CHAPTER XXV 



HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



IT is generally conceded that those who have been with a business 

 organization throughout its growth period know most about that 

 business. Such men not only understand a thousand details of the 

 work that others do not, but they have definite reasons for their actions 

 and policies. The same truth holds good in science. But as none of us 

 were present when science began, the only way we can obtain such an 

 understanding is to read the story of those who were present ; as a con- 

 sequence, the history of any branch of science becomes an important 

 study in the college curriculum. 



In reading history we are always inclined to pass some kind of 

 judgment on the characters there found. This judgment is, however, 

 quite likely to prove erroneous, unless we first know something of the 

 times in which they lived, the obstacles they had to overcome, and the 

 reasons they had for beginning work in new fields. 



We must weigh the evidence on all sides of a question very care- 

 fully, so as not to confuse conspicuousness with importance. For exam- 

 ple, an inventor is likely to be widely known because men at large can 

 see, use, and understand his invention ; but, as soon as another inventor 

 improves, or brings about another apparatus which takes the place of the 

 first invention, the first inventor ceases to interest men, and is soon 

 forgotten. 



Such a lack of consideration does not apply to the real scientist — 

 the discoverer of a new principle — for, every invention and every appli- 

 cation which his principle brings about in future time, proves that 

 principle to be just so much the more important, and causes the scientist 

 to be held in greater and greater esteem through onflowing years. 



It is, therefore, the real scientists, the true originators and discov- 

 erers of principles, who must be known and honored. 



First, then, let us try to catch a glimpse of the times in which men 

 of past ages worked. 



From the very earliest period of which we possess records, men 

 have been interested in agriculture and medicine — which means, botany 

 and zoology. Botany, in so far as a practical knowledge of food-plants 

 was essential to successful agriculture, and in so far as a practical 

 knowledge of medicinal plants was essential for the health of man and 

 his animal servants. Zoology, in so far as a practical knowledge of the 

 breeding of cattle and sheep was essential to a successful livelihood, 



