76 SCIENTIST 



inferior people do relatively inferior work, which in turn 

 attracts relatively inferior people. Fortunately, there are 

 signs that the circle is being broken. The social sciences are 

 achieving greater recognition and there is now a social sci- 

 ence division of the National Science Foundation. Some 

 large private foundations have also joined in the work of 

 redressing the serious financial imbalance which has greatly 

 favored the basic natural sciences since World War II. 



Certainly there can be no doubt about the need for 

 understanding more about man's social behavior and of 

 the various institutions he has invented to order his affairs. 

 The natural sciences have provided most of the methods 

 needed for abohshing the hunger, pain, physical disabihty, 

 and early death which were the lot of almost all men until 

 very recent times. But we are not yet using these tools 

 effectively to alleviate the misery of a large proportion of 

 mankind. We have not yet invented the social and pohtical 

 institutions needed to transfer new techniques rapidly from 

 one part of the world to another. We do not yet know how 

 to organize ourselves to deal with the imbalances which 

 occur when science is unevenly applied to the solution of 

 human problems. Many countries have already encountered 

 the dangers of rapidly lowering the death rate without at 

 the same time controlling the birth rate. The advanced 

 countries in their headlong rush to the more abundant life 

 are cutting down ancient forests, polluting rivers, and even 

 poisoning the air we breathe in our most populous cities. 

 So long as mankind was relatively few in number and could 

 summon only the additional power of a few domestic ani- 

 mals, nature could be left to herself to maintain a reason- 

 able balance. Now the balance of nature, with all its beauty 

 and variety and all its resources for nourishing both the 

 body and the spirit of man, hes at man's mercy. 



The progress of natural science therefore makes men 



