28 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
aggregates into the resultant energy of organized waves; that the waves which 
are emitted on the sides of bodies facing each other are more or less neutralized, 
thus allowing of a greater pressure on the outer sides, and thereby causing the 
bodies to be driven together. Finally, the theory presented discovers a complete 
cycle in the transformation of energy. Hitherto the energy dissipated into space 
has found no explanation for its conservation and return. The theory presented 
herein recovers that energy in gravity, ready to be again gs in endless 
recurrent changes. 
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF ECOLOGY. 
BY A. S. HITCHCOCK, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MANHATTAN, KAN. 
An address delivered before the Academy, at Topeka, December 29, 1900, 
I have been requested by the Academy to present a paper upon the subject of 
‘‘Ecology.’’ On account of numerous other duties, I have decided to make this 
subject the title of the address expected of me this year as retiring president. 
The word ‘‘ecology’’ is of recent origin. The word seems to have been first 
used in 1891, by Strasburger, a German botanist. He says, in his discussion of the 
subject: ‘‘Anpassungslehre oder (Ecologie, falschlich jetzt als Biologie bezeich- 
net, da auch doch Biologie uberhaupt die Lehre von den lebenden Wesen ist.’’ 
In 1893 the Madison congress considered, among other matters, the terminology 
of plant physiology. It fell to me, as a member of the committee appointed to 
formulate suggestions, to present our conclusions upon the subject of ecology. 
It was recommended that the term ‘‘ecology’’ be used for that part of plant 
physiology which deals with the adaptive processes of plants, and that it be 
spelled with an ‘‘e”’ instead of ‘‘ce.’’ This recommendation was adopted, and 
the word has since come into general use. Although the word is of recent origin, 
the subject itself has received attention for a much longer period. In Germany, 
it has been known under the name of ‘‘biologie,’’ and, for want of a better term, 
the corresponding English word ‘‘biology’’ has been used in this country. But 
biology, properly, refers to the science of life, and includes the two branches, 
zoOlogy and botany. Hence this second use of the word produces confusion. 
It is difficult to accurately define ecology, as it cannot be easily limited; but, 
as generally accepted, it includes al] that part of physiology in general which 
deals with the effect of environment upon the plant. Physiology, proper, deals 
with the action of physical and chemical forces within the plant. A study of 
the chemical changes connected with nutrition, or the physical forces involved 
in water absorption, is in the domain of physiology. A study of the methods by 
which a plant adapts itself to changes in the amount of water or light, or the 
different soil conditions, is in the domain of ecology. It will be seen that ecology 
deals with organs and physiology with the cell. But in one-celled organisms or 
even in little differentiated multicellular organisms this difference becomes re- 
duced to zero. While itis convenient to segregate certain vital phenomena under 
a separate name, it must not be understood that these phenomena are not brought 
about by the same forces that are considered in physiology. But physiology 
deals with its phenomena as identical with phenomena in the physical world, 
and is constantly trying to reduce these phenomena to their lowest terms; as it 
were, to coordinate them with similar phenomena observed in the laboratory. 
To the physiologist the cell forming the root hair is an example of osmosis, and 
its action can be successfully reproduced in the laboratory. The living proto- 
plasmic membrane is the osmotic membrane; the soil water, a weak solution of 
