Preface
THIS book is primarily
a study of Man and ultimately embraces all the great qualities
and problems of Man. As a study of Man it takes into consideration
all the characteristics which make Man what he is. If some
readers do note the absence of certain expressions familiar to
them, it does not mean that the author does not feel or think
as many other people-he does-and very much so; but in this book
an effort has been made to approach the problem of Man from a
scientific-mathematical point of view, and therefore great pains
have been taken not to use words insufficiently defined,
or words with many meanings. The author has done his utmost to
use such words as convey only the meaning intended, and in the
case of some words, such as "spiritual," there has been superadded
the word "so-called," not because the author has any belief or
disbelief in such phenomena; there is no need for beliefs because
some such phenomena exist, no matter what we may think of them
or by what name we call them; but because the word "spiritual"
is not scientifically defined, and every individual understands
and uses this word in a personal and private way. To be
impersonal the author has had to indicate this element
by adding "so-called." I repeat once again that this book is not
a "materialistic" or a "spiritualistic" book-it is a study of
"Man" and therefore does and should include materialistic
as well as spiritual phenomena because only the complex of these
phenomena constitutes the complex of Man.
The problem has
not been approached from the point of view of any private doctrine
or creed, but from a mathematical, an engineering, point of view,
which is impersonal and passionless. It is obvious that to be
able to speak about the great affairs of Man, his spiritual, moral,
physical, economic, social or political status, it must first
be ascertained what Man is-what is his real nature and what are
the basic laws of his nature. If we succeed in finding the laws
of human nature, all the rest will be a comparatively easy task-the
ethical, social, economic and political status of Man should be
in accord with the laws of his nature; then civilization will
be a human civilization-a permanent and peaceful one-not before.
It is useless to
argue if electricity be "natural" or "supernatural," of
"material" or of "spiritual" origin. As a matter of fact we do
not ask these questions in studying electricity; we endeavor to
find out the natural laws governing it and in handling live wires
we do not argue or speculate about them--we use rubber gloves,
etc. It will be the same with Man and the great affairs of Man--we
have, first of all, to know what Man is.
Though this book
has been written with scrupulous care to avoid words or terms
of vague meaning-and though it often may seem coldly critical
of things metaphysical, it has not been written with indifference
to that great, perhaps the greatest, urge of the human heart-the
craving for spiritual truth-our yearning for the higher potentialities
of that which we call "mind," "soul" and "spirit"-but it has been
written with the deep desire to find the source of these qualities,
their scientific significance and a scientific proof of them,
so that they may be approached and studied by the best minds of
the world without the digressions, and misinterpretations that
are caused by the color and the confusion of personal emotions;
and if the book be read with care, it will be seen that, though
the clarifying definition of the classes of life has been chiefly
used in the book for its great carrying power in the practical
world, its greatest help will ultimately be in guiding the
investigation, the right valuation and especially the control
and use of the higher human powers.
In writing this
book I have been not only introducing new ideas and new methods
of analysis, but I have been using a tongue new to me. The original
manuscript was very crude and foreign in form, and I am greatly
indebted to various friends for their patient kindness in correcting
the many errors of my poor English.
I am also under
great obligations to Walter Polakov, Doctor of Engineering, for
his exceedingly helpful suggestions, not only in giving me a thorough
criticism from the point of view of the Engineer, but also in
devoting his energies to organizing the first "Time-binding Club"
where these problems have been discussed and criticized, with
great practical results.
To all those who
have read and criticized the manuscript or helped otherwise-Professors
E. H. Moore, C. J. Keyser, J. H. Robinson, Burges Johnson, E.
A. Ross, A. Petrunkevitch; and Doctors J. Grove-Korski, Charles
P. Steinmetz, J. P. Warbasse; Robert B. Wolf, Vice-President of
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Champlain L. Riley,
Vice-President of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating
Engineers; Miss Josephine Osborn; to the authors, L. Brandeis,
E. G. Conklin, C. J. Keyser, J. Loeb, E. S. Mead, H. O'Higgins,
W. Polakov, J. H. Robinson, R. B. Wolf, for their kind permission
to quote them, I wish to express my sincere appreciation.
I wish also to acknowledge
the deepest gratitude to my wife, formerly Mira Edgerly, who has
found in this discovery of the natural law for the human class
of life, the solution of her life long search, and who, because
of her interest in my work, has given me incomparably inspiring
help and valuable criticism. It is not an exaggeration to state
that except for her steady and relentless work and her time,
which saved my time, this book could not have been produced
in such a comparatively short time.
Mr. Walter Polakov
of New York City, Industrial Counsellor and Industrial Engineer
in New York City, has kindly consented at my request to act, with
my authority, as my representative to whom any further queries
should be addressed in my absence from America.
To all other friends
who have helped in many personal ways I express thankfulness,
as I wish also to thank John Macrae, Esq., the Vice-President
of E. P. Dutton & Co., for his unusual attitude toward publishing
the book.
A. K.
January 17, 1921
New York City.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author and the
publishers acknowledge with gratitude the following permissions
to make use of copyright material in this work:
Messrs. D. C. Heath
& Company, for permission to quote from "Unified Mathematics,"
by Louis C. Karpinski, Harry Y. Benedict and John W. Calhoun.
Messrs. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York and London, for permission to quote from "Organism
as a Whole" and "Physiology of the Brain," by Jacques Loeb.
Messrs. Harper &
Brothers, for permission to quote from "From the Life, Imaginary
Portraits of Some Distinguished Americans," by Harvey O'Higgins.
Messrs. D. Appleton
& Company, for permission to quote from "Corporation Finance,"
by E. S. Mead.
Messrs. J. B. Lippincott
Company, for permission to quote from "Forced Movements," by Jacques
Loeb.
Princeton University
Press, for permission to quote from "Heredity and Environment,"
by Edwin Grant Conklin.
Columbia University
Press, for permission to quote from "The Human Worth of Rigorous
Thinking," by C. J. Keyser.
The Rockefeller
Institute for Medical Research, for permission to quote from The
Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 27.
The New School for
Social Research, for permission to quote from "An Outline of the
History of the Western European Mind," by James Harvey Robinson.
The Engineering
Magazine Company, for permission to quote from "Mastering Power
Production," by Walter N. Polakov.