85

during the ensuing hour is "The Relation of Phys

olleague Mr. Henfrey, who addressed you on Monday last; but while, for the sake of that order, I must beg you to suppose that this discussion of the Educational bearings of Biology in g

sense--as the equivalent of Biology--the Science of

nd scope as a bra

a means of men

as practica

la

may best be made a

tions will place before you in a clear light the vast difference which exists between the living bodies with which Physiological science is concerned, and th

late things in a condition of rest; they look upon a stat

icist. When Newton saw the apple fall, he concluded at once that the act of falling was not the result of any power inherent in the apple, but that it was the result of the action of something else

ion of something external to the body changed. A chemical compound once formed

, so far as we know, spontaneous change is the rule, rest the exception--the anom

nd clearness to these somewhat abstract

n an atmosphere saturated with vapour. The quantity and the fi

rtional to the momentum of the gold will take place. But after a time the effects of this distur

its particles will arrange themselves in definite crystallin

bstance which is called "protein"--the substance of flesh:--a very considerable disturbance of equilibrium will take place--all sorts of

e known as Infusoria--such a creature, for instance, as an Euglena, and place it in our vessel of water. It is a round mass provided with a long filament, and e

place it will develop a vast quantity of physical force--cleaving the water in all direct

itself, and it will act and react upon the water and the matters contained therein; converting them into new compoun

e increase of a crystal might be. After it has grown to a certain extent it divides, and each por

ly new form, lose their long tails--round themselves, and secrete a sort of envelope or box, in which they

stence of the Euglena, or of any other living germ. A living

g particle is from the dead atoms with w

he living protein mass neither tends to exhaustion of its forces nor to any permanency of form, but is essentially distinguished

then, are the characters of that portion of the universe w

ke on forms which succeed one another in defini

article and the living particle of matter appearing in other resp

t, however, we assuredly know of none; and I think we shall exercise a wise humility in confessing that, for us at least, this successive assumption of different states--(external conditions remaining the same)--this spontaneity of action--if I may use a term which implies more than I wou

, which is constituted by perhaps not more than two or three steps in the Euglena, is as clearly manifested in the multitudinous stages through which the germ of an oak or of a man p

acts involve new methods, or require a modification of those with which he is already acquainted. Now a great deal is said about the peculiarity of the scientific method in general, and of the different methods whic

y would seem to suppose, a modification of the black art, suited to the tastes of the n

rust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club. The primary power is the same in each case, and perhaps the untutored savage has the more brawny arm of the two. The real advantage lies in the point and polish of the swords

discovers a burglar from the marks made by his shoe, by a mental process identical with that by which Cuvier restored the extinct animals of Montmartre from fragments of their bones. Nor does that process of induction and d

h I have no doubt that the man of business will find himself out to be a philosopher with as much surprise as M. Jourdain exhibited vhen he discovered that he had been all his life talking prose. If, however, there be no real difference between the methods of science and those of common life,

ation is too frequently admitted by Physiologists themselves--that Biology di

fer either to the methods or to th

you by and by, these are identical in all sciences, and whatever is tr

ng propositions which are as exact as anything in Euclid. How then has this notion of the inexactness of Biological science come about? I believe from two causes: first, because in consequence of the great complexity of the science and the multitude of interfering conditions, we are very often only enabled to predict approximately what will occur under given circumstances; and secondl

of one leading branch of Biology--Comparative Anatomy; but I would ask whether comparison, and that classification which is the result of comparison, are not the essence of every science whatsoever? How is it possible to discover a relation of cause

siology not an experimental science? Why, there is not a function of a single organ in the body which has not been determined wholly and solely by experiment? How did Harvey determine the nature of the circulation, except by experiment? How did Sir Charles Bell determine the functions of the roots of the spinal

ervation, and that which affords the greatest field for the exercise of those faculties which characterise the experimental philosopher. I confess, if any one were to ask

thinker of our own age and country, whose opinions are worthy of all respect. It is, that the Biological scie

ot accurately and absolutely definable, inasmuch as its members will present exceptions to every possible definition; and that the members of the class

roup them round types, in short. Thus if you ask an ordinary person what kinds of animals there are, he will probably say, beasts, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, &c. Ask him to define a beast from a reptile, and he cannot do it; but he says, things like a cow or a horse are beasts,

eton and suckle their young." Here is no reference to type, but a definition rigorous enough for a geometrician. And such is the character which every scientific natural

er methods. No such differences, I believe, really exist. The subject-matter of Biological science is

under this head that artificial obs

ady for use, which is called Comparison and Classification,--the result

to facts again--teaches us, if I may so say, to anticipa

of ascertaining whether, in point of f

ive you an illustration of their employment in the science of Life; and I will take

y even grant that it informs us of the localisation of this blood in particular vessels, the heart, &c., from some accidental cut or the

