Biology and its makers : with portraits and other illustrations / by William A. Locy.

  • Locy, William A. (William Albert), 1857-1924.
Date:
1926, ©1908
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Biology and its makers : with portraits and other illustrations / by William A. Locy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    been given at the close of the volume, that will enable readers who wish fuller information to go to the best sources. The book is divided into two sections. In the first are considered the sources of the ideas—except those of organic evolution—that dominate biology, and the steps by which they have been molded into a unified science. The Doc¬ trine of Organic Evolution, on account of its importance, is reserved for special consideration in the second section, dhis is, of course, merely a division of convenience, since after its acceptance the doctrine of evolution has entered into all phases of biological progress. The portraits with which the text is illustrated embrace those of nearly all the founders of biology. Some of the rarer ones are unfamiliar even to biologists, and have been discovered only after long search in the libraries of Europe and America. An orderly account of the rise of biology can hardly fail to be of service to the class of inquirers mentioned in the opening paragraph. It is hoped that this sketch will also meet some of the needs of the increasing body of students who are doing practical work in biological laboratories. It is important that such students, in addition to the usual class¬ room instruction, should get a perspective view of the way in which biological science has come into its present form. The chief purpose of the book will have been met if I have succeeded in indicating the sources of biological ideas and the main currents along which they have advanced, and if I have succeeded, furthermore, in making readers ac¬ quainted with those men of noble purpose whose work has created the epochs of biological history, and in showing that there has been continuity of development in biological thought. Of biologists who may examine this work with a critical purpose, I beg that they will think of it merely as an outline