2 SCOPE OF THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY chap. 



devotes so much time ; so are botany and zoology, in the 

 ordinary sense of the words, i.e. the study of the structure, 

 the mutual relations, and the arrangement or classification 

 of plants and animals. But biology may also be pursued, 

 and very profitably pursued too, quite independently of 

 teachers, class-rooms, and examinations. The country boy 

 who knows the song of every bird, its nesting place, the 

 number of its eggs, the nature of its food, the lurking place 

 of the trout in the stream or the frogs in the marsh ; who 

 has watched the ants with their burden of grain, or the bees 

 with their loads of honey or pollen ; has begun the study of 

 biology in one of its most important branches. The in- 

 telligent gardener who observes the habits of plants, their 

 individual tastes as to soil, moisture, sunshine and the like, 

 is also something of a biologist without knowing it. So 

 also is the collector of eggs, shells, or insects, provided he 

 honestly tries to learn all he can about the things he collects, 

 and does not consider them merely as a hoard or as objects 

 for barter. Indeed, all that is often spoken of as natural 

 history, so far as it deals with living things — plants and animals 

 — and not with lifeless natural objects, such as rocks and 

 minerals, is included under the head of biology. 



What then is the connection between biology in this wide 

 sense and the kind of thing you are expected to learn in a 

 limited number of lessons ? Simply this : — In the class-room 

 nature cannot be studied under her broader aspects : indeed, 

 much out-door natural history cannot be taught at all, but 

 must be picked up by those who have a love of the subject, 

 a keen eye, and patience. But there is one thing we can 

 do within the narrow limits of the class-room : we can con- 

 fine ourselves to some department of biology small enough 

 to be manageable : we can take, for instance, one or more 

 familiar animals and plants, and, by studying them in some 