vation stops, and we must h

blood accumulates on the side near the heart. Open the chest, and you see the heart contracting with great force. Make openings into its princi

hat the blood is propelled by the heart through the arteries,

horses, then we group and ticket them into a general propos

el, telling us where we shall find a peculiar serie

general prop

tified in making our next

horses, meets with a zebra for the first time,--will he s

ay, "The zebra is certainly not a horse, but it is very like one,--so like, that it must be the

s, by making a zebra the subject of all the experiments performed on the horse. Of course, in the present case, the deduction would be confirmed by this process of ver

fancy most persons would excuse him, if in this case he did not take the trouble to go through the process of verification at all; and it would not be w

in the animal kingdom until the year 1824. In every animal possessing a circulation at all, which had been observed up to that time, the current of the blood was known to take one definite and invariable direction. Now, there is a class of animals called Ascidians, which possess a heart and a circulation, and up to the period of which I speak, no one would have dreamt of questioning the propriety of the deduction, that these creatu

re wonderful than that which it presents--all the more wonderful that to this day it remains an unique fact, peculiar to this class among the whole animated world. A

ical with those of all other sciences, and therefore wholly incomp

mathematician and that of a naturalist? Do you imagine that Laplace might have been put into the Jardin des

the man of the plains have very different habits of progression, and each would be at a loss in the other's place; but the method of progression, by putting one leg before the other, is the

h observation, comparison, and those processes which lead to general propositions. All I wish to insist upon is, that this difference depends not on any fund

extension, and all the inductions he wants have been formed and finished

uctions will not be completed, I fear, for ages to come; but when they are,

nd less perfect branches of knowledge. Biology deals only with living beings as isolated things--treats only of the life of the individual: but there is a higher division of science still, which considers living beings as aggregates--which deals with the relation of living beings one to another--

moral, or ad

ence of Societ

h abstract science, Physiology is yet in the most intimate relation with humanity; and by teaching us that law and order, and a definite scheme of development, regulate even the strangest and wildest manifestations of individual

o of the questions which I set before you at starting, viz. What is the range and position of Phys

at which it has in common with all sciences--the training and strengthening of common sense; partly that which is more peculiar to itself--the great exercise which it affords to t

rrect, our third question--What is the practical value of physiolog

ider, as the most necessary of all branches of instruction for themselves and for their children, that which professes to acquaint them with the condit

eceived a medical education, there is not one who could tell me what is the meaning and use of an act which he performs a score of times every minute, and whose suspe

by the absurd style of dress they adopt, and then marvel at the peculiar dispensation of Providence, which removes their infants by bronchitis and gastric fever? Why is it that quackery rides rampant over the land; and that not long ago, one of the largest public rooms in this great city could

simplest laws of their own animal life, which prevails am

not, as I believe, less certain. I have heard educated men speak with an ill-disguised contempt of the studies of the naturalist

pains are not scattered at random, but are distributed in accordance with orderly and fixed laws, and that it is only in accordance with all w

-however far below us, they are still the sole created things which sh

amiable theories of the Divine government, which would have us believe pain to be an oversight and a mistake,--to be corrected by and by. On the other hand, the predominance of happiness among living things--their lavish beauty--the secret

finer feelings, as the greatest of all sources of that pleasure which is derivable from beauty. I do not pretend that natural-history knowledge, as suc

by the ri

rimrose wa

as nothi

ance to force them on our attention. To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those

not proceed at once to my last point--the time at which Physiologic

facts of Biology--the uses of parts of the body--the names and habits of the living creatures which surround us--may be taught with advantage to the youngest child. Indeed, the avidity of children for this kind of knowledge, and the comparative eas

n knowledge of physics and chemistry: for though the phaenomena of life are dependent neither on physical nor on chemical, bu

s the conclusions to which I ho

ience whose subject-matter would best develop his powers of observation; ignorant of facts of the deepest importance for his own and others' welfare; blind to the richest sources of beauty in God's creation; and unprovided with that belief in a livi

and imperative moods have too often taken the place of the more becoming subjunctive and conditional. I feel, therefore, how necessary it is t

tno

is necessarily inapplicable; and it is not till we arrive at Chemistry that this third means of investigation can be used, and then only in subordination to the two others. It is in the study, both statical and

ies and the dissimilarity or similarity of forms--points of some slight importance not onl

we saw this resource to be less effectual in chemistry than in physics: and we now find that it is eminently useful in chemistry in comparison with physiology. In fact, the

ages further on, but that will hardly relieve him fro

rgane producteur de matière sucrée chez l'H

hat it eminently includes; by an example, not by a precept; in short, instead of Definition we have a Type for our director. A type is an example of any class, for instance, a species of a genus, which is considered as eminently possessing the characters of the class. Al

point put my obligations to Mr. J. S. Mill's Sy