The Rise of Experimental Biology

Foreword by Robert Boutilier, PhD, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK "This is a book that will entertain as well as inform a broad audience, from natural philosophers to experimental biologists to medical scientists...[It] is a celebration of the intellectual evolution of the science of physiology and medicine as well as being a socially conscious reminder of our privileged place in nature. I commend it to you." -Bob Boutilier, PhD, Cambridge University "a highly readable and attractive book that is both informative and entertaining. . .In relatively short, pithy, and generously-illustrated chapters, Lutz tells the story of biological discovery from the prehistoric cave painters and their intriguing and naturalistic portrayals of their prey animals, on through the major contributions by the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arab world, and the European periods from the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and into the modern era. His account makes clear that the growth of biological knowledge was by no means a smooth progression, but rather a highly erratic one that advanced rapidly at certain times and then stagnated or regressed as societies favored orthodoxy or mysticism over curiosity and rationality. The book does an excellent job in tracing the development of ideas, and introducing us to the remarkable individuals who were the scientific giants of their times. An appropriate addition on the office bookshelf or for the home library, it is a volume that can be savored in small chapter-sized bites or devoured by an avid reader in a single sitting. Some may simply wish to leaf through and enjoy the illustrations. However it is read, it is a most valuable contribution and both an accessible and timely introduction to the history of biology."-Journal for Experimental BiologyR>

1. Introduction: Science Is Improbable.- 2. The Beginnings.- Myth and Magic.- Mesopotamia.- Egypt.- 3. Early Greek Science.- The Milesians.- The Post-Milesians.- The Soul.- Summary.- 4. The Age of Plato and Aristotle.- Plato and Theory.- Aristotle and Observation.- 5. The Alexandrian Period: The Age of the Experiment and the Textbook.- 6. The Roman Period.- Celsus.- Pliny.- Galen.- 7. The Middle Ages.- 8. Islamic Science.- 9. Scholasticism and Science.- 10. Renaissance I: The Birth of Science.- 11. Renaissance II: The Birth of Experimental Biology.- 12. The New Physiology.- Iatrochemistry.- Iatrophysics.- 13. New Technology, New Physiology.- The New World of the Very Small: The Microscope.- Vital Air: The Development of Pumps and Early Theories of Respiration.- The Thermometer and Body Heat.- 14. Reaction and Opposition.- 15. The Enlightenment and Rational Biology.- Rational Biology.- The Emergence of Physiology.- 16. Transition to the Nineteenth Century: Popular Science, Eccentric Science, and Romantic Physiology.- Hunter and Spallanzani: The Last Great All-Rounders.- The Science Museum: Collecting and Displaying.- Romantic Physiology.- 17. Consolidation of Experimental Biology.- Respiration.- Metabolic Chemistry.- Internal Secretions.- Renal Physiology.- Digestion.- Benefits.- New Fields.- 18. Evolution and Physiology.- 19. Physiology Abused.- Gullibility.- Reckless Intervention.- Evolutionary Genetics and Social Repression.- 20. Today.- What is Science?.- Biology Today.- References.- List of Illustrations.- Biography.