CONTENTS 



PAOB 



Introduction _---., i 



Biology of the ancients. Extinction of scientific 

 inquiry. Revival of knowledge. 



PERIOD I (i 530-1 660) 7 



Characteristics of the period. The revival of 

 botany. The revival of zoolog-y. Early notions of 

 system. The first English naturalists. The rise of 

 experimental physiology. The natural history of 

 distant lands (sixteenth century and earlier). Agri- 

 culture, horticulture, and silk-culture in the sixteenth 

 century. 



PERIOD II (1661-1740) 28 



Characteristics of the period. The minute anatomists. 

 Early notions about the nature of fossils. Compara- 

 tive anatomy ; the study of biological types. Adapta- 

 tions of plants and animals ; natural theology. 

 Spontaneous generation. The natural history of 

 John Ray. The scale of nature. The sexes of 

 flowering plants. 



PERIOD 111(1741-1789) 49 



Characteristics of the period. Systems of flowering 

 plants ; Linnaeus and the Jussieus. R(^aumur and 

 the History of Insects. The budding-out of new 

 animals (Hydra); another form of propagation with- 

 out mating (aphids). The historical or comparative 

 method ; Montesquieu and Buffbn. Amateur students 

 of living animals. Intelligence and instinct in the 

 lower animals. The food of green plants. The 

 metamorphoses of plants. Early notions about the 

 lower plants. 



