by
experience, be very bad policy on my part to suppose such to be
extensively the case. On the contrary, I must imagine that there are
many of you who would like to know what Biology is; that there are
others who have that amount of information, but would nevertheless
gladly hear why it should be worth their while to study Biology; and yet
others, again, to whom these two points are clear, but who desire to
learn how they had best study it, and, finally, when they had best study
it.

I shall, therefore, address myself to the endeavour to give you some
answer to these four questions--what Biology is; why it should be
studied; how it should be studied; and when it should be studied.

In the first place, in respect to what Biology is, there are, I believe,
some persons who imagine that the term "Biology" is simply a new-fangled
denomination, a neologism in short, for what used to be known under the
title of "Natural History;" but I shall try to show you, on the
contrary, that the word is the expression of the growth of science
during the last 200 years, and came into existence half a century ago.

At the revival of learning, knowledge was divided into two kinds--the
knowledge of nature and the knowledge of man; for it was the current
idea then (and a great deal of that ancient conception still remains)
that there was a sort of essential antithesis, not to say antagonism,
between nature and man; and that the two had not very much to do with
one another, except that the one was oftentimes exceedingly troublesome
to the other. Though it is one of the salient merits of our great
philosophers of the seventeenth century, that they recognised but one
scientific method, applicable alike to man and to nature, we find this
notion of the existence of a broad distinction between nature and man in
the writings both of Bacon and of Hobbes of Malmesbury; and I have
brought with me that famous work which is now so little known, greatly
as it deserves to be studied, "The Leviathan," in order that I may put
to you in the wonderfully terse and clear language of Thomas Hobbes,
what was his view of the matter. He says:--

"The register of knowledge of fact is called history. Whereof there
be two sorts, one called natural history; which is the history of
such facts or effects of nature as have no dependence on man's
will; such as are the histories of metals, plants, animals,
regions, and the like. The other is civ