456 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



leading Mendelian put it, whilst the rest of us had been held up by an 

 apparently impenetrable hedge, viz. the difficulty of explaining the origin of 

 variation, Mendel had unnoticed cut a way through. But, as our knowledge 

 of the facts grew, the difficulty of using Mendelian phenomena to explain 

 evolution became apparent, and this early hope sickened and died. The way 

 which Mendel cut was seen to lead into a cul-de-sac. It is because I have 

 reason to hope that at last a real way through has been discovered that I 

 wrote this essay. 



E. W. MacBride. 

 November 8, 1921. 



To THE Editor of " Science Progress " 



MR. BALFOUR AND THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF MEDICAL 



RESEARCH 1 



From Colonel W. G. King. CLE., Ind. Med. Ser. (ret.) 



Sir, — In reply to a recent question on the subject of awards by Government 

 for scientific research workers whose results have been in an unusual degree 

 of wide public benefit, Mr. Balfour deprecated any special action in the 

 case of Medical Science. He held that the dole system of the Civil List 

 sufiiciently met requirements of all branches of science. The sanction of 

 special awards (such, for example, as the sum of ^30,000 allowed by Parlia- 

 ment in the case of Jenner) would, he contended, present the " overwhelming " 

 difficulty of determining which of the various workers who had previously 

 secured data of utility in solving a specific problem had the merit of being 

 primarily decisive or merely adjuvant. 



If, in grouping sciences generally with Medicine, Mr. Balfour had before 

 him factors influencing their constitution or methods (physical and mental) 

 of production which were reasonably on a par, his argument for equality 

 of treatment would necessarily receive acceptance ; but he failed to take 

 cognisance of an important factor in connection with Medical Science which 

 renders his comparison incorrect and his decision inequitable. In dealing 

 with the medical profession, he has forgotten it is moulded on an ancient 

 caste system as rigid as any practised in the East, is governed in ethics 

 by the Medical Council as ruthlessly as by a Punchayet, and that the 

 Hippocratic oath still throws its shadow on certain of its rulings. These 

 ethics have no taint of trade-unionism, in seeking to make the public a milch- 

 cow ; on the opposite, beyond dictates of inter-professional courtesy, they 

 are strictly in the interests of the public. 



Putting aside the open question of whether, in the present day, certain 

 rulings of the profession cannot be legally defied, it is a fact that any form 

 of concealment of medical knowledge gained by a member of this peculiar 

 caste and appropriated for self-interests is " taboo." Consequently, the 

 Medicine Man is precluded from exploiting for monetary benefits, by means 

 of a patent, a discovery, for which he may have toiled for years and have 

 expended ill-spared private funds. 



It is evident that this ethical ruling is against the monetary interests of 

 the individual, and, in all but enthusiasts, is liable to inhibit research — a 

 considerably more potent factor thereto than the incitement of jealousy 

 which Mr. Balfour professed he dreaded ! Yet it is enormously operative 

 in the cause of the finer instincts of humanity, and, where labour and health- 

 saving are brought about, indirectly the public purse is fed. Were it other- 

 wise, in times of epidemics and wars, might not the doctors aspire to the 

 sublime rank of profiteers ? Small royalties on new-fangled but potent drugs, 

 surgical instruments, and equipment, and on far-reaching organic products 

 combining results of chemical and bacteriological skill might well bring in 



* See Science Progress, No. 62, pages 286 and 298. 



