Abstract
CONFERENCE of a most important and serious A character was held in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall, London, on October I6-i8, during the week of the Dairy Show, dealing with our milk supply in practically all its aspects-except the scientific ! Yet we speak of science as salvation, perpetually proclaim its importance, and deplore public apathy towards its priesthood. Our class was not invited to participate. I heard of the conference only casually and bought myself in, only at the very last moment; consequently I was relegated to a place in the gallery behind the speaker's chair, where I could not hear a word. Being unobtrusive in my ways, I descended to the floor and trespassed into a vacant seat; the platform was all but empty but no invitation to take a chair upon it came down to me. I do not wish to complain but merely point out the rewards of scientific service and the effusive way in which the man of affairs welcomes our aid. I make this statement, indeed, just to show where we are in public esteem, when subjects of vital importance to the national welfare, with which we alone can deal effectively, are under discussion-nowhere ! Whose is the fault? Our own ! We are mouldering away in our laboratories and when we seek to make known what we have been doing use a jargon which we cannot ourselves understand. That we have a public duty to perform seems never to occur to us. Much of our so-called research work is very largely wasted effort, without any real intelligence behind it -without policy and without imagination. The real problems are all but untouched.
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ARMSTRONG, H. The Peril of Milk. Nature 110, 648 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/110648a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/110648a0