Scientific Progress and Social Life
Tim Sir Halley Stewart Trust was founded for " research towards the Christian ideal in social life " ; for the -three years before 1935 the lectures under its auspices dealt with War and Social Distress, and then in 1935 were given by six
lentinent scientists on Scientific Progress. There is an ironic appropriateness in_ the transition : science (as Sir James Jeans points out in the first lecture) is both understanding and application, and the application of science, which might unimaginably improve our social life, is more than ever
siiiigter today. Inin has just, fallen ; we are beginning to realise, if we had not done already, that one of the major applications of science is worse than any of our fears : not se much in the slaughter of modern warfare, horrible as that is, but in the power it gives to those who possess its weapons ; so that, in the' end, a handful of men with the most highly developed means of destruction can defeat courage, however dauntless, and necessity, however desperate. We are entering the full phase of the gangster world ; and the gangster • world owes its existence to—would have been unthinkable without—an application of science. It is only with modern weapons, high explosive, gas, the aeroplane, that the majority of a population can be indefinitely suppressed.
This faCt Would have been passionately realised by the last three Halley Stewart lecturers before 1935--Sir Norman Angell, Mr. Wickham Steed, Professor C. E. Raven ; to four of the six scientific lectUrerS, -it seems scarcely to have any existence, much less any connexion with their own work. In a manlier Charaeteristic of scientists asked' to talk with the 'slightest reference to' social life; they have coyly and • safely adhered to their own -subject ; of' all the lecturers since the foundation was established, theSe are the first not to Make some attempt upon 'the task set by the founder. It' is an interesting and -significant thing. Scientists have secured exemption from all responsibility by pleading that the`results of their activity are no Concern of their own, that they Merely give them -to the World, and if the mass cif-Mankind 'are So•Stiipid evil as 'to abuse them, then the scientists can feel Completely guiltless. That is all true. Their duty as scientists is to-carry out their work honestly and according to the' scientific niethdd ;• and then, when they are ptililish their results. 'Boit their dtity does not stop there ; they have another, not as scientists but as eminent citizens.' As" citizens, but with the advantage of special knowledge, they are ina position to explain, advise and- direct 'the application of their own and their colleagues' work. • In this duty they have failed. If, considering only their function as citizens, we compare them with, say, men of letters during the last hundred years, we cannot help deciding that scientists have shown themselves astonishingly the poorer in conscience, integrity, Courage, and; in the last resort, real intelligence. -
'And so, although fcir reasons other than the purpose of the Trust this book adniiiable, it is 'disheartening as' a contribution to the Christian ideal, or any ideal, in social life. Sir Jaines Jeans begins with " Man.and the Universe " ; his purpose is to show that, from -the interpretation of
Modern physics, man is-justified-in thinking better' of himself
than science would permit fifty years ago. Whatever one
May think of this, purpose (the best criticism, to my mind, has been -made. by Dr. J. Li Russell in the review, Scrutiny), there is no doubt of the effectiveness of the exposition and the smashing sledge-hammer analogies ; the account of old-and new quantum theory is a masterpiece of presentation.
Sir William Bragg writes on " Progress of Physical Science " ; he deals mainly with atomic and molecular structure, including what , is knoWn of the 'crystalline structure of the protein Molecules ; the article, like everything he writes, is charming and full of information, a model Of the popular explanation Of science. He also apologises very charmingly for having little to say On the application of the subject to society. Professor Appleton, on the -other hand, does not make- even that concession to the object of the lectures; he gives a straightforward, expert, lucid description-of " Electricity in the Atmosphere."`Finally, Professor. Mellanby'S 'attitude is the most striking of the four ; iS'dealing with medical science, and -while it is possible, if you ignore the ethos of -the 'rust -completely, to maintain that, one can talk of astronomy, or molecular physics, or the ionosphere without any reference to society, it would have seemed, before reading Professor Mellanby, considerably more difficult to do so in a science which only exists in application. How- ever, he writes ably (the standard of clarity is high throughout the book) on advances in medical knowledge, dietetics, the cures for diabetes, pernicious anaemia, and the like ; but, apart from the mildest of grumbles over the supply of milk to the poor, he does not say a word to suggest that these advances are still—shall we say ?—somewhat unequally distributed among the population, that to talk complacently of our knowledge of diet is a little out of place in a society when a large proportion of its members are underfed. It is a very remarkable performance ; it would be comic if the good in social life were not made impossible by com- placency such as this ; one hopes Professor Mellanby heard Professor Huxley's lecture, the last of this series, or read other articles in a different tone, e.g., The Frustration of Science, issued by the publishers of the book under review not long ago. Of the last two lectures, by Professor J. B. S. Haldane and Professor Julian Huxley, there is nothing to say but good. Without any evasion, they deal with the intention of the founder of the lectures (a straightforwardness that would not be surprising in most company, but is worthy of notice here). Professor Haldane writes on " Human Genetics and Human Ideals," Professor Huxley on " Science and Social Needs." Each is honest, clever, responsible and humane ; each has a genuine human passion, the desire for a betterment of society ; each has a faith that it could be achieved through the reason of mankind. It is a pity that that faith seems not to be shared by many scientists. C. P. SNOW.
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