216 THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY 



public and reprehensible on the part of the laboratory- 

 biologist. Popular appreciation of this biology of the field 

 and shore is attested by the enormous sales of books upon 

 birds, insects, shells, and the like. Interest in natural his- 

 tory is quite spontaneous among children and would, no 

 doubt, find more expression in the recreation and outdoor 

 esthetic enjoyment of adult populations, if Nature Study 

 were effectively taught by the schools. 



The scientific attitude toward this modern natural his- 

 tory or field biology assumed a degree of hopelessness during 

 the closing years of the nineteenth century. The complexity 

 of inter-relationship between living things, as observed in 

 the field, was appalling. Studies on evolutionary problems 

 had been largely field studies. The evolutionary theory 

 seemed, of necessity, to be lacking in precise evidence for 

 evolution in the present. Fruitless discussion had char- 

 acterized the later years of the so-called Post-Darwinian 

 Period. Insurmountable obstacles appeared to stand in the 

 way of progress beyond the analyses made by Wallace and 

 Darwin. Although the zoologist is still appalled by the mag- 

 nitude of the task, the problems of natural history have been 

 attacked anew by the modern science of Ecology. If they are 

 still far from being solved, progress has been made. The 

 ecologist needs all the powers of observation possessed by the 

 older naturalists, together with the mental equipment of the 

 experimentalist. What he does is to take the older observa- 

 tions for what they are worth, and, by carrying the intensive 

 methods of the laboratory to the field and bringing the field 

 into the laboratory, attempt an analysis of the complex 

 inter-relationships which exist in nature. He is not unduly- 

 optimistic; nor does he believe he will shortly ascertain the 

 many factors involved. But step by step progress is being 

 effected. It may be hoped that some of the larger problems 

 will be solved, if industrial development does not obliterate 

 too rapidly the less resistant forms of life. 



The science of ecology, which has thus supplemented 



