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Science - Biology — page 2
124 public-domain science - biology books, summarised. Page 2 of 3.
Response in the Living and Non-Living
Jagadis Chandra Bose
Mechanical strain, thermal shifts, and chemical poisons produce the same electrical disturbances in tin, celery, and animal muscle. This classic treatise demonstrates that the fundamental characteristics of responsiveness belong to matter itself, unifying the living and non-living worlds.
Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata
H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
An animal body is a machine driven by chemical combustion, where food and oxygen transform into vital force.
The Evolution Theory, Vol. 1 of 2
August Weismann
This rigorous synthesis of biological science serves as a foundational bridge between Darwin’s initial insights and the complex, microscopic reality of heredity. It maps the intricate mechanisms that drive the transformation of life across the ages.
The Organism as a Whole, from a Physicochemical Viewpoint
Jacques Loeb
Living organisms are not mystical entities, but complex machines whose functions—from reproduction to development—can be decoded through the rigorous laws of chemistry and physics.
The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of Man
Ernst Haeckel
The study of human origins serves as the ultimate diagnostic for understanding our place in the natural world. By tracing the biological lineage of humanity, we uncover the mechanical and evolutionary forces that shaped the modern form.
Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture
William Saunders
This guide serves as a practical, encyclopedic inventory of the diverse botanical specimens maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture in the late nineteenth century. It provides a crisp, descriptive survey of plants valued for their utility, medicinal properties, or industrial applications.
The Evolution Theory, Vol. 2 of 2
August Weismann
A landmark work of evolutionary biology, this second volume presents a bold defense of selectionism through a vast survey of animal life, cellular mechanics, and inherited variation.
Dragons of the Air: An Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles
H. G. (Harry Govier) Seeley
These ancient, winged reptiles occupy a mysterious middle ground between the cold-blooded lizard and the soaring bird. This account reconstructs their history through the enduring language of their fossilized bones.
The Botanist's Companion, Volume II: Or an Introduction to the Knowledge of Practical Botany, and the Uses of Plants. Either Growing Wild in Great Britain, or Cultivated for the Puroses of Agriculture, Medicine, Rural Oeconomy, or the Arts
William Salisbury
Practical botany in the early nineteenth century serves as both a scientific pursuit and a manual for survival. This volume functions as a bridge between the wild flora of Great Britain and the necessities of domestic, agricultural, and medical life. It captures a time when the study of a plant’s anatomy was…
Animal Locomotion
James Bell Pettigrew
Nature is a master of economy, and nowhere is this more evident than in the mechanics of movement. Through a rigorous analysis of how animals walk, swim, and fly, this work reveals a hidden, elegant unity in the natural world: that the same principles of rotation, twisting, and wave-like progression govern the foot…
Genera and Subgenera of Chipmunks
John A. White
This focused taxonomic study resolves a long-standing debate over the classification of chipmunks by demonstrating that the eastern and western groups belong to two distinct evolutionary lineages rather than one. By examining internal anatomy—specifically the malleus, hyoid apparatus, and baculum—the work provides…
Man's Place in the Universe: A Study of the Results of Scientific Research in Relation to the Unity or Plurality of Worlds, 3rd Edition
Alfred Russel Wallace
A bold, meticulous inquiry into whether the cosmos harbours other living worlds yields a startlingly precise conclusion: our planet stands entirely alone.
Rudiments of Conchology: Intended as a familiar introduction to the science
Mary Anne Venning
A young collector and her brother learn the secrets of the sea through a series of structured, scholarly lessons delivered by their father.
Disease in plants
H. Marshall (Harry Marshall) Ward
To understand the health of a plant, one must view it not as a static object, but as a dynamic machine constantly balancing its intake of energy against the hazards of its environment.
The anatomy of the domestic fowl
B. F. (Benjamin Franklyn) Kaupp
This rigorous reference work provides a foundational exploration of the biological structures of poultry, serving as a comprehensive anatomical guide for the student and the agricultural researcher.
