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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1272 



completely within our power, and oxa worst 

 remaining enemies are those of our own 

 species. The only needs of defense that 

 Mother Nature imposed upon our species were 

 needs of i>ower to combat enemies of other 

 species and to meet the rigors of our environ- 

 ment; all else is but a self-imposed burden. 



I judge by the topics of this conference that 

 it is the need of food that we are mainly 

 called upon to consider. The conservation of 

 food, through the" control of insect destroyers 

 of it, is a prime duty of Dr. Howard's bureau 

 and of several others. So of food I shall 

 speak. Tears ago when writing a text-book 

 of general biology, desiring to have said some- 

 thing when I got to the end of the first sen- 

 tence, I wrote : " The primary demand of in- 

 dividual livelihood is for food;" and after a 

 dozen or more years of subsequent reflection 

 upon the subject, I think that that is about 

 the most important biological statement I 

 ever made. 



Our species began by eating what Mother 

 Wature provides ready made, as the animals 

 eat. Such plant products as fruits, nuts, 

 roots; such animal products as eggs and 

 oysters, were at once available for consimip- 

 tion. But unlike the other species, we have 

 vastly increased the range of our diet, first 

 by the use of fire in cooking, and then by the 

 care and cultivation of the more valuable 

 food-producing species in agriculture. Thus 

 the entire range of the world's organic food 

 stufPs is becoming available for the use of our 

 species, in a small part unmodified as in the 

 beginning, in a larger part after milling and 

 culinary treatment, and in by far the largest 

 part, after several turnovers by biological 

 agents. In this last direction we have made 

 only a beginning. I regard it as the field 

 most promising in results for future research. 



Our food is fundamentally the same as that 

 of animals, and many animals are competitors 

 with us for the same supplies. Some of these 

 animals, like rats and mice and cockroaches, 

 having dietaries like our own and appreciating 

 our shelter as well as our food stores, have 

 gone all over the world with us and have be- 

 come our permanent associates. Many others 



have settled in our fields where, by raising 

 their food plants in mostly pure cultures, we 

 have greatly improved the means of susten- 

 ance for them. 



The pioneer when his fields became infested 

 with pests could escape their competition for 

 a time by opening new fields in another local- 

 ity; but that was when land was plenty and 

 men were few. Now, the land is filled. The 

 people are here and must be fed. This is 

 going to require that all the fields yield their 

 full measure of increase every year, and that 

 all that is raised be saved for human use. 

 This then is one great national problem; to 

 raise more food and to save what we raise 

 from the ravage of competing species. 



In the task of finding out the best means 

 of accomplishing these needs, government and 

 imiversity biologists are colaborers. Their 

 highest function, that of research, they have 

 in common. They have, also, functions apart, 

 that of the university being to train men for 

 this work, and that of the government bu- 

 reaus, to administer the work throughout the 

 land. We are met here to consider the prob- 

 lem together, and to ask whether there are 

 ways of making better progress through co- 

 operation and mutual aid. 



Dr. Howard's suggestions appear to be 

 along two lines: Better training of men for 

 the work; better facilities for exchange of 

 experiences. 



If the first seems to reflect on the training 

 done in the universities, nevertheless it is a 

 good suggestion and one that is always in 

 order, and when it comes from so good a 

 friend and so competent a critic of our work, 

 accompanied by specific suggestions for im- 

 provement, it is more than welcome and we 

 shall try to meet it. When he suggests in 

 substance that we put the most important 

 thing foremost, I am not sure that we vnU be 

 able to agree with him or even with one an- 

 other as to what is most important. It is 

 important to give the student a good founda- 

 tion in the fundamental sciences, for only on 

 this may a superstructure of technical knowl- 

 edge safely be reared. It is also necessary in 

 this day of specialization to give as much 



