BIOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS 



"is to : be -made -diffieuk because of many hard and strange terms. 

 There need be no alarm at the prospect if we will consider each 

 new word as a tool which will enable us to do our work better, 

 more accurately, and more easily. 



It is simpler to say " organic substances " than to say, " sub- 

 stances which are or have been alive." It is also more accurate, 

 and furthermore we have increased our vocabulary by the addition 

 of this new tool. 



We should think a carpenter very foolish who cut all his lumber 

 with a jack knife because he thought it too much trouble to learn 

 to use a saw. Students in their school life are workmen, and their 

 most important tools are words. Each subject taken up, like 

 different kinds of carpenter work, requires the use of a certain 

 number of new tools (words). These must be learned before 

 the student can do his work efficiently. 



On the other hand a carpenter would be foolish to load up his 

 chest with a lot of tools which he rarely used, and so, in our study, 

 we have included only those new names and terms without which 

 we could not possibly get along. If we learn to use them, we will 

 not have to " cut off our board with a jack knife." 



Sciences Included in Biology. . Although biology is a single and 

 closely united science based on the study of all things that are or 

 have been alive, it is so broad in scope that it includes many 

 special branches. 



Some of these are already familiar, such as botany, which deals 

 with plants; zoology, which deals with animals; hygiene, which 

 concerns the care of the human body; physiology, which is the 

 science of the use or function of living organs; and many others. 



Familiar Biology. To begin with, each one of us has studied 

 biology already by observing the things of nature about us. Is 

 this not true? We know some plants and trees by name. We 

 know how to cultivate gardens, what will help plants grow, the 

 names of many flowers. All of us buy and use fruits, grain, and 

 vegetables. We also know something about the care of animals, 

 and, most important of all, are anxious to learn all that we can 

 about the care and use of our own bodies. 



