68 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
would lead to the utilisation of what was formerly a wholly disagreeable. 
nuisance in the shape of coal-tar, and thereby form the germ of the now 
more than ever famous aniline dyes industry. 
Fascinating though it is to follow the fortunes of small discoveries in 
the physical sciences and see how they ultimately develop into great instru- 
ments of human service, it is if anything even more fascinating to trace the 
history of small discoveries in the biological sciences. And this is so, no doubt, 
because the contact of biology with daily existence is not so obvious and self- 
assertive as is that of physics or chemistry; consequently the ramifications — 
of influence of biological research are more subtle, but none the less real. 
Modern medicine—using the term to include surgery—it is safe to 
say, 1s that phase of biological science which has the most obvious effect 
upon daily human existence. Examined closely, it is clear that modern 
medicine is based upon a multiplicity of scientific discoveries; some of them 
of outstanding magnitude, many of them of minor consequence. 
Fed upon descriptions of marvellous operations served up by a sensational 
press, the layman is not slow to admit the wonders of modern surgery. 
Wonderful though the surgical stories of the lay-press may be, they are 
not really more marvellous than many of those stated in the cool, calculated 
and technical language of the medical and surgical periodicals. Regard for 
a moment an operation recently described by an Army surgeon. “Some- 
where in France” a soldier was shot. The bullet was located in the cavity 
of the left ventricle of the heart, and removed therefrom by operation. This 
feat was rendered possible by a long series of discoveries leading away back 
into regions far from the utilitarian. The determination of the position of 
the bullet depended upon the studies of Sir William Crookes on high vacua— 
a thing of yesterday—combined with the discovery of cathode-rays about 
two hundred years ago. The operation was rendered free from danger of 
sepsis by the development of the “Germ Theory”—now so familiar that 
we have almost forgotten that it originally bore this name—which reposed 
upon a long line of arduous research including Pasteur’s inquiries into 
fermentation and, still more remotely, the peculiarities of tartrate crystals. 
These and many more academic inquiries placed the surgeon in possession 
of the means to perform an operation which, not many years ago, would 
have been regarded as daring in the extreme. 
Frankly, this particular operation was chosen as an example of the 
triumphs of modern surgery because it was both sensational and topical. 
But equally wonderful work is done daily and far distant from the grim 
romance of the battle-field. 
Instances of the application of scientific discovery to every-day problems 
: a 
