" Treviranus's great merit lies in this, that he worked
out his idea, and wrote the very remarkable book to which I refer. It
consists of six volumes, and occupied its author for twenty years--from
1802 to 1822.
That is the origin of the term "Biology;" and that is how it has come
about that all clear thinkers and lovers of consistent nomenclature have
substituted for the old confusing name of "Natural History," which has
conveyed so many meanings, the term "Biology" which denotes the whole of
the sciences which deal with living things, whether they be animals or
whether they be plants. Some little time ago--in the course of this
year, I think--I was favoured by a learned classic, Dr. Field of
Norwich, with a disquisition, in which he endeavoured to prove that,
from a philological point of view, neither Treviranus nor Lamarck had
any right to coin this new word "Biology" for their purpose; that, in
fact, the Greek word "Bios" had relation only to human life and human
affairs, and that a different word was employed by the Greeks when they
wished to speak of the life of animals and plants. So Dr. Field tells us
we are all wrong in using the term biology, and that we ought to employ
another; only he is not quite sure about the propriety of that which he
proposes as a substitute.
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