| Foreword | 1 |
| 1 Introduction | 4 |
| 2 Evolution | 7 |
| The origin of life / The fossil record / Mammals / Primates / Man | |
| 3 Race | 17 |
| Racism / Racial classifications / Jews / Negroes / Brain size / Superiority / Purity / A biological necessity? / The scientific conclusions | |
| 4 Population | 30 |
| Past / Present / Future / Urbanisation / Immigration / Prediction | |
| 5 An Apologia for Reproduction | 39 |
| 6 The Male | 44 |
| Means of sperm transfer / The penis / Potency / Aphrodisiacs / Spermatozoa / Testicles / Ejaculation / Sperm prints / Nomenclature / Mating time / Sexual offences / Homosexuality / Castration / Circumcision | |
| 7 The Female | 66 |
| Anatomy / Oestrus / Ovulation / Menstruation / Sex determination / Virgin birth / Menopause and the change / Circumcision | |
| 8 Fertility | 81 |
| The infertile couple / Artificial Reproduction / The case of the 'strange males' / Age, ardour, mood | |
| 9 Contraception | 89 |
| Historical ideas / The birth controllers / Religious opinion / The modern situation / The pill / I.U.D.'s / Sterilisation | |
| 10 Marriage | 103 |
| 11 Pregnancy | 108 |
| The signs / The tests / Embryology / Fertilisation / Ectopic pregnancies / Implantation / Ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm / The calendar of a pregnancy / The puzzles of pregnancy / Its normality / Pica / The placenta / The umbilical cord / Evolutionary parallels / The foetus and the law / Abortion | |
| 12 The Time Before Birth | 142 |
| Gestation length / Legal pregnancies / Animal pregnancies / Labour / First, second and third stages / Presentation / Uterine crying | |
| 13 Birth | 152 |
| The history of midwifery / The Chamberlen family and forceps / Caesarians / Anaesthesia / Home or hospital / How long a stay / Maternal death / Semmelweiss and puerperal fever / Infant mortality / Infanticide / The sex ratio / The baby 's weight / Prematurity / The puerperineum / Paternal labour / Ergot / Who has babies | |
| 14 Lactation | 187 |
| Human milk / Breast-feeding / The price of milk / Polythelia / Keeping abreast / Weaning / Twins and Abnormalities Occurrence of twins / Their value / Multiple births / Twin diagnosis / Conjoined twins / Proof of separation / Why twins at all / Congenital malformations / Their registration / The principal afflictions / German measles / Contergan and Distaval / The cause of malformations / 'Maternal impressions' | |
| 16 Inheritance | 196 |
| Its background / Chromosomes / Coding / Mutations / Intersexes / Inherent traits / Haemophilia / Tasters / The Hapsburg lip / Albinism / Height / Colour / Baldness / Colour blindness | |
| 17 Inbreeding | 222 |
| The churches' attitudes / Cousin marriages / Forbidden matings / Effects of inbreeding / Incest / Genetic recessives | |
| 18 Blood Groups | 251 |
| Karl Landsteiner / Transfusions / Blood group distribution / Group advantages / How many groups / Rhesus / Paternity and the courts | |
| 19 The Growth of Babies | 261 |
| The rate of growth / Survival / Cot-deaths / Battered babies / Developmental progress / First reflexes / Changes in lungs, brain, sleep, skeleton, muscle, fat, heart, kidneys / Spock / Swaddling / Child law | |
| 20 Puberty | 272 |
| 21 Size | 294 |
| 22 Physical Ability | 298 |
| Fitness / Athletics / Somatotyping / Man versus woman / The future | |
| 23 Old Age | 309 |
| What is senescence / How long is life / Record old age / Animal comparisons / Changes in the old / Their causes | |
| 24 Death | 320 |
| When is death / The signs of death / Its causes / Its secrecy | |
| 25 Suicide | 328 |
| Society's attitudes / Suicide history / Who kill themselves / Rates elsewhere / Students / Children / Methods / Suicide and murder | |
| 26 The Brain | 336 |
| Animal and human / Anatomy / The cerebrum, and its lobes / Left-sided dominance / Sinistrals / Intelligence / The EEG / Surgery / Palsy / Concussion / Memory / Nerves, cranial and spinal / Transmission | |
| 27 Sleep | 351 |
| 28 Speech | 358 |
| 29 Temperature | 365 |
| Normal / Why warm bodies / Chilling / Heat / Hibernation / Hypothermia | |
| 30 The Senses | 376 |
| Background to vision / The eye / Folds, lashes, brows and tears / Reading / Colour blindness / Focussing errors / Blindness / Hearing and balance / Deafness / Smelling and smells / Tasting and tastes / Touch, pain and itch / The sixth sense | |
| 31 The Skin | 402 |
| Dermis and epidermis / Skin patterns and prints / Sunbathing / Tattooing / Beauty / Hair / Lanugo and vellus / Bristles and soap / Teeth, deciduous and permanent / Decay / Cleaning and fluoride | |
| 32 Digestion and Nutrition | 416 |
| Summary / Enzymes / Food / Actual requirements / Protein / Fats / Carbohydrates / Minerals / Vitamins / Water / How much food / Obesity / Starvation / Cooking / Food poisoning | |
| 33 The Alimentary Canal | 456 |
| Beaumont's window / The stomach / Acidity / Ulcers / Vomit / Intestines / Appendix / Liver / Pancreas / Spleen | |
| 34 Excretion | 472 |
| Its evolution / The kidneys / Urine / The bladder | |
| 35 Respiration and Blood | 480 |
| Smaller solutions / The need for a system / The lungs / Breathing / Its control / Altitude / Drown in g / Pollution / Choking, coughing, sneezing / Laughing, yawning, hiccups / Oxygen, excess and lack / The heart / Harvey and Galen / One pump into two / Heartbeat / Blood pressure / Its changes / Blood distribution / The pull of gravity / Blood; red, white and platelets / Plasma / Blood-letting / Blood-giving | |
| 36 Skeleton and Muscle | 502 |
| The bone total / Development / Growth / Sex differences / Dual function of bone / Framework and minerals / The hand / The muscle total / All or none / The working of muscle / A.T.P. and A.D.P. / Cramp, stiffness and stitch | |
| 37 Radiation | 513 |
| Ionising radiation / Its effects / Death and injury / Safe levels / Fallout / Sensing radiation / A glossary | |
| 38 Postscript | 526 |
| Index | 529 |