HP 



PREFACE 



"^HE study of the brain in all of its evolutionary aspects is a task 

 requiring the hibors of many investigators. Such studies are urgently 

 needed because the questions surrounding this subject are assuming 

 increasing prominence in modern thought. No single work may even aspire 

 to a satisfactory completeness in dealing with the entire problem; therefore 

 only certain aspects of it are approached in these volumes. 



Since brain power admittedly is the secret of human success, the brain 

 itself must be the pioneer hewing the path of man's progress; hence the 

 genesis of this dominant organ is a vital issue which calls for most intensive 

 research. The answers to the cjuestions "whence came the human brain, 

 and how" have become indispensable to modern understanding. Their value 

 lies in the light thrown by them upon the course of man's long ascent and 

 in their searching penetration through the dense veil which hides his future. 



Upon directing our attention toward this future, there are many reasons 

 for asking whither we are trending as a race. Does the path lead forward 

 through repetitious ancient cycles of disaster, toward wars and revolutions, 

 toward civic frustrations amid the preparations for future war in tunes of 

 peace, toward further stupidities in the management of social organizations, 

 toward grosser misconceptions of man and humanity, toward greater 

 depths of superstitious delusion and human unworthiness with their full 

 and final penalty of ultimate extinction? Catastrophe such as this has not 

 infrequently overtaken many races of men long since extinct. It is possible, 

 however, that the supreme organ which created what there is of human 

 succeeding has still further benefits to confer. 



And yet no satisfactory appraisal of these possibilities could be 

 attempted without a thorough study of the processes by which the brain came 

 into existence. To this study must be added some comprehension of the 



