CHAPTER VII. 



THE SCOPE OF BIOLOGY. 



37. As ordinarily conceived, the science of Biology falls 

 into two great divisions, the one dealing with animal life, 

 called Zoology, and the other dealing with vegetal life, 

 called Botany, or more properly to be called Phytology. 

 But convenient as is this division, it is not that which arises 

 if we follow the scientific method of including in one group 

 all the phenomena of fundamentally the same order and 

 putting separately in another group all the phenomena of a 

 fundamentally different order. For animals and plants are 

 alike in having structures; and animals and plants are alike 

 in having functions performed by these structures; and the 

 distinction between structures and functions transcends the 

 difference between any one structure and any other or be- 

 tween any one function and any other is, indeed, an absolute 

 distinction, like that between Matter and Motion. Recog- 

 nizing, then, the logic of the division thus indicated, we 

 must group the parts of Biology thus : 



1. An account of the structural phenomena presented by 

 organisms. This subdivides into : 



a. The established structural phenomena presented by 

 individual organisms. 



b. The changing structural phenomena presented by suc- 

 cessions of organisms. 



2. An account of the functional phenomena which or- 

 ganisms present. This, too, admits of subdivision into : 



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