26 APRIL 1975, Page 6

Scientic thrills

Sir: Bernard Dixon states (April 12) that the Rutherford haboratory is seeking £25 million, with which it intends to promote further research into the structure of matter. Blinkered by the scientists' traditional moral detachment, he writes: 'There are no compelling practical grounds . . . just the ethxrpillol raatniow

and enticement of intellectual It must have been this 'thrill and enticement' that attracted physicists in the early days of molecular juggery-pokery. If no 'compelling practical grounds' were apparent, they were to emerge later, when the next generation was able to kill and maim 150,000 Japanese at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Alan Surridge 28 Bute Road, Essex.