Leading article

Oncogenes and gastrointestinal cancer Even after overcoming prejudice against basic science, restrictions on research funding and an uncertain career structure, the persistent clinical scientist still wanting to develop an interest in the applications of molecular cell biology to medicine will face one further hurdle: the sheer density of much of the scientific writing in molecular biology, which has restricted its readership within the medical world. It was Bertrand Russell who, finding that the philosophy of Hegel was uniquely obscure, concluded that it did not amount to anything of significance. There seems to be a danger that many clinicians and possibly also some clinical scientists, particularly in this country, may reach an erroneous conclusion about the relevance of much of what is going on in molecular biology and for the same reason. Of course, Russell's writings are models of clarity and wit, sufficiently so for him to have been awarded the Nobel prize for literature. The molecular biologists of today have been picking up most of the recent Nobel prizes for medicine an