About ourselves

"This is a book about ourselves, individually and collectively. We are something more ethereal than "featherless bipeds" and something more substantial than "such stuff as dreams are made on." Substance and action at least are observable and a vast deal of knowledge has become available in recent years to those who seek it. I have endeavored to assemble and to present in simple untechnical form some of the basic zoological facts that must be taken into account in any penetrating study into the nature of human kind. This book is an exposition of human nature, without any plans for its improvement. The lack of such plans is due to my fear that Mother Nature would not be very regardful of them; that she will go right along making our successors after her regular patterns, and that they will continue to behave very much as we have done. I present herewith a very condensed statement of some of the contributions of zoology to the knowledge of the nature of our species, together with some suggestions as to the relation of these matters to the organization and operations of society. The limitations of space have demanded that the facts be stated broadly, and without much heed to exceptions. In the following pages there is little that is new, but the classification of the components of social behavior and of the instincts that serve the needs of our mind is my own"--Preface.