X ON THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY 267 



which it did make at the latter end of the last 

 and the beginning of the present century, think- 

 ing men began to discern that nnder this title 

 of " Xatural History " there were included very 

 heterogeneous constituents — that, for example, 

 geology and mineralogy were, in many respects, 

 widely different from botany and zoology; that a 

 man might obtain an extensive knowledge 'of the 

 structure and functions of plants and animals 

 w^ithout having need to enter upon the study of 

 geology or mineralogy, and vice versa; and, fur- 

 ther as knowledge advanced, it became clearer that 

 there was a great analogy, a very close alliance, 

 between those two sciences, of botany and zoology 

 which deal with human beings, wdiile they are 

 much more widely separated from all other studies. 

 It is due to Buffon to remark that he clearly recog- 

 nised this great fact. He says: " Ces deux genres 

 d^etres organises [les animaux et les vegetaux] ont 

 beaucoup plus de proprietes communes que de 

 differences reelles." Therefore, it is not wonder- 

 ful that, at the beginning of the present centur}^, 

 in two different countries, and so far as I know, 

 without any intercommunication, two famous men 

 clearly conceived the notion of uniting the sci- 

 ences which deal with living matter into one 

 whole, and of dealing with them as one discipline. 

 In fact, I may say there were three men to 

 whom this idea occurred contemporaneously, al- 

 though there were but two who carried it into 



