during a period of peace and tranquillity. A good time broadcasts?

How should we ascertain the effects of

to mend the roof is between rainstorms. military campaigns or of different patterns of strategic
Nothing has been said of the recurring and insistent bombardment on the morale of his civilian populations
problems of clinical psychology, a field of highest practical and his troops? What truths of ours, what ways of
importance in any fighting force. Military psychologists informing him, are our most potent weapons of psy-
specializing in this difficult subject are wanted today, chological warj~re?
not only in neuropsychiatric wards of Army hospitals, If ever again America should approach the catas-
but also in the consultation services a t training centers, trophe of war, answers to these imperative questions of
to help in preventing minor maladjustments and fore- military psychology should already be a t hand.
stalling serious mental illness. Their usefulness will
increase with the completion of current and projected References
studies of exceptional behavior in relation to the psy- 1. BINGHAM, W. V. Science, 1946, 104, 147-152,
chiatrists' diagnoses, treatments, and follow-up. 2. BRITT, S. H . , and MOXGAN,JANE D. Amer. Psychologisb, 1946, 1,
423-437.
The systematic study of attitudes and opinions, too, 3. CLARKE, J . M. Infantry J., 1946, 59, 7-13.
is a technical field not to be neglected by a n army which 4. FITTS,P. M. Anter. Psychologist, 1947, 2, 93-98.
5. HUNTER,W. S. Amer. Pspchologist, 1946, 1, 479-492.
aims to keep a finger on the pulse of its personnel. 6. KAPPAUF, W. E. Amer. Psychologist, 1947, 2, 83-86.
Opinions flow along. You can treat .them scientifically 7. SISSON,E. D. Army Inf. Dig., 1946, 1 , 46-51.
or unscientifically. You ignore them a t your peril. 8. TAYLOR, F. V. Amer. Psychologist, 1947, 2, 87-92.
9. WITTY,P . A., and GOLDBERG, S. Elem. Engl. Rev., 1943, 20, 306-311.
Equally essential in war is contact with the mind of 10. Post-war psychological services in the Armed Forces.
the enemy. How best can we monitor and analyze his Psychol. Blall., 1945, 42, 396-398.

Sir Joseph Barcroft creas, and the heart in activity and a t rest. These, some
of which were made alone and others in collaboration,
1872-1947

provided the basis for the recognition in quantitative

With the death of Sir Joseph Barcroft on March 21, terms of what Barcroft phrased as "the call for oxygen."
the School of Physiology a t Cambridge, England, lost one With the cumbersome apparatus for the estimations of
of its most distinguished and best-loved members. A stu- the blood gases available a t the turn of the century, data
dent of the founders of the School-Foster, Langley, arid on gaseous metabolism of tissues were hard earned. Ex-
Gaskell-Sir Joseph, perhaps more than anyone else, traction methods were time consuming and required rel-
preserved its traditions and, through the host of students atively large amounts of blood. To facilitate his estima-
and collaborators he attracted, brought those traditions tions, Barcroft devised and improved the differential
to international recognition. manometer, an instrument which opened new possibilities
Joseph Barcroft was born on July 23, 1872, a t Newry, for the study of tissue metabolism and one which today,
County Down, Ireland. He received his early education either in its original form or Warburg's modification, is
a t Bootham a t York and the Leys a t Cambridge. After used in biological laboratories throughout the world for
receiving the B.Sc. a t London he went to Kings College, the study of the respiratory exchanges of small amounts
Cambridge, in 1893 with an exhibition. There he gained of tissue as well as for following the reactions of isolated
first-class honors in Parts I and I1 of the natural sciences enzyme systems. The invention of the differential manom-
tripos and was graduated with the B.A. in 1896. eter opened the way for Barcroft's classical studies on
Barcroft then began to study the mechanisms which factors affecting the combination of oxygen and hemo-
provide the tissues with oxygen, an aspect of physiology globin, to which his attention was drawn by a desire to
then unexplored a t Cambridge and the one which formed estimate the oxygen or pressure in tissues a t rest and in
his dominant interest during almost half a century of activity. For this purpose he sought to use the dissocia-
active investigation. The earliest studies were designed tion curve of the blood, but the variations in the form of
to estimate the rate of oxygen utilization by a variety of the curves he prepared, as well as those of others, led him
tissues-the submaxillary gland, the kidney, the pan- to investigate the effects of acids and salts on the affinities

