In physiology, as in all other sciences, no discovery is useless, no curiosity misplaced or too ambitious, and we may be certain that every advance achieved in the quest of pure knowledge will sooner or later play its part in the service of man.
Charles Babbage
(In response to Alfred Tennyson's poem Vision of Sin , which included the line Every moment dies a man,
every moment one is born. ) If this were true, the population of the world would be at a stand-still. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of death. I would suggest that the next edition of your poem should read: "Every moment dies a man, every moment 1 1
16 is born. " Strictly speaking, the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1 1
16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry.
