Author Description

The papers presented in this volume report the results of investigations in a great group of sciences vitally affecting man. They are intended not only to give a general background and perspective to students of special sciences, but also to give to the average intelligent layman some knowledge of the present state of learning in these several branches of knowledge and to give him some idea of the bearing of the various specialties upon man and the possibilities of his further development. This book is one answer to the lament of H. G. Wells when he says, "If only the scientists would tell us less mumblingly what it is all about!" The story of our explorations into the far reaches of the universe is told in Part I, with special attention to conditions of possible life, somewhat similar to ours, upon the other spheres. The stream of life upon our planet leading up to the races of man, or the subdivisions of the human race, is discussed in Part II. In addition to glimpses of the past, for the whole record doubtless will never be unfolded, we need an understanding of the materials nature has to work with in man: the structure of the human body and the ways in which it performs its functions. This subject is presented in Part III. As biological units we depend upon the world we live in for food, for air and water and light and warmth. We are on a planet teeming with multitudinous life in the form of animals both large and microscopic and of almost infinite varieties of plants, as well as of hundreds of millions of other human beings. Part IV is devoted to this large subject of environment. In the final division, Part V, the future is discussed on the basis of facts presented earlier and of studies of the tendencies of evolution in man and other animals. In this section is included a tentative report on the inheritance of disease and a consideration of population growth, the mingling of races, and the question of the purposeful improvement of the human species.