650 
certain set of resolutions adopted before the 
close of the*war will furnish a final solution 
of these difficulties, notwithstanding the em- 
inence of those directly concerned in drafting 
or in adopting the resolutions. 
The great scientific progress since the 
Middle Ages has been largely due to the sep- 
aration, mental or statutory, of concepts or 
institutions of fundamental human interests. 
As instances, we may refer to the separation 
of church and state, of knowledge and super- 
stition. It would seem very unfortunate if 
we should now allow moral and ethical ques- 
tions to becloud our vision as regards scientific © 
merits or demerits. We all welcome exposures 
of unfair scientific dealings practised persist- 
ently by such large numbers as to constitute 
national characteristics, but if these exposures 
are to be really effective they should bear 
evidence of the fact that the aceused had a 
fair chance to defend themselves. Hence the 
need of open international scientific confer- 
ences seems to be greater now than before the 
war. 
G. A. Minter 
QUOTATIONS 
A NATIONAL LABORATORY FOR THE STUDY 
OF NUTRITION 
A RESOLUTION of the Inter-Allied Scientific 
Food Commission, which does not appear to 
have attracted as much notice as it deserves, 
dealt with the need of establishing national 
laboratories for the study of human nutrition. 
The commission pointed out that, as at least 
one quarter of the whole income of a nation 
was devoted to the purchase of food by its 
individual citizens, it was a matter of the 
highest importance for the welfare and pros- 
perity of a country that the methods of utiliz- 
ing its food resources in the best way should 
be explored and definitely established on the 
basis of scientific data. The commission there- 
fore adopted a resolution urging the allied goy- 
ernments to establish national laboratories to 
be devoted to the task. There is no doubt 
that the want of such a laboratory will be 
especially felt in the United Kingdom, where 
the: husbanding of our food resources is likely 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8S. Von. XLVIITI. No. 1282 
to remain imperative longer than in countries 
which are normally nearly self-supporting. 
The contrast between the extent to which the 
study of human metabolism has been fostered 
by the state or left to private enterprise in 
England and the United States is little to the 
credit of our rulers. Nor can it be pleaded 
in extenuation of the neglect that English men 
of science have shown no signs of being at- 
tracted: by the problems of nutrition and 
metabolism. On the contrary, without any 
depreciation of the labors of such Americans 
as Atwater and Benedict, or such Germans as 
Rubner, we can justly claim that the present 
generation of English physiologists has made 
contributions to the science of nutrition equal 
in value to anything which has been achieved 
elsewhere. We need merely cite the brilliant 
researches into the chemical mechanisms of 
digestion which we owe to Starling and Bay- 
liss, the work of Hopkins and his pupils on 
protein metabolism, and the succession of im- 
portant contributions to the study of deficiency 
diseases which have come from the laboratories 
of the Lister Institute, culminating in the re- 
eent work of Dr. Chick and her collaborators. 
Since the war the Royal Society, by the 
agency of its food (war) committee, has, with 
little official aid and, at times, in spite of 
official indifference or neglect, done much to 
bring the subject of national dietetics under 
proper scientific guidance, but we are of opin- 
ion that its work will not be extended ‘and 
made of permanent value to the nation unless 
effect is given to the Inter-Allied Commis- 
sion’s proposal. 
We shall endeavor to make the reason plain 
by considering one only of the topics within 
the scope of nutritional research. The Inter- 
Allied Commission mentioned the need of de- 
termining the amount of food required to 
maintain the health and strength of persons 
engaged in different occupations. As we had 
to point out some time since, when the policy 
of the food controller received less inspiration 
from scientific sources than has happily been 
the case during the past twelve months, the 
broad distinctions between class and class, the 
