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THE MAROON TIGER Page 7
| BOOKS IN BRIEF I
* t ^ i
NEW BOOKS AT A. U. LIBRARY
Biology in Human Affairs edited by Edward M. East.
Mr. East has perfected a masterpiece in editing a book
on such a vital subject for the layman reader. The book
is really a compilation of articles written by twelve
scientists prominent in their respective fields of endeavor.
Mr. East has so bound these articles together that they
represent a literary work of high merit well connected
in thought.
The subject-matter of “Biology in Human Affairs”
falls into three parts. The first part is more or less gen
eral in nature. It treats the philosophy and the validity
of the conclusions of biology. At first, man, as a gre
garious animal was steeped in superstition and folk
lore, and though he studied other animals objectively, he
could never study himself in the same way. He was
still pitting his paltry strength of mind and arm against
stern reality until recent years. He has just pulled
the skim from his eyes and begun to study himself ob
jectively. His habits of living may be likened from his
own conclusions, to that of a pack of wolves, he is lost
when separated from the pack. By his adherence to
the ‘pack’, certain problems have arisen and he has made
laws to correct them only to be stared in the face bv
the fact that “man’s career is determined by the sum
total of his heridity and his environment.” The known
is often unpleasing, but members of the human race must
stop lying to each other at some time, therefore, he has
found that “the heads of youths can not be moulded in
a single mould, but special attention must be given to
the proper conditioning of the mind—hence psychologi
cal research with which the second part concerns itself.
Scientists have had to contend with “fogyisms” in this
field also, but they have made considerable progress des
pite them. Darwin was responsible for the natural his
tory view of man and the development of the scientific
study of human nature. This method studies objec
tively the organization of motives and mental mechan
isms. Descartes, the eminent French philosopher, first
attributed certain aspects of human behavior to certain
brain centers. Leibnitz, Hobbes, Locke, Gall. Wundt,
Roller, Pestalozzi, Freud and others who made notable
contributions took Descartes’ hypothesis and proved it
true by experiment. Psychology has advanced from
the genetic view point of human strength and weakness
to psychiatry. Hence, by comparison with other animals,
man has found that crime, repressed instincts, sex be
haviorism and neurotic reflexes can be treated and their
characteristics explicated by modern psychology since
man found that individual treatment must be given to
these, he has applied psychology to Education and In
dustry. Since man now knows why he does certain
things, he naturally wishes to know more concerning his
body—that complete coordinated machine controlled by
the brain which he has made less mysterious with psy
chology, hence advances have been made in genetics,
physiology bio-chemistry, medicine, public health and
zoology of which the third part treats.
In each case, scientists have had to deal with old no
tions and taboos, therefore, the old notion of like pro
ducing like had to be replaced by the more accurate idea
that each gene produces genes like itself. Upon this
assumption Mendel based most of his work in heredity
and genetics. By disintegrating old notions, other pi-
Embree, E. R. Brown America; the story of a new race.
The executive head of the Rosenwald Fund Con
tends that the American Negro represents a new
race among men, in its fusion of black, red, and
white blood.
Kennedy, J. P., PN 1993 .5 The Story oj the Filins.
A major industry studies in the careers of some
of its successful pioneers.
Adams. J. T. The Epic oj America.
The banker who became an historical scholar,
gives a 1-volume survey of American civiliza
tion,—written unevenly in parts, but dramatic as
a whole.
Mathews, Shaler. BT98 .M33 The Growth of the
Idea oj God.
The Dean of the Divinity School of the Univer
sity of Chicago gives his answer to the statement
that religion is a superstition.
Faulkner, Wm. These Thirteen.
Short stories, half of them in southern settings,
by the Mississippi author who refuses to live in
New York. “Dry September”, the story of a
lynching, is considered one of the best.
Burns, C D. CB425 ,B8 Modern Civilization on Trial
“In this book modern civilization is taken to mean
the whole complex of social customs, beliefs,
and emotional attitudes, which make the people
of New York, London, Paris, and Berlin, differ
ent from those of Tientsin or Timbuctoo, and dif
ferent also, from what Western people were even
twenty years ago.”—Pref.
Hughes, Langston. Not Without Laughter.
“The real Negro novel.”—Alain Locke.
Yeats-Brown, Francis. Lives oj a Bengal Lancer.
A best seller which is also a sound piece of lit
erature. “One of the most remarkable books in
modern literature. I have known of no other in
stance of a genuine psychological record of any
intimate touch of a Western mind with the mind
of the East.”—Rabindranth Tagore.
Lawrence, D. H. PS121 .23 Studies in Classic
American Literature.
“There is a new voice in the old American clas
sics ... a new feeling in the old American books,
far more than there is in the modern American
books, which are prettv empty of any feeling,
and proud of it. . .”—Chap. 1.
Bancroft, Frederic. E412 .B21 Slave-Trading in the
Old South.
As it really was. Illustrated by old prints, news
paper advertisements, etc.
Lowell, Amy PS324 .L8 Tendencies in Modern
American Poetry.
“Poets are always the advance guard of litera
ture; the advance guard of life. . . ”—Pref.
oneers like Mendel, notably Pasteur, Harvey, and Fick,
have made discoveries and established facts in medicine,
zoology, physiology and bio-chemistry.
C. C. Gaines.