110 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



individual? This question, which is obviously 

 inclusive of the destiny of human society, is unde- 

 niably a biological one. In a limited sense, it is a 

 problem in cerebral physiology, for it means nothing 

 more nor less than the possible degree of subjugation 

 of the lower cerebral centers to the highest controlling 

 and inhibiting ones. It is quite clear that the 

 human individual, to attain to his noblest expres- 

 sions, must, in general, remain an efficient animal, 

 and that he must feed, clothe, and shelter himself 

 accordingly. It may perhaps also be successfully 

 contended that the luxury of aesthetic influences 

 cannot be omitted. But it is doubtful if the elabo- 

 rate luxuries of modern civilization are really essen- 

 tial to the best individual preservation. These 

 questions can be answered only as the result of long 

 and painful human experiences. And we should 

 doubtless be right in regarding most of the pitiful 

 sufferings of humanity as necessary incidents in the 

 working out of the great human experiment into 

 whose resistless currents we have been born, that we 

 may contribute something, though in large degree 

 unconsciously, toward the establishment of a better 

 equilibrium than now exists, between the instinc- 

 tive and controlling forces belonging to living pro- 

 toplasm. 



II 



If one thinks of the instinct of self-preservation as 

 it shows itself at different periods in the development 



