The one drives the other as both reach new heights. An out standing example tod»y is the development of research in the biochemical field. The achievements in the antibiotics field have raised iu*\v hopes that if we can learn more about the chem istry of the human body—in its most fundamental sense—then we may all expect as time goes o n to have less sickness and to live longer and more comfortably. The result is that more people are working in the field, more students are coming along, more real scientists may be expected to appear, more basic knowledge will be gained, ami industry may be counted upon to apply this knowledge as fast as it can. The basic-applied science cycle seems to be gaining in momentum. New horizons are being opened up daily. New ideas and new enthusiasms for basic re search are created. As the stream of pure science is applied to the benefit of man it generates a social acceptance and demand for science out of which come the men, the money, and the challenges which replenish the wellsprings from which it flows.
Although the number of scientists tied up in this basic-applied science cycle are many more than ovvr before, the* major braking action is manpower. This braking action is becoming more o b vious every d a y as it becomes more difficult to recruit able scientists. There simply are not enough o f them. The catalytic effect of public demand for application is pushing the cyclical reaction much faster than the number of bodies will permit. S o , although it is perfectly true that industry owes a debt to basic science, it is also true that industrial application is giving basic science a large push through attracting men into the field and in the staking out of new fields of inquiry. It is necessary to t h e well-being, even survival, ο four nation that this interaction continue. For the marvelously complex industrial economy of which w e share the benefits is not an automatic, super-electronic national Automat which will, in one way or another, inevitably produce the things we want and n
