It is a somewhat hard one--"zootocology." I am
sorry we are wrong, because we are likely to continue so. In these
matters we must have some sort of "Statute of Limitations." When a name
has been employed for half-a-century, persons of authority[3] 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.
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