PEEFACE. 



To clear the way for the understanding of the 

 line of argument adopted in this little book, I 

 commence with a quotation from Herbert Spencer's 

 Synthetic Philosophy, on the scope of Biology. 



I do this for two reasons : 



1. To present the reader with the fullest and 

 clearest explanation obtainable, of the meaning of 

 the words "Biology" and "Biological." 



2. To show what are those principles or con- 

 clusions of this science, which Herbert Spencer takes 

 as fundamental or axiomatic, in constructing his 

 system. 



I make no use whatever of the Spencerian system 

 in itself. I simply say at the outset of my work, 

 I am justified in taking it as granted that such 

 and such principles may truly be regarded as proved, 

 verified and generally accepted, because they are a 

 portion of those very principles which that great 

 and accurate thinker is content, or rather con- 

 strained in constructing his Synthetic Philosophy, 

 to take as axiomatic or fundamental, in the special 

 area of Biology. 



The foundations of the Spencerian system are 



