532 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mous ; but I should like you to recollect that that is a sacrifice, and 

 that you should not he surprised if it occasionally happens that you 

 see a biologist trespassing upon questions of philosophy or politics, 

 or meddling with human education, because, after all, that is a part 

 of his kingdom which he has only voluntarily forsaken. 



Having now defined the meaning of the word "biology," and 

 having indicated the general scope of biological science, I turn to my 

 second question, which is, Why should we study biology ? Possi- 

 bly the time may come when that will seem a very odd question. 

 That we, living creatures, should not feel a certain amount of inter- 

 est in what it is that constitutes our life, will eventually, under altered 

 ideas of the fittest objects of human inquiry, seem to be a singular phe- 

 nomenon ; but at present, judging by the practice of teachers and 

 educators, this would seem to be a matter that does not concern us at 

 all. I propose to put before you a few considerations which I dare 

 say many of you will be familiar with already, but which will suffice 

 to show not fully, because to demonstrate this point fully would take 

 a great many lectures that there are some very good and substantial 

 reasons why it may be advisable that we should know something 

 about this branch of human learning. I myself entirely agree with 

 another sentiment of the philosopher of Malmesbury, that " the scope 

 of all speculation is the performance of some action or thing to be 

 done," and I have not any very great respect for or interest in mere 

 knowing as such. I judge of the value of human pursuits by their 

 bearing upon human interests in other words, by their utility ; but I 

 should like that we should quite clearly understand what it is that 

 we mean by this word " utility." Now, in an Englishman's mouth, 

 it generally means that by which we get pudding or praise, or both. 

 I have no doubt that is one meaning of the word utility, but it by no 

 means includes all I mean by utility. I think that knowledge of every 

 kind is useful in proportion as it tends to give people right ideas, 

 which are essential to the foundation of right practice, and to re- 

 move wrong ideas, which are the no less essential foundations and 

 fertile mothers of every description of error in practice. And, upon 

 the whole, inasmuch as this world is, after all, whatever practical peo- 

 ple may say, absolutely governed by ideas, and very often by the 

 wildest and most hypothetical ideas, it is a matter of the very great- 

 est importance that our theories of things, and even of things that 

 seem a long way apart from our daily lives, should be as far as pos- 

 sible true, and as far as possible removed from error. It is not only in 

 the coarser practical sense of the word " utility," but in this higher 

 and broader sense, that I measure the value of the study of biology 

 by its utility, and I shall try to point out to you that you will feel 

 the need of some knowledge of biology at a great many turns of this 

 present nineteenth-century life of ours. For example, most of us lay 

 great and very just stress upon the conception which is entertained 



