ABSTRACT

This work, which is here present in the English language, is based on a course of lectures given at the University of Helsingfors, Finland, during the academic year 1916-17. It is the author's intention to present a picture of the development of biological science throughout the ages, viewed in conjunction with the general cultural development of mankind. Regarded thus as a link in the general history of culture, the problems of biology will, it is hoped, prove of interest not only to young university students, for whom this book is primarily intended, but also to a still wider public. With regard to moderen times, for obvious reasons it has only been possible in such a brief history as this to give a very summary account of recent developments.

part One|118 pages

Biology in Classical Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance

chapter II|17 pages

The Earliest Greek Natural Philosophy

chapter V|11 pages

Aristotle

chapter VIII|10 pages

The Decline of Science in Late Antiquity

chapter IX|6 pages

Biological Science Among the Arabians

chapter X|8 pages

Biology During the Christian Middle Ages

part |37 pages

The History of Biology During the Renaissance

chapter XI|2 pages

The End of Mediæval Science

chapter XII|8 pages

New Cosmic Ideas and New Scientific Methods

chapter XIV|11 pages

The Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood

part Two|180 pages

Biology in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

chapter II|9 pages

The Mechanical Nature-Systems

chapter III|9 pages

Mystical Speculation Upon Natural Science

chapter VII|16 pages

Linnæus and His Pupils

chapter VIII|11 pages

Buffon

chapter XIV|13 pages

Natural-Philosophical Biology

part Three|318 pages

Modern Biology

part |152 pages

Biology During the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

chapter I|30 pages

From Natural Philosophy to Modern Biology

chapter II|13 pages

Cuvier

chapter III|8 pages

Bichat and His Tissue Theory

chapter IV|10 pages

Cuvier’s Younger Contemporaries

chapter V|8 pages

The Progress of Embryology

chapter VII|17 pages

Microscopy and Cytology

part |164 pages

From Darwin to Our Own Day

chapter X|8 pages

The Preconditions of Darwinism

chapter XI|16 pages

Darwin

chapter XII|21 pages

For and Against Darwin

chapter XIV|23 pages

Haeckel and Monism

chapter XVI|12 pages

Neo-Darwinism and Neo-Lamarckism

chapter XVII|29 pages

Experimental Biology

chapter XVIII|14 pages

Modern Theoretical Speculations