ASSOCIATION OF ORGANISMS- 

 THE WEB OF LIFE 



CHAPTER LX 



ASSOCIATION OF ORGANISMS GENERAL PRINCIPLES- 

 ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 



The study of natural science during the last half-century has 

 advanced so rapidly that it is no longer possible for one man to 

 grapple seriously even with a single subject, and there is an ever- 

 increasing tendency towards specialization. No doubt the sum of 

 our knowledge is thereby constantly being increased at a rate which 

 would otherwise be impossible, but there is another side to the 

 question. For extreme specialization is somewhat apt to lead to a 

 neglect of general principles, and to a more or less complete loss of 

 the sense of proportion. To be unable to see the wood on account 

 of the trees is bad enough, but to have one's vision restricted to a 

 single tree, or perhaps a single branch, is very much worse. In 

 no department of knowledge is the cramping tendency of special- 

 ization more apparent than in natural history. There seemed at 

 one time a chance of establishing a science of Biology, designed to 

 deal with both plants and animals, but this has now been merged 

 into botany on the one hand and zoology on the other, and many 

 of the important relations that exist between plants and animals 

 are not given the prominence which they undoubtedly deserve. 

 This cannot altogether be helped, but even under existing circum- 

 stances it is both desirable and possible that work of specialist 

 kind should be preceded by studies of a wider and more general 

 nature. This is one of the aims of the new subject of Nature- 

 Study, so far as biology and geology are concerned, another object 

 being to foster that intelligent interest in and accurate observation 



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