106 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATIONAL NEEDS 



holism, involving the absorption of oxygen and the 

 production of carbonic acid gas, or carbon dioxide, 

 continues for a very long time even while the grain 

 remains ordinarily dry. 



On the other hand, the damage to which stored 

 grain of all kinds is subject is very largely, if not 

 chiefly, due to the activity of other organisms, 

 insects of various kinds, mites, moulds, and probably 

 bacteria, to say nothing of rats and mice, which are 

 more easily recognised and dealt with. A know- 

 ledge of the physiological processes going on in the 

 grain, combined with a knowledge of the physio- 

 logical requirements of the numerous organisms by 

 which it is attacked, is clearly essential to the correct 

 understanding and ultimate solution of our problem. 



The zoologist and the botanist must also be con- 

 sulted as to the systematic position and life-histories 

 of the organisms concerned, and, no less, the archi- 

 tect and the engineer, when it comes to a question 

 of constructing granaries and so forth. The problem 

 has also, of course, its economic and commercial 

 sides. I need hardly say that I do not profess to 

 be capable of dealing with all these very different 

 aspects of the question, and it is chiefly with regard 

 to purely biological matters that I venture to ask 

 your attention. At the same time I hope to be able 

 to convince you that the conclusions at which we 

 have already arrived are by no means devoid of 

 importance from the strictly utilitarian standpoint. 



