable link in the life-cycle of 

 the parasite causing the disease and this may lead to a simple 

 means of control. Having such a possibility in view it is helpful 

 to consider the biology of the infective agent, whether it be virus 

 or helminth, and to ponder on how it manages to survive, 

 especially when making its way from one host to the next. 



Biological discoveries are often at first recognised in the form 

 of qualitative phenomena and one of the first aims is usually to 

 refine them to quantitative, reproducible processes. Eventually 

 they may be reduced to a chemical or physical basis. It is note- 

 worthy that the declared aim of a large proportion of investiga- 

 tions described in the leading scientific journals is to disclose the 

 mechanism of some biological process. It is a fundamental belief 

 that all biological functions can eventually be explained in terms 

 of physics and chemistry. Vitalism, which postulated mysterious 

 " vital " forces, and teleology, which postulated a supernatural 

 directing agency, have long ago been abandoned by experi- 

 mental biologists. However, teleology is admissible in a modified 

 sense that an organ or function fulfils a purpose toward aiding 

 the survival of the organism as a whole or survival of the 

 species. 



The most honoured and acclaimed advances in science are the 

 perception of new laws and principles and factual discoveries 

 of direct practical use to man. Usually little prominence is given 

 to the inventions of new laboratory techniques and apparatus 

 despite the fact that the introduction of an important new tech- 

 nique is often responsible for a surge of progress just as much 

 as is the discovery of a new law or fact. Solid media for the 

 culture of bacteria, bacterial filters, virus haemagglutination and 

 partition chromatography are outstanding examples. It may be 

 profitable for research workers and the organisers of research to 

 pay more attention to the developments of new techniques than 

 has been the custom. 



It was a characteristic of Faraday, Darwin, Bernard and 



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