>6S 



NATURE 



[December 5. 1918 



suc | in available inadequatel) paid, 



but essential needs, such as well-equipped labora- 

 tories with adequate provision for mainten 

 had noL been provided. 



In the forefront, therefore, of the measures that 

 should be taken to link together practical agri- 

 culture and science should be placed the recruit- 

 ment oi tli< best scientific talent that the country 

 can provide, and this ran be secured only by pro- 

 viding suitable openings with reasonable prospects 

 of advancement for the best of the graduates in 

 science turned out annually by the universities. 

 Programmes of research avail nothing in the 

 absence of competent men to carry them out. We 

 should like to see .1 scheme inaugurated under 

 which promising graduates in science would be 

 attracted to the study of the agricultural sciences 

 by the provision of special fellowships undei a 

 guarantee that a certain number would eventually 

 be selected for permanent posts carrying adequate 

 salaries. 



It is true that in the past most of the great 

 discoveries have been made by men actuated 

 merely by a love of knowledge for its own sake,. 

 and no doubt the future will not differ from the 

 past in this respect ; but the real point is that, if 

 anything is t<> be accomplished by State action, an 

 appeal must be made to the motives by which the 

 majorilv of men are actuated in choosing their 

 life career. There can be no question that if 

 emoluments were placed upon a basis which would 

 enable workers to live in reasonable comfort, while 

 prospects of advancement were also improved, the 

 fruits of the vineyard would be ample. Agriculture 

 and horticulture arc still in the main ruled by 

 empiricism and tradition, and while it is true thai 

 many of the more recent advances in science go 

 to confirm the wisdom of the ancients, no one can 

 doubt that we are still far from possible ends in 

 many directions. Scientific methods of plant 

 breeding alone are capable of indefinite expansion. 

 Scientific methods of controlling- plant diseases 

 can be foreshadowed with considerable confidence. 

 The crop-bearing capacity of the soil may, as Mr. 

 Lloyd George suggested, be increased by scientific- 

 means, and in the region of diseases of live Stock 

 the possibilities of progress have scarcely been 

 explored. 



The Prime Minister's declaration should not be 

 forgotten. If agriculturists are alive to their 

 interests thi y will see that it is not allowed to lapse 

 into the oblivion which so ruthlessly overwhelms 

 many of the platform promises of politicians. 



NOTES. 



Ix a letti s <>t November 28, under the 



heading "t "Gas Warfare," appears a plea for the 

 establishment of 'fresh safeguards" to prevent any 

 nation from ever again employing gas as a weapon. 

 The letter is signed by eight -I the most highly placed 

 members of the medical profession, who know from 

 experience what immense suffering has been caused 

 from the employment of asphyxiating gas in the 

 present war. Those who have knowledge of the 

 operations of our own ga , will tell 



us that there must lie ver) man) of out 

 NO. -\S62, VOL. I02] 



ies who will heartilj agree with the views ex- 

 pressed in this letter, so that on this peSnt opinion 

 would rui doubt lie unanimous. One of Lhi objei 

 raised in the letter to the Tunes, that gas is i! 



controllable weapon the effects of which 1 in bi limited 

 in combatants, cannot be regarded as more trui foi 

 gas when used under modern conditions than for 

 shrapnel ,,r high-explosive shells. There remains the 



View that the use of gas involves needless suffei 

 this argument applies with equal force to all the opera- 

 linns nf war. If in the coming comity of nal 

 mutual confidence can extend so far as to agree to 

 die abolition of a form of warfare which has new 

 been removed from the realm of theory (and in 

 theorj c,as warfare is at least a century old) 1 . . 

 of accomplished fact, sureh it can go oni small 

 step further and so abolish war altogether. This 

 would be a more practicable measun : preparations 

 to arm would attract attention, while preparations for 

 this particular form of armament could 1" Carried on 

 in secret by any Power so inclined. In pasl wars tb 

 issue has been determined almost solel) b) military 

 skill and valour; in the present war there has been 

 an ini leasing application of scientific knowledge . 

 Science has not merely striven to destroy enemv life; 

 it has striven, and with equal success, to save British 

 and Allied lives. The British pattern of gas respira- 

 tor is the triumphant product of much 



ill work, and has probably saved mere lives 

 am ether contrivance or procedui : adopted during th> 

 war. Whether it is decided to drop the use ol gas 01 

 not, it would be extremely unwise fur us to discontinui 

 te train our men in anti-gas measures unless general 

 disarmament is agreed upon. 



Ii might reasonably be expected that by now most 

 1 would know more about the aims and id 



of science than to repeat the old formula tl 



is in opposition to religion and detrimental te culture, 

 yet in the Scientific Monthly (vol. vii., No. 51 Mr. 

 E. P. Lewis finds it necessary te protest in an 

 article entitled "The Ethical Value of Scieni 

 against the attitude of many current writers who 

 directbj or indirectly express such, views. He quotes 

 from various recent articles to the effect that 

 science is largely responsible for the extirpation of 

 culture and the growth of materialism; seme writer- 

 attribute the war to the suppression of spiritual 

 values by the influence of scientific doctrim ~. and its 

 horrors te malignant investigators who spend their 

 lives devising agencies of death and destruction. Such 

 people overlook the fact that the statesmen immediately 

 responsible for the outbreak and conduct of war are 

 not scientific men. Science has nothing whatevi 

 do with conquest, with commercial exploitation, or 

 with upholding the divine right of dynasties. The end 

 of all scientific investigation is to discover the truth 

 about all things, including man. his instincts and 

 impulses, his organisation in society. Wire economists 

 and politicians imbued with th. scientific spirit 1. 

 would be of incalculable benefil te the effectivi 

 organisation of society. Science has no intention of 

 decrying genuine religion, or of denying the import- 

 ance <it tlie so-called humanities, hut it dues maintain 

 that the- habit of mind developed by scientific studi - 

 is at leasl as important as an ethical agency. With 

 the completion of the war it will be in a largl 

 measure the mission nf science to rebuild a shattered 

 civilisation; it will restore industries, house die ho 

 less, Feed the hungry, and cure the sick, and, 

 least, must aid in healing the deep-seated ills nf 

 society, the consequences of past social misconduct 

 If men will use for distinction il> 

 science, ii ; net the scientific worker who is to blame. 



