36 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



were over, and that it was for Man, with Science as 

 torch, to enter bravely into fuller possession of his 

 kingdom. 



§ 3. Illustrations of the Control of Life 

 Speaking of cockchafer-beetles and the local famines 

 which their ravages sometimes brought about in bygone 

 days. Professor A. Giard recalls the fact that they used to 

 be dealt with by ecclesiastical, not by scientific authority. 

 " In 1479 they were summoned before the ecclesiastical 

 tribunal of Lausanne and defended by an advocate 

 from Fribourg. After dehberation, they were banished 

 from the territory. tempora ! " This may serve as a 

 diagrammatic, and therefore extreme, illustration of old- 

 world methods, in which the control of life was attempted, 

 but not along the lines of science. 



Another phase, still extant a few years ago, may be 

 illustrated by reference to locust plagues in South 

 Africa. The critical moment in dealing with these 

 voracious insects, which find a countryside a garden 

 and leave it in a few days a desert, is while they are 

 still wingless foot-passengers. They travel in great 

 hordes, but if concerted opposition is organised they 

 can be destroyed in millions by digging moats and by 

 other methods. Thus the crops may be saved and the 

 multiplication of the locust race checked. Everything 

 depends, however, on concerted action, on sending 

 word of the approach of the locust infantry, and on 

 forming something equivalent to a barrage to stop their 

 offensive. This can be done effectively; yet only a 



