PREFACE 



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 instruc- 

 tion. 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. 



Acknowledgments are due to many friends and associates 

 who have consciously or unconsciously contributed to the 

 work during the course of 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. Kellicott, E. G. Conklin, 

 S. 0. Mast, and George Lefevre. I am particularly indebted 

 to Professor George Twiss of the Ohio State University, and 

 to Professor A. H. R. Fair child of the University of Missouri, 

 for the critical reading of preliminary drafts. But most of 

 all, I am under obligation to my friend and colleague Pro- 

 fessor N. M. Trenholme for his reading of earlier and later 

 drafts of certain chapters, as well as the final manuscript. 



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