Mat 4, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



419 



and to stand together in whatever is right 

 in connection with matters relating to or 

 involving a knowledge of science. 



Legislation.- — In any and every state a 

 glance at a list of the bills introduced in 

 the legislature can not fail to impress us 

 with the need and the importance of a 

 knowledge of various branches of science 

 on the part of our legislative and executive 

 officers. Legislative support for our scien- 

 tific bureaus and for higher education must 

 come from the backing given them either 

 directly or indirectly by men of science. 

 But when executive and legislative officers 

 are chosen as ours are it would be a mere 

 accident if they had the special knowledge 

 necessary to legislate about matters that 

 require such knowledge. Indeed it not in- 

 frequently happens that our public officials 

 have their judgment biased by hearsay in- 

 formation and prejudices that are difficult 

 to deal with. 



Take as an example the case of legisla- 

 tion upon vivisection that has lately been 

 up right here in our own state. We are 

 impelled to ask what is to be expected from 

 legislation on such a subject unless the men 

 of science in the state make themselves 

 heard and felt. Not that most of us really 

 know anything about vivisection; we do 

 not. But we do know what scientitic meth- 

 ods are and where they lead, and as men 

 of science we are bound to use our influ- 

 ence in support of such methods. Physiol- 

 ogists — ^not sentimentalists — are the ones to 

 determine whether or not vivisection 

 should or should not be allowed, and our 

 voices should be heard in support of the 

 physiologists and in favor of right meth- 

 ods in that as in anything else. 



The new kelp industry of our coast al- 

 ready has problems in our state legislature. 

 Surely the questions involved in this and 

 in all similar cases should not be left to 

 haphazard legislation dictated by selfish 



interests of any kind whatever, but should 

 be settled by scientific men as scientific 

 problems that concern the community at 

 large. 



I might well add the importance of scien- 

 tific knowledge in the drafting and pass- 

 ing of fish and game laws, laws relating to 

 the seal fisheries, to insect pests, to smelter 

 fumes, to the conservation of timber, and 

 to rational methods of mining and the con- 

 servation of our mineral resources, all of 

 them problems closely related to our indus- 

 tries and to our future. 



I have heard it objected that we have no 

 call to offer our advice where it is not 

 sought. This raises a point in ethics which 

 puzzles some persons unnecessarily. We 

 have also heard of a person who would not 

 rescue a drowning man because he had not 

 been introduced to him. We do not hesi- 

 tate to cast our baUots and to lift our voices 

 in favor of what we regard as right meth- 

 ods in public affairs. Nor should we hesi- 

 tate to do any other act that we know to be 

 for the public good, whether that act be 

 formally called for or not. 



I merely mention these instances in 

 passing and as examples of some of the 

 public duties of scientific men which we 

 too often overlook. Such problems eon- 

 front men of science everywhere, and it is 

 to be hoped that we shall not evade them 

 in this the newer part of our country. 



SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS 



If I were asked by this association to sug- 

 gest problems that the scientific world has 

 a right to expect us to solve, or at least 

 to attack seriously, it would bring to mind 

 first of all the most scathing criticism I 

 ever heard of any scientific man — a criti- 

 cism made on the ground that he had spent 

 a lifetime in a certain field where he had 

 a unique opportunity for solving certain 

 problems that he never solved, and that he 



