CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION i 



Biology of the ancients. Extinction of scientific 

 inquiry. Revival of knowledge. 



PERIOD 1(1530-1660) - - - - - 7 



Characteristics of the period. The revival of 

 botany. The revival of zoology. 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. Reaumur 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 BufFon. 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. 



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