458 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



against accomplishment in the less conservative branches of science. Cer- 

 tainly this is the case in War Office awards, when confronted with the question 

 of ultra-brainy schemes for campaigns in the late war, and in the Department 

 of Government dealing with discoveries aiding the efficiency of war material. 

 As an instance of awards under the latter head, official records show that for 

 a patent bullet ;^7,ooo were paid, for a silvering process of mirrors ;^2,5oo. 

 Were equally practical methods of discrimination used, Mr. Balfour would 

 find that, whilst the medical profession has still room for honouring the 

 producer of a successful hypothesis, it gives the palm of discoverer to the 

 man who, by his discrimination and toil, amidst the many factors influencing 

 man and his environment, demonstrates the facts. Were it not so, there 

 could exist no raison d'etre for the existence of the Society for Defence 

 of Research, which includes several thousand medical men on its strength. 

 This appreciation of facts gained by research, as contrasted with mere hypo- 

 theses, was well exemplified in the case of Jenner, who, when a house-pupil 

 of the famous John Hunter, " often discussed the subject of small-pox with 

 the great anatomist, and, on one occasion, when relating his hopes and fears 

 of the possibility of substituting vaccination for inoculation, the characteristic 

 reply of the great surgeon was : " Don't think, Jenner, but tryy ^ 



Yours faithfully, 



W. G. King. 

 London, 



November 14, 1921. 



^ The History of Inoculation and Vaccination, XVIIth International 

 Congress of Medicine, p. 63 ; issued by Borroughs Wellcome & Co., 1913. 



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