Co-ordination of State Scientific Services

Abstract

“PATRIOTISM LTD.: an Exposure of the War Machine” is published by the Union of Democratic Control; and Chap. 5, entitled “The Science of Murder”, is intended to show how such organisations as the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the various industrial research associations, the Medical Research Council and the Industrial Health Research Board, “are perverted to the uses of death”. The main contention is that research is carried out for the fighting services by these bodies though their financial resources are budgeted for in the civil estimates. After an inquiry into the facts, these and related allegations were dealt with in the article in NATURE to which Miss Woodman refers. When the article appeared, we received a long communication in which an attempt was made to justify the statements in “Patriotism Ltd.”, but we could not possibly find space for it, and therefore we asked Miss Woodman to limit herself to specific examples of the diversion of financial provision for civil research to work for the fighting services. The above letter is the result; and the very triviality of the cases cited is almost enough to condemn the main thesis.