BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



ignorant; and he bowed in supplication before the powers 

 behind them. With the lapse of time and the influx of 

 knowledge, he became more courageous and more arrogant, 

 and these primitive beliefs changed. Yet man finds himself 

 still perplexed, still oppressed, still pitting his paltry- 

 strength of mind and arm against stem reality. His refuge 

 from the unhappiness with which he is thus confronted 

 is to construct subjective universes which are kinder to 

 him than the one in which he is actually placed. This is 

 the strategem of the theologian, the mystic, the phil- 

 osopher, the humanist, the artist. 



But a second course is open. We can study mundane phe- 

 nomena impartially. We can find out, not what they really 

 are or what they really mean, but what they are to us 

 and what they signify to us. This is the method of science. 

 Through it mankind has already been brought from 

 savagery to civilization, from harassing struggle to com- 

 parative comfort. Through it the race may approach peace 

 and serenity of soul. It is certainly no wild delusion to 

 assume that whatever happiness lies within man's grasp 

 will come when the machine has banished the fear of want, 

 when each individual can face life with his mind properly 

 trained and his body kept in constant trim. Perhaps this 

 goal will not be reached, but there is every reason to believe 

 that it will be approached. Sufficient knowledge is now 

 extant to satisfy all economic needs were it to be applied 

 in its entirety. We are not ready, at the moment, to pre- 

 scribe for all ills of the body or to make all the necessary 

 mental adjustments; but biology is young. Surely the time 

 will come when the mischievous conditioning of the mind 

 through false teaching, which now causes so much unrest, 

 will be a thing of the past. 



Objection will naturally be brought against this pro- 

 gram. The flesh is weak, the critics will say, and the mind 

 is weaker. Our adult infants must always endeavor to 



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