PREFACE 



Each one of us feels in his own experience an insistent 

 urge to speciahze in order that he may do, not a variety of 

 things, but a few things better and more quickly. He must 

 swim with the stream or he will not survive. It is true in 

 business as in science. In one way this concentration is 

 good, and in another it is bad. It is good since it is the 

 essence of progress which makes the world a better place 

 to hve in, but the individual suffers. The more successful 

 he is as a specialist, the more difficult it is for him to avoid 

 becoming narrow-minded. Because he does not understand 

 the hopes and aspirations of others he may also become 

 intolerant. He may adopt a condescending attitude toward 

 his fellows whom he regards as less favored. 



The situation has not been helped by the action of edu- 

 cators in permitting speciaHzation very early in the curricu- 

 lum before the students can secure a broad grasp of the 

 problems of human hfe and of the methods of attacking 

 them. Indeed it grows worse because through speciaHzation, 

 advances in the sciences deahng with man have been so 

 phenomenal that each has come almost to speak in a lan- 

 guage of its own which is difficult to understand without 

 much prehminary study. Thus, barriers are erected which 

 prevent breadth of view and which breed intolerance. It is 

 really a vicious cycle which hands out great benefits with 

 one hand and iron-bound restrictions with the other. 



The purpose of this book is to play a small part in breaking 

 down these barriers in respect to the group of sciences which 

 have a definite bearing on human welfare and are referred 

 to collectively as "human biology." This will also make for 

 progress because many of the real problems he between the 

 sciences and are not perceived without broad knowledge. 

 To do so involves team work by many speciahsts with the 

 idea of describing in simple language the goal which they 

 are striving for. It is also a kind of return to the pubhc for 

 value received for research in the pure sciences is never 

 self-supporting. There must be "give" as well as "take." 



