have been
using it, and its sense has become well understood, I am afraid that
people will go on using it, whatever the weight of philological
objection.

Now that we have arrived at the origin of this word "Biology," the next
point to consider is: What ground does it cover? I have said that, in
its strict technical sense, it denotes all the phenomena which are
exhibited by living things, as distinguished from those which are not
living; but while that is all very well, so long as we confine ourselves
to the lower animals and to plants, it lands us in considerable
difficulties when we reach the higher forms of living things. For
whatever view we may entertain about the nature of man, one thing is
perfectly certain, that he is a living creature. Hence, if our
definition is to be interpreted strictly, we must include man and all
his ways and works under the head of Biology; in which case, we should
find that psychology, politics, and political economy would be absorbed
into the province of Biology. In fact, civil history would be merged in
natural history. In strict logic it may be hard to object to this
course, because no one can doubt that the rudiments and outlines of our
own mental phenomena are traceable among the lower animals. They have
their economy and their polity, and if, as is always admitted, the
polity of bees and the commonwealth of wolves fall within the purview of
the biologist proper, it becomes hard to say why we should not include
therein human affairs, which in so many cases resemble those of the bees
in zealous getting, and are not without a certain parity in the
proceedings of the wolves. The real fact is that we biologists are a
self-sacrificing people; and inasmuch as, on a moderate estimate, there
are about a quarter of a million different species of animals and plants
to know about already, we feel that we have more than sufficient
territory. There has been a sort of practical convention by which we
give up to a different branch of science what Bacon and Hobbes would
have called "Civil History." That branch of science has constituted
itself under the head of Sociology. I may use phraseology which, at
present, will be well understood and say that we have allowed that
province of Biology to become autonomous; but I should like you to
recollect that that is a sacrifice, and that you should not be surprised
if it occasionally happens that you see a biologist apparently
trespassing in the region of