November lo, 1923] 



NA TURK 



689 



growths, the suggestion is provoked that all normal 

 mature individuals contain a factor — probably bio- 

 chemical — which controls a tendency to abnormal 

 growth. Why not then try simply the injection of 

 blood-plasma or other constituents of the blood 

 from normal mature individuals into cancerous 

 subjects ? 



It is of course possible that the factor inhibiting 

 abnormal growth may lie dormant in the healthy 

 individual or only occur at a particular phase of 

 life — one of which may be at about the end of the 

 growth period — and may not therefore be trans- 

 missible in blood constituents at all stages of the 

 mature life-history, even supposing that the blood 

 is the locus of the factor when it is active. A further 

 possibility may be that only certain apparently 

 normal individuals possess constantly an active 

 growth-restricting factor and that these individuals 

 remain to be identified. Whatever the importance 

 of the above surmises may be, it would seem clear 

 that the economy of individuals with " wens " must 

 be regarded at present as of great importance in 

 the study of cancerous growths. It is realised that 

 there is a great deal of speculation in the remarks 

 made above, but the importance of the subject is 

 regarded as sufficient excuse. J. H. Orton. 



Alarine Biological Laboratory, Plymouth, 

 October 25. 



Science and the State. 



Lord Salisbury has noticed with great pleasure 

 your appreciative article (October 27, p. 609) on the 

 co-operation of the different parts of the Empire in 

 scientific research dealt with in his recent speech to the 

 Imperial Economic Conference. He would like, how- 

 ever, to assure you and your readers that when he spoke 

 of the willingness of scientific men to place their services 

 at the disposal of the Government and the community 

 for " far less than the true remuneration of their 

 great talents," he was referring not to the scientific 

 staft of the Department, but to the distinguished 

 men who serve on the Advisory Council and other 

 Committees and Boards of the Department, most 

 of them entirely gratuitously. The members of the 

 Advisory Council are offered a modest honorarium, 

 l)ut it is not always accepted. 



Philip Farrer, 

 Private Secretary. 



Privy Council Office, Whitehall, 

 October 30. 



A Representative Scientific Council. 



Thk proposal made in the leading article in Nature 

 of October 13, page 529, seems of the utmost import- 

 ance, and is therefore likely to be discussed by abler 

 pens than mine. I venture, however, to touch on 

 some considerations not yet covered by your opening 

 statement. 



In a world of disillusion, with Church and State 

 both in discredit if not in disgrace, there is a wide- 

 spread and keenly felt need for wiser guidance. Here 

 s the opportunity. Some of us would say that in an 

 age of revolutions, it is not a further enforcement of 

 authority by the method of violence that is needed. 

 To substitute the dictaturc of " Science " for the 

 'Hctature of the proletariat is only to demonstrate 

 1 liat the real enemy is the bourgeois and the bureau- 

 crat. Here is our temptation. 



We have no recognised definition of scientific 

 " truth " as distinct say from war truth, newspaper 

 truth, or Quaker truth. Do we mean that our con- 

 clusions are always " contradictoire," open to 

 challenge, verification, or correction ? If so, there is 



NO 2810, VOL. I 12I 



obviously no case for enforcing them on an ignorant 

 but reluctant populace. 



There is already some distrust of the learning of the 

 medical profession. They are wise enough to be 

 content to advise their patients, but not to enforce 

 their advice. The Ministry of Agriculture is wise 

 enough to issue advice. From the Board of Educa- 

 tion we should welcome rather more advice and rather 

 less administration. Just consider how much mis- 

 chief might be done in the present state of our know- 

 ledge of eugenics by a new tyranny of good intentions 

 and ignorance. 



On the other hand, there is a very strong case for 

 some public body of scientific experts which might 

 advise and report on all matters affecting the public 

 welfare ; for example, on the children of Russia, the 

 reafforestation of Greece, the rebuilding of Tokyo, the 

 finances of Germany, the frontiers of France. If 

 some scientific (not political) body meeting in Geneva 

 could find the right answers to these questions, some 

 of us would be content to sacrifice all other sorts of 

 authority vested in the League of Nations in favour 

 of the authority that might ultimately accrue to an 

 oracle which confined itself to good advice. 



For the word " democracy " we might substitute 

 " scientific initiative and democratic veto." We 

 need both. Almost all that can be done* by mass 

 movements, like trades unions and armies, is to veto, 

 to stop other things being done by other people. 

 Initiative, doing new things, is generally the work of 

 individuals, not of mobs. The case for a scientific 

 advisory body is far stronger than any existing politi- 

 cal system recognises. The House of Lords may be 

 earmarked for the future development of Trades 

 Unionism, but the Privy Council is an existing institu- 

 tion which could be developed into an acting advisory 

 council, with no authority to enforce its advice. 



It may be difficult to draw the line of representation 

 among the claims of metaphysics, theology, theosophy, 

 anthroposophy, anthropology, psychical research, and 

 experimental psychology. An excluded minority of 

 Christian Scientists might be hostile, as you say. 

 Hence the virtue of Prof. Oppenheim's maxim : — 

 " There will be voting and the majority will indeed 

 decide, but that decision will only bind that majority. 

 In matters of ' scientific ' opinion are we not justified 

 in saying that no majority however great should seek 

 to enforce its decisions on any minority no matter 

 how small ? " 



On the other hand, consider the immense power that 

 might be wielded by an advisory organisation that 

 merely advised its members to " withhold support " 

 from an existing political institution which seemed to 

 be going astray. Imagine, for example, that during 

 some recent wars the General Medical Council had 

 advised its members to refuse service in all ambulance 

 units or a Chemical Society disowning members 

 engaged in manufacturing explosives, or a Trades 

 Union refusing to make munitions or to accept 

 Treasury notes in payment ! 



There is a little difficulty about registration. Is a 

 university degree in science enough, or is research 

 work necessary ? Or might the standard be lowered 

 to the Preliminary Scientific Examination ; and 

 what alx>ut people of quite obviously exploring habits 

 of mind who have never had the chance of a university 

 education ? The analogy of the Teachers' Regis- 

 tration Council a little suggests that registration 

 might be the only aim which would be achieved. 



The great thing is to maintain an offer of the best 

 scientific advice available for the widest possible 

 community. Hugh Richardson. 



Wlxoihlri.-^, Stocksfield-on-Tyne, 

 I >ctober 23. 



T 2 



