A Mechanistic View
Of War and Peace

by George W. Crile

Front Cover:

This is a very unusual book. The author proposes to not eliminate, but to reduce the occurrence of war by medical or genetic means. The book was published in 1915 by The Macmillan Company, New York. This is a copy of a later printing. This is a former library copy from the Temple Library, Cleveland, Ohio. The book has the requisite library markings. The green cloth cover has the title in gilt on the front and down the spine. The cover shows minor signs of wear to the edges, corners and to the top and bottom of the spine. The lower right hand corner of the front cover is a bit “bumped.” The spine is tight and the hinges are strong. The pages are printed on a good quality paper and show no signs of rips or foxing. Exceptions noted, the overall condition of this unique old book is near very good.


Spine

Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. The Phenomena of War
  3. A Biologic Interpretation of War
  4. A Mechanistic View of German Kultur
  5. A Mechanistic View of the Vivisection of Belgium
  6. Evolution toward Peace


Title Page


Title Page – Verso

Excerpt - Introduction:
As surgeon in charge of the Lakeside Unit of Western Reserve University in the service of the American Ambulance at Neuilly-sur-Seine I had the opportunity of obtaining the viewpoints of men who had participated in the present combat.

Visiting the front, I observed the behavior of men in the act of making war. I studied non-combatants at home, refugees, and prisoners of war, and sought similar information from reliable sources as to other nations at war.

As I reflected upon the intensive application of man to war in cold, rain, and mud; in rivers, canals, and lakes; underground, in the air, and under the sea; infected with vermin, covered with scabs, adding the stench of his own filthy body to that of his decomposing comrades; hairy, begrimed, bedraggled, yet with unflagging zeal striving eagerly to kill his fellows; and as I felt within myself the mystical urge of the sound of great cannon I realized that war is a normal state of man…

I do not believe that war can be eliminated from the web of life. It is not certain that its complete elimination would be an ultimate advantage to man. My aim is to make an analysis of war; to point out the probability that these phenomena are explainable on a mechanistic basis; to seek its origin and inherent force in man; and to suggest means by which the very forces which have made cycles of war inevitable may be utilized for the evolution of longer and more secure cycles of peace.
End excerpt


Gift book plate – inside front cover


Frontispiece – The Establishment of Action Patterns of War
The Sussex Man – The most ancient known inhabitant of England. Reconstructed from the jaw and a portion of the skull of a skeleton found by Mr. Charles Dawson in Uckfield, Sussex, England, in 1912.


Left: Sample Text
Right Top: Exhausted Soldier from the Trenches – This man slept continuously for two days and nights after admission to the American Ambulance.
Right Bottom: Shrapnel Wound of Jaw – The piece of shrapnel removed from the wound is held by the nurse.


Top: Compound Fracture of the Arm with Serious Infection.
Center: Multiple Wounds caused by Hand Grenade.
Bottom: Frozen Feet


The Phylogenetic Origin of War – The protection of home and family against invasion.


Left: Giant Gorilla
Right: Soldier in Activity
The physiognomy of the soldier compared with that of the brute illustrates well the fact that war is in truth a “Fling back in Phylogeny.”


Family of Refugees at San Sulpice, Paris – This family lived for weeks in a cellar during the bombardment of Rheims.


The Call to Arms and the End Result


The Glory vs. the Reality of War


The Soldiers’ Burial


Left: Section of Normal Adrenal
Right: Section of Adrenal after Insomnia
Compare A and B, noting in the latter the disappearance of cytoplasm, the loss of some nuclei, and the generally disorganized appearance of the cells.

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