358 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. A'OL. XLiIX. No. 1267 



to many teachers of science throughout the 

 country. F. M. Perry 



Tucson, Abizona 



QUOTATIONS 



SCIENCE IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT 



Among the 707 members of the new parlia- 

 ment there are two fellows of the Eoyal So- 

 ciety, that is to say, of the body which con- 

 tains the leading representatives of scientific 

 knowledge and research. One of these, Mr. 

 Balfour, must be taken as an example of the 

 smaller number of fellows who are elected be- 

 cause of their social xwsition and general cul- 

 ture rather than of the normal body of fellows 

 elected because of their devotion to and dis- 

 tinction in scientific research. Sir Joseph 

 Larmor, the other fellow, is a typical example 

 of high scientific distinction, and it is merely 

 an individual accident that his parliamentary 

 record is one of blameless devotion to party 

 politics rather than of specific representation 

 of science. Curiously enough, there are two 

 former teachers of human anatomy — Dr. Addi- 

 son and Sir Auckland Geddes — and Mr. Mae- 

 kinder was a well-known geographer before he 

 became a politician. The great experience of 

 Sir Philip Magnus has been in the directorate 

 of institutions for applied science and tech- 

 nology rather than in actual scientific pursuits, 

 and a similar comment may be made on Mr. 

 Woolcock's relation to pharmacology and 

 drugs. 



The new parliament will be charged with the 

 duty of reconstructing the social, commercial 

 and industrial fabric of the country and of 

 the empire, and among its 707 members there 

 is only one whose life has been devoted to sci- 

 entific research. Let it be said at once that the 

 object of calling attention to this defect in the 

 House of Commons is not to advocate the 

 presence in parliament of scientific representa- 

 tives who should try to protect the interests of 

 scientific men in the fashion in which the rep- 

 resentatives of professional and working-class 

 trade unions foster the material interests of 

 their members. The point which ought to be 

 taken is wider, and concerns not a group of 

 individuals, but the whole nation. Huxley, in 



an address delivered to workingmen in 1868, 

 stated the case in words of enduring cogency. 

 After saying that any one would be a fool who 

 should sit down to a game of chess on the win- 

 ning or losing of which depended his life and 

 fortune without knowing something of the 

 rules of the game, he went on to say : 



Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that 

 the life, the fortune and the happiness of every one 

 of us do depend upon our knowing something of the 

 rules of a game infinitely more difficult and com- 

 plicated than chess. It is a game which has been 

 played for untold ages, every man and woman of 

 us being one of two players in a game of his or her 

 own. The chessboard is the world, the pieces are 

 the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the 

 game are what we call the laws of nature. The 

 player on the other side is hidden from us. We 

 know that his play is always fair, just and patient. 

 But also we know, to our cost, that he never over- 

 looks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance 

 for ignorance. To the man who plays well, the 

 highest stakes are paid, with that sort of overflow- 

 ing generosity with which the strong shows de- 

 light in strength, and one who plays ill is check- 

 mated — without haste, but without remorse. 



In the complicated conditions of modern life, 

 very few of us can play our own game. In 

 sanitation, housing, piiblic health, provision 

 for research, relation of general research to 

 specific inquiries, and a multitude of other mat- 

 ters of fundamental importance, we have to 

 leave all the important moves to parliament. 

 Neither in parliament nor in the departments 

 from which most of the initiation comes, and 

 on which all the execution will depend, is there 

 a sufficient leaven of the requisite knowledge. 



It will be said that expert advice is always 

 taken on scientific matters. Assuming this, 

 and adding to it the further assumption that 

 the advice is always acted on with intelligence 

 and sympathy, it is to be noted tliat expert ad- 

 vice is also always taken on financial matters, 

 commercial matters, legal matters and so forth, 

 and that, none the less, there are in the House 

 of Commons very many members with expert 

 knowledge of, and interest in, finance business, 

 and law. These are ready and able to suggest 

 the final criticisms, adjustments and coordina- 

 tions that may be required in the measures 



