RELATION OF ECOLOGY TO BIOLOGY 



" I shall try to show that life is response to the 

 order of nature. . . . But if it be admitted, it fol- 

 lows that biology is the study of response, and that 

 the study of that order of nature to which response 

 is made is as well within its province as the study 

 of the living organism which responds, for all the 

 knowledge we can get of both these aspects of na- 

 ture is needed as a preparation for the study of that 

 relation between them which constitutes life." 

 " To study life we must consider three things: 

 first, the orderly sequence of external nature ; 

 second, the living organism and the changes 



which take place in it ; and, 

 third, that continuous adjustment between the 

 two sets of phenomena which constitutes 

 life." 



"The physical sciences deal with the external 

 world, and in the laboratory we study the structure 

 and activities of organisms by very similar methods; 

 but if we stop there, neglecting the relation of the 

 living being to its environment, our study is not 



biology or the science of life." 



W. K. BROOKS. 



xii 



