PREFACE 



This little volume is tlie outcome of a course of 

 public lectures at King's College which I organised 

 this spring under the auspices of the Imperial 

 Studies Committee of the University of London. 

 The neglect of Science in political and similar circles 

 has never been so disastrous for us as in the earlier 

 years of the recent war ; our success later on was 

 largely due to the fact that our brave fighting 

 forces were supported at home by the organisation 

 of our scientific resources. Physiology played its 

 part in this great endeavour, and the present book 

 tells some of the story. To include all the many 

 ways in which Physiology is of national importance 

 would have occupied a much larger book : the 

 six articles presented here give samples only, but 

 I trust that those selected will be sufficient to 

 convince the educated public that it is not only 

 in war-time, but in the days of reconstruction and 

 peace that Physiology plays or should play an 

 important part in our national life. 



W. D. HALLIBURTON. 



King's College, London, 

 August 1919. 



