2 SCOPE OF THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY CHAP. 



and zoology, in the ordinary sense of the words, i.e., the 

 study of the structure, the mutual relations, and the 

 arrangement or classification of plants and animals. 

 But biology may also be pursued, and very profitably 

 pursued too, quite independently of teachers, class- 

 rooms, and examinations. The country boy who knows 

 the song of every bird, its nesting place, the number of 

 its eggs, the nature of its food, the lurking place of the 

 trout in the stream or the frogs in the marsh ; who has 

 watched the ants with their burden of grain, or the bees 

 with their loads of honey or pollen ; has began the study 

 of biology in one of its most important branches. The 

 intelligent gardener who observes the habits of plants, 

 their individual tastes as to the soil, moisture, sunshine 

 and the like, is also something of a biologist without 

 knowing it. So also is the collector of eggs, shells, or 

 insects, provided he honestly tries to learn all he can 

 about the objects he collects, and does not consider 

 them merely as a hoard or as objects for barter. In- 

 deed, all that is often spoken of as natural history, so 

 far as it deals with living things plants and animals 

 and not with lifeless natural objects,- such as rocks and 

 minerals, is included under the head of biology. 



What then is the connection between biology in this 

 wide sense and the kind of thing you are expected to 

 learn in a limited number of lessons ? Simply this : In 

 the class-room nature cannot be studied under her 

 broader aspects : indeed, much out-door natural history 

 cannot be taught at all, but must be picked up by those 

 who have a love of the subject, a keen eye and patience. 

 But there is one thing we can do within the narrow 

 limits of the class-room : we can confine ourselves to 

 some department of biology small enough to be manage- 

 able : we can take, for instance, one or more familiar 

 animals and plants, and, by studying them in some 



