American Museum of Natural History 



BIOLOGY STARTS AT HOME 



People living in the uplands of Africa know some biology of the giraffe, but little 

 about the lobster or the walrus. Eskimos can manage animals of the arctic, but know 

 nothing of coons or squirrels. But everybody learns some biology 



If the subject is so Important, why did it take so long to reach a common 

 name for it.-^ A general science of living things became possible only after 

 human beings began to move away from their villages and hamlets, and to 

 see strange people, strange plants and animals. People had first to discover 

 that the world is much larger than their own country, and that it contains 

 many "wonders" that are perfectly familiar and commonplace to other 

 people. 



The Greeks appear to have been the first people who tried in an orderly 

 way to bring together facts about all kinds of animals and plants from all 

 parts of the world. Collecting samples from everywhere must have been 



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