SCIENCE’S SACRIFICES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 567, 21 January 1929, Page 8

SCIENCE’S SACRIFICES

LIFE’S ironic workings frequently ordain that tragedy shall be the prelude to recognition |pf accomplishment in scientific endeavour, and there is no more pitiful example of this harsh exaction than the suicide of the Smith brothers, who spent their short lives in radium and cancer research that England might have her share in the development of new medical mercies. The Smiths have known the stings of disappointment, and in their hitter hours of struggling there was the one glowing hope that urged them onward. To arouse in England recognition of the value of radium work was the goal of their labouring, and in the tragic sacrificial drama of their end, they have so stirred the nation that posthumous attainment of their ambition is almost assured.

The death of these fine-spirited men will also serve to turn attention to the labour of other scientists who, working bravely in the face of adversity, are striving to lighten the burden man carries. It has been said that science has done more for the world than the world has ever done for science, and this is a, melancholy truth that must be admitted. Last year, Sir Ronald Ross. Director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Putney, was forced to sell all the papers relating to his malaria researches, which will result ultimately in the saving of millions of lives. Lack of public gratitude had impoverished him, and the sale of the papers, which yielded £2,000, was necessary to furnish him with the means of living. From experience of the past, it seems that the man who works for the common good without thoughts of self-gain and aggrandisement, must always make personal sacrifice for his humanitarianism, and only in Utopian States not yet evolved will he receive his just reward. There is obvious injustice in this, and yet there is no practical way of avoiding it. A scientist may work for years before there is any likelihood of his making a contribution to knowledge, and it is difficult to say just what support can be given to him in the uncertain years. Lacking material rewards, the scientist has, however, rewards of which the men of common clay know nothing. He may not be able to move from place to place in a motor-car, and have the sweet savour of luxury in his daily life; but in his speculative hours when the mind travels beyond common borders, he knows a joyous satisfaction that others can never know. This is part of his reward; but there is no doubt that those who strive for the good of mankind should have material reward enough to save them misery and desperation.