Plants Poisonous to Live Stock
Harold Cecil Long
Understanding the botanical dangers lurking in pastures is a vital pursuit for the safety of livestock. This guide systematically catalogs the toxic threats found in the British landscape to help farmers identify and mitigate risks.
The Biological Problem of To-day: Preformation Or Epigenesis?: The Basis of a Theory of Organic Development
Oscar Hertwig
An egg cell divides, but whether its unfolding trajectory relies on a rigid internal blueprint or a flexible response to its environment remains one of biology's most provocative questions.
A Taxonomic Study of the Middle American Snake, Pituophis deppei
William Edward Duellman
This brief, technical monograph provides a rigorous reclassification of Middle American snakes within the genus Pituophis. By untangling decades of taxonomic confusion, it clarifies the evolutionary boundaries between populations previously grouped together.
A Critique of the Theory of Evolution
Thomas Hunt Morgan
A rigorous examination of evolutionary theory, this work bridges the gap between classic observational biology and the experimental precision of early twentieth-century genetics. It remains a foundational text for understanding how the modern synthesis of evolution began to take shape.
Regeneration
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Living organisms possess a startling, inherent capacity to rebuild themselves after injury, a phenomenon that challenges our most basic assumptions about the nature of life and development.
The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 4 (of 4)
Francis M. (Francis Maitland) Balfour
The intricate dance of cells as they form a living organism reveals the shared biological history of all vertebrate life. By examining the earliest stages of development, the complex structures of the animal world become legible.
Evolution and Classification of the Pocket Gophers of the Subfamily Geomyinae
Robert J. Russell
This technical monograph traces the evolutionary history and biological classification of pocket gophers, examining how these burrowing rodents adapted over millions of years. It serves as a comprehensive taxonomic record for researchers and naturalists.
The Present Condition of Organic Nature: Lecture I. (of VI.), "Lectures to Working Men", at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, on Darwin's Work: "Origin of Species"
Thomas Henry Huxley
A single horse contains the architectural plan of all backboned life, reducing the complex machinery of biological existence to a simple balance of physical forces and microscopic cells.
The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science
Edgar Allan Poe
This scientific primer serves as a foundational guide to the study of shells and the soft-bodied animals that inhabit them. It offers a structured, technical entry point for students and collectors interested in the classification of malacology.
Facts and Arguments for Darwin
Fritz Müller
HOOK This field study transforms the observation of minute, tide-swept crustaceans into a powerful, empirical defense of natural selection.
By the deep sea
Edward Step
The tide retreats to reveal a hidden, living kingdom, inviting the patient observer to look closely at the wonders left behind on the rocky shore.
Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys
Robert L. (Robert Lewis) Packard
These pygmy mice, the smallest rodents in North America, reveal the complex interplay of geography, climate, and evolution across the vast landscapes of Mexico and the southwestern United States.
Elementary Botany
George Francis Atkinson
Through meticulous experimental design and systematic structural analysis, a foundational science comes alive, demonstrating how liquid pressure, microscopic cellular structures, and environmental adaptations govern every leaf, spore, and seed in the natural world.
Marine Protozoa from Woods Hole: Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 21:415-468, 1901
Gary N. (Gary Nathan) Calkins
A quiet revolution unfolds along twenty feet of wooden piling in Massachusetts, where microscopic predators and shimmering single-celled organisms spin through tidal waters in a delicate, invisible display of natural engineering.
The Elements of Agriculture: A Book for Young Farmers, with Questions Prepared for the Use of Schools
George E. (George Edwin) Waring
Soil, plant, and air participate in a quiet, rigorous economy, where no single chemical element can be missing if a crop is to thrive.
A Mechanico-Physiological Theory of Organic Evolution
Carl Nägeli
Life builds itself outward from microscopic structural units, driven by an internal impulse toward complexity that operates with the mechanical certainty of physical law.
The Conditions of Existence as Affecting the Perpetuation of Living Beings: Lecture V. (of VI.), "Lectures to Working Men", at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, on Darwin's Work: "Origin of Species"
Thomas Henry Huxley
Exploring the mechanisms of natural selection and variation in species, as inspired by Darwin's *On the Origin of Species*.
