Harvard School of Public Health - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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Left to right —Dr. Wyon, Dr. Snyder, Dr. Forbes. DEPARTMENT OF DEMOGRAPHY AND HUMAN ECOLOGY John C. Snyder, A.B., M.D., Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Microbiology, Acting Head of the Department William H. Forbes, M.D., Ph.D., Lecturer on Physiology, Assistant to the Dean, and Faculty Advisor to Foreign Students John B. Wyon, M.B., B.Ch., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Population Studies Ansley J. Coale, Ph.D., Visiting Lecturer in Demography Ronald Freedman, Ph.D., Visiting Lecturer in Demography Stephen J. Plank, Ph.B., A.B., M.D., M.P.H. Teaching Felloiv in Demography and Human Ecology T HE rapid geometric increase in the world’s population is attributable in part to the application of scientific and medical discoveries of the ninteenth and twentieth centuries which have lowered death rates and prolonged life, but the in¬ creases in population density now occuring in several areas of the world are so large that future economic and social advances will be vitiated. The former president of the World Bank is quoted as saying, Population growth threatens to nullify all our efforts to raise living standards in many of the poorer countries. We are coming to a situation in which an optimist will be the man who thinks that present living standards can be maintained. . . The magnitude of the population problem in some of the underdeveloped areas tends to obscure the fact that highly industrialized countries may also fall prey to 13

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DEMOGRAPHY and HUMAN ECOLOGY Dr. John C. Snyder Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Microbiology, Acting Head of the Department 12

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the serious consequences of a rapid increase in population density. The combination of poverty and dense crowding of underprivileged people has disastrous effects on the social and economic gains won by civilization over the centuries and amply justifies apprehension over the increasing size of the world’s population. There is a more subtle aspect, however, which should also be faced: the social and political institutions of our present civilization, which place high value on human life, have suspended the operation of the forces of natural selection in the Darwinian sense. Major changes therefore can be expected in the quality of future generations from the viewpoint of genetics and heredity. The conclusion we must accept is that there are many independent forces acting to determine the quantity and quality of the world’s population. The profession of public health too long has focused its attention on prevention of death and disability without concern for the physical and social effects on mankind which are the consequences of overcrowding and poverty. Extensive studies and research are needed if intelligent action is to be taken. Moreover, the activities of the public health expert must be closely integrated with those of the officials responsible for planning economic development, programs of general education, nutrition and agriculture. The Harvard School of Public Health is convinced that by means of intelligent observation and experiment and by means of action skillfully conceived and executed, it will be possible to influence the behavior of man for the achievement of health on a scale undreamed of a century ago. Accordingly, the School has inaugurated a new department under the title Demography and Human Ecology. Its purposes are (a) to study the effects of public health measures on the quality as well as the density of population; and (b) to identify and evaluate the basic forces which influence the efforts of governments or of local groups to regulate their population growth. The complexity of the population problem is such that cooperation will be needed from the experts of many disciplines, especially demography, psychology, genetics, and economics. The traditional public health sciences will also be involved. These are epidemiology, biostatistics, physiology and nutrition, the latter providing also cog¬ nizance of potentials in food production. The Department is in the embryonic stage of its development and is receiving active cooperation from members of several other departments in the School. Special seminars are in progress and more formal instruction will be presented next year. Drs. Snyder, Forbes and Wyon are assisted by Dr. Stephen Plank who is a teaching fellow and also a doctoral candidate investigating the immunologic aspects of fertility as his thesis problem. 14