504 RADFORD MATHER LECTURE 



that the human bodj^ required a certain amount of calories to supply 

 bodily needs and energy for muscular wear, and of proteins to replace 

 ' wear and tear,' and in the young to provide for growth. Up to almost 

 yesterday medical training in general health has been ruled by this view. 

 I have been assured by competent authorities that now there is no 

 ' star%'ation ' — I emphasise that word and draw your attention to it — in 

 Great Britain in the sense used by Mr. Seebohm Rowntree when he made 

 his investigations on the dietary of the working classes. Nearly all 

 people, I am told, now get sufficient calories and protein. 



But another and more penetrating group of scientific workers, whose 

 leader in this country is Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, have by their 

 investigations, strongly supported by the Medical Research Council, 

 helped to discover the significance of vitamins and mineral salts in food, 

 and have changed fundamentally the question of nutrition in relation to 

 health. 



In relation to these discoveries in the essentials of nutrition our short- 

 comings are considerable. Very many people do not get sufficient mineral 

 salts and vitamins in their food. 



In quite another and most specific direction these more recent dis- 

 coveries regarding food should lead directly to changes which will open 

 up great opportunities for a healthier life for .the mass of our people. 



There is now a common belief that, as regards the quality of our 

 population, we ought to contrive to have a considerable increase in our 

 people now living directly on the soil, and I believe that our present 

 distresses should be used, in everj^ possible economically sound way, to 

 advance that object. As a result of these researches, and in continued 

 consultation with science, this can be done. The application of the 

 vitamin doctrine to agricultural problems is bound to give a great impetus 

 to the cultivation of protective foods — especially fruit, milk, dairy pro- 

 ducts, eggs and vegetables — possibly on allotments based on the practice 

 of co-operative cultivation, purchasing and marketing. The worker on 

 the land would then find himself in a new position. An extended market 

 would be open at his own door for the rich vitamin fruits of his cultivation. 

 This is necessary, for he may produce, but if he has no market he will 

 starve. These things necessarily follow upon our scientific investigation 

 into food. The provision of agricultural work is necessarj' if we are to 

 keep a country population, and the maintenance of that population is 

 essential to our existence. 



But these investigations are also giving a wider and richer meaning to 

 health. At this point I must refer to the Medical Research Council. 

 The work of our Medical Research Council cannot be overlooked even in 

 the briefest and most general sur^^ey of the relations between Science and 

 the community. 



We have seen both medical and surgical treatment revolutionised 

 during the last fifty years — many diseases hitherto fatal can now be 

 treated and the patient restored to health ; other deadly and disabling 

 diseases have disappeared from our midst. Lack of knowledge is still, 

 however, the main limiting factor in the fight against the many diseases 

 which remain, and only continuous and laborious research will lead to 

 success in their control. In this fight the organisation of the Medical 



