BIOLOGY AND PROGRESS 1 99 



This way of working and thinking has come 

 to be known as the Scientific Method. It has been 

 adopted by departments of learning other than 

 the sciences until we have well-known books on 

 the scientific method in philosophy, religion and 

 education. If we are to designate the relation of 

 biology to progress, we must state in outline the 

 plan of the scientific method. 



The scientific method can be traced back into 

 the misty past where some unknown men made 

 accurate observations on the heavenly bodies. 

 The reason that their conclusions have stood the 

 test of time Is due to the fact that they employed 

 a method which was in reality the modern cause 

 and effect process. Hipparchus as early as 160 

 B. C. made his deduction after a study of the 

 causes associated with the revolution of many of 

 the heavenly bodies. After him a period of 300 

 years elapsed before this method was again suc- 

 cessfully employed and the conclusions of 

 Ptolemy, 140 A. D., still constitute an important 

 part of the fundamental knowledge of our oldest 

 science. Astronomy. 



In chemistry this Idea grew out of the experi- 

 mental work of the alchemists as they attempted 

 to transmute the metals but It was not until many 

 years after their futile efforts that Lavoisier in 

 about 1870 established certain fundamental rela- 

 tionships In chemical reactions and chemistry 



