On taking vows in two priesthoods, scientific and christian.

I come as a practicing scientist and teacher and like most teachers I collect exam questions. Two of my favorites are as follows. 1. You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of alcohol. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have fifteen minutes. 2. Define the Universe and give three examples. The question I pose to you tonight is somewhere in between these two, not as crudely pragmatic as the first and, hopefully, a little less metaphysical than the second. The title of my article might suggest some ritualistic similarities between science and Christianity, and, though this is not my primary intent, it might be interesting to look at a few possibilities. As a research scientist I have had my share of research grants. I have also noted that unless one is rather adept at writing safe and sure research grant applications, the renewal proposal, three years later, will certainly contain some elements of confession and penitence, the extent of the latter largely dependent upon the skill of the writer in rationalizing the deficiencies in his progress report. Then, too, most of us regard our students with a strong sence of paternalism, a bit the way the Apostle Paul regarded his young fellow-worker Timothy, and we look fondly at the prospect that they may someday be our disciples. Finally, when one looks at the publication of scientific papers, the importance of being right, ofjudging rightly, is very much in evidence, and one stands before his referees almost as though this was the Final Judgment Day. Of course there are some interesting variations. One humorous example comes out of the life of the grand old man of genetics, Britisher J. B. S. Haldane. It seems that he was once asked by a group of students to decide what he would choose if he were allowed one more gene than he now possessed. His immediate answer was "cellulase," whereupon the students, in reflecting on his choice, praised his wisdom for choosing the gene which would allow him to digest cellulose since, as the future brings even greater scarcity of food, that would be the most plentiful possible source for carbohydrates. Haldane's response was that his choice of the gene for cellulase had nothing to do with the food supply. Instead, it would enable him, as an editor of a scientific journal, to eat each page of manuscript after reading it and then write back to the author, "I have thoroughly digested your manuscript!" And, of course,