ABUSE OF SCIENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 May 1923, Page 1

ABUSE OF SCIENCE.

BACKAVARI) ETHICAL SIDE OK MAN.

Speaking of the influence of science at King’s College, London, Sir Richard Gregory drew a sharp distinction between the attitude of the nations towards .science. The Egyptians had been purclv utilitarian, and made accurate observations of the stars lor determining the dates of agricultural and religious occasions. Greece occupied herself with metaphysics rather than with application, and definitely discouraged attention being paid to the material side of science. Hi Aristotle, for instance, there was nothing regarding the experimental side of science, hut had the Greek mind given to experiment the attention they gave to speculation the world would have: been advanced by a thousand years. Ihe same was true cf India, though experiments must have been carried out hv craftsmen. Galileo freed science from authority. Ever since Aristotle, for instance, it had been argued that a heavier body would fall more rapidly than a lighter, hut Galileo, experimenting from the leaning tower of Pisa, showed that two bodies ol different weights reached the ground together. Newton, hv establishing the law ol gravitation, introduced the idea ol permanent law into the universe, and ’Darwin showed that neither man nor any other being had been specially created, and demolished the depressing idea of the fall of man.

The twentieth century was must favourable for the development of the highest type of man, but none of the best minds would be capable of filling the Albert llall, though it could be overcrowded for a light or a. dance. The gifts of science could be used or abused. The House of Commons bad not six people familiar with .science, but it had the power to use the powerful instruments placed at the disposal of the human race. The discoveries of science should not have resulted in the creation of slums and the use ot poison gas. 1 nlortuiiately, the discoveries had come before the moral and ethical side of man had been sufTieientlv developed. That was the fault of the ethical and spiritual teachers.