This thing called SCIENCE

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 48, 10 June 1932, Page 1

This thing called

SCIENCE

A critical examination of the applications of Science in Modern Civilisation

by

Dr.

C. Coleridge

Farr

[F.R.S.]

ODERN civilisation is the outcome of modern science. These things hardly need pointing out to be very obvious. Where would the modern picnic be with-

out the thermos flask? "Oh," you might say, "what about the billy? We could boil the billy instead." Could’ you boil the billy without the match to light the fire? Would you like to go back to the flint and steel-and that is not so very many years out of date-but it is science that has put it out of date. Where would farmers be without the motor-car? Some of you might think you could get on all right with the old horse and cart. Perhaps it might be done, but it wouldn’t be comfortable without the springs, and if it was possible to get on without springs, I don’t see quite how you would manage without the wheels for, after all, the wheel is a most revolutionary invention of science, though it is a very old one. " Science comes into all our modern life except, perhaps, one thing -the making of politicians, for some of them seem to be the antithesi+ of science. The sciences are one thing, or perhaps I should say they are many things-many departments of specialised knowledge. Sciende, on the other hand, may perhaps be thought of as the principle

underlying these branches of knowledge, the application of which to them have led to such wonderful progress, and it is rather this method which I had in my mind in an indistinct sort of fashion when I chose the title upon which to speak. , TN this sense of the word U science, it is applicable to all bratYches of life-to anything, that is to say, which can therefore and thereby be improved. In this respect it can even be applied to politicians, for obviously they can be improved. It is also unfortunately applicable to the means of destruction, for they, too, as means of destruction can he improved. Science and the scientific method are merely the application of the brains which Nature has endowed every one of us to the every-day things of life. There are very few processes, however "geemingly perfect they may be, which cannot in some way or other be made more perfect. I mean, of course, a process invented by man for, while we can control and in that way perhaps get better results out of the process of Nature, those processes and methods are the ways of God, and while, they can be controlled in their

basic sense they cannot be altered. . The seed growing in the soil by growing conforms to a of Nature, but the vigour with which it grows in under man’s control, in as much as he can by the use of fertilisers or of weed-killers either assist or retard its growth, and he can do this either more or less efficiently. There is no absolutely perfect fertiliser just as we all know there is no absolutely perfect weed-killer, though perhaps if we went only by the labels on the tins such a conclusion would not at. first be apparent.. , | ioe process can be improved, every breed of cattle can be improved, every machine can be made to do its work more efficiently and therefore at less cost, and it is by science and by the application of scientific methods that these improvements are brought about. It must not be thought that science is only applicable to the sciences. The sciences are where the methods find their fullest application, but the methods of science are applicable in all departments of life. They are not the exclusive property and stock-in-trade of dry-as-dust uninteresting Johnnies like myseli-they are and should be the general methods of the community. And what are these methods of science? They are simply those of commonsense, aided by the tools of various sorts which commonsense has provided. These tools are of various sorts in each department of progress, and moreover none of the tools themselves are

perfect. ' Some of them may be mentioned. To the physcist-of course, I put him in the place of dignity, either first or last-there are various tools. X-ray plant, liquid air, optical apparatus, and a whole assortment of things, but there is not one of them that we know all about. To the chemist there are various reagents, and some things like spectroscopes, which the physicists have taught him the use of. To the bookkeeper there are typewriters, calculating machines, card catalogues, various forms of letter and circular multipliers. To the farmer there are his ploughs and his traction engines, and his fertilisers. . Does every farmer know all that can be known about them? And to the executioner there is the hangman’s rope and the electric chair, and I am sure the. executioner himself and every one of us, too, will admit we don’t know all about them. Thus in every walk of life, in every calling, and in every trade there are things worth studying, and finding out and improving, and it is by scientific methods that these improvements are made. The scientific method is one of experiment and trial, and the discarding after a thorough testing of processes which (Continued overleaf)

The Author Dr. C. Coleridge Farr is one of the best known scientists in New Zealand. He has had a distinguished career, and now has the rarely bestowed honour of being a fellow of the Royal Society. Dr. Farr, who is a professor of physics at Canterbury College, has made a speciality of electrical work, and has to his credit several publications on this and kindred subjects. He it was who was responsible for the establishment of the New Zealand Government’s magnetic observatory at Christchurch, and for the magnetic survey of the country upon which he was engag-d between the years of 1898 and 1904, : He is a Doctor of Science and a Fellow of the N.Z. Institute.