Lectures on Evolution: Essay #3 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition"
Thomas Henry Huxley
Humanity is a small, fleeting observer attempting to chart the vast, shifting phantasmagoria of Nature. Through careful, systematic study of the fossil record, a picture emerges of a world defined not by chance, but by constant, natural causation.
On the Study of Zoology
Thomas Henry Huxley
This work serves as a manifesto for the place of science in education, arguing that true knowledge arises not from textbooks, but from the direct, sensory observation of the natural world.
First course in biology
L. H. (Liberty Hyde) Bailey
This foundational text bridges the divide between abstract scientific theory and the tangible realities of the natural world. It encourages readers to look beyond the classroom and find the mechanics of life in their own backyards.
Significant Achievements in Space Bioscience 1958-1964
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
This technical survey documents the early years of American space biology, outlining the scientific foundations necessary to sustain human life beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It serves as a vital historical record of the foundational research that transitioned space flight from experimental rocketry to a sustained…
The Principles of Breeding
S. L. (Stephen Lincoln) Goodale
Success in agriculture requires a precise understanding of the physiological laws governing domestic animals. Careful selection, rather than chance, determines the profitability and long-term improvement of a farm’s livestock.
The Evolution of Man
Ernst Haeckel
This classic examination of human origins reconstructs the biological history of our species by mapping the development of the individual against the ancestral record of the animal kingdom.
A practical course in botany
Eliza Frances Andrews
This comprehensive manual serves as a bridge between the rigorous requirements of early twentieth-century college botany and the practical, daily realities of agriculture and home life. By emphasizing the functional and economic roles of plants, it encourages students to move beyond passive observation,…
Speciation of the Wandering Shrew
James S. (James Smith) Findley
This monograph examines the intricate biological relationships and evolutionary history of a group of North American shrews. It provides a meticulous taxonomic revision of the Sorex vagrans species complex, detailing how environmental shifts have shaped their current distribution.
Studies in the Theory of Descent (Volumes 1 and 2)
August Weismann
A delicate caterpillar startles a hungry bird by swelling its body to reveal sudden, terrifying eye-spots. Through such vivid natural wonders, August Weismann builds a rigorous argument for how physical traits evolve through environmental pressure.
Synopsis of Some Genera of the Large Pyrenomycetes: Camillea, Thamnomyces, Engleromyces
C. G. (Curtis Gates) Lloyd
This technical monograph provides a systematic, illustrated survey of obscure tropical fungi, offering a pragmatic approach to the identification of Camillea, Thamnomyces, and Engleromyces amidst a tangled history of botanical naming.
A Critical Examination of the Position of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On the Origin of Species," in Relation to the Complete Theory of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature: Lecture VI. (of VI.), "Lectures to Working Men", at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, on Darwin's Work: "Origin of Species"
Thomas Henry Huxley
Scientific inquiry requires a rigorous testing of hypothesis against observable fact, leaving no room for sentimental dogma or premature certainty.
The Genera of Phyllomedusine Frogs (Anura: Hylidae)
William Edward Duellman
Vertical pupils, distinctive skin chemistry, and eggs suspended over water set the leaf frogs apart from all other tree frogs across the Neotropics.
The Scientific Evidences of Organic Evolution
George John Romanes
A clear, rigorous overview of evolutionary theory demonstrates how disparate biological facts converge on a single natural law.
ABC's of Science
Charles A. (Charles Alexander) Oliver
This brief, eccentric treatise offers an idiosyncratic view of the universe, blending early twentieth-century astronomical observation with speculative biology and a theory of "animal magnetism" to explain the mechanics of existence.
Relics of Primeval Life: Beginning of Life in the Dawn of Geological Time
Dawson, John William, Sir
Life began in darkness, beneath deep oceans that covered a changing planet, leaving behind quiet records written into ancient stone.
Studies in Spermatogenesis (Part 1 of 2)
N. M. (Nettie Maria) Stevens
The mystery of sex determination finds its biological anchor here, through a rigorous study of how chromosomes behave within the reproductive cells of insects. It remains a foundational text in the history of genetics.