CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTATION, HEMOCHROMATOSIS, AND THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM

Advances in the natural sciences have been attained mainly by study of natural conditions and phenomena. Recently such studies have been extensively supplemented or replaced by the experimental method, including efforts to produce conditions similar to those which are the subject of investigation and to produce the condition at will. When such endeavors are successful, the results and the factors causing the results may be examined scientifically. In a number of sciences, paleontology for example, use of the experimental method is difficult or impossible. In medicine, however, it is not only extensively employed but is now generally regarded as indispensable. Although conclusions obtained in other ways may be important, those derived from experimentation are rated higher. The great reduction in morbidity and mortality from study of the infectious diseases in animals to which they have been transmitted is the special pride of medicine. Indeed, this triumph has been the main