BIOLOGY
AND ITS MAKERS
With Portraits and Other Illustrations
BY
WILLIAM A. LOCY, Ph.D., Sc.D.
Professor in Northwestern University
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1908
Copyright, 1908,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published June, 1908
ToMY GRADUATE STUDENTS
Who have worked by my side in the LaboratoryInspired by the belief that those who seek shall findThis account of the findings of some ofThe great men of biological scienceIs dedicated by
The Author
PREFACE
The writer is annually in receipt of letters from students, teachers,ministers, medical men, and others, asking for information on topicsin general biology, and for references to the best reading on thatsubject. The increasing frequency of such inquiries, and the wide rangeof topics covered, have created the impression that an untechnicalaccount of the rise and progress of biology would be of interest toa considerable audience. As might be surmised, the references mostcommonly asked for are those relating to different phases of theEvolution Theory; but the fact is usually overlooked by the inquirersthat some knowledge of other features of biological research isessential even to an intelligent comprehension of that theory.
In this sketch I have attempted to bring under one view the broadfeatures of biological progress, and to increase the human interest bywriting the story around the lives of the great Leaders. The practicalexecution of the task resolved itself largely into the question ofwhat to omit. The number of detailed researches upon which progress inbiology rests made rigid selection necessary, and the difficulties ofseparating the essential from the less important, and of distinguishingbetween men of temporary notoriety and those of enduring fame, havegiven rise to no small perplexities.
The aim has been kept in mind to give a picture sufficientlydiagrammatic not to confuse the general reader, and it is hoped thatthe omissions which have seemed necessary will, in a measure, becompensated for by the clearness of the picture. References to selectedbooks and articles have been given at the close of the volume, thatwill enable readers who wish fuller information to go to the bestsources.
The book is divided into two sections. In the first are consideredthe sources of the ideas—except those of organic evolution—thatdominate biology, and the steps by which they have been molded intoa unified science. The Doctrine of Organic Evolution, on account ofits importance, is reserved for special consideration in the secondsection. This is, of course, merely a division of convenience, sinceafter its acceptance the doctrine of evolution has entered into allphases of biological progress.
The portraits with which the text is illustrated embrace those ofnearly all the founders of biology. Some of the rarer ones areunfamiliar even to biologists, and have been discovered only after longsearch in the libraries of Europe and America.
An orderly account of the rise of biology can hardly fail to be ofservice to the class of inquirers mentioned in the opening paragraph.It is hoped that this sketch will also meet some of the needs of theincreasing body of