SELECTED PAPERS 



sity of forms. Firstly there is the man who, vexed with the damage 

 that humanity has to suffer from some forms of life, finds his vocation 

 in fighting it. A typical example is the American specialist, J. L. Nicho- 

 les, who in his recent book, 'Vandals of the Night', has reported on 

 his life-long war against the rat, and can boast of having eliminated no 

 less than 25 million individuals of this foe of humanity. We may here 

 remark, too, that this veteran is anything but optimistic concerning 

 the outcome of the fight. On the basis of his experience he has become 

 so impressed with the enormous adaptive capacity of his enemy that 

 he concludes that there is at least a fair chance that the rat may out- 

 live man. 



Related to these specialist-fanatics, yet different in some respects, 

 are the fighters who do not so much direct their efforts towards par- 

 ticular enemies, but more generally have taken their task to be a pro- 

 tection of the food provision of mankind against any conceivable as- 

 sailant. They are marshalled by generals who have at their disposal 

 extensive general staffs and adequate organizations for the execution 

 of the measures they deem necessary. 



The commanders are often phytopathologists or economic ento- 

 mologists; the earlier mentioned entomologist, Howard, is a typical 

 case in point. Among the co- militants we encounter, however, also 

 sober statisticians, geographers, sociographers, meteorologists, and 

 many other scientists who may never have been confronted with the 

 assailants of our foodstuffs and the damage they cause. Finally there 

 is the army of executors among whom can be found both sharpwitted 

 biologists and chemists, and agriculturalists, controllers, and airplane 

 pilots. 



Apart from these we meet Homo militans in the form of those who 

 are engaged in mortal combat with the invisible forms of life that 

 directly threaten the health and continued existence of humanity in 

 a serious manner. Here too the struggle has long ago resulted in the 

 formation of powerful organizations, spread out over the entire world, 

 and which comprise many fighters who are not directly associated 

 with the medical profession per se. Of the leaders in this combat, the 

 'men against death' as they have aptly been characterized by De 

 Kruif in one of his books, it may again be asserted that they have 

 been caused to take up the fight by many divergent motivations. On 

 the one hand there is the pure-blooded scientist, the scientifically 



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