14 - The Cell 



ery of oxygen, a new hypothesis — the oxida- 

 tion hypothesis — was formulated. This hy- 

 pothesis was tested by countless experiments 

 that extended through many years. Gradu- 

 ally the oxidation hypothesis received suffi- 

 cient confirmation to be called a theory, and 

 finally the oxidation principle has taken its 

 place as one of the established and funda- 

 mental laws, or principles, of chemical sci- 

 ence. 



The Biological Sciences. In a broad sense, 

 all phases of science that deal with life and 

 living things lie within the province of biol- 

 ogy. However, it is customary to separate the 

 biological sciences into three parts: (1) soci- 

 ology (L. socitis — society, and Gr. logos = 

 study), which deals with social behavior, espe- 

 cially in man; (2) psychology (Gr. psyche = 



mind), which treats of individual behavior, 

 likewise primarily in man; and (3) biology 

 (Gr. bios = life), which embraces all other 

 vital phenomena. 



Biology proper is further subdivided in 

 complex fashion, as is shown diagrammati- 

 cally in Figure 1-8. However, this diagram 

 fails to show many of the more detailed sub- 

 divisions: bacteriology, protozoology, etc., 

 which correspond to the various groups in the 

 plant and animal kingdoms (see Appendix 



I)- 



Values of Biology. The study of biology pro- 

 vides a foundation for many specialized pro- 

 fessions. In medicine or dentistry, for exam- 

 ple, every phase of the training — every sub- 

 ject in the medical and dental curricula — is 

 essentially a part of biology. Unless these spe- 



BIOLOGY 



v 



A 



vAVSlOLOn 



'^7A S o?T — ■ — vrp-~ ^ 



If ) r-, f-ORM AND ^r~\\-1 



^^HOU° 



Fig. 1-8. Main subdivisions of biological science. 



A 



