Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Royal Natural History: Being a Systematic Arrangement of Descriptive Zoology, From Man to the Lowest Forms; With an Introduction on the Study of Natural History
As above defined, we note that the significance of the old term, Natural History, as used by Hobbes, remains unchanged. It means with us to-day, the complete and entire history of nature around us. As such, it includes the consideration, not merely of living, but of non-living Objects. _t he former are dealt with by Biology, which includes the companion sciences of Botany and Zoology. The inorganic Objects are dealt with by such sciences as Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, &c. But it is also necessary to note that these sciences are likewise related more or less intimately to living beings and to Biological inquiries. There is a Chemistry Of living beings, for instance, as well as an inorganic chemistry; and Geology deals with the life Of the past in the form of fossils, as well as with the rocks and stones, which possess no connection with life or living objects. The line Of separation, albeit that it is distinct enough, is not an absolute one; and, indeed, the furthest researches of science tend to show that no one branch of inquiry remains entirely separate and distinct from its neighbour-branches, but depends, to a greater or less extent, for its own progress, upon that of other departments of human knowledge. 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.
