*5° 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. II, No. 2, 
measure of reform in this direction would be a service to man- 
kind, and while no sensational crusade may be necessary, each 
one who knows enough of the laws of life to appreciate the mon- 
strous folly of this business has it in his power to discourage it 
within the sphere of his individual influence at least. News- 
papers are mostly choked off by the immense revenue derived 
from advertising, in fact I have known some which depended 
upon this as their main source of support, and have heard the 
candid statement that they could not have existed without it. All 
the more honor therefore to the few, and there are a few, which 
absolutely refuse to allow such advertisements in their columns. 
That the modern physician must have a thorough knowledge 
of biology has become more and more apparent. He has to deal 
with life, and life thus far at least cannot be rendered into mere 
mechanical, physical or chemical factors. The activites of the 
human machine have much that must be studied from the basis 
of organic nature. If we do not know all the factors or forces 
of life we do know that there is a complex or combination of 
forces radically different from any single force of inorganic 
nature. Chemical affinity, physical attraction and repulsion, 
mechanical forces may furnish many aids, but the study of life 
activities must go still further. To do this we must recognize 
the laws of organic life, the forces of growth and nutrition, of 
reproduction, of evolution, in fact a host of forces which have no 
counterpart in the inorganic world. 
Modern agriculture and horticulture are so dependent on the 
principles of biology that to dissociate them does violence to 
thought. Indeed this relation has existed through all recorded 
history, but in no period has the utility of biologic laws been so 
intimately blended with all the processes of cultivation. 
The determination of the zones of greatest productivity for 
different crops, their soil requirements, the introduction and 
acclimatization of species belonging to other faunal or floral 
regions, the essentials of animal and plant nutrition, the control 
of disease or abatement of noxious forms of plant or animal, all 
these and more are embraced in the service of biologic science to 
agriculture in its various forms and thus to human interests. 
Among special cases cited, but which cannot be printed here 
in detail, were various plant diseases, and particularly various 
insect pests, and the discoveries which have brought them more 
or less under control. 
Aside from the sources of food supply, which come under 
the general term of agriculture, we derive many articles of diet 
from sources dependent on animal or plant life. The various 
fishery industries and oyster culture which have been so wonder- 
fully promoted by biological investigations are excellent examples 
of the service of science to mankind. Game laws for the protec- 
