December 23, 1909] 



NA TURE 



The discovery that there is such a mechanism was made 

 i'l the early 'eighties by the distinguished Russian zoologist 

 Elias Metschnikoflf, though the need of its existence was 

 not recognised by biologists in general until later. The 

 result of this was that his remarkable discoveries were at 

 first pooh-poohed and discredited by many, but ultimately 

 they gained acceptance, and their further development in 

 his own hand and that of others has wrought a revolution 

 in the art of preventive medicine. 



The mechanism consists of the small amceboid cells 

 found in the blood, lymph, and body fluids generally, and 

 called leucocytes, or white blood corpuscles. Though long 

 known to exist, very little had been ascertained as to their 

 function until Metschnikoff, working at such remote sub- 

 jects as the embryology of sponges, the structure and 

 digestion of polyps, the blood of water-fleas, realised that 

 these small amceba-like cells, which exist in all organisms, 

 actually swallow, digest, and so destroy small foreign 

 bodies which have invaded the organisms. He called them 

 the phagocytes, and all his subsequent work has been 

 directed to the elucidation of their mode of action. 



It is to Metschnikoff 's work, prompted solely by the scien- 

 tific spirit, that we owe our knowledge of phagocytosis and 

 the great theory of immunity which has proceeded from it. 

 It is impossible at the present moment to estimate fully 

 the value to ma%of Metschnikoff 's discoveries. Suffice it 

 to say that they have already led to important practical 

 results, and have revolutionised treatment. 



I must now turn for a moment to another subject of 

 the greatest importance to mankind, and one which 

 has "been brought into notice by the researches, 

 perfectly useless so far as our material welfare 

 is concerned, which were undertaken with the view 

 of elucidating the great question of organic evolution. 

 ■ I refer to the study of genetics, which deals with the 

 question mainly of the transmission of the properties of 

 the organism ; but it deals with even a larger subject than 

 that. It looks into and tries to determine the laws which 

 govern the origin of the characters of individuals, whether 

 plants or animals, whether those characters have been 

 acquired by inheritance or in some other way. The subject 

 is of the utmost interest and practical importance to man 

 from three points of view. It has a bearing on philosophy 

 of a most important and far-reaching kind through the 

 theory of organic evolution. That theory largely depends 

 for its proof upon the science of genetics. Secondly, it 

 has a most important bearing upon practical questions 

 affecting breeders of animals and raisers of plants, and 

 also upon man himself in connection with practical legisla- 

 tion. This brings me to the third point, in which this 

 subject specially appeals to us, and that is what I may 

 call its bearing upon ethics. This is, of course, closely 

 connected with the last. 



We are constantly confronted with questions in which 

 we have to think, not only of the advantage and happi- 

 ness of those alive at the present moment, but also of 

 these not yet born who will succeed us on the earth. 

 The decision of these questions is one of the most important 

 and burning subjects which can be put before us. They 

 often crop ud in legislation, and yet we are quite unable 

 to answer them because of the very little knowledge we 

 possess of the laws which govern the transmission of 

 characters from generation to generation. 



The interests of future generations often appear to be 

 in conflict with the immediate pleasure and happiness of 

 the living, and we are confronted with the question whether 

 we ought to give way to our own humane and benevolent 

 feelings or whether we ought to set our teeth and deal 

 ruthlessly with a number of people who must appeal to 

 our pitv, lest by saving them from elimination we should 

 bring about an increase in the number of people who are 

 unable to hold their own, and so weaken the nation and 

 increase for the next generation the difficulties which we 

 set out to cure. I do not pronounce any judgment on these 

 questions : T merelv wish to emphasise the immense, the 

 transcendent importance, from the human point of view, of 

 the investigations which the study of the question of 

 evolution has caused biologists to carry out into that most 

 difficult of all subjects, hereditv, and of obtaining clear 

 ideas upon the subject. These, I admit, are elementary 

 examples, and probably familiar to most of you — and they 



NO. 2Cg5, VOL. 82] 



might be largely added to from other branches of zoology, 

 such as entomology, marine fauna, and physiology — of the 

 great practical achievements which have followed from the 

 recognition of the fact, possibly appreciated in some ancient 

 civilisations,' but in modern times first understood by 

 Bacon and his compeers, that natural phenomena are in 

 themselves, and without reference to immediate utility, 

 proper subjects of man's inquiry, and that all progress 

 must be based on their thorough and accurate investigation. 



