CHAPTER XI 



BIOLOGY AND PROGRESS 



"Many discoveries are reserved for the ages still to be, 

 when our memory shall have perished. The world is a poor 

 affair if it does not contain matter for investigation for the 

 whole world in every age. • . . Nature does not reveal all her 

 secrets at once. ... Of one of them this age will catch a 

 glimpse, of another the age that will come after."* 



Whatever may become of the philosophical idea 

 of progress in the future, at present it holds a 

 place in our affections second only to religion as 

 we proudly assemble our discoveries and indicate 

 their profitableness to man. 



It was a long time before science became or- 

 ganized into a body of knowledge that was of 

 service to mankind. One of the main difficulties 

 that beset the early workers was the lack of a dis- 

 tinctive system or method of making investiga- 

 tions and indicating their significance. As men 

 gradually freed themselves from the dogmas of 

 their times and gave to their observations a 

 genetic relationship, a method of work was formu- 

 lated that was destined to have profound influence 

 upon all realms of knowledge. 



♦Seneca, Natural Questions, book VII, p. 31. 



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