-APPLIED* BIOLOGY 



2. Organisms, Organic and Inorganic Matter. Except 

 in science study, we rarely stop to think of the facts brought 

 out in the problem above; but for the purposes of our later 

 work in science it is important that we stop and make such 

 a survey as above suggested, and recognize clearly that in 

 this world of ours there are two kinds of things, the living * 

 (collectively called animals and plants) and the lifeless 

 (e.g., air, soil, water, minerals, etc.). Living things are in 

 science commonly called organisms, and the substance of 

 which their bodies are composed, or which they form, is 

 organic matter. Lifeless substance which has not been 

 formed by organisms is called inorganic or mineral matter. 

 All substances, then, in living and lifeless things are composed 

 of matter which, as we learn through our five senses, exists in 

 many different forms. 



3. The Sciences. Knowledge regarding the living and 

 lifeless things of nature is systematically arranged in the 

 natural sciences. A common division of these sciences is that 

 into (1) the physical sciences (chemistry, physics, geology, 

 mineralogy), and (2) the biological sciences, which are con- 

 cerned with living things. We shall see later that there is 

 much chemistry and physics used in the study of living 

 things, and hence it will be made clear that these two sciences 

 deal not only with lifeless things, but also with all substances 

 and changes which are found in both living and lifeless 

 things. 



4. Biology, Botany, and Zoology. The study which 

 this book will direct deals primarily with living things, both 

 plants and animals. Biology is the science which treats of 



* Throughout this book italics are used for words and phrases which are 

 very important in biology, and especially for scientific words where they 

 are first introduced and defined. Such emphasized words and their mean- 

 ings should be given special attention by students. Technical biological 

 words which have a very limited use, perhaps applicable to only a few 

 animals or plants, are printed in plain type ; and also they are in parentheses 

 if not important except for reference to other biological books. 



