THE BIOLOGISTS PROBLEM 71 



THE BIOLOGIST'S PEOBLEM 



By Peofessob T. D. A. COCKERELL 



UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 



THE problem is, to be free without being absurd. Confronted by a 

 series of types, or a series of phenomena, one attempts to classify 

 in an original and accurate manner. In the natural sciences, it is never 

 possible to have the whole of the facts before us. Thus, in paleontology, 

 there is never a complete series of f ossilif erous strata ; in taxonomy, the 

 materials are always more or less insufficient and must be so. Moreover, 

 were our series of specimens complete, we should still have to reason 

 and speculate about their history and relationships. Still again, if we 

 could assemble and correctly arrange all the data on a given subject, the 

 borderlands of this subject would still remain nebulous, and this no 

 matter how far our researches might extend, unless they compassed all 

 reality, which is impossible. 



Artificially, we devise a system which, bounding and restricting 

 facts, gives us the appearance of great precision. We solemnly discuss 

 whether this or that fact falls within this or that artificial category, as 

 if the category were the more real and substantial of the two. We come 

 to know our pigeon holes better than we know the pigeons which in- 

 habit them; and as for those birds which nest in the trees or rocks, we 

 will have nothing to do with them. Thus there arises a species of ortho- 

 doxy, quite analogous to that of the churches. A recent writer, refer- 

 ring to the desire of biologists to refer the vital phenomena of certain 

 organisms to mechanical causes, frankly expresses the opinion that 

 "this is a laudable desire." It is laudable to try to make your facts 

 roost in the pigeon holes already provided, rather than elsewhere. In 

 the classification of animals and plants, workers are sometimes divided 

 into two camps, known as the lumpers and the splitters. The lumpers 

 say, let us use large pigeon holes for our data ; for all practical purposes, 

 fine divisions are equally useless and unnecessary. The splitters say 

 rather, let us discriminate as finely as we can; but even they have to 

 draw the line somewhere. It is a singular thing that the lumpers actu- 

 ally pride themselves on their lumping; regard it as a virtue to ignore 

 the little facts. The splitters are never quite so self-satisfied, because 

 they are breaking new ground, and are not so sure of themselves. 

 Nearly every naturalist has had a queer feeling when confronted by a 

 long series of apparently new species ; a sense of the uncanny, almost a 



