Section D.— ZOOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, HYGIENE, 

 AND SANITARY SCIENCE. 



President of the Section: Prof. E. J. Goddakd, B.A., D.Sc. 



THURSDAY, JULY ii. 



The President delivered the following address : — 



To decide on a special topic for a IVesidential Address, 

 which, despite its specialised character, would appeal to all is a 

 difficult matter, and in attempting to discover such a topic I was 

 led to see that this occasion demanded really a survey of the 

 status of Zoology and the means obtaining in this country for 

 the development of the various branches of zoological research. 

 The fact that the Zoological Section makes its debut at this 

 meeting of the Association has guided me in this direction, 

 particularly so since the conditions obtaining in the world at 

 the present day have stimulated interest in researches whose 

 economic value and importance is patent to all, and even in such 

 as in many cases were hardly appreciated in pre-war days. This 

 sudden realisation, or rather appreciation, of the fact that there 

 is a direct relationship between Pure and Applied Science, may, 

 in its embryonic phase and its youthful lack of perspective, lose 

 sight of the fact that this apparent discovery is just what the pure 

 scientist has been attempting for years to unravel before the eyes 

 of the modern world, hungering for that appreciation which was 

 his due, and for that encouragement which our Governments 

 have been loath to give. Already we find a Technical and Scien- 

 tific Connnission in existence in this country, and we should seize 

 the occasion to point out that such a Commission (which is cog- 

 nisant of the value of scientific research in general), while bound 

 to suggest and open lines of research which will lead to greater 

 production within this country, is equally strongly bound to 

 encourage scientific research even where the object in view may 

 be of so abstract a nature that the mind of the modern commer- 

 cialist can perceive no direct economic return therefrom. For, 

 after all, the value of the work of any such Commission will be 

 measured, not by this generation alone, and not by the actual 

 number of lines of research which it has opened, but rather by the 

 extent to which it has itself encouraged and led our governing 

 bodies to develop the spirit of research — be it concerned with 

 afifairs patently of economic importance or apparently abstract or 

 abstruse. The extent to which they succeed in this will be a true 

 measure of their work, for it will be a measure of the ability of 

 the country in future to deal with fosterings not yet patent to us, 

 but which must continually arise de novo. It seems to me that 

 this is the outstanding defect throughout the British Empire, 

 namely, that we have continually dififerentiated between so-called 

 Pure and Applied Pesearch. and have given a half-hearted 



