Science and human affairs from the viewpoint of biology
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| Science and human affairs |
The present volume sets forth certain of the humanistic aspects of natural science with illustrations largely from the field of biology. The work is an outcome of the author's experience as a teacher of zoology, although much that is here contained forms no part of routine zoological instruction. The interest of college students in the broader aspects of science, as viewed by the biologist, leads him to believe that the matter presented may interest a wider audience. We often hear the statement that "we live in a scientific age." But what does this mean historically, and what does it imply for the future?
Again, it is said that the present is a period of "readjustment." Readjustment to what, and because of what? The present volume seeks in a modest way to answer these questions.
The writer has also found an incentive in his conviction that the world has arrived at an age of science, that the necessary readjustments have not been completed and that the future belongs to the scientific frame of mind.
Acknowledgements are due to many friends and associates who have consciously or unconsciously contributed to the work during numerous discussions. Among my fellow zoologists, who have read extended portions of the manuscript and made valuable suggestions, are Caswell Grave, F. B. Isely, the late W. E. Ellicott, E. G. Conklin, S. O. Mast, and George Lefevre
. I am particularly indebted to Professor George Twiss of the Ohio State University, and to Professor A. H. R. Fairchild of the University of Missouri, for the critical reading of preliminary drafts.
Most of all, I am under obligation to my friend and colleague Professor N. M. Trenhohne for his reading of earlier and later drafts of certain chapters, as well as the final manuscript.
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