SCIENCE OR SUPERSTITION?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 160, 17 July 1942, Page 7

SCIENCE OR SUPERSTITION?

university and the research laboratory, or is it part and parcel of the community? We all accept it as part of the community insofar as we all share in the fruits of scientific research-such as the radio we listen to, the heater that warms us (especially when our chimneys are shaken down), the neatly permed head of hair, and so on, These are aspects of science which we accept and pay for but probably understand hardly at all. Should we and can we go beyond this? Obviously we cannot all become scientific experts, as we can become experts at growing outsize marrows or mending bathroom taps. We may, of course, add a good deal to our usefulness by increasing our scientific knowledge of everyday things. But the greatest value of a scientific outlook is that it teaches us to reason rather than to believe blindly. Our faith in pills for our livers or in artificial manures for our gardens may be almost as superstitious as was our forebears’ faith in witches’ elixirs or fertility rites. We are still apt to believe statements that cannot have any scientific foundation, such as "When the moon turns on its back we shall have rain," or "It is earthquaky weather." The great value of science and a scientific training is not that it has made life more comfortable or safe (well, hardly!), but that it teaches you to observe, and to believe only what you have observed. Yet, while most would agree that a greater knowledge of science and scientific methods is desirable, it is not so easy to see just how this can be achieved. So the new Winter Course T science purely the business of the

Talks from Auckland, entitled "Recent Advances in Science,’ are to-~ be welcomed. The series will cover many branches of science: chemistry, botany, biology, physics, pharmacy and geology; and the speakers will be L. H. Briggs, L. H. Millener, N. G. Stephenson, F. H. Sagar, E. J. Sarle, all of Auckland University College, and W. K. Hounsell, practising dispenser. The first talk, on "Advances in Chemistry,’ by Mr. Briggs, will be on Thursday evening, July 23.