If not, it is as obvious in the case of
a biological argument, as it is in that of a historical or philological
discussion, that such criticism is a mere waste of time on the part of
its author, and wholly undeserving of attention on the part of those who
are criticised. Take it then as an illustration of the importance of
biological study, that thereby alone are men able to form something like
a rational conception of what constitutes valuable criticism of the
teachings of biologists.[6]
Next, I may mention another bearing of biological knowledge--a more
practical one in the ordinary sense of the word. Consider the theory of
infectious disease. Surely that is of interest to all of us. Now the
theory of infectious disease is rapidly being elucidated by biological
study. It is possible to produce, from among the lower animals, examples
of devastating diseases which spread in the same manner as our
infectious disorders, and which are certainly and unmistakably caused by
living organisms. This fact renders it possible, at any rate, that that
doctrine of the causation of infectious disease which is known under the
name of "the germ theory" may be well-founded; and, if so, it must needs
lead to the most important practical measures in dealing with those
terrible visitations.
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