Twelve able contributors have written this hook under the editorship of Professor Edward M. East of Harvard University. The editor is to be especially commended for having molded the twelve chapters into a continuously readable hook. This is hardly to be said of most of the recent cooperative hooks.

The first chapter on "Biology and Human Problems" is written by the editor himself. This chapter presents in a clear and forceful style and with telling examples the possible effects of modern biological science upon the remodeling of man's intellectual conceptions. Modern inventions and comforts have recast man's ways of living almost completely. But science has not yet recast his methods of thinking to anything like the same degree.

It is pointed out that the average mind is still fettered to myths conceived in distant eras of unreason, and actually scientists themselves are sometimes influenced by such myths. As East points out, it is a mistake to assume that when certain eminent physicists, for example, issue preachments in terms of theology and metaphysics they are speaking as scientists. They are merely demonstrating how difficult it is to divest one's mind completely of the whams and whim-seys learned in early childhood. A strong case for the advantages of simple scientific truth is built up in a most interesting fashion.

Each chapter of this hook is well worth reading, but certain chapters are particularly well presented. Dr. L. M. Terman's chapter on "Educational Psychology" presents this subject in a simple and fascinatingly clear way. Professor H. M. Parshley discusses "Zoology and Human Welfare" in a clearly analytical and instructive style. The last chapter on "Diet and Nutrition," by Professor McCollum, forms valuable reading for all persons. The other chapters are all very well done, though space does not permit a particular reference to them.

The only shortcoming which one might feel after reading this very satisfying book is that some form of summary or concluding statement might have been good to round off the various subjects for the general reader. Professor East is to be congratulated on the success of his undertaking.- C. R. Stockard.

List Of Contributors

Walter V. Bingham, Ph.D., Sc.D. Director, Personnel Research Federation, New York. Formerly Professor of Psychology, Carnegie Institute of Technology and President The Psychological Corporation.

Hugh S. Cumming, M.D., Sc.D. Surgeon-General, United States Public Health Service.

Edward M. East, Ph.D., LL.D. Professor of Genetics, Harvard University.

Morris Fishbein, M.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Rush Medical College. Editor, Journal of American Medical Association.

Frank H. Hankins, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology, Smith College.

Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D., LL.D. Lecturer, New School for Social Research. Formerly Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin.

Donald F. Jones, Sc.D. Geneticist, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Editor, Genetics.

E. Kennerly Marshall, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Physiology, Johns Hopkins University.

Elmer V. McCollum, Ph.D., Sc.D. Professor of Biochemistry,

Johns Hopkins University.

Howard M. Parshley, Sc.D. Professor of Zoology, Smith College.

Arthur M. Stimson, M.D. Assistant Surgeon-General, United States Public Health Service.

Lewis M. Terman, Ph.D., LL.D. Professor of Psychology, Stanford University.

Preface

The emotional and intellectual unrest of our day is too often treated as a novel and disquieting phenomenon indicating the imminent collapse of the whole social structure. The situation exists, it is true; yet it is hardly a cause for alarm, except as it stimulates the quacking of so many anserine saviors. All peoples, in all ages, have been in similar states of flux, for the simple reason that there have always been new ideas demanding attention; and where there are new ideas, there are reactions against them. As a means of retarding the entry of unusual notions, the human cranium is a well-nigh perfect mechanism. Were we more analytically inclined, we should see in such manifestations merely an evidence of progress. The old order passes, and we are reluctant to have it go; our agitation, therefore, marks at once our feeble adaptability and the degree of mental adjustment imposed by the occasion. It may be true that man now confronts a situation requiring a greater change in attitude of mind than any he has faced before, since he is asked to abandon his most primitive, and therefore his dearest, superstitions; but then, he is better prepared through steady practice.

Since the time when Leonardo da Vinci set the true pattern for profiting by experience, some four hundred years ago, the intellectual horizon of mankind has constantly broadened. One by one, traditional illusions have been replaced by demonstrated truth. In turn, mathematical, physical, and chemical concepts have guided human thought into new channels, in spite of all checks and hindrances. And now a fourth group of scholars asks that biological ideas be received on terms of equality with those of the other sciences. The biologist believes that he has much to offer, both to man the intelligent being and to man the animal, subject to hunger and disease. He is convinced that even the most intimate problems of existence, those problems which concern man's mental and emotional life, are susceptible of a helpful objective analysis. At the same time, he realizes just how difficult it is for most people to accept the thesis that the complex attributes and the many-sided activities of the human being can be studied as carefully, as precisely, and as impartially as those of any other being about which we wish to learn the truth. It requires some knowledge of what has been accomplished, some familiarity with the methods by which the work is done; and it demands an intellectual independence above the ordinary.

As a contribution toward a better understanding of the ideals, the methods, and the results of biology, this book is presented. It contains a series of relatively non-technical discussions of the present conditions of several of the more important subdivisions of the subject, emphasizing recent advances and expressing a few conservative predictions as to probable future trends. Those phases of biology which have been - or may be - of especial service to mankind have been stressed, with the hope of enlisting the interest of the general reader and of giving him a clearer and more accurate idea of the problems involved and of the progress in solving them. In one sense, therefore, the authors have endeavored to give a wider publicity to their wares. But there has been no insulting attempt to tell nature stories of the type which appeals to immature minds. It is a serious book intended for people who find satisfaction in the disentanglement of the mysteries of the universe in which they live.

The subject matter falls naturally into three parts. The first part is general in character. It contains reflections upon the philosophy of biology and upon the validity of its conclusions. Here the authors have also tried to show how the field of biology is ever broadening through the inclusion of problems which were formerly thought to be beyond the reach of scientific procedure. The second part is concerned with the mind. It contains a skeletonized account of the general development of psychology, and essays on the application of psychological methods to education and to industry. The third part treats of the body. It is designed to show, in some measure, the progress in dealing with man as an animal. It portrays some of the advances in genetics, in medicine, in the work of the public health officer, in physiology, in biochemistry, and in general zoology put to the service. In addition, there is an extended discussion of the means by which man increases his food supply and thus makes it possible to feed some twenty million additional people with the advent of each new season.

E. M. E.

Boston, Massachusetts, February, 1931.