270 ON THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY x 



What ground does it cover ? I have said that in 

 its strict technical sense, it denotes all the pheno- 

 mena which are exhibited by living things, as 

 distinguished from those which are not living ; 

 but while that is all very well, so long as we 

 confine ourselves to the lower animals and to 

 plants, it lands us in considerable difficulties 

 when we reach the higher forms of living things. 

 For whatever view we may entertain about the 

 nature of man, one thing is perfectly certain, 

 that he is a living creature. Hence, if our defi- 

 nition is to be interpreted strictly, we must in- 

 clude man and all his ways and works under the 

 head of Biology; in which case, we should find 

 that psychology, politics, and political economy 

 would be absorbed into the province of Biology. 

 In fact, civil history would be merged in natural 

 history. In strict logic it may be hard to object to 

 this course, because no one can doubt that the 

 rudiments and outlines of our own mental pheno- 

 mena are traceable among the lower animals. They 

 have their economy and their polity, and if, as is 

 always admitted, the polity of bees and the 

 commonwealth of wolves fall within the purview 

 of the biologist proper, it becomes hard to say why 

 we should not include therein human affairs, 

 which, in so many cases, resemble those of the bees 

 in zealous getting, and are not without a certain 

 parity in the proceedings of the wolves. The real 

 fact is that we biologists are a self-sacrificing people; 



