ix the history and scope of zoology 367 



General Tendency of Zoology since Darwin 



The serious and broadly-based study of bionomics 

 which was introduced by Darwin, and in his hands 

 gave rise to the doctrine of natural selection, by which 

 the hypothesis of the origin of species by gradual 

 transmutation in the natural process of descent from 

 ancestral forms was established as a scientific doctrine, 

 can hardly be said to have had any history. Buffon 

 (1707-1788) alone among the greater writers of the 

 three past centuries emphasised that view of living 

 things which we call "bionomics." Buffon deliber- 

 ately opposed himself to the mere exposition of the 

 structural resemblances and differences of animals, 

 and, disregarding classification, devoted his treatise 

 on natural history to a consideration of the habits of 

 animals and their adaptations to their surroundings, 

 whilst a special volume was devoted by him to the 

 subject of reproduction. In special memoirs on this 

 or that animal, and in a subordinate way in system- 

 atic works, material is to be found helping to build 

 up a knowledge of bionomics, but Buffon is the only 

 prominent writer who can be accorded historic rank in 

 this study. ^ The special study of man in these 

 relations — such as is concerned with the statistics of 

 population — must be considered as having contributed 

 very importantly to Darwin's wider study of bio- 

 nomics in general. The work of Malthus On Fopula- 



1 The main literary sources made use of by Darwin are the 

 magazines and treatises of horticulturists, farmers, pigeon-fanciers, and 

 the like, in fact what is comprised in the Field newsj)aper. 



