6 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 470. 



these coming generations will be unpro- 

 vided for. 



Another way by which the food supply 

 of the world can be increased is by re- 

 lieving tracts of land that are now used 

 for other purposes than the cultivation of 

 foodstuffs. The most interesting example 

 ,of this kind is that presented by the culti- 

 vation of indigo. There is a large demand 

 for this substance, which is plainly 

 founded upon esthetic desires of a some- 

 what rudimentary kind. Whatever the 

 cause may be, the demand exists, and im- 

 mense tracts of land have been and are 

 still, devoted to the cultivation of the in- 

 digo plant. Within the past few years sci- 

 entific investigation has shown that indigo 

 can be made in the factory from sub- 

 stances, the production of which does not 

 for the most part involve the cultivation 

 of the soil. In 1900, according to the re- 

 pox't of Dr. Brunck, Managing Director of 

 the Badische Anilin- and Soda-Fabrik, the 

 quantity of indigo produced annually in 

 the factory ' would require the cultivation 

 of an area of more than a quarter of a 

 million acres of land (390 square miles) in 

 the home of the indigo plant. ' Dr. Brunck 

 adds: " The first impression which this 

 fact may be likely to produce, is that the 

 manufacture of indigo will cause a terrible 

 calamity to arise in that country ; but, per- 

 haps not. If one recalls to mind that 

 India is periodically afflicted with famine, 

 one ought not, without further considera- 

 tion, to east aside the hope that it might 

 be good fortune for that country if the 

 immense areas now devoted to a crop 

 which is subject to many vicissitudes and 

 to violent market changes were at last to 

 be given over to the raising of breadstuffs 

 and other food products. " " For myself, " 

 says Dr. Brunck, " I do not assume to be 

 an impartial adviser in this matter, but, 

 nevertheless, I venture to express my con- 

 viction that the government of India will 



be rendering a very great service if it 

 should support and aid the progress, which 

 will in any case be irresistible, of this im- 

 pending change in the cultivation of that 

 country, and would support and direct its 

 methodical and rational execution." 



The connection between scientific investi- 

 gation and health is so frequently the sub- 

 ject of discussion that I need not dwell 

 upon it here. The discovery that many dis- 

 eases are due primarily to the action of 

 microscopic organisms that find their way 

 into the body and prodtice the changes that 

 reveal themselves in definite symptoms is a 

 direct consequence of the study of the 

 phenomenon of alcoholic fermentation by 

 Pasteur. Everything that throws light 

 upon the nature of the action of these 

 microscopic organisms is of value in dealing 

 with the great problem of combating dis- 

 ease. It has been established in a number 

 of cases that they cause the formation of 

 products that act as poisons and that the 

 diseases are due to the action of these 

 poisons. So also, as is well known, investi- 

 gation has shown that antidotes to some of 

 these poisons can be produced, and that by 

 means of these antidotes the diseases can be 

 controlled. But more important than this 

 is the discovery of the way in which dis- 

 eases are transmitted. With this knowl- 

 edge it is possible to prevent the diseases. 

 The great fact that the death rate is de- 

 creasing stands out prominently and pro- 

 claims to humanity the importance of scien- 

 tific investigation. It is, however, to be 

 noted in this connection that the decrease 

 in the death rate compensates to some ex- 

 tent for the decrease in the birth rate, and 

 that, if an increase in population is a thing 

 to be desired, the investigations in the field 

 of sanitary science are contributing to this 

 result. 



The development of the human race is 

 dependent not alone upon a supply of food 

 but upon a supply of energy in available 



