Medical research in wartime / by Sir Edward Mellanby.

  • Mellanby, Edward, Sir, 1884-1955.
Date:
[1943?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Medical research in wartime / by Sir Edward Mellanby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from the British Medical Journal September 18, 1943, vol. ii, p. 351 MEDICAL RESEARCH IN WARTIME* BY Sir EDWARD MELLANBY, M.D., F.R.S. In his address to celebrate the centenary of Ludwig Mond, in whose memory this lectureship was founded, Prof. Donnan summed him up as an “ eminent investigator, creator of new industries, princely benefactor of science, great patron and lover of art.” This is a fine epitaph. It is also said that Ludwig Mond “ cared little for words but much for deeds.” This is rather hard on his lecturer, but possibly the censure might be mitigated if the lecturer con¬ fined his attention to the deeds of others, especially if such deeds represented the successful application of knowledge gained by research to such practical issues as the prevention and cure of disease and injuries in man. ll I should first like to stress the fact that, even in wartime— pr at least in war as at present developed—medical and piological research has concerned itself wholly with the defence Inf man against disease and injury and with the promotion of Inis safety, efficiency, and comfort. It is necessary to point Iftiis out because of the endless references in religious, theo¬ logical, and even philosophical addresses, particularly those B roadcast nowadays, to the prostitution and degradation of Science, especially for purposes of war. There is indeed some s jggestion that there exists in science and scientific men a kind (f wickedness not shared by the humanities and by those cigaged in their study. This state of affairs, of course, has i othing to do with science as such, since it is only systematized knowledge, and, like any other knowledge, can sometimes be t irned to the benefit and sometimes to the harm of mankind, a xording to the demand of human nature. If society is so a ranged and the public mind so determines, scientific knowledge c m be used so as to be wholly beneficial. Whatever the f iture may hold in this respect it can be claimed that, even .] wartime, medical research and its participants come to the b ir with clean hands and that their work has, up to the a esent time, only conferred untold benefit upon mankind and a is not been directed to his maiming and extermination. * Ludwig Mond Lecture, delivered at Manchester University, ne 17, 1943.