Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/103

* BIO-BIO. 85 BIO-BIO. The largest river of Chile. It rises in tlie C'uiililleras, and after a northwesterly course of about 220 miles, with its lower reaches alonn; the fri'eat valley between the Andes and the Coast ranjje. empties into the Pacific Ocean just below Conccpcion. It has a number of tributa- ries, has a width of 2 miles at its mouth, and becomes navigable at Xaciniiento. BI'OGEN'ESIS (Gk. /SIoj, hios. life + y^yeau, gciK'xi.s. oriirin. source). The doctrine that the series of forms which an animal passes through in developing from the egg to the adult is an epitome of the stages in the evolution of the species. This is stated briefly in the expres- sion: Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. The truth of this doctrine seems to have been recog- nized long ago, according to Meckel (ISll). by Aristotle, Halley, Harvey. Kielemeyer, Auten- reith. and many other early authors. The law is often called Von Baer's, because in his great work on the development of animals (1828-37) he demonstrated its truth in detail. Louis Agas- siz also laid stress on this law, although he did not accept evolution. The law is based upon ob- served parallelisms between ontogenetic changes and assumed evolutionary ones. Thus, at an em- bryonic stage, man possesses gill-slits and a two- chambered heart, like a lish ; later the gill-slits close and the heart becomes reptilian. A tail like that of lower apes is present at a later stage. At birth the child grasps things with its feet, as the higher apes do. and not until several months after birth are the essentially animal instincts replaced by the human. To render the termi- nology of the stages of ontogeny and phylogeny more precise, and at the same time comparable, the following terms have been introduced by Alpheus Hyatt: O.NTOOEXV OB DEVELOPMENT P-^'-Sf^VpH^.^M ""^ Dynamical Stages Stages Stages Terms Embryonic Embryo or fetal Phylembryonic Nepionic Baby Phylonepionic Epacme Xeanic Adolescent Phyloneanic Epbebic Adult Phylophebic .cme <jeroDtic Senile Fhylogerontic Paracme The recapitulation law remains unexplained; it does not hold in detail, but only in a rough and general way. "The embryonic record," says Balfour, '"as it is usually presented to us, is both imperfect and misleading. It may be compared to an ancient manuscript with many of the sheets lost, others displaced, and with spurious passages interpolated by a later hand." See Emrryologt; and Ga.str.ea Thkoky. Ahiogenesis, though apparently merely the ne- gation of 'biogenesis,' has a somewhat different meaning, the terra signifying reproduction by spontaneous generation — not now accepted as a fact in any case. BI'OGEOL'OGY. See Paleoxtolooy; Paleo- botany: and <;eoi.oGY. BIOG'RAPHY (Gk. plos. hiof>. life + ypa<inv, griijihiiit. to write). . term applied to that de- partment of literature which treats of the lives of individuals. The mode of treatment, especially in modern times, is far from uniform. In some cases biography approaches the sphere of phi- losophy; in others, that of history: while in the majority it assumes, to a large extent, the char- acter of analytic or descriptive criticism. To none of these modes, theoretically considered, can BIOGRAPHY. there be any valid objection; everything de- pends on the judiciousness of the biographer. The great points which he must keep perpetually in view are the personality and characteristics of his subject. If these are buried under a load of digressive dissertations, his book, however valu- able or interesting, ceases to be a biogiaphy ex- cept in name. Such a book, for example, is ilas- son's Life of Milton. Anciently, biography was more of a mere curriculum vilw than it is" now; that is to say, the leading incidents of a man's life were narrated in their historical sequence, without any elaborate attempt to analyze the character from which thej- emanated. Like an- cient history, it was possessed of a simple great- ness, a stately dignity of narrative, colored here and there, but sparingly, with grave eulogy or censure, ilodern biogiaphy, on the other hand, like modern history, is full" of elucidations, criti- cisms, and disquisitions; and, if wanting in the severe grace of its classic predecessors, it is much more lively, acute, and expansive. Biographical literature has existed from an early period. The oldest historical books of the Jews abound with beautiful examples of it, such as the lives of the Patriarchs and the storv' of Ruth. Indeed, the mythologies of all ancient nations are but the lives of heroes and gods. Of purely biographical works, the most valuable that has come down to us from the Greeks is the Piirallel Lives by Plutarch, written about the close of the First Century after Christ. Roman litera- ture also possessed an admirable specimen in the Life of Agricola by his son-in-law, Tacitus. Be- sides these may be mentioned the Lives of the Twelve Ccesars (in Latin), by Suetonius, and Apolloiiius of Tyana (in Greek), by Philostra- tus, Lives of the Sophists (in Greek), by Philo- stratus, and a Life of Plato (in Greek), by Olyra- piodorus of Alexandria. Coming dovm to a later period we meet Saint Jerome's Lives of the Fathers: while biographies, more or less com- plete, of saints, martyrs, bishops, etc., are scat- tered profusely through private ecclesiastical lit- erature. The monks of the Jliddle Ages employed their leisure in weaving legends that abound in superstition and absurdities. Modern biograplii- cal literature really dates from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. Among the valuable works that then appeared may be mentioned Vasari's Lives of the Painters (Florence. 1.5.iO) ; the Acta Slancioruni (q.v.) ; Tillemont's .1/e- moires pour servir a I'histoire erclesiastique des , six premieres siecJes de I'rglise. 10 vols. (Paris, len.'?) ; Thomas Stanley's History of Philosophy, containing the lives, opinions, actions, and dis- courses of philosophers of every sect (first edi- tion. London. ltl:).5-02: 4th edition, with Life, London. 174.'?) : Bnyle's Diclinnnaire historique et critique ( Rotterdam. 1(197). In England and elsewhere, the biography of the man of letters is a late development. The men who visited the Globe Theatre never thought of writing the life of Shakespeare. To them the career of the dramatist seemed un- eventful, for it was in no wise connected with the great affairs of Church ;ind State. The signs of a new era appeared with the publication of Walton's charming Lives (lfi70). comprising Donne. Wotton. Hooker, and Herlwrt. This list, however, contains the name of no one who de- voted himself wholly to letters. Walton's vol- ume was followed by Wood's Athenw Oxonienses