THE SIGNIFICANCE AND APPLICATIONS OF BACTERIOPHAGE IN BACTERIOLOGICAL AND VIRUS RESEARCH 1

Abstract

Hartman (41) in his recent plea for "the little researcher", remarked "that war does not favor the discovery of new principles in science". War may, however, by forcibly reinding us of the fact that applied research too frequently outstrips pure research, provide a subsequent stimulus to basic investigations. No one can foresee the basic discoveries of to-morrow; the predictable belongs to the level of applied research. At best we can merely slect phenomena which we do not understand, confident that if we investigate them in a true scientific spirit, some useful knowledge will emerge. Advances depend equally on new ideas and new tools or methods. Our in-animate tools and materials must be designed and operated, they lack the prop-erties of self-assembly and self-duplication. The efficacy and sensitivity of our methods depend upon our skill and knowledge. Standard methods are apt to beget standard ideas and may impede progress if used uncritically in the research laboratory. This address is based, in part, on the thought that in the investi-gation of primitive living things like bacteria it may sometimes be more appropri-