14 



THE HISTORY OF ECOLOGY 



science of life." The idea was already old 

 when Brooks expressed it. 



Now, having placed two shots on this 

 side of our target, we may try a much 

 longer range and come up on the historical 

 development of the basic ideas of ecology 

 in conventional fashion. The first half of 

 this historical section will deal with the 

 beginnings of ecology up to about 1900 and 

 will be followed by a survey of the rapid 

 growth of the subject during the present 

 century. 



While the word "ecology" was put to- 

 gether from Greek roots and is based on 

 oikos, which means home, the Greeks did 

 not have a word for it, and it is problemat- 

 ical to what extent they appreciated the 

 basic ideas and relationships that the word 

 now summarizes. In this respect, ecology 

 does not diflFer essentially from many other 

 phases of modern biology. The Greeks did 

 observe the home life of animals after the 

 relatively unorganized methods of what is 

 still called natural history, and they were 

 aware of the necessity for interrelations be- 

 tween living things and their environment. 



Empedocles, about the middle of the 

 fifth century B.C., said that plants procure 

 nourishment through pores in stem and 

 leaves; he obviously realized that plants 

 have relations with their environment. 



Pre-Aristotelian Greeks had developed a 

 considerable stock of information about 

 some of the environmental influences in 

 relation to human health. Hippocrates, so- 

 called father of medicine, emphasized such 

 matters. Among the extant writings that 

 Adams (1849) considers genuine works of 

 Hippocrates, that "On Airs, Waters and 

 Places" is strongly environmental in its 

 medical emphasis. There is a recognition of 

 the influence of location, exposure, and sea- 

 son upon health, but Hippocrates also knew 

 that in order to estimate the effect of a 

 given season, the nature of the preceding 

 seasons must also be considered. The first 

 paragraph of this essay gives his approach 

 to medicine: 



"Whoever wishes to investigate medicine 

 properly, should proceed thus: in the first 

 place to consider the seasons of the year, and 

 what effects each of them produces (for they 

 are not at all alike, but differ much from 

 themselves in regard to their changes). Then 

 the winds, the hot and the cold, especially such 

 as are common to all countries, and then such 



as are peculiar to each locality. We must also 

 consider the qualities of the waters, for as they 

 differ from one another in taste and weight, 

 so also do they differ much in their qualities. 

 In the same manner, when one comes into a 

 city to which he is a stranger, he ought to con- 

 sider its situation, how it lies as to the winds 

 and the rising of the sun; for its influence is 

 not the same whether it lies to the north or 

 the south, to the rising or to the setting sun. 

 These things one ought to consider most atten- 

 tively, and concerning tlie waters which the 

 inhabitants use, whether they be marshy and 

 soft, or hard, and running from elevated and 

 rocky situations, and then if saltish and unfit 

 for cooking; and the ground, whether it be 

 naked and deficient in water, or wooded and 

 well watered, and whether it lies in a hollow, 

 confined situation, or is elevated and cold; 

 and the mode in which the inhabitants live, 

 and what are their pursuits, whether they are 

 fond of drinking and eating to excess, and 

 given to indolence, or are fond of exercise and 

 labour, and not given to excess in eating and 

 drinking." 



The applications that follow are not us- 

 ually impressive in the light of present day 

 knowledge, but the point of view is mod- 

 ern. These early teachings are important in 

 the history of ecology since they give some 

 inkling of the state of Greek thought before 

 Aristotle's activities began. 



Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) is usually re- 

 garded as the founder of biological science. 

 Ramaley (1940) suggested that Aristotle 

 "hardlv takes a place in ecology, although 

 he did studv the habits of animals to some 

 extent." This calls for a look at Aristotle's 

 writings.* The material given in Section 1 

 of Book 1 may be outlined in part as fol- 

 lows: 



Animals differ in modes of subsistence. 

 Aristotle says, in actions, in habits, and in 

 their parts. They include: 



T. Water animals 



1. Entirely aquatic 



2. Animals that live and feed in water, but 



breathe air and bring forth their 

 young on land. 



3. Sea dwellers 



4. River dwellers 



5. Lake dwellers 



6. Marsh dwellers 



Elsewhere Aristotle definitelv recognized 

 amphibious animals. 



* D'Arcy Thompson's 1910 translation of 

 Historia Animalium. 



