﻿PREFACE 
  vii 
  

  

  It 
  looks 
  as 
  if 
  Nature 
  were 
  much 
  more 
  conformable 
  than 
  is 
  

   often 
  supposed 
  to 
  religious 
  interpretation, 
  hut 
  we 
  have 
  not 
  

   seen 
  it 
  to 
  be 
  our 
  duty 
  to 
  justify 
  the 
  ways 
  of 
  God 
  to 
  man. 
  

   We 
  have 
  tried 
  to 
  keep 
  as 
  close 
  as 
  possible 
  to 
  the 
  facts 
  of 
  the 
  

   case, 
  leaving 
  philosophical 
  and 
  religious 
  inferences 
  for 
  

   those 
  who 
  are 
  better 
  qualified 
  to 
  draw 
  them. 
  

  

  Our 
  endeavour 
  to 
  present 
  the 
  scientific 
  view 
  of 
  Animate 
  

   Nature 
  has 
  often 
  led 
  only 
  to 
  a 
  disappointing 
  balancing 
  of 
  

   alternative 
  formulations, 
  for 
  science 
  abounds 
  in 
  open 
  ques- 
  

   tions; 
  it 
  has 
  also 
  involved 
  considerable 
  noise 
  of 
  facts 
  through- 
  

   out 
  the 
  lectures, 
  for 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  other 
  way 
  of 
  getting 
  beyond 
  

   mere 
  opinions. 
  But 
  it 
  will 
  be 
  understood 
  that 
  the 
  appeal 
  to 
  

   facts 
  is 
  not 
  exactly 
  for 
  their 
  own 
  sake, 
  as 
  in 
  a 
  course 
  of 
  lec- 
  

   tures 
  on 
  descriptive 
  Biology, 
  but 
  as 
  a 
  basis 
  for 
  those 
  distinc- 
  

   tive 
  biological 
  and 
  psycho-biological 
  concepts 
  of 
  organism, 
  

   behaviour, 
  development, 
  heredity, 
  evolution, 
  and 
  so 
  on, 
  which 
  

   must 
  be 
  included 
  in 
  a 
  philosophical 
  view 
  of 
  Nature. 
  

  

  It 
  would 
  be 
  ungracious 
  not 
  to 
  use 
  this 
  opportunity 
  of 
  

   thanking 
  many 
  friends 
  in 
  St. 
  Andrews 
  and 
  Dundee 
  espe- 
  

   cially 
  Principal 
  Sir 
  John 
  Herkless 
  and 
  Principal 
  John 
  Yule 
  

   Mackay 
  from 
  whom 
  I 
  received 
  much 
  kindness 
  while 
  de- 
  

   livering 
  these 
  lectures. 
  

  

  UNIVERSITY 
  OF 
  ABERDEEN, 
  

   May, 
  1919. 
  

  

  