Notes

Abstract

THE Romanes Lecture on “Science and the Great War,” delivered by Prof. E. B. Poulton at Oxford on December 7, and published by the Clarendon Press, was a scathing indictment of the ineptitude of the lawyer-politicians who possess a dominating influence on national affairs, and a plea for a fuller use of scientific knowledge. To the neglect of science, and the excessive predominance in Parliament and in the Government of men with the spirit of the advocate to whom all evidence which will not support their case is unwelcome, Prof. Poulton ascribes the chief mistakes in the conduct of the war. The ignorance displayed in connection with the campaigns to make cotton contraband and to prevent the export of -oils and fats, because of the use of these things in the manufacture of gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine, is as appalling as it is deplorable. In all such cases, when vital issues are at stake, our statesmen only make use of scientific evidence when the resources of political rhetoric have failed to justify their inactivity. The pity of it is that so much power should be in the hands of politicians and members of public services unwilling to recognise the important position which science must occupy in a modern State, in times both of war and of peace. Prof. Poulton mentions a number of matters in which scientific advice might have been applied with advantage much earlier in the war, but no appeal was made for such help, and the fate of suggestions was not encouraging. His address should help to enlighten the public as to the prime need of the country for men alert to take the utmost advantage of the power which science can offer.