MAN, — THE ANIMAL 3 



Other aspects of learning. So it comes about that 

 frequent popular summaries are necessary, par- 

 ticularly in such basic sciences as physics, chem- 

 istry and biology. 



The subject of this book, Man, — The Animal, 

 aims to summarize the discoveries of scholars dur- 

 ing recent years and to indicate some of their 

 relations to the more fundamental problems of 

 man's physical existence, — problems that many are 

 losing sight of in their hasty attempts to produce 

 immediate changes. 



It is not an easy task to draw a sharp line be- 

 tween the physical activities of man and those 

 higher expressions of his mind which distinguish 

 him from all other forms of life. If we include 

 some phases of man's activities which the reader 

 would omit, let us not quarrel over the classifica- 

 tion but sympathetically approach our theme in 

 the hope that we may gain a deeper insight into 

 those characteristics which man has in common 

 with all life and which exercise a profound influ- 

 ence on his entire existence. 



It is frequently urged that biology is so indefi- 

 nite that it can hardly be called a science ^ like 

 physics and chemistry; but this attitude fails to 



* Science consists of a body of well ascertained and verified 

 facts and laws of Nature clearly to be distinguished from the 

 mass of theories, hypotheses, and opinions which are of value in 

 the progress of science. 



Osborn, "Origin and Evolution of Life." 