The genesis of a new idea is so difficult, and the amount 

 of work necessary for its complete elucidation and develop- 

 ment so vast and detailed, that many eminent men, taking, 

 only a short period of time and not realising the minute 

 steps by which the advance of knowledge takes place, have 

 been led to doubt the value of scientific investigation in 

 the higher realms of pure knowledge, even to the extent 

 of speaking of the bankruptcy of science. Others, again, 

 perceiving the apparent aimlessness of many investiga- 

 tions and undervaluing the motive which urges them on, 

 have come to look with a certain contempt upon the man 

 of pure science and his slow and plodding progress. What 

 is the good of all this work at unimportant details? What 

 do you get out of it, and what pleasure do you find in it? 

 they ask, and when they are told that the humble worker 

 usually gets nothing out of his v/ork except the pleasure 

 of doing it, and that his motive is nothing more elevated 

 than the satisfaction of his curiosity, there does appear to 

 be, it must be admitted, some justification for the con- 

 temptuous indifference with which the poor researcher is 

 regarded by a considerable section of the population, as is 

 shown by the almost entire absence of support of pure 

 scientific research on the part of the Government. With 

 the exception of an annual grant of 4000?. a year giver^ 

 to the Royal Society, I think I am correct in stating that 

 the Government affords hardly any support to science save 

 to such as is concerned with teaching or with some prac- 

 tical problem ; and when one remembers the composition 

 of Governments and the manner in which, and the reasons 

 for which, they are chosen, one cannot unreservedly blame 

 them for this attitude. The best method of fostering re- 

 search is a difficult problem, and I can well understand 

 that a modern democratic Government, depending as it 

 does upon popular support with its attendant popular man- 

 dates, should shrink from dealing with it. To do so would 

 bring them no popularity and no votes, and too often they 

 are not really aware of its immense importance to human 

 progress, and when they are they have great difficulties 

 to face. 



For it is impossible to organise research on a com- 

 mercial basis. "All attempts," says Prof. Nichols, of 

 Cornell, " at a machine-made science are doomed to failure. 

 No autocratic organisation is favourable to the develop- 

 ment of the Scientific Spirit. No institution after the 

 commercial models of tc-day is likely to be generously 

 fertile. You can contract for a bridge according to specifi- 

 cations. No one, however, can draw up specifications for 

 a scientific discovery. No one can contract to deliver it 

 on a specific day for a specified price, and no employee can 

 be hired to produce it for wages received." 



This it is impossible to gel the public to understand 

 even when it has undergone the process which we call 

 education. You may establish paid posts for scientific re- 

 search, but you cannot be sure that you will get research, 

 for science is like the wind that bloweth where it listeth, 

 and that is what our educated public do not like. They 

 want something for their cash, and they will not wait. 



Even those who are aware of the immense value of pure 

 research forget the fact that the aptitude for scientific 

 investigation is as rare as the gift of poetry, to which in 

 many respects it is allied, for both are creative gifts, rare 

 and precious. They forget that it is impossible to ascer- 

 tain without trial whether a man possesses it or not, and 

 that this trial can only be made when he has passed his 

 student days and looks to support himself by his own 



1 There are, as is well known, inHlralions that research into natural 

 phencinenr' was rractised and esteemed in some ancient civilisations which 

 have been destroyed ly'he inroad of barbarians or by o'her causes, (tue 

 of the most striking of these indications is the record in one of the sacred 

 broks of the Hindus which cannot be less than 1400 years old, and Is prob. 

 aWy much ' Ider, that malarial f'vers are directly caused bv the bite of mos- 

 oultops. Attention was fir«t diected to this record by SirH A. Plake, 

 GC.M.r.., in iqos, while he wa- Governor of Ceylon (vide lournal of the 

 Ceylon Branch of the British Medical .Association, vol. ii., part i., rgos). 



