360 pearl: biology and war 



the race, not substantially greater than the chances of the indi- 

 vidual bearing the poorest germ plasm. 



CONCLUSION 



Except for lack of time one might go on and consider other 

 essentially biological problems of war. We have not discussed 

 at all those fascinatingly interesting and important problems 

 connected with the individual's part in the actual conduct of war. 

 A nation which would systematically and thoroughly investi- 

 gate such matters as what sorts of men, physically, psycho- 

 logically, and morally, make the best fighters; what biological 

 conditions, including internal states, environmental conditions 

 in and behind the lines, conduce to most efficient fighting; how 

 fighters should be fed to obtain the best results; and other like 

 problems, would be in an extremely superior position in any con- 

 flict with a group not possessed of definite scientific information 

 on • these points. At present our information regarding such 

 matters is very largely empirical. It should be said, however, 

 that since America's entrance into this conflict a brilliant begin- 

 ning has been made in the scientific study of certain of these 

 problems, initiated and directed in large degree by Major Robert 

 M. Yerkes. The final results of his work will be eagerly awaited 

 not alone for their military value, but also for their purely bio- 

 logical interest and significance. 



In conclusion, the thought I most wish to leave with you, and 

 which I hope I have sufficiently elaborated and illustrated, is that 

 while war is a biological business, to the problems of which the 

 trained biologist could contribute much, it is not an absolute bio- 

 logical necessity. Nations neither lose nor gain biologically by 

 war. But this does not mean that wars must not and will not 

 be fought. As a biologist I can come to no other conclusion 

 than that wars will occur in the future as they have in the 

 past until such time as civilized man has become a different 

 kind of animal than he now is. Happily every war advances 

 him by some degree on the road to that much-to-be-desired 

 goal. 



