A Zoologist on the Principles of Science. 1 



By F. A. Bather, M.A. 



Professor Brooks entitles his book " The Foundations of Zoology," but 

 he ends by referring to it, more justly, as " my work on the Principles 

 of Science." It is not modesty that selects the less comprehensive 

 title. It is desire to emphasise the belief " that the principles of science, 

 as distinguished from the concrete sciences, are part of biology." 



The ground taken is that the methods of extending knowledge, as 

 well as the generalisations therefrom, are operations of the human 

 mind. Every physical science rests on a metaphysical basis, which 

 has its origin, so far as we are concerned, in the mind. It is the 

 student of animals who has to face the problems presented by the 

 origin of the mind ; and it follows that, when questions are raised 

 concerning the operations of the mind in scientific study, " the zoologist 

 has a peculiar right to ask answers, in addition to the right which he 

 shares with other students of science." Or, from another point of 

 view, since life is response to the order of nature, the study of the 

 order to which response is made is as much a part of biological study 

 as is the organism which responds. 



When I found this to be the author's conception of his office, a 

 sense of incompetence urged me to withdraw from the attempt to deal 

 with matters so profound. But the description of the book as " a 

 course of lectures delivered at Columbia University " reassured me : at 

 least I was capable of learning. We students of zoology need a book 

 to show us the relations of our science to broader schemes of philo- 

 sophy, a book written from our own standpoint and condescending to 

 our ignorance. The fact that this need is not recognised by all of us 

 merely shows how real a need it is. And here, perhaps, lies the chief 

 value of the present work. Dr. Brooks has so deserved a reputation 

 as a zoologist, that any writings by him on " the foundations of 

 zoology " are sure to be read by his fellow-workers ; and through 

 these essays their interest will be stimulated and their intellectual 

 sympathy widened. But as " a course of lectures " ! Well, the least 



1 "The Foundations of Zoology," by William Keith Brooks. Columbia University 

 Biological Series, vol. v., 8vo, pp. viii. +3-40. New York : The Macmillan Co. London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1899. Price 10s. 6d. net. 



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