.with what has already been done. 
belief in its reality. But compromise in the direction 
of the supernatural is no longer possible and the only 
way to make the life of mankind worth living is for 
man to concentrate his own energies on the task, dis- 
carding all reliance on supernatural aid or 
encouragement. 
10. The present attempt at an “Outline of 
Biosophy" is a tentative draft and more or less hap- 
hazard in its arrangement and method of treatment, in 
part original, in part quotation from popular writers, in 
part notes from research papers; it is for the moment 
addressed rather to students, scientific workers; and 
economists, for the purpose of stimulating discussion, 
than to the publie, although the treatment of most 
subjects will be so elementary that I must apologise to 
experts and ask their leniency in that respect. If and 
when a version is addressed to the public the question 
of language and terminology will have to be considered. 
This is a question which is becoming of increasing 
importance and difficulty in the whole field of science; 
not only is the breach widening between the world of 
science and the ordinary man by reason of the increasing 
elaboration of terminology, but the specialist in one 
branch of science is becoming with difficulty intelligible 
to the specialist in another. Setting aside the matter of 
terminology between specialists, which is a matter for, 
themselves, that of treatment and vocabulary on the part 
of one addressing’ the general public requires careful 
consideration, and deserves a chapter to itself in this 
Outline. I do not know to what extent consideration 
has already been given to this; in this, as in many other 
questions, an aim of Biosophy will be to get in touch 
Whereas technical 
knowledge has spread to a considerable extent to the 
public—most men are now fairly expert motor 
mechanics—I should say that the gap between scientific 
workers and the public as regards things that matter in 
Biosophy is greater now than it was in Victorian times; 
for one thing, scientific specialisation is more elaborate, 
for another, the distraction of trivial interests is greater 
among the public. The same problem is pressing upon 
the scientist, the economist, the librarian and the museum 
director, viz., to reach the publie with the things that 
matter. The remedy appears to have two sides; one 
for the scientist to decide on and constantly revise a 
minimum vocabulary, a minimum which shall be within 
the grasp of the man of ordinary education; the other 
for that minimum vocabulary to be a part of the stan- 
dard school curriculum. : 
11. A similar and equally important problem which 
will have to be considered in this Outline is the amount 
of mathematical knowledge essential for the ordinary 
man if he is to follow the progress of science. The 
problem will have to be treated in the same manner as 
that of vocabulary. 
12. Bibliography will be an essential part of this 
Outline: looked at in the broadest sense the Bibliography 
of Biosophy is to a large extent synonymous with the 
Bibliography of “Books that Maiter.” 
H 
41 
overlapping and compromise. 
Introduction 
13. In attempting to define and classify the sections 
or subdivisions of Biosophy only a provisional classi- 
fication is for the moment possible. One has to feel 
one’s way towards such a classification, and whatever 
may be adopted at first is sure to be altered and re- 
altered as the work progresses. In systems. of 
classification of all kinds not only are there difficuities 
in logical method of construction, but also, if a single 
logical method were possible (and usually it is not), 
considerations of practical convenience often interfere. 
Take, as a parallel example, the arrangement of a 
zoological museum; starting (as many of them have 
done) with a linear and logical arrangement of the 
animal kingdom in its phyla, classes, orders, families, 
genera and species, other modes of arrangement begin 
to ‘encroach on the linear series and space is found for 
the comparative anatomy of organs, for demonstrations 
of heredity, variation, protective coloring, and the like; 
then habitat groups appear, and extinct forms are - 
brought in and arranged both on a chronological and 
phylogenetic system; spirit specimens are stored 
separately for convenience and fire-protection; study 
collections are removed to workrooms for the use of 
specialists; year by year the arrangement changes, no 
one logical system dominates, and there is unavoidable 
Similar fluctuation and 
compromise may be predicted for the classification of 
Biosophy. The main headings of Biosophy fall under 
Present, Past, and Future, although even here the order 
cannot be strictly adhered to and there will be some 
overlapping. 
A. Present. | Knowledge and Matter. The Uni- 
verse. Life and Consciousness as a function ot 
Chemical Complexity. Elimination of the Supernatural, 
Animal Life. Man's Place in Nature. Races of man. 
Health and Disease. Psychology of Man. Happiness. 
Sex and the Family. Social Relations. Government. 
War. Population. Education. Literature, Art and 
Music. Sport and Recreation, ` 
B. Past. Evolution of Man. 
Prehistoric Man and 
Early Civilisations. History. 
C. Future, ^ Utopias and Forecasts. Eugenics. 
Rationalisation of Industry. Rationalisation of Law 
and Government. Reform of Language. International . 
Co-ordination. 
D. Vocabulary and Bibliography and Source-Books 
of Biosophy. ; 
14. Biosophy lays no claim to be higher than.the 
specialist sciences or to control them; rather it asks the 
specialist to remember the shortcomings of the ordinary 
man and at times to write down to his level, and it asks 
the specialist to be a Biosopher as well as a specialist. 
The Biosopher is, in the popular side of his work, so 
to speak, an Editor, saying to such and such a specialist, 
“I can give you twenty pages and half a dozen plates, 
will you do the best you can to present your subject, 
using for the purpose our standardised vocabulary?” 
15. Biosophy is not. concerned with the details of 
Technology, although such detail may occasionally be 
used as an illustration of economic or political principle, 
