BroGRAPHY AND THE INFLUENCE oF ENVIRONMENT. 
By Ropert HESSLER. 
Biography concerns itself with ‘the history of the life of a particular 
person. This is the primary definition given in the Century Dictionary, 
a second being ‘biographical writing in general, or as a department of 
literature. Again as a third definition, ‘In natural history, the life-history 
of an animal or a plant.’ 
Biology, on the other hand, concerns itself with the science of life 
and living things; with a knowledge of vital phenomena; in a technical 
sense, the life-history of an animal. 
Environment is another name for surroundings, and environmental 
influences may be regarded as the influence of surroundings. 
In speaking of the evils entailed by the lack of knowledge of sur- 
roundings, Ward in his Dynamic Sociology says: “Indeed, the greater part 
of all suffering is the result, direct or remote, of such ignorance. Obviously, 
therefore, the first great duty of man is to acquaint himself with his en- 
vironment. This can only be done by study. The phenomena that lie on 
the surface are of little value. They mislead at every turn. Not only must 
the deep-lying facts, difficult of access, be sought out with great labor and 
perseverance, but they must be co-ordinated into laws capable of affording 
safe and reliable guides to human operations. To do this requires a vast 
amount of patient study. Only a little has yet been revealed of the more 
important truths of nature, yet consider the amount of research which it 
has required! Nevertheless, only a few individuals have contributed any 
thing at all to the result. It is as yet only the simpler and more obvious 
relations between man and nature that have been determined. In the 
domain of physical forces and chemical substances he is able to exercise 
prevision in many ways to secure advantages and avert evils, but in most 
of the higher fields of vital, mental, moral, and social phenomena, these 
relations are either utterly ignored or but dimly suspected, so that his 
knowledge of them avails him nothing. The great work before him, there- 
fore, still is study.” (Ward, Dynamic Sociology, Vol. II, p. 11.) 
