CHAPTER XXVI 

 DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGY 



History must convey the sense not only of succession but also of 

 evolution. — New York Times. 



The story of Man's slow emergence from a condition in which he 

 was completely at the mercy of his environment, to his relatively 

 masterful position as exhibited in our present civilization, is the 

 inspiring history of science — the intellectual development of the 

 race. Indeed, as we have seen, knowledge spells power — power 

 to direct and become adapted to the forces of nature, and this 

 knowledge Man has acquired after much labor and safely treasured 

 with great pains as a result of scientific study. Truly "the succes- 

 sion of men during the course of many centuries should be consid- 

 ered as one and the same man who exists always and learns con- 

 tinuously"; but we, for the most part, forget the past whose heirs 

 we are — "the present is vocal and urging, the past silent and 

 patient." Let us for the moment turn to the works of some of the 

 outstanding contributors to biological history. 



Some knowledge of hunting, agriculture, and husbandry was one 

 of the early acquirements of prehistoric Man, and at the dawn of 

 history, nearly 5000 years ago, systems of medicine apparently 

 found a place in Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations. So, on the 

 practical side, biology has a very ancient beginning. But biology as 

 the science of life in which emphasis is placed on the study of vital 

 phenomena for their own sake really begins with the Greeks. 



A. Greek and Roman Science 



Science reaching Greece from the South and East fell upon fertile 

 soil, and in the hands of the Hellenic natural philosophers was 

 transformed into coherent systems through the realization that 

 nature works by fixed laws — a conception foreign to the Oriental 

 mind but the corner-stone of all future scientific investigation. It is 

 not an exaggeration to say that to all intents and purposes the 

 Greeks laid the foundations of the chief subdivisions of natural 

 science and, specifically, created biology. 



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