May 17, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



477 



UTILITARIAN VALUES OF ZOOLOG- 

 ICAL SCIENCEi 



I HAVE been asked to contribute my bit 

 to the symposium on the value and service 

 of zoological science bj- discussing the utili- 

 tarian aspects of the subject. The first 

 procedure is, naturallj-, to inquire into 

 just what we mean by utilitarian. Utili- 

 tarian, that is, useful! Useful for what? 



If we restrict the meaning of utility to 

 service in filling our pockets or our stom- 

 achs, or in protecting ourselves and our 

 possessions from various dangers, in other 

 words, to economic phases of the subject — 

 and I suspect that this is what I am in- 

 tended to do — then I can not pass on to my 

 more specific assignment without the part- 

 ing protest that valuable as are the eco- 

 nomic applications of zoologj', I would rank 

 them as far subordinate to the part that 

 this science has played in widening the in- 

 tellectual horizon of man and, notably, in 

 helping to cast out from the human mind 

 the twin devils of superstition and igno- 

 rance. The firm establishment of the 

 theory of organic evolution is in itself per- 

 haps the greatest event in the development 

 of human knowledge. Not onlj- has it 

 clarified and made significant the uttermost 

 limits of biological science, but its unifying 

 principles have irradiated into all other sci- 

 ences. Its spirit has pervaded and rational- 

 ized the whole realm of human thought. 



Before passing to the economic aspects 

 of the science .1 would also call attention to 

 its unsurpassed value as a means of edu- 

 cational discipline. Somewhere in our edu- 

 cational scheme students should be taught 

 to weigh evidence, in order that they may 

 learn to deal adequately with facts and to 

 evaluate the conclusions of others. This 

 ability can be gained only bj' actual prac- 

 tise. And nowhere outside of zoology can 



1 Symposium of the Zoologripal Society of Amer- 

 ica, Minneapolis, December 29, 1917. 



we, with as little expenditure of effort, find 

 better materials for training in the funda- 

 mental processes of observation, percep- 

 tion of relations and inference. Nowhere 

 are there greater opportunities for develop- 

 ing that questioning, impartial, problem- 

 solving attitude of mind which must ob- 

 tain, if truth and sanity are to rule the 

 world. 



But coming now to the more conven- 

 tional conception of utility as distinct 

 from abstract truth, beautj^ or the refine- 

 ments of existence, the science of zoology 

 can boast a proud record of helpfulness in 

 the practical affairs of life, and can point 

 to a lustj' brood of economic offspring. 



During the past twenty-five or thirty 

 j-eai"s, in order to justif}- our existence, 

 however, as professional zoologists we have 

 had to call the roll of these so frequently, 

 that most of you already know the list by 

 heart and can not look forward to its re- 

 liersal anew with much but ennui. I shall 

 endeavor, therefore, to make the story as 

 mercifully short as possible. 



1. In Relation to Health and Disease. — 

 Perhaps it is in the realm of health and 

 disease that some of the most obvious utili- 

 zations of zoological knowledge and zoolog- 

 ical materials are evident to-day. While 

 our first thought flashes bacteriology be- 

 fore us as the science par excellence in 

 medical advancement, we must not forget 

 that bacteriological progress has been and 

 is inseparably linked with animal experi- 

 mentation, that the great studies in im- 

 munity, or on the pharmacological action 

 of drugs are essentiallj' studies in animal 

 life, and that more and more diseases are 

 being shown to be of animal origin or con- 

 veyance. 



Disease, plague and famine are all bio- 

 logical problems, and the great science of 

 medicine itself is essentially a branch of 

 applied biology. Medicine passed from the 



