BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



and that we could not go far in our daily work without 

 its contributions. We confidently believe, moreover, that 

 chemistry has only begun its beneficent revelations; but 

 up to date it is believed that the foregoing statement 

 is true. 



Taken in a broad sense, biology includes a large number 

 of branches. The space limits of this article permit reference 

 to only some of the more striking applications of biological 

 sciences in public health. 



First of all, as regards man himself it is self-evident 

 that all we can learn regarding his anatomy, physiology, 

 and psychology is bound to have applications in a program 

 which concerns itself with his health. The first two have 

 been upon a solid scientific basis for many years and are 

 being built up as fast as, or faster than, practical application 

 can be made of their findings. Psychology, on the other 

 hand, can hardly be described as more than emerging from 

 the realms of a purely speculative discipline, although with 

 the increase of interest which is everywhere manifest and 

 the tendency to supplant introspection with experiment and 

 comparative considerations, the outlook is most hopeful. 

 Public Health has much need of psychology. These sciences 

 which concern themselves with the so-called normal serve 

 as the point of departure for the study of abnormal or 

 diseased conditions in which we have the subjects of patho- 

 logical anatomy, -physiology, and -psychology, and their 

 numerous specialties. 



Still dealing primarily with man, and of immense impor- 

 tance to public health, are certain considerations of 

 sociology. In fact, it is approximately true that if sociology 

 were able to solve some of the problems of man's communal 

 existence, public health would find its problems reduced by 

 half. For example, if the economic status of a portion of the 

 population could be improved by 100 per cent, which it 

 certainly needs to be, public health could guarantee the 



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