The Value of Science

The Value of Science By Ernest M. Hall, A. B„ M. S„ Teacher of Biology in Dixie Normal College

In ancient times it was thought wonders were wrought by magic. The secrets of the universe were revealed at the altar of the gods and great significance was attached to the word of oracle or astrologer. It was a period of miracles and dreams. Nature to the human understanding was a choas and a man's interpreta-

tion a mystic fog. Frogs came from mud, flies from filth, and man from clay. Anything might come from anything, since mys- its cause tery and miracle ruled the earth. Today, science with and effect, its mathematical formulae, its microscopes which dis-

world, its telescopes which reveal the cover an infinitesimal magician, countless stars, its technical methods which outdo the of old have all displaced the mystical, and many of the miracles performed by a child; things more wonderful than are today aenii ever wrought are part of our everyday lives. A few score years ago spontaneous generation was the theory the which "explained" disease, and physicians were ignorant of manifold activities of the microscopic world. The souring ot in wine, were ex- milk, the spoiling of meat, the bitterness plained as in the age of miracles. Pasteur saw the light and and energy, while the world fanned the flame with all his skill darkness. His germ theory of disease revo- stood by content, in lutionized medicine and accomplished more for suffering hu- work pure and manity than the work of any other man. In his found their proper balance and produced results applied science of momentous value.

Pure vs. Applied Science

science has been much In the past, pure or fundamental masses of the people to whom the only misunderstood by the the extremely practical. U science of any importance was question a layman would ask about what use is it?" is the first scientist was working out some a piece of research work. If the application of which had not yet principle in pure science the layman would consider him an old fogy become evident, the might be saved from_ the or a harmless sort of curiosity who Dr. John to do some real work asvlum through being forced Botanic the Brooklyn 7. oSta™£ a recent address before

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Garden said, "The general impression is that pure science holds no relation to public welfare, and that applied science serves our needs. You should know that all applied science depends upon pure science; that there would be nothing to apply unless pure science had discovered it. If we had only applied science, it would soon become sterile. It is pure or fundamental science that keeps applied science alive, that makes progress possible." Further on he said, "To neglect pure science and support only applied science would be like wanting children and eliminating parents." At the time Franklin flew his kite in the thunderstorm and demonstrated that lightning is electricity, he little dreamed of the wonders that magic force would bring. When he pro- nounced his one-fluid theory with positive and negative charges, he little knew that he was laying the foundation for the develop- ment of the most potent force the world has known. Anyone, at present, can appreciate the value of Edison's electric light, the Bell telephone, or the Marconi wireless, but no doubt many thought Franklin, with his door-key and kite, was fooling away his time, while in reality he was performing a service for man- kind which was destined with the help of others to turn night into day, to annihilate space, and to furnish the motive power for driving the wheels of the world. It is common knowledge that the building of the Panama canal was made possible through the thorough sanitation of the Canal Zone by Dr. Gorgas. But is all the credit due Dr. Gorgas and his staff? Why didn't the French, years before, make use of the same principles by which Dr. Gorgas accomplished his splendid work? Simply because Ronald Ross had not yet dis- covered the relationship between malaria and the Anapheles mosquito; because Dr. Reed and his associates had not yet proved that yellow fever was caused through the bite of a mos- quito and not by contact with other patients. These were the men behind the trenches in which Dr. Gorgas fought and with- out whose help he could not have won. Someone has said that for every man in the trenches it re- quires seven men on the farms and in the factories, to feed, clothe, and supply him with munitions. Thus it is in science. For every man who makes a great discovery it requires many men behind him, working in the laboratories of pure science, discovering and verifying the laws and principles which form the very foundation stones of his structure. People have ever been slow to accept the teachings of science. Galileo, in the seventeenth century, taught the Coper- nican theory of the solar system, that the sun is stationary in the center of the system and that the earth has a diurnal motion or rotation. This being thought contrary to holy writ, he was sum-

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moned before the Pope and condemned as "vehemently sus- pected of heresy." He was also made to retract. He later re- canted his recantation, however, for seventeen years later he dared to publish his book, begun years before, and which con- tained the same teachings. He was summoned this time before the Inquisition, again pronounced a heretic, made to recant, and by way of penance was enjoined to recite, once a week for three years, the seven penitential psalms. The remaining eight years of his life were spent in strict retirement. It took Columbus sixteen years sufficiently to convince the courts of Europe that his scientific ideas were more substantial than dreams and to grant him material aid to make a demonstra- tion. After Pasteur had demonstrated conclusively that micro- organisms come only from pre-existing living matter and that the theory of spontaneous generation is false, it took hundreds of experiments and years of patient persuasion to convince the people of the truth. Thus it has been all through the infancy and childhood of science. Indeed, it has taken a veritable world cataclysm to make us realize in a small degree how bril- liant the maturity of science will be.

