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Chemistry Boon or Bane

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The pursuit of knowledge carried on by scientists for the past several centuries has produced results over which opinion is sharply divided. Science, originally intended to conquer and harness the forces of nature for the good of man, is looked upon by some as the chief cause of the suffering of humanity today. On’the other hand, there are a good many people who consider science to be the harbinger of all progress, prosperity and comfort. The contro¬versy has been raging for a long time, though science goes on taking long strides .obviously regardless of the conflicting opinions pro¬nounced on its achievements. Leaders of thought, be they scientists or not, however, occasi¬onally pause and ponder whether science is going the right way and …show more content…

People came to have more medicines and better surgical aid, but that did not promote better standards of health. Outdoor life, love of natural surroun¬dings came to be at a discount and life on the whole became highly artificial, mechanical and prosaic. Science has done the greatest disservice to mankind in the iield of armaments and destructive engines of war. The invention gunpowder was hailed as a great achievement but humanity should rue the day on which this invention took place. Steadily and relentlessly, gunpowder has been used for new weapons so that today artillery, gun-fire, shells and bombs have become a hellish terror to everybody. Curiously e,nough, some of the best scientific-brains have devoted themselves to the invention of increasingly improved weapons of death and destruction. First came simple aerial bombing—then the atom bomb, followed by the far more terrible hydrogen bomb. And now we know that scientists are experimenting with cobalt, neutron and nitrogen bombs—for out¬matching the hydrogen bomb in their destructive power. That colossal sums of money and the best brains of humanity have been wasted on the production of instruments of war is indeed” a sad commentary on the application and use of science. Today, if an atomic war is unleashed, there is not the feast doubt that whole towns, countries and even continents will be -wiped off in the general holocaust. And as yet all

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