Penguin Science Survey 1965 B [antikvár]

Editorial ForewordAn intelligent visitor from another planet (or elsewhere) wouldpresumably be more interested in Man than in any of the otherEarth species. Intelligent women and men are in much the samecase. Our contributors this year provide an entry to the study ofmodern man, which could be used by a Martian who had learnt toread English. We begin, appropriately, with an article on intelli-gence; and, since we are concerned with modern man, it is alsofitting that we include information on leukaemia and on the use oftranquillizers. Homosexuality, another of our subjects, is, how-ever, not especially characteristic of our own time: it has alwaysbeen with us - even, no doubt, before we evolved into Homosapiens.Our principal theme in this number is that scientific methods canbe applied effectively to any kinds of events, provided they fallinto recognizable classes or categories. Hence we can study dreamsand images scientifically, since descriptions of them, provided bylarge numbers of people, present a regular pattern - as two of ourcontributors show.Even our excursions into the microscopic world fall, this year,within the domain of human biology: not only the blood cells, butalso the moulds and yeasts, make major contributions to humanwelfare.We therefore, in this number, commend to our Martian visitor'the glory, jest, and riddle of the world'.