270 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



In Conclusion 



We have seen that the application of sound biology 

 might do much to raise the standard of individual 

 healthfulness and that it can help towards ' the im- 

 provement of the human breed,' to use Sir Francis 

 Galton's phrase which points to racial evolution as well 

 as to individual development. Increased healthfulness 

 of the human organism as a whole, body-mind and 

 mind-body, is one of the pre-conditions of progress. 



We have also seen that the application of sound 

 biology can do much to remove shackles which inhibit 

 the higher adventures of the human spirit. It may 

 seem to some like a bathos to refer to the handicapping 

 of human life by hookworm disease ; if they knew more 

 about it they would count the conquest of that disease 

 (and many another) as a climax. The facts warrant 

 the belief that many of the shadows and disharmonies 

 of human life can be got rid of when good- will joins 

 hands with Science. But there is more. Our studies 

 indicate for mankind a mundane future which is irradi- 

 ated with hope. This hope is grounded on the fact 

 that evolution in the past has been on the whole pro- 

 gressive, towards integration, towards increasing fullness, 

 freedom, and fitness of life. There has been " a constant 

 if chequered advance." Will it stop ? 



We see in evolution the possibility of turning even 

 mistakes and failures to some advantage ; we have the 

 same hope for ourselves and for our race. 



Man's highest conception, his conception of God, 

 must enlarge as his thoughts are widened ; but it is 