Science and the War The world war has affected almost every line of human en- deavor. Industries have sprung up over night, the mines are be- ing delved into with prodigious energy, agriculture has been greatly stimulated. Waste and extravagance are being decried on every hand. Science has suffered, yet it has in many ways been benefited, not by the suffering, but from other causes equally the result of the war. The war has taken many of the younger scientists of Europe from the laboratories and placed them in the trenches. Thous- ands of students who were specializing in science to become eventually the scientists of the future, have gone to the front, many of them never to return. The reduction in the number of scientific workers has, of course, caused a marked falling off in the amount of investigative work being accomplished. This is shown clearly by Professor Withrow in a recent number of Science, in which he gives a list of forty-eight scientific jour- als which have ceased to appear since 1914. These are, chiefly, French and German publications. Chemical Abstracts, a journal published in the United States, which reviews all the principal articles in chemical research published in some six hundred scientific journals throughout the world, has fallen off in number of abstracts printed from 25,971, in 1913, to 15,784, in 1916. This means, approximately, ten thousand fewer pieces of research, in chemistry alone, during the past year as com- pared with the year before the war.

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Some of the losses to science, caused by the war, are irrep- arable, such as the death of the brilliant English physicist, Mose- ley, who at the age of twenty-six had conducted an unparal- leled research on the nature of the atom, a thing so fundamental that it might have revolutionized prevailing ideas of matter. On the other hand, science has made great strides in per- fecting engines of war and in designing new means of destruc- tion. High explosive has become a titanic power. The air is conquered, and man is no longer forced figuratively to crawl the earth like a worm. America will send myriads of aircraft across the sea to join those of the allies in carrying the conflict far above the field of carnage, thousands of feet into the air. Then will sound in every ear the prophetic words in Tennyson's Locksley Hall:

"Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nation's airy navies grappling in the central blue."

Science has, likewise, degraded warfare to the depths of the seas, where it vies with hell itself in the perpetration of hor- rors. Evidence is constantly increasing to show that the war will be decided, largely, by these recent innovations of science. As if she were trying to make amends for her part in the forces of destruction, science has made wonderful progress in her care of the wounded and in safe-guarding the well. Although there are greater numbers engaged in this conflict than in any previous war, the losses from the usual camp diseases, such as typhoid, malaria, cholera, typhus fever, yellow fever, etc., are marvelously small. In the first six months during the Spanish- American war, after mobilization, there were 20,000 cases of ty- phoid among the American troops. During the recent stay of our troops on the Mexican border there was but one case of typhoid; the deadly reaper of past wars has been laid to rest. Probably the greatest medical discovery of the war is the Carrel-Dakin treatment of wounds. Gunshot and shell wounds are now healed in half the time it took formerly, with a correspondingly greater percentage of cures, because of less gangrene and blood poisoning. The paraffin-resin treatment of burns has produced wonderful cures without the painful and inconvenient operation of skin grafting. After the war many discoveries will be divulged, which at present are held as mili- tary secrets. The government has recognized the value of scientific train- ing in several ways, notably in the appointment of the Army and Navy Councils of Defense consisting of the nation's greatest ex- perts in engineering, invention, naval and military science. These men have to solve the practical problems arising from the gi-

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gantic business of modern warfare. Pure science has been offi- cially recognized, as never before, by the appointment of a Na- tional Research Council composed of the leading research men of the nation headed by Dr. R. A. Millikan of the Univrsity of Chicago. The purpose of this council in the words of Dr. Coulter, "is to bring into cooperation all of our scientific equip- ment in an attack upon the problems we are facing." The prob- lems which need immediate attention have been canvassed and are to be assigned to various research centers, where properly trained men and adequate equipment are available. Scientific experts throughout the country have organized the agricultural interests for greater production and less waste. Congress has put the marketing and handling of foods upon a scientific basis. Mr. Hoover is organizing the women of America into a great league for conservation and economy in the home. After the war, no doubt, many of these organizations will survive, and betterment of economic and social conditions will be accomplished which under the less stimulating times of peace would have required generations. Science under the high ideals of democracy will beget a national efficiency beyond anything the world has seen, as far outdoing the cold and heartless effi- ciency of the Germans as the work of joyous hands surpasses that of the sweat shop. St. George, Utah

Our Enemy

(Colonel George W. Burr, U. S. A., Commandant of the Rock Island Arsenal, is said to have had the following "sermonette" placarded in all the shops there. It is an appeal which is directed to everyone:)

I am more powerful than the combined armies of the world. I have destroyed more men than all the wars of the world. I am more deadly than bullets, and I have wrecked more homes than the mightiest siege guns. I steal, in the United States alone, over $300,000,000 each year. I spare no one, and I find my victims among the rich and poor alike; the young and the old; the strong and the weak; widows and orphans know me. I loom up to such proportions that I cast my shadow over every field of

labor from the turning of the grindstone to the moving of every train. I am relentless. I everywhere—in the home, on the street, in the fac- am tory, at railroad crossings and on the sea. I bring sickness, degradation, and death, and yet few seek to avoid me. I destroy, crash or maim; I give nothing, but take all. I am your worst enemy. I AM CARELESSNESS.