220 The University of California Magazine. 



in biology than in geology. His numerous discussions of the 

 relation of science to education, art, sociology, philosophy, and 

 religion, have undoubtedly had the widest influence of all his 

 works ou the thought of his generation. 



A systematic examination of his utterances in this province 

 shows them to be essentially a defence of the proposition that 

 human life, whatever else it may be, is still fundamentally 

 akin to all life; and hence that the basal idea of biology — 

 Life; and the distinctive method of biological science, the 

 comparative method — must be carried into all investigation and 

 treatment of human life and society. 



Nearly all his papers of this class are, in keeping with 

 this general purpose, first, a presentation of the data and 

 fundamental conceptions of biology with some illustration of 

 the comparative method; and, second, a projection of these 

 data and conceptions and methods into the particular topic 

 under consideration. 



For example, his early essay on "Morphology and Its 

 Connection With Fine Art," already referred to, is quite an 

 extensive treatise on the doctrine of organic types held at that 

 time by some of the foremost biologists, with a consideration 

 of the laws of modification within the types. These types are 

 the expression of Divine ideas; the working out of them in 

 nature is God's way of giving his ideas for7n. Nature, then, 

 is Divine art wrought out by the hand of the Divine artist. 

 Human art is true art, consequently, in so far as it obeys the 

 laws and follows the example of Divine art, which is nature. 



This early paper illustrates so well the method of all his 

 later thinking in these directions, it will be profitable to see 

 some of its expressions themselves. "We have seen," he 

 says, "that in all organic nature we find everywhere some 

 simple idea infinitely modified. DiflFerentiation of a simple 

 elementary form and specialization of function, resulting in 

 mutual dependence of parts, is the fundamental idea of organ- 

 ization, the very idea of life, the very principle of Divine 

 architecture. Now, is not this the principle, too, unconsciously 



