8 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



acters. Only those have produced permanent results who 

 have interrogated nature in the spirit of devotion to truth 

 and waited patiently for her replies. The work founded on 

 selfish motives and vanity has sooner or later fallen by the 

 wayside. We can recognize now that the work of scientific 

 investigation, subjected to so much hostile criticism as it 

 appeared from time to time, was undertaken in a reverent 

 spirit, and was not iconoclastic, but remodelling in its in- 

 fluence. Some of the glories of our race are exhibited in 

 the lives of the pioneers in scientific progress, in their struggles 

 to establish some great truth and to maintain intellectual 



integrity. 



The names of some of the men of biology, such as Harvey, 

 Linnaeus, Cuvier, Darwin, Huxley, and Pasteur, are widely 

 known because their work came before the people, but others 

 equally deserving of fame on account of their contributions 

 to scientific progress will require an introduction to most of 

 our readers. 



In recounting the story of the rise of biology, we shall 

 have occasion to make the acquaintance of this goodly com- 

 pany. Before beginning the narrative in detail, however, 

 we shall look summarily at some general features of scientific 

 progress and at the epochs of biology. 



THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH SCIENCE DEVELOPED 



In a brief sketch of biology there is relatively little in the 

 ancient world that requires notice except the work of Aris- 

 totle and Galen; but with the advent of Vesalius, in 1543, 

 our interest begins to freshen, and, thereafter, through lean 

 times and fat times there is always something to command 

 our attention. 



The early conditions must be dealt with in order to appre- 

 ciate what followed. We are to recollect that in the ancient 



