2 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



by the separate title of Paleontology, is, in all strictness, part 

 and parcel of Biology proper, and has no relations but indirect 

 ones with Geology. As living beings are divisible into animals 

 and plants, so Palaeontology falls into the two branches of 

 Palaeozoology and Palaeobotany, of which the former is insepar- 

 ably united with Zoology or Natural History, while the latter is 

 part of Botany as ordinarily understood. It is with animals 

 and plants as organisms that Palaeontology has to deal, and 

 the methods of palaeontological inquiry are those employed 

 by the zoologist and the botanist. We must therefore assign 

 to Biology a considerably wider domain than that which has 

 been allowed to it by the earlier workers in the department of 

 Natural History. 



It will be obvious, then, that in the attempt to determine 

 the limits and scope of Biology, we are brought at the very 

 threshold of our inquiry to the question, What are the differ- 

 ences between dead and living bodies? Before considering 

 this point, however, it will be advisable to discuss briefly the 

 characters which in a general way distinguish what are known 

 as " organic " from " inorganic " bodies. 



2. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORGANIC AND INORGANIC 

 MATTER. 



The terms "organic" and "inorganic," as applied to the 

 various kinds of matter of which the universe is composed, had, 

 to begin with, a very definite signification; the latter being 

 applied to all those forms of matter which exist independently 

 of the operation of living beings, whilst all kinds of matter 

 produced by the vital chemistry of living beings were grouped 

 together under the former title. " Inorganic " Chemistry, for 

 example, was that department of chemical science which dealt 

 with the latter class of bodies; while "Organic" Chemistry 

 concerned itself wholly with those of the former group. Even 

 at an early period, however, some confusion was created by 

 the necessity of employing the term " organic " for accumula- 

 tions of inorganic matter which had at one time entered into 

 the composition of living beings. Thus, limestone is in one 

 sense inorganic, since carbonate of lime, of which it is formed, 

 occurs in nature quite independently of the operation of living 

 beings. In another sense, however, most limestones are or- 

 ganic, since the lime of which they are composed has been in 

 the main derived from the skeletons of animals or plants. 



