Tooth-grinding Study Supported

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31863, 16 December 1968, Page 1

Tooth-grinding Study Supported

About 40 scientists, students and others who believe that Dr R. G. Every has an outstanding contribution to make to the understanding of human evolution and behaviour formed a committee on Saturday to find him a job where he can complete his work. They had spent all day and half the night listening to his theories and examining his evidence of man’s instinctive aggressiveness. Dr Every, formerly a practising dentist, believes that man and other animals con- . tinually and unconsciously ; grind their teeth to sharpen . them for use as weapons. • He says that the degree of I grinding is a key to indii vidual behaviour and that the • “million dollar question” is whether the mechanisms that

lead to tooth-sharpening can be controlled—thus controlling man’s aggressive behaviour towards his fellowman.

The meeting at which Dr Every spoke was organised by students of Canterbury University, who are concerned that his work may be lost if he does not get the chance to assemble and publish it. A member of the committee is the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk), who has been one of Dr Every’s supporters for some years. “I think from what I have learned,” said Mr Kirk, “that if his work can be completed, Dr Every could become one of the outstanding scientific figures of the post-war world. “The aspects of his research hold the key to human behaviour in almost every field.” Mr Kirk wants to see a place found for Dr Every within the university—a place that would imply recognition and perhaps attract financial support from overseas. He said that German,

American and British organisations had all offered Dr Every research facilities, but it was important that he be kept in New Zealand. “I’ve known him for eight years,” Mr Kirk said, “and he has completely exhausted the whole of his capital and sold up everything to pursue his research.” He said that limited funds had been found by his supporters, but some part of them had to be applied to his liabilities. Mr Kirk said that the Every case heavily underlined a considerable shortcoming inside the New Zealand research framework. “The man who traverses a known field is well provided for. The man who ventures into an entirely new field is on his own and very little interest is shown in his endeavours.” Mr Kirk advised Dr Every’s Supporters to make sure that the scientist’s work was presented in a form capable of being understood and with enough force to make those in authority sit up and listen. If the present official re-

luctance continued, the work would ’ have to be presented in a way that was meaningful to the public. Mr Kirk suggested deputations to the Minister of Education (Mr Kinsella) and the Minister of Science (Mr Taiboys). One questioner said the Dental Research Foundation had a fund of $160,000 and had difficulty in finding applicants. Dr Every said he had not applied for a grant from that fund. He had invited many, dental people to see him and his work, but they would not come. “No-one’s going to give me a grant in ignorance of my phenomena,” he said. Dr Every has been working unpaid in the zoology department at the university. Professor G. A. Knox, professor of zoology, believes that Dr Every is in a position to make “one of the really significant contributions. to scientific knowledge.”

“But his contribution is in a rather specialised area,” said Professor Knox. “He has now moved outside the jnedi-

cal and dental research field and has become multidisciplinary. His work impinges on anthropology, paleontology, psychiatry and many other fields. “Because he is working in such a wide area he doesn’t fit into any of the compartments we have at the moment.” Professor Knox said that although British, American and even Australian universities supported researchers without teaching duties, New Zealand universities did not. Professor W. E. ,-Adams, acting dean of the Medical School at Otago University, has agreed to co-operate with and lend his name to any move that might be made necessary to assist Dr Every, according to the Press Association. Speaking in Dunedin last night, Professor Adams said he knew Dr Every’s work, which was highly regarded in certain scientific quarters. “Dr Every does deserve some sort of encouragement," Professor Adams said.