264 OX THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY x 



so little known, greatly as it deserves to be studied, 

 " The Leviathan," in order that I may put to you 

 in the wonderfully terse and clear language of 

 Thomas Ilobbcs, what was his view of the matter. 

 He says: — 



" The ree^ister of knowledijje of fact is called 

 historv. AVliereof there be two sorts, one called 

 natural history; which is the history of such facts 

 or effects of nature as have no dependence on 

 man's will; such as are the histories of metals, 

 plants, animals, regions, and the like. The other 

 is civil history; which is the history of the volun- 

 tary actions of men in commonwealths." 



So tliat all historv of fact was divided into 

 these two great groups of natural and of civil his- 

 tory. Tlie Royal Society was in course of founda- 

 tion about the time that Hobbcs was writing tliis 

 book, which was published in IGol; and that So- 

 ciety was termed a " Society for the Improvement 

 of Natural Knowledge," which was then nearly 

 the same thing as a " Society for the Improve- 

 ment of Xatural History." As time went on, 

 and the various branches of human knowledge 

 became more distinctly developed and separated 

 from one another, it was found that some were 

 much more susceptible of precise mathematical 

 treatment than others. The publication of the 

 " Principia " of Newton, which probably gave a 

 greater stimulus to ph3'sical science than any work 

 ever published before, or which is likely to be 



