E-Book Content
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1961 This book is copyright under tlrc Berne Conaention. fair dealing for the purposes of priaate study, research, crilicism or reaiew, as prmitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no portion may be reproduced by any process utithout written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher. Apart from any @ George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 196l PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN in lL on 12 point Bell type BY SIMSON SHAND LTD LONDON, HERTFORD AND HARLOW PREF'ACtr THrs book is based on a course of lectures delivered to the staff and students of the University College of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, in the spring of 1960. The College organizes each year a 'Background Series', consisting partly of single lectures given by its own staff and partly of a group given by someone invited from outside, the aim being to offer, to the whole University, an opportunity for members of the different Faculties to learn something of each other's interests and thoughts. I was deeply honoured at being asked to take part in this most valuable part of the university's activities, and also, of course, grateful for the opportunity of visiting that most beautiful part of the world. But I have been only too conscious of the great difficulty of the task the College set me. I had to try to expound the main problems and trends of thought in modern biology to an audience drawn from all Faculties, and of all ages from the youngest freshman to the most senior professors; and at the same time, my colleagues from the biological departments would, I suppose, hope to hear something fresh enough to prevent them being bored. I can hardly expect to have satisfied in equal measure throughout the whole book this great variety of outlook and sophistication; it will be enough if each reader finds the lectures, like the curate's €ggr 'good in parts'. Of the many people who made my stay in Kingston so enjoyable, I should like particularly to thank Dr P. M. Sherlock, the Acting Principal at the time of my visit; Professor A. P. Thornton, Chairman of the Senate Committee which manages this series of lectures; Mr H. W. Springer, the Registrar, and Professor D. M. Steven, who not only made me at home in his department of zoology, but found time to show me some of the magnificent biological and other beauties of Jamaica's c.H.w. forests, mountains and coral reefs. CONTENTS PREFACE 1. The Natural Philosophy qf Lrf, 2. Innate Potentialities 3. Deaelopment 4. Evolution 5. Biology and Man page 7 1l 25 53 1a 99 NOTES AND REFERENCES 126 INDEX 729 CHAPTER I The l{atural PhilosoQhy ,f Lrf, An asterisk in the teil refers to a note at the end of the book. E are almost as many good reasons for doing science as there are scientists. When I was asked to speak about my subject to an audience of scholars most of whom were interested in other fields I had first of all to think what makes biology worthy of their attention. Many of the reasons why biologists actually pursue a subject are too egocentric to make a general appeal. It is fun, for instance, to fiddle about with apparatus in a laboratory; to grow cells in tissue culture; to breed mice or fruit flies in cages or bottles, or to observe the inhabitants of coral reefs or woods. But it is not for everyone that the sheer carrying-on of science is such an attractive pastime. When one thinks of the more serious reasons why all intelligent people should be interested in it they fall into two main kinds. One may think science important either because it enables man to control the THER world he lives in, or alternatively because it enables him to understand it. These two ways of looking at science are not, of cou