Man would rather feel that his ego holds high value in the macrocosm. He aspires to a dominant position in this life and hopes for immortality hereafter. Sorely troubled with the dawning suspicion that his destiny may be quite different from what he has promised himself, he attributes his disillusionment to science. No, I am wrong; he makes biology the scapegoat to-day; he no longer cares about the generalizations of the physical sciences, having quite forgotten his plaints against their destroying discoveries a century ago.

There is no justice in such accusations against organic science. The more we know about the human race, the more absurd its pretensions appear to be. One cannot dodge that issue. Yet science has nothing to say against man's values here and now; it has nothing to say against values after death. It merely asks that intelligence, morals, and conduct be studied along with structure, function, and environment, as a prerequisite for dealing more rationally with mental, moral, and physical adjustment. I do not know what proportion of the stimulus to scientific work is curiosity, what proportion is will to power, and what proportion is humanitarian desire; but I do know that the results make the world a better place in which to live.

In early societies man cowered in fear and awe before the wonders of nature. He was afflicted with illnesses of body and of mind, oppressed by forces of which he was ignorant; and he bowed in supplication before the powers behind them. With the lapse of time and the influx of knowledge, he became more courageous and more arrogant, and these primitive beliefs changed. Yet man finds himself still perplexed, still oppressed, still pitting his paltry strength of mind and arm against stern reality. His refuge from the unhappiness with which he is thus confronted is to construct subjective universes which are kinder to him than the one in which he is actually placed. This is the strategem of the theologian, the mystic, the philosopher, the humanist, the artist.

But a second course is open. We can study mundane phenomena impartially. We can find out, not what they really are or what they really mean, but what they are to us and what they signify to us. This is the method of science. Through it mankind has already been brought from savagery to civilization, from harassing struggle to comparative comfort. Through it the race may approach peace and serenity of soul. It is certainly no wild delusion to assume that whatever happiness lies within man's grasp will come when the machine has banished the fear of want, when each individual can face life with his mind properly trained and his body kept in constant trim. Perhaps this goal will not be reached, but there is every reason to believe that it will be approached. Sufficient knowledge is now extant to satisfy all economic needs were it to be applied in its entirety. We are not ready, at the moment, to prescribe for all ills of the body or to make all the necessary mental adjustments; but biology is young. Surely the time will come when the mischievous conditioning of the mind through false teaching, which now causes so much unrest, will be a thing of the past.

Objection will naturally be brought against this program. The flesh is weak, the critics will say, and the mind is weaker. Our adult infants must always endeavor to evade reality by indulging in happy daydreams. Of course they must! No one would think of robbing them of such a refuge. They will always have avenues of escape into the unreal; for who would banish literature, drama, art, and music from the world? What the scientist objects to, and what proper instruction can prevent in persons of normal mentality, is the tendency to believe that these make-believe worlds are tangible realities."I believe that an artist, fashioning his imaginary worlds out of his own agony and ecstasy, is a benefactor to all of us," remarks Mencken, "but that the worst error we can commit is to mistake his imaginary worlds for the real one."

I have endeavored to describe the methods and ideals of science, to show its unity of purpose, to demonstrate its efficacy in the solution of the more intensely human problems. My aim was to emphasize the fact that biological questions must be approached in the same spirit as other questions, even when human behavior is the issue; for man can be studied quite as objectively, quite as satisfactorily, as any other phenomenon of nature. The physical sciences have given us no mean conception of the affairs of the material world; biology must give us the power to understand ourselves and to control our destinies. In the following pages, my colleagues and I will attempt to offer the reader a glimpse of the present status of certain subdivisions of the sciences dealing with life. Obviously the accounts presented will be incomplete, owing to spatial limitations, and hence will give no adequate idea of biological progress. Ineffectual as they may be, however, they will show that the biologist has gone far. As an augury of greater things to come, therefore, I wish to devote a few pages to the history of biology, in order to draw attention to the extraordinary rapidity with which biological discoveries have been made in recent years. Biology is still an infant whose precocious efforts should lead us to expect great performances during youth and manhood. I shall not apologize to the professional scholar into whose hands the book may fall, for recalling familiar facts, since such a reconnaissance, emphasizing as it does the merit of modern work, may serve to bolster up his faltering spirit on some Blue Monday.