Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-02
BRICKS IN THE WALL
By SAUL PETIT
Associated Press stan Writer

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NEW HAVEN, Conn.-In the
potboilers Of movies and television.
the basic research scientist almost
invariably is:
A single-tracked, unworldly,
misunderstood, ridiculed (by
everyone except his faithful, tip
toeing wife who keeps trying to
get him to eat q sandwich, self
sacrificing. dedicated saint who
was born with q vision only he
can see. suffers hell pursuing it
and-Eureka!-in the last two
reels finally finds q cure for the
plague, just when he was down to
his last two test tubes.
It comes, therefore, as O re-
freshing surprise to find that DR..
Arthur Galston, a real live scien-
fist, eats regularly, finds time to
enjoy his family, handball and
Dixieland jazz. is very much aware
of the world around him, suffers
no ridicule. faces no imminent
danger of running out of test tubes
and works hard and well at his job
without halo.
In a splendidly equipped, we'll
stated laboratory at Yale, DR..
Galston seeks every day to learn
something more Of the precise
chemical mechaniSmS involved in
the growth of plant cells. In time,
he could conceivably shed much
light on cancer and the aging
process itself, and thus help suf-
fering humanity.
But helping humanity-while it
would come as a deeply satisfying
bonus-does not represent Arthur
Galston's first goal. His prime mo-
tive, he's frank enough to admit,
is the personal thrill Of discovery,
the excitement Of filling in a
blank in mans knowledge. the
pride in being first to open q
locked door.
Bricks in the Wall
The more years that pass after
q mans student days. the greater
his sense Of realism, the narrower
his horizon of hope. At 81, Arthur
Galston no longer nurses the
dream of setting the world on end,
OF being another Newton or Elm
stein. He will be content adding
single bricks to a big wall" Still
he has his own lingering dreams of
glory:
Like the newSpaperman who
still dreams Of writing the great
American novel. the scientist still
dreams of making the great dis
covery. ! would like to know the
answers to several crucial ques-
tons. What is the precise chem
icai mechanism by which growth
hormones act? Why does a tiny
trace Of particular chemical sub
stance put on plant cells immedi-
ately cause a tremendous growth
reaction?
why is a humorous cell a tum-
orous cell? Especially would / be
happy to know this If 1t led in
some way to cure malignancies.
I'd like to know precisely how
light acts in controlling the growth
Of plants. I'd like to be able to
write chemical equations for this.
I'm other words, / want to know
and prove. I'd like to do a beau
tiful, neat experiment, or, as we
call it, an elegant experiment,
which could 60 only one way,
leave 20 loose ends, wrap up
problem artistically. An expert
ment that would make my fellow
scientists say. Gee, / wish had
done that. It's all so simple and
obvious"
DR.. Galston, a compact man
with graying black hair, brown
eyes, red cheeks and q air of in
tense drive under careful self
discipline, compares basic research
to q uranium hunt with q Geiger
counter. You may never md any
thing monumental but always