CLASSIFICATION OF SCIENCES 121 



reward those who devote themselves to compara- 

 tive psychology. It savours of what we may call 

 scientific Chauvinism to maintain that physico- 

 chemical interpretations, when they go to the 

 formation of our outlook on Nature, require 

 no corrective from the biological, mental, and 

 social sciences. It requires a long-necked ob- 

 server to see the whole firmament out of one 

 window. 



We know how chemistry assists in physiolog- 

 ical inquiry; showing how this and that chemical 

 process occurs in the body, here an oxidation 

 and there a reduction, now a hydrolysis and 

 again a fermentation, thereby bringing into 

 stronger relief the co-ordination and control of all 

 these, which is distinctively vital. But we have 

 also to notice how physiology assists chemistry, 

 a noteworthy instance being the physiological 

 discovery of oxygen by Mayow (1674) a century 

 before the element was chemically isolated. 



The point that we wish to get perfectly clear 

 is this, that the same phenomenon may be con- 

 sidered without irrelevancy under several sciences. 

 Thus when we enjoy looking at a rose, there are 

 chemical, physical, physiological, and psycholog- 

 ical problems involved. At least four sciences 

 have something to say, and what must be realized 

 is that while these sciences are separated off for 

 purposes of human convenience, because they 



