October 6, 1923] 



NATURE 



509 



Such examples of the complete dependence of 

 practical science on pure research, and of the utter 

 falseness of the idea that any genuine contribution to 

 natural knowledge can be inherently and permanently 

 devoid of utility, could be multiplied indefinitely. 



ly nation, therefore, which aims at progress must 

 ^r its own sake foster to the utmost of its ability 



ientific education and both pure and applied research, 

 further reason and, perhaps, a higher reason be 



inted, no civilised nation stands alone : each owes 

 I duty to the others to do its share in the work that 



essential for the world's intellectual and material — 



f^e, and moral — progress — the making of new know- 

 sdge of Nature's eternal truths. Nothing but extreme 



jverty or youthful irresponsibility could excuse a 



ition which, shirking this sacred duty, elected 



selfishly to profit only by foreign-made science ; and 



^nothing is more certain than that it would profit 



not at all, for it would fail through sheer inability to 



understand. 



That, of course, is far from being the case with 

 ^:Australia. Young though our nation is, it is not so 

 pVery poor and it certainly is not irresponsible. To 

 •make progress for itself and for the world is Australia's 

 just ambition, and it has done much already to prove 

 that it does partly recognise the importance and the 

 power of science. Each State has its University, and 

 each University seeks, within its somewhat narrow 

 means, to excel on its science side. We have our Royal 

 Societies and others of more specialised type, our more 

 popular Australasian Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, and, of more recent birth but, we hope, 

 with a great future before it, the Australian National 

 Research Council, with important international con- 

 nexions. Each State Government maintains its own 



ientific activities, particularly in connexion with 

 liriculture and mining. The Government of the 

 (x)mmonwealth does much for public health and for 

 meteorology ; and quite recently it has undertaken to 

 build, equip, and maintain a Solar Physics Observatory 

 — a very important contribution to international 

 research. Our Governments, indeed, both Federal and 

 State, have given many proofs that they appreciate the 

 value of international co-operation in scientific work. 

 But democratic governments can never go very far 

 ahead of public opinion ; and our Australian people have 

 given no sign as yet of a general understanding of 

 what science can do for them or of an urgent desire 

 to put it to the test. 



Here, as elsewhere, there was some war-time awaken- 

 ing to the potency of applied research. It resulted, 

 in 19 1 5, in the adoption by the Commonwealth Govern- 

 ment of an ambitious scheme for the formation of an 

 Institute of Science and Industry, with a statutory 

 constitution and with ample means for carrying out 

 investigations over the wide field of Australia's primary 

 and secondary industries. Pending the passing of the 

 Hcessary Act of Parliament, the scheme was nursed 

 ir some four years by a body of voluntary workers, 

 wlio tried to make up in enthusiasm what they lacked 

 in financial means to success. That Institute now has 

 its statutory constitution, its powers, its director and 

 its office staff, but it has never yet been given the 

 promised means to build the laboratories or appoint 

 the skilled investigators essential to its proper work. 



NO. 2814, VOL. I 12] 



War-time awakening was but temporary. It happens 

 that I have a personal knowledge of the history of 

 that adventure and of the difficulties put in its way 

 by unlooked-for opposition and growing indifference 

 in Parliament and elsewhere. That experience has 

 convinced me that the Australian public is still largely 

 blind to its own interests and its duty. Time and 

 education will bring improvement. All that has yet 

 been done is but a beginning, holding out hope of 

 greater achievement in the future. For real progress, 

 Australia needs a great deal more science, even as she 

 needs more men and women. 



Let me cite briefly a few of those typical scientific 

 problems of a practical kind which have interested 

 the Commonwealth Institute. Few of them are 

 peculiar to Australia. Most have their counterpart 

 in other countries, and there is none in which we can- 

 not benefit from the experience of one or more of the 

 countries in the Pacific area. 



The settlement of people on the land, the spread of 

 pastoral industry and of agriculture, are seriously 

 hampered by the aggressive character of many vege- 

 table pests of foreign origin. One of these, the prickly 

 pear, is estimated to be now in occupation of some 

 24 million acres of Australian soil, mainly in Queens- 

 land, and to be spreading at the rate of one million 

 acres a year. Australia, indeed, owns a much larger 

 area under prickly pear than its total area under 

 cultivation ; and there are parts of Queensland so 

 densely covered with this pest that surveys wanted 

 for a railway extension scheme could not be carried 

 through it. Destruction by mechanical means or by 

 poisons has been found too costly for general use ; 

 but the biological method of attack holds out more 

 hope. This is based on the fact that the prickly pear, 

 as well as other pests, has been introduced without 

 those natural enemies, insect or fungoid, which keep 

 it in check in its native haunts. By importing them 

 we might eventually re-establish the balance of Nature. 

 Obviously, no such action can be taken without proof 

 that it is free from risk to crops or pasture ; and this 

 means prolonged research by experts. Some definite 

 progress has already been made in this direction, but 

 much more work is wanted. 



The cattle industry is beset by many ailments, 

 which in the aggregate cost Australia millions of 

 pounds per annum. The cattle tick, with the related 

 tick-fever, is responsible for untold damage, direct 

 and indirect. Similarly, in sheep country the blow- 

 fly pest causes enormous loss, especially in some 

 seasons. All these and many other ills are, or should 

 be, curable ; and real success with any one of them 

 would recoup Australia for all it is likely to spend on 

 science ; but nothing can be hoped for without ex- 

 tensive and systematically organised research. 



In quite another field large progress has already 

 been made, which, however, should but serve as a 

 stimulus to further work. I refer to the increase of 

 our harvests and the extension of the area available 

 for cultivation by the selection and breeding of new 

 varieties of plants better adapted to local conditions. 

 Agricultural experts tell us that an increase of one 

 bushel per acre in the average yield of wheat would 

 represent a gain of 2,200,000/., while any considerable 

 extension of the wheat belt in average breadth by 



