1468 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



creature of rational discourse, guiding his conduct in the light of 

 ideas, more or less conscious of his past, and more or less ready to 

 control his future, building up a Social Heritage on a quite different 

 plane from the Natural Inheritance which is transmitted by his much- 

 mingled germ-plasm. 



Finally, it is characteristic of the biological outlook that it sees 

 man as an organism quivering in the web of life. Many circles of 

 life intersect the human circle, and man's doings reverberate through 

 Animate Nature. As Darwin contiaually showed, there is cumulative 

 momentum in minutiae, and the consequences of actions spread 

 like ripples on the surface of a pool. No one has begim to have the 

 biological outlook till he has begun to see man, and even each man, 

 in his intricate web of interrelations. 



In regard to the development of this biological outlook in its 

 various aspects, which we have sought to outline, it must be clearly 

 understood that this way of looking at things cannot be acquired 

 by swallowing "principles of biology", or by any other short and easy 

 method. It is the outcome of sojourning with living creatures; it is 

 based on a multitude of carefully garnered experiences; it means 

 hard work with masses of fact; it grows out of observation and 

 reflection. There is no short cut to the biological outlook, though 

 it is happily true that some vivid experience, or some teacher or 

 fellow-student, may effect a veritable scientific conversion. 



This preamble is already long, but one other introductory remark 

 seems necessary. The biological outlook is much more than an 

 intellectual gain; it is of incalculable practical value. Science is for 

 Life, not life for Science; and the corollary of the biological way of 

 looking at things is the biological control of life. Pasteur is to 

 Darwin as works to faith. Savoir, prevoir, pourvoir; knowledge gives 

 foresight, and foresight gives power. In Bacon's phrase the bio- 

 logical outlook is not only luminiferous, it is also fructiferous. It is 

 not only "for the glory of the Creator", it is also "for the relief of 

 man's estate". 



The biological view of human life turns a hundred vague and per- 

 plexing puzzles into tangible fiesh-and-blood difficulties that can be 

 scientifically tackled. Man becomes more intelligible, and therefore 

 more masterable. How many diseases have been more or less con- 

 quered; how many factors making for positive health are now 

 being used as levers to lift the weight of "life-harming heaviness"; 

 what success there has been in ameliorating both surroundings and 

 work! The days of folded hands and submission are over; every year 

 man enters, and may enter more fully, into the possession of his 

 kingdom of enlarging life. 



In regard to biological teaching in schools and colleges, it is to be 

 feared that there is far too little Biology, in the strict sense, being 

 taught. Insurgent Zoology no doubt, efflorescent Botany, Bio- 



