16 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 



beginning and we have every reason to believe that there are immense 

 possibilities in the future. To realize these possibilities we need a large 

 number of trained scientific workers with facilities and leisure for inten- 

 sive work. There is no lack of young men and women who would be 

 willing or even eager to enter upon a career of this kind both on account 

 of the intrinsic interest of the work and on account of the great service 

 it would be to humanity. The difficulty in pushing the matter forward 

 with the proper speed lies in the financial support required. The 

 universities and medical schools are contributing in proportion to 

 their limited means, and occasionally gifts from private benefactors 

 help the good work along, but naturally we look to governmental 

 agencies for the chief support in a matter affecting so directly the 

 public good. The obligations of government in safe-guarding public 

 health have been recognized only in modern times. The passage by 

 Parliament of the Public Health Act of 1848 is perhaps the first decisive 

 step in this direction. Since that time great developments have 

 occurred. The Government has made greater and greater efforts to 

 protect the health of the people, but its efforts have been confined 

 largely to the application of knowledge and methods already dis- 

 covered. The importance of supporting scientific investigations looking 

 forward to new discoveries has not been recognized by legislators 

 as a class, and presumably will not be so recognized in democratic 

 governments until the intelligent part of the community becomes con- 

 vinced that money spent in such ways is a paying investment. At 

 present we spend immense sums of the public money to protect ourselves 

 from the aggressions of our fellow man. If the time comes when this 

 will not be necessary then no doubt we can pay more attention to our 

 troubles with our non-human enemies and provide the funds for greater 

 protection against their ravages. 



Carrying out my militaristic analogy let me say a word about the 

 offensive side. It is quite possible in this contest to carry the war into 

 the enemy's country. The kind of campaign that can be developed is 

 clear enough and we have every reason to believe that it will be successful, 

 for on our side we have the advantage of intelligence, the mind of man 

 capable of understanding and using the forces of nature, while on the 

 other the chief weapon is mere force of numbers, the incredible fertility 

 of the lower forms of life. The insects that infest our bodies, flies and 

 mosquitoes, fleas, ticks and lice are directly or indirectly carriers of 

 disease. It is easily possible for us to find out all about their structure, 

 habits and life histories and thus put ourselves in a position to control 

 or destroy their fertility. Medical Zoology has become a specialized 

 branch of investigation cultivated in all of our schools of public health 



