INTRODUCTION 3 



deals with things as dead as the dead languages and not nearly as 

 well preserved." 



Biology rests ultimately upon the foundation of the two funda- 

 mental sciences, Physics and Chemistry. Recent advancement in 

 the utilization of ultra-violet light and radium on animal growth 

 gives us an inkling of the future possibilities in Physics. The com- 

 paratively new science of Biochemistry is continually presenting us 

 with explanations of extremely important physiological processes 

 hitherto unknown. 



' In another age, all the branches of knowledge, whether relating to 

 God, or man or nature, will become the knowledge of "the revelation 

 of a single science," and all things, like the stars in heaven, will shed 

 their light upon one another.' Jowett: Plato, Introduction to Meno. 



Physiology (Gr. phusisy nature; logos, discourse), the study of 

 functions, includes the study of Animal Behavior and Psychology. 

 Lovatt Evans, in an address before the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, said: "Physiology is something more than 

 bio-chemistry and bio-physics; it is and always will remain a bio- 

 logical subject." 



Ecology (Gr. oikos, house; logos , discourse), the study of the re- 

 lationship of animals to their environment, has developed far beyond 

 the old Natural History of which Miall said: "Natural History 

 is encumbered by multitudes of facts which are recorded only because 

 they are easy to record." The study of Physiology is now so linked 

 with that of Ecology that it is difficult to separate them. 



Zoogeography treats of the spatial distribution of animals while 

 Paleozoology, which deals with their fossil remains, links Geology 

 with Zoology. 



Evolution (Lat. e, out; volvere, roll), the study of the origin 

 and descent (or ascent) of species, must draw upon all fields of 

 Morphology and Physiology as well as on Taxonomy and Paleon- 

 tology. Heredity treats of the transmission of characteristics from 

 parents to offspring. Genetics deals with Heredity and Variation. 



Living Things Compared With Non-Living Matter. — The late 

 Professor W. K. Brooks of Johns Hopkins University once said: 

 "A living thing is a being which responds to the stimulus of any 

 event in such a way as to adapt its actions to other events of which 

 the stimulus is the sign." 



There are certain fundamental distinctions between living and 

 non-living matter, as will be seen in the following table. 



