British Food Journal Volume 21 Issue 6 1919

In an article published by the “Evening Standard,” COLONEL ARTHUR LYNCH expresses the opinion that the war has yielded one compensation in that it has awakened the world to the importance of science, and that it has made daring thoughts possible in directions where apathy and neglect previously reigned. We are afraid that COLONEL LYNCH is mistaken on these points. The neglect of science and the apathy in regard to all scientific matters are characteristic of this country, and the task of effectively altering these conditions if capable of accomplishment will indeed be herculean. “The Government,” says COLONEL LYNCH, “is the filter through which the ideas of progress must pass, and unfortunately we are governed by men ignorant for the most part even of elementary science, and intellectually active only in the dusty arena of party politics.” As an instance he gives the case of Sir Almroth Wright, who had need of a small sum of £10,000 to put on a good footing his laboratories at St. Mary's Hospital. Desirous of helping in this matter, COLONEL LYNCH applied to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and again and again pressed the claim, but only to be met “with a refusal couched in an air of supercilious disregard.”