(This Thing Called Science {Continued from page 1.) @o not turn out to be improvemenis. It is indeed the method of Nature herself, for she, too, tries experiments, and discards those which do not turn out to be useful improvements. Many instances of this kind are known. For instance, Nature at one time was trying to make a being to stand erect, and so to support the body she put struts between the ribs, but afterward found these were unnecessary, and they were discarded, or rather shall we gay they discarded themselves. Nature’s method of elimination is by #he survival of the fittest. She tries many new dodges of producing the results, but only those which are in some way better than others survive, and so, too, does man, or rather he should. Take any process or piece of machinery you please and_ think about it. Take a bicycle for instance. The first thing they had had two almost equal-sized light carriage wheels. This, though it worked, was awkward and heavy, and wire spokes were substituted for wooden ones, then to lighten it still more and to make it easier to drive one wheel was made big and the other small. This had disadvantages, as one found out when one had a spill, and so the front wheel was reduced in size, but still it was thought that the rider must drive the front wheel, and so the front wheel forks were prolonged to earry the driving gear, which still geared on to the hub of the front wheel. After some years of this some one tried driving the back wheel, and after & few trials got on quite well with it, and so what we know now so well gradually developed. Any other process or machine will ghow the same thing. Thought added te the conviction that in some way or other the thing was capable of improvement, experimenting with new ideas, and discarding dodges which however ingenious were found not to be satisfactory, these are what is implied by seience and the scientific method, and _they are applicable not only in what we narrowly know perhaps as "the sciences," but in every other department of human progress. The word science comes from a Latin word meaning to know, and in order to actually know we must try experiments, test other ways of doing things, seize upon any improvement we may come upon, and discard the failures, though they may be more numerous than the successes. In order to improve her stock, Nature is wonderfully Javish in the distribution of seed, but unless it be owing to the intervention of man, only those survive which find themselves more suitable to the surroundings than their fellows. I am a little afraid that recent humanitarian ideas-good in most reaspects though they certainly are-are leading to the survival (which would not matter) of the unfit, but also to the propagation and continuance of their unfitness (which does matter). The world. has progressed from its 4{nitial darkness owing to what we might perhaps consider when it is applied to humanity to be a somewhat ruthless law. But it is a law all the same, and it is one, the operation of which can be seen in the development and improvement of our machinery, our processes, our institutions, and our farm stock.

Divine discontent, the conviction that there are few processes, institutions, yw things which cannot be improved, experimentation to see what are and what are not improvements, the discarding of failure, these are the factors which go to make the _ scientific method. This law of the survival of the fittest, which was discovered by Darwin and Wallace in the middle of last century, is the law by which the world progresses by evolution, and it has its implications. It teaches us to make ourselves, our children, our institutions and our machinery and our stock fitfit, that is to say, for a job that each particular, unit has to do. Mankind, civilised mankind more particularly, but also mankind in general, differs from others of the animal kingdom in many respects of course, but in one great respect by having a larger and more efficient brain, and his job in life therefore is more the direction by means of his brain of the forces of nature of all sorts. It therefore behoves him to make his brain efficient to cultivate it, to educate it, so as to fit him for the actual work he will have to perform, whatever that work may be. It also behoves him to select his partner in life with due regard to efficient and healthy offspring, and this I am afraid he does not do at present. If he continues to neglect this precaution it must lead to the deterioration of the race. What phenomenal results could be produced if some superman took charge of man and directed him as he directs and controls his stock and his plants. But man, having free will, would resent what he would call

this unwarrantable interference with his freedom of choice. Seeing that this would be undoubtedly his attitude ae must exercise this great gift of freedom of choice-a gift which he denies to his stock and his plants with wisdom and discretion, or else he must take the consequences, and these consequences,, whilst they will come upon his own head, will also make their effect felt on the race to which he belongs. Fitness, therefore-fitness of every part-is the message of science to civilisation. As the bolt must fit its bearings, or racket and noise and ultimate breakdown will result, so must every pin and cog and child and man in civilisation’s most complicated mechanism fit the job, be it small or large which it has to perform, and as the bolt can only fit the hole by being turned carefully. and fitted truly, so the man can only fit his job by being educated so that he ean perform it efficiently. When a man is spoken of ag a round pin in a square hole, it is another way of saying that he does not fit his job, there is.racket and trouble, and there will be ultimate breakdown. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize-the fittest. The fittest race, the fittest woman, the fittest motor-car, the fittest sheep, the fittest horse. So run that ye may obtain. ‘