The language style of essays

Example:

Biology is the science of living systems. It is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring knowledge of the physical sciences and mathematics, although specialities may be oriented toward a group of organisms or a level of organization. BOTANY is concerned with plant life, ZOOLOGY with animal life, algology with ALGAE, MYCOLOGY with fungi, MICROBIOLOGY with microorganisms such as protozoa and bacteria, CYTOLOGY with CELLS, and so on. All biological specialties, however, are concerned with life and its characteristics. These characteristics include cellular organization, METABOLISM, response
to stimuli, development and growth, and reproduction. Furthermore, the information needed to control the expression of such characteristics is contained within each organism.
FUNDAMENTAL DISCIPLINES

Life is divided into many levels of organization--atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, and populations. The basic disciplines of biology may study life at one or more of these
levels. Taxonomy attempts to arrange organisms in natural groups based on common features. It is concerned with the identification, naming, and classification of organisms. The seven major taxonomic categories, or taxa, used in classification are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Early systems used only two kingdoms, plant and animal, whereas most modern systems use five: MONERA (BACTERIA and BLUE-GREEN ALGAE), PROTISTA (PROTOZOA and the other ALGAE), FUNGI, PLANT, and ANIMAL. The discipline of ECOLOGY is concerned with the interrelationships of organisms, both among themselves and between them and their environment. Studies of the energy flow through communities of organisms and of the environment (the ecosystem approach) are especially valuable in assessing the effects of human activities. An ecologist must be knowledgeable in other
disciplines of biology. Organisms respond to stimuli from other organisms and from the environment; behaviorists are concerned with these responses. Most of them study animals--as individuals, groups, or entire species--in describing ANIMAL BEHAVIOR patterns. These patterns include ANIMAL MIGRATION, courtship and mating, social organization, TERRITORIALITY, INSTINCT, and learning. When humans are included, biology overlaps with psychology and sociology. Growth and orientation responses of plants can also be studied in the discipline of behavior, although they are traditionally
considered as belonging under development and PHYSIOLOGY, respectively. Descriptive and comparative EMBRYOLOGY are the classic areas of DEVELOPMENT studies, although
postembryological development, particularly the aging process, is also examined. The biochemical and biophysical mechanisms that control normal development are of particular interest when they
are related to birth defects, cancer, and other abnormalities. Inheritance of physical and biochemical characteristics, and the variations that appear from generation to generation, are the general subjects of GENETICS. The emphasis may be on improving domestic plants and animals through controlled breeding, or it may be on the more fundamental questions of molecular and cellular mechanisms of HEREDITY. A branch of biology growing in importance since the 1940s, molecular biology essentially developed out of genetics and biochemistry. It seeks to explain biological events by studying the molecules within cells, with a special emphasis on the molecular basis of genetics--nucleic acids in particular--and its relationship to energy cycling and replication. Evolution, including the appearance of new species, the modification of existing species, and the characteristics of extinct ones, is based on genetic principles. Information about the structure and distribution of fossils that is provided by
paleontologists is essential to understanding these changes. Morphology (from the Greek, meaning
"form study") traditionally has examined the ANATOMY of all organisms. The middle levels of biological organization--cells, tissues, and organs, are the usual topics--with comparisons drawn among organisms to help establish taxonomic and evolutionary relationships. As important as the form of an organism are its functions. Physiology is concerned with the life processes of entire organisms as well as those of
cells, tissues, and organs. Metabolism and hormonal controls are some of the special interests of this discipline.

HISTORY OF BIOLOGY

Origin and Early Development. The oldest surviving archaeological records that indicate some rudimentary human knowledge of biological principles date from the Mesolithic Period. During the NEOLITHIC PERIOD, which began almost 10,000 years ago, various human groups developed agriculture and the medicinal use of plants. In ancient Egypt, for example, a number of
herbs were being used medicinally and for embalming. Early Development As a science,
however, biology did not develop until the last few centuries BC. Although HIPPOCRATES, known as the father of medicine, influenced the development of medicine apart from its role in
religion, it was ARISTOTLE, a student of Plato, who established observation and analysis as the
basic tools of biology. Of particular importance were Aristotle's observations of reproduction and
his concepts for a classification system. As the center of learning shifted from Greece to Rome
and then to Alexandria, so did the study of biology. From the 3d century BC to the 2d
century AD, studies primarily focused on agriculture and medicine. The Arabs dominated
the study of biology during the Middle Ages and applied their knowledge of the Greeks' discoveries
to medicine. The Renaissance was a period of rapid advances, especially in Italy, France, and
Spain, where Greek culture was being rediscovered. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo became skilled anatomists through their search for perfection in art. Andreas VESALIUS initiated the use of dissection as a teaching aid. His books, Fabrica (1543) and Fabrica, 2d ed. (1550), contained detailed anatomical illustrations that became standards. In the 17th century, William HARVEY introduced the use of experimentation in his studies of the human circulatory system. His work marked the beginning of mammalian physiology. Scientific Societies and Journals. Lack
of communication was a problem for early biologists. To overcome this, scientific societies
were organized. The first were in Europe, beginning with the Academy of the Lynx (Rome,
1603). The Boston Philosophical Society, founded in 1683, was probably the first such society to be organized in colonial America. Later, specialized groups, principally of physicians, organized
themselves, among them the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS),
founded in 1848. Much later, in 1951, the American Institute of Biological Science (AIBS) was formed as an alliance of the major biological societies in the United States. The first journals to present scientific discoveries were published in Europe starting in 1665; they were the Journal des Savants, in France, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, in London. Over the years, numerous other journals have been established, so that today nearly all societies record their transactions and discoveries.

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