Research in Science 



the past tkaciiksthat it infl'st not be kestricted tu utilitarian 



problems: the whole horizon must be swept for facts: 



the ultlmate practical value to man of all general 



AND AliSTRACT IN VESTKiATIoNS SURPASSES BY EAR 

 ANY MONETARY COST 



l^y W I X T E R T O N C. C l^ K T I S 



Trofessor of Zoology, University of I^rissouri 



Tlll-]U1'' is all exhortation, siip- 

 ]iose(lly epitoinizini); the wisdom 

 of practical life, "Don't waste 

 your time speculating on why black 

 hens lay white eggs. Get the egg." 

 This is, doubtless, good advice in busi- 

 ness affairs and appeals to the average 

 man as a sensible doctrine. But as we 

 sliall show, those who have done most 

 for the world in a practical way have 

 often been the men who speculated on 

 just such problems as this — and who 

 solved them. Today the man who gets 

 the most eggs is he who in breeding and 

 rearing his poultry follows the methods 

 established by the scientific study of 

 heredity, of selection, and of general 

 physiology. And it is worth remember- 

 ing that the scientific workers who es- 

 tablished the more important of these 

 facts were not lured to their work by 

 the prospect of financial gain, but grap- 

 pled with biological problems because of 

 a conviction that knowledge of such 

 matters was indispensable to human 

 welfare. 



If we analvze the "getting of eggs," 

 as it goes on in the varied commerce of 

 our modern world, we find that indus- 

 try everywhere is rooted in the facts of 

 science. Xot uncommonly, whole fields 

 of commercial enterprise go back to 

 some simple but fundamental scientific 

 generalization. Thus, the canning in- 

 dustry is founded upon what the biolo- 

 gist terms "Tjiogenesis," or the fact 

 that there is no life save from preexist- 

 ing life. For since putrefaction is an 

 incident of the growth of microscopic 



forms ill organic materials, there can 

 lie no putrefaction where all living 

 germs have been destroyed, by heat or 

 other means, and where new germs can- 

 not obtain access. The chemical proc- 

 esses which underlie so many industries 

 have all been built upon the fundamen- 

 tal theory of chemical combination, 

 which was elaborated during the latter 

 half of the eighteenth and the first half 

 of the nineteenth centuries, while in 

 physical science, the generalizations re- 

 garding the indestructibility of matter 

 and energy are similarly important. 



We all recognize that only by pains- 

 taking effort can scientific knowledge 

 l)e obtained. But we commonly fail to 

 recognize the nature of the scientific 

 studies which preceded the discovery of 

 many facts applicable in our daily lives. 

 Science is the foundation of life in civi- 

 lized communities as well as of modern 

 industry; and the scientific discoveries 

 of the present will, if we do our share, 

 be as vital in the lives of future gener- 

 ations. We should understand defi- 

 nitely that the distinction between 

 "pure'' and "applied" science is an arti- 

 ficial one, because no line of separation 

 exists. On every hand, discoveries of a 

 theoretical and general nature are of 

 practical value; and, conversely, the 

 practical achievements of science are a 

 continual stimulus to further investi- 

 gations along theoretical lines which, in 

 turn, influence practice in wholly unex- 

 pected ways. 



Any research tliat ]iromises substan- 

 tial additions to our knowledge is worth 



