MESAGE OF SCIENCE.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 60, 27 March 1937, Page 4

MESAGE OF SCIENCE.

"It ii oftejr! ^iugg§sted,'', said Sir Richard G-regory, PrOfessor of Astronomy at LOUdon IJniversity, speaking before the Associatidn of Wamen Science Teachers, "that evolution leaVes Cthical and moral ideas out of consideratiOfi, and stands only for what is Called the naturalistic doetrine of ' Nature, red in tdoth and claw.' Thig is a narrow intefpretetion of the rule. Evolution embodies the idea of social ethics and makes the welfare df th§ comffiuhity the Cs§efltial purpose of the life df the Cffeature. Science dfters inankhid the means of making a neW heaveii and a new earth, but whether the cbange will bring about increased happiness will depend upon people themselves. Science pours its riches into the lap of inan, but it cannot be held rfesponsibie fbr their uSe. If its fftiiti have not brought happiness, the fault rests with the community attd n6t with the explorers of scientific fields. The true message of science is not in the bomb or the earthqiiakfc, not in the mighty, rushing wina or the roaring fire, but in the still, small voice from the lab oratory or study; ScafCely any scientific research is cdrried dfl with the deliberate puFpfose of prddtidifig insti'umefltS dr pr6c§|ses rtd kill and put doWn Uoble life,' as RnskiU ottce suggested. When a nation asks for high explosives ehemists can provide them, hat by iif the greater pa£t pf their work has other ihtentions." o