the ANALYST'S | column •
HILE
L.T.Hallett, Editor
there
can
be no
W physics nor conservative
socialist
biology, this does not mean that the scientist has no role to play in the field of politics. This was the theme of an interesting talk on science and politics given by Sir Hugh Linstead, secretary to the Pharmaceutical Society (Great Britain) before the annual general meeting of the Society for Analytical Chemistry. Sir Hugh, who has had a lifelong in terest in pharmacy and politics, feels that there is an appropriate role for the scientist in the full field of politics embracing the whole life of the com munity. As the discoverer of new things, the scientist must also interpret them. All too often, Sir Hugh stated, the scientist writes off the politician as someone before whom scientific pearls are cast in vain because the politician is more concerned with what is popular than with what is right.' Where this is true, the scientist has the duty of offer ing advice according to the highest standards of scientific objectivity. Since the politician is responsive to the views of the man in the street, the scientist must "sell" his discoveries to the public. Selling scientific ideas to the public is no problem, as people are eager to buy. Science has provided the man in the street with so many miracles, that there is an insatiable demand for more. It is necessary for the scientist to help out the politician by revealing the meaning of new discoveries, their limi tations, and particularly the unpopular or even disastrous implications. These ideas must be presented in such an in teresting manner as to attract and hold the public attention and still be ob jective. Sir Hugh summed up his ideas by quoting from a statement of Lord Halsbury, who said: The responsibilities of scientists for the moral consequences of their work must be shared with the community. Any discovery can be put to good or evil use. It does not appear to me that scientists can do more as scientists than explain as clearly as possible to the rest of the community where the possibilities
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