Abstract
UNDER the title "The Swiss Contribution to Western Civilization", Dr. Raphael E. C. Armattoe has set forth an account of the cultural achievements of Switzerland which, as Dr. Julian Huxley suggests in his foreword, most people may well find surprising (Dundalk: W. Tempest Dundalgan Press. Pp. 91. 5s.). As the record shows, Switzerland has sent out many from its free institutions to play their part elsewhere, while its universities have attracted many notable men from abroad. It has provided asylum for a number of distinguished workers anxious to avoid tyranny or persecution in their own countries, and Switzerland was almost the only centre of science, learning and culture in Europe which was able to remain out of the War. Its part in the reconstruction of European civilization may well be out of all proportion to its size. Dr. Armattoe seeks to distinguish from the outset a few sources of the Swiss contribution; but he makes no claim to be comprehensive, especially in dealing with music and the physical sciences. Chemists will note, for example, that while D.D.T. is mentioned, there is no reference to Engi's work, and the reference to the work of P. Karrer and L. Ruzicka is very brief. Besides the sections dealing with the Swiss contribution to biological sciences, the mathematical and physical sciences, agriculture, research in climatology and meteorology, and such special fields as climatic treatment of lung complaints, and Jungfraujoch Alpine research, with its humanitarian contributions, there are notes on the Swiss educational system, vocational and industrial education, industry and commerce, Swiss cultural life and so forth.
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Swiss Contributions to Western Civilization. Nature 155, 693 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155693b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155693b0