4 THE MODERN STUDY OF ZOOLOGY 



always subjected to rigid and jealous scrutiny, not 

 only by those who make zoology a special study, 

 but by the world at large. 



In order to know clearly with what we are deal- 

 ing we may, with Professor Huxley, define zoology 

 as " the whole doctrine of animal life," as being in 

 fact, if such marked alliteration may be excused, all 

 about animals. Now, from very remote times in- 

 deed there have existed not only names for different 

 animals, but also collective names for groups of 

 animals agreeing with one another in certain re- 

 spects but differing widely amongst themselves in 

 others ; collective names such as fish, under which 

 head a great number of animals are commonly 

 included, some of which, such as the whale, are 

 not fish at all ; or birds, including forms as diverse 

 as a starling and a stork, a humming bird and an 

 ostrich. The introduction of such collective names 

 marks the earliest attempts at zoological classifi- 

 cation. 



Of such classifications we meet with examples in 

 the Old Testament. Thus we read of Solomon 

 that " he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is 

 in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth 

 out of the wall : he spake also of beasts, and of 

 fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes."* The 

 object of the writer in the above passage is mani- 

 festly to bring into prominence the extent of 

 Solomon's knowledge, and we are certainly led to 

 believe that Solomon had made a personal study of 

 the several groups of animals mentioned i.e., that 

 * i Kings iv. 33. 



