Certainly, the discoveries of modern psychology and physiology have made it increasingly evident that the business of child-rearing is, of all businesses, far and away the most important to the race. And it is a business that has become more important than it ever was in the past, because of the greater demands made on human mentality, and the more numerous sources of stress on human emotionality that are involved in the increasing complexity of civilised life. Either the clock of progress must be stopped and the world revert to more primitive modes of living, or else the men and women of the days to come must be conditioned, through wiser educational methods that begin in the first years of life, to adapt themselves more smoothly to the modern environment. We do not want to stop the clock of progress. But neither could we wish to see the people of the world degenerate into a race of psychasthenes, neurasthenes, and otherwise mentally or nervously disorganised men and women. Happily, means of attaining smoother adaptation, of increasing both the mental vigour and the nervous resistance of the race are now available. They are available, thanks chiefly to the labours of the medical psychologists. And it is my hope that, by stressing the adaptatory elements in their discoveries and presenting them concretely to the lay reader, I may have contributed something to promote appreciation of these elements by parents in general, and appropriate action for the benefit of the growing generation. First and last, be it clearly understood, it is on the development of a really efficient parenthood that the future of society depends. INDEX Adenoids, and mental backwardness, 23, 26; and sulkiness, 70-71. Anger, effects of, 87-92. Ayres, L. P., 6, 7, 24. Bashfulness, 167-187; two types of, 171-172; causes, 171-176; cure, 177-186; prevention, 186-187, 202-203. Bechterew, W., 165, 180-181, 185. Binet, A., 3, 5, 9. Binet-Simon tests, 9-10, 13-17. Bohannon, E. W., 41-46, 48-49. Brill, A. A., 47, 58, 182-184, 234-237, 244-248, 251, 255-257. Cannon, W. B., 90, 91, 93.