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The sum of all the parts of Such – Of each laboratory scene – Is such. While science means this much And means no more, why, let it mean! But were the science-men to find Some animating principle Which gave synthetic Such a mind Vital, though metaphysical – To Such, such an event, I think, Would cause unscientific pain: Science, appalled by thought, would shrink To its component parts again. The first nineteen chapters of this book were written in the third person, with the author assuming the role of the proverbial fly on the wall. This was appropriate because the things described in those chapters are accessible to any observer, directly or indirectly, through his or her senses. In that respect, they exemplify what John Ziman said of science in general – they are public knowledge. The human mind has long been regarded as basically different because of its subjective dimension. We take a third-person stance when considering the workings of minds, admittedly, but our own thoughts are perforce first person and private. In this last chapter, therefore, I shall feel justified in making occasional first-person excursions, and there will even be expressions of my own subjective beliefs about such issues as consciousness and intelligence. But that doesn't imply acceptance of the view that the mind is fundamentally different from anything else in Nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 6 of the book "Evolution's Eye" is presented. It examines the way contingency is used to contrast evolutionary processes with developmental ones. It investigates the common assumption that while chordates may be evolutionary contingent, any particular chordate is hardly contingent ontogenetically, because it is brought into being by an internal plan. It states that according to evolutionary biologist Steven Jay Gould, the existence of the phylum Chordata is an evolutionary accident.

This article presents a method to understand the nature of several types of reptiles. Tell the kids that the animals on the page are all reptiles. Discuss some of the general characteristics of reptiles. Explain that scientists group these animals according to their body structure, physiology, and other characteristics. That's why some animals that look the same aren't always grouped together. For example, a tuatara looks a lot like a lizard. But scientists know that tuataras are different from lizards in several ways. INSET: MEET THE REPTILES..

This article presents photographs of amphibians and reptiles.