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Not the least important, by far, of the reasons for our pitiable inadequacy in dealing with the social problems which harass contemporary society is the inertia and reluctance of governmental agencies to put into social practice the facts and principles of the biological and social sciences. Not that a complete understanding is already available of the reasons why man, who has shown such a prodigious capacity for the understanding and conquest of nature, of his physical environment, is still so helpless when it comes to an understanding and management of his own nature. But the knowledge that is available is truly vast in comparison with the little that is taken advantage of for the intelligent guidance of human conduct and for the sensible organization of human society. The task, therefore, of collecting, digesting and restating the facts of the biological and social sciences in a way which would bring into clear focus the bearing of these facts and of the principles deductible from them on the relation of man to man and on the mores and laws which govern human conduct in a civilized society is one of the truly significant tasks of our day.
For an entire generation and more, the author of this book, the