Abstract
THE sciences of life are marked off for practical purposes from those concerned with inorganic matter by obvious differences in the nature of the material with which they respectively deal. But in addition to distinctions of this kind, it has been customary to look upon biology as having a lower claim to the title of an “exact” science than that enjoyed, for example, by chemistry and physics. This view has been emphasised by the practice of calling biology a merely “descriptive” science, with a kind of implication that other sciences are that and something more. The distinction, however, is at best an artificial one, resting mainly on the fact that the conditions of life are often so complex, and the data so difficult of access, that the use of those quantitative methods of induction which in other sciences have been fruitful of important results, so far as biology is concerned has to a great extent remained in abeyance.
The Grammar of Science.
By Karl Pearson, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, University College, London. Second Edition, revised and enlarged, with 33 figures in the text. Pp. xviii + 548. (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1900.)
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D., F. The Grammar of Science . Nature 62, 49–50 (1900). https://doi.org/10.1038/062049a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/062049a0
