CHAPTER II 



ECOLOGICAL 



Ecology and its Sic.nificanxe. — The historic progress of the 

 biological sciences has essentially been made by breaking away 

 from and b<-yond the old "natural histor>'" of animals and plants, 

 as from I 'liny onwards to Huffon. It was full time to settle down 

 to ever keener and more thorougiigoing scrutiny of the organisms 

 concerned; first, therefore, descriptively but anatomically also. And 

 thus with the great result, through comparative anatomy, of 

 atlvance towards more and more orderly classification of them, as 

 from Linn.Tus to Jussieu and De Candolle, to Cuvier and thence 

 onwards, and with study of past forms enriching and advancing 

 classification. 



It was, of course, seen — and by physicians apparently first — that 

 it is not enough to observe, analyse, and compare structures: their 

 working uses, their functions, must be searched into and understood: 

 so physiolog\' has advanced, and goes on increasingly. Development 

 also presents its fascinating riddles; and first as observation, as 

 scrutiny of forms in origin and change, from simple and general 

 to comj)lex and particular; and next as endeavour to comprehend 

 the functional processes of growth and development throughout 

 thes<^ phases. With all these sub-sciences in advance, the times 

 wore obviously ri|X"ning for speculation and inquiry as to origins. 

 Thtis the long succession, from eighteenth-century evolutionists to 

 Lamarck's d(x:trines, and through a later generation and more to 

 Danvin. with his well-marshalled evidence for organic evolution, 

 and his luminous dtxrtrine of natural selection as main agency for 

 its advance. 



In course of this progress, most active and productive biologists 

 have substantially lost touch with the old natural history, apd 

 often evrn interest in it, their whole powers and time being more 

 profitablv concentrated on their particular lines and groups of 

 inrjuiries; and such socialised studies, of course, have been needed 

 more than ever since Darwin's epoch-making days, in keeping with 

 the aflvance of phvsical and chemical science. Yet with due respect 

 for their various lines of in(}uiry, and here with utilisation of their 

 restilts as far as space allows, this is the place to ask: To what 

 pur[X)',c all thesf. inquiries, into structure and functions, and their 

 development, to their utmost s|x?cialism? Towards what application 

 do all these general conceptions lead, as of the classification and 

 distribution of life-forms, present and past; and even of all we can 

 make out of their evolution? 



