The Foundations Of Zoology PDF Download

Excerpt from The Foundations of Zoology a Course of Lectures In this course of lectures I shall give, on many questions, the Scotch verdict of "not proven," and experience warns us that this will be interpreted as an assertion that they are proved or disproved, although no one can, in justice, interpret an admission that a thesis may some time be proved or disproved as belief that either of these things will come about, or as an admission of anything else except a suspension of judgment, for all must hold it the height of folly to found a scientific opinion on lack of evidence. If I sometimes speak of things that are not commonly held to fall within the province of zoology, - if I try now and then for soundings in waters which able pilots tell us are far out of the course of our ship, - I hope they who follow me to the end of our voyage will admit that I have not wandered from our true course; although it may be well to show now, by way of introduction, how it is that zoologists find themselves face to face with many problems which other men of science have agreed to lay aside as insoluble or irrelevant. I shall try to show that life is response to the order of nature - in fact, this thesis is the text of most of the lectures; but if it be admitted, it follows that biology is the study of response, and that the study of that order of nature to which response is made is as well within its province as the study of the living organism which responds, for all the knowledge we can get of both these aspects of nature is needed as a preparation for the study of that relation between them which constitutes life. Our interest in all branches of science is vital interest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.