160 SCIENCE, August 22, 1947

of hemoglobin for oxygen, a study which laid the founda- The record of Barcroft's investigations has been said
tion for our present knowledge of the role of chemical to be one of the most fascinating in the annals of science,
changes in the blood in the release of oxygen a t the tissue for few investigators have revealed so much of themselves
capillaries. in their writings. His freedom from all that was artificial
From the physiology of hemoglobin, Barcroft turned in life, his charity and warmheartedness, are nowhere
his attention to a description of the circumstances respon- better revealed than in the first edition of T h e respivatory
sible for the transfer of oxygen from the alveolar spaces fufictiolt of the blood. Anyone who opens its pages joins
into the red cell. Until about 1922, physiologists were him in the high adventure of investigation, for there the
divided in their views concerning the role of the pulmon- pitfalls and pleasures of research are presented in a
ary epithelium. The researches of one school, led by Hal- fashion which has encouraged - and will continue to en-
dane, appeared to support the view that the epithelium courage young men to find in the pursuit of science a
was capable of secreting oxygen into the blood; the other, worthy purpose in life. There are revealed the personal
including Keogh and Barcroft, that the epithelium acted qualities which enabled Barcroft-and Michael Foster
as an inert membrane. The controversy, a classic in its before him-to attract young men with special talents
freedom from prejudice and narrowness, was decided in and to direct their attention toward problems they were
favor of the latter view, by evidence provided in large peculiarly fitted to solve. His flare for presenting a prob-
measure by Barcroft's studies made on himself while he lem simply and his readiness to encourage and assist
lived for several days in a glass chamber a t reduced oxy- young men to careers in physiology and the allied sciences
gen pressures, the essential blood samples being drawn drew to him a host of students and collaborators.
from an exposed artery in his forearm. In the years following his student days and before
Interest in the effects of reduced oxygen pressures on World War I , when he served as demonstrator and then
the body mechanisms providing oxygen to the tissues lecturer in thk University, few students entered the Cam-
were also explored during two expeditions which Bar- bridge laboratory who did not work with him at some
croft led, the first to Monte Rosa in 1911, and the second time during their stay. After the War and until he retired
to the Peruvian Andes in 1922. Knowledge gained on from the Chair of Physiology (which he held from 1926 to
these expeditions and in the laboratory was used by Bar- 1937, succeeding Langley), students came to hislaboratory
croft in World Wars I and I1 to the direct advantage of from all over the world, many of them from the United
his country by its application to aviation warfare. I t also States. Through his pupils and collaborators from this
provided the basis for his interest in blood stores and his country, his Dunham Lectures given at Harvard in 1929,
search for the source of red cells delivered to the circulat- and the Terry Lectures at Yale in 1926, Barcroft made a
ing blood as the individual entered environments of de- special contribution to the development of physiology
creased oxygen pressure. The classical researches on the ' here. This, together with his achievements as an investi-
spleen and the circumstances under which it stores or gator, was recognized by his election as a foreign associate
delivers red cells are now familiar to all who have an ac- of the National Academy of Sciences in 1939.
quaintance with physiology. Many other honors came to Sir Joseph. He was elected
Differences in the bloods of fetuses and their mothers to the Royal Society in 1910 and was awarded a Royal
and their apparent functional advantages led Barcroft to Medal in 1922 and the Copley Medal in 1943. He was
study the respiratory function of the blood in the fetus. knighted in 1935. Although he retired in 1937, his years
The readiness to follow an interest "beyond the visible of service to science were not a t an end. His broad bio-
horizons," so characteristic of the man, served to develop logical interests and his talents as an administrator were
the whole field of fetal physiology, including the functions utilized during World War 11, when he served on ad-
of the placenta, the circulatory changes at birth, and the visory committees of the War Office and the Royal Air
functional development of the nervous system. The re- Force. To the establishment of 'the Nutrition Society he
sults of his researches and those of his collaborators in gave his unfailing devotion and served as its chairman
this field-a field which some claim Barcroft established from 1945 until his death. When the Agricultural Re-
in its own right-are summarized in Researches olt prefia- search Council elected to promote fundamental research
tal lije, which appeared late last year. on the large, domesticated animals by the establishment
All of these investigations were based upon simple ideas of a Unit of Animal Physiology a t Cambridge, Sir Joseph
and questions and carried through with direct methods was chosen as its director. In this post, with undiminished
and simple techniques. They were not designed to gather vigor, Barcroft continued to look and "to venture beyond
details except in so far as they were essential for the de- the visible horizon," his craft in full sail to the end, for
velopment of method in technique; they were designed to he died en route to his home for luncheon after a full
reveal principles of function or integrations. Once these morning in the laboratory.
were at hand, Barcroft moved on to expand his chosen DONALD H. BARRON
field of interest, leaving the intricacies to be explored by Departmefit of Plzysiology,
those with special knowledge. Yale University School of Medicilte
SCIENCE, August 22, 1947