PAPERS OX HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE 423 



sume tasks of grave responsibility in applying science 

 to the many hurried readjustments that the modern con- 

 ditions of warfare into which the British nation was 

 plunged demanded. 



The principle is no less true under peace conditions. 

 How urgent are the needs of many readjustments of the 

 rank and file of our citizenry in these days of radical in- 

 novations in all the fundamental aspects of living! And 

 how true it is that in our haste for material development 

 we have forgotten the corresponding need of applying 

 the latest word in science to the conservation and im- 

 provement of the human biological factor. "We see this 

 in the risk to lives that comes along with the invention 

 of complex machines. This is notably true of the auto- 

 mobile now in common use, and yet a large percentage 

 of the users know little of the mechanism they undertake 

 to direct in the midst of ever increasing traffic. For the 

 driver who takes the trouble to know and master his car, 

 and to consider the risks, the danger is always from the 

 ' ' other fellow. ' ' Thus both in education and in the moral 

 sense of responsibility for others our biological advance- 

 ment is far behind the demands of this age of the appli- 

 cation of physics and chemistry in doing the world's 

 work. 



We need a different literature of science, one that may 

 be broadcasted with the hope that all who listen in may 

 comprehend. We need more of such material as Slos- 

 son's "Creative Chemistry," of Hunter's "Civic Biol- 

 ogy," in order that the masses, through our schools, may 

 learn the language of science as applied to living. We 

 need more teachers of science like Miss Smallwood and 

 Miss Loomis of Chicago, Miss Huffman of "Woodstock, 

 and Clarence Bonnell of Harrisburg, — teachers who 

 make science a living thing that vibrates throughout all 

 that is important and vital in our social and civic life. 



As has been suggested, we have been stressing too 

 much the material benefits of science as applied to com- 

 merce and industry to the serious neglect of its appli- 

 cation to the biological wellbeing of our people. It is not 

 enough to assign text-book lessons and perform a few ex- 

 periments in the laboratory in order to "pass" and earn 



