What was biology like in Europe in 1600?

Answer 1

Biology as a subject was not particularly well studied, simply because there was not much one could do. For instance, biology today breaks down into three main groups (obviously there are others), which are biotechnology and genetics, evolutionary biology, and ecology (I see medicine as separate). The first two groups would not really appear for another two hundred years, so that leaves ecology. People had observed creatures for a long time, and they were regarded as useful for food, clothing or company. Exotic beasts such as giraffes were considered amazing, but there was no huge drive for biological knowledge. They were animals, created by God, and that was that. The closest to any study of animals was by the Danish physician, Ole Worm. He investigated many folk myths about animals, and proved many to be false. He was one of the first empiricists (scientists who test by experiment). He proved, for example, that the common belief that the Norwegian lemming was spontaneously generated by the air was false, by observing mating habits. He also showed that what people had thought were unicorn horns were in fact those of Narwhals. He then tested the folk belief that 'unicorn' horns cure poison, by poisoning dogs and then feeding them ground narwhal tusk. Apparently they recovered! Basically though, biology was a practically nonexistent subject, with people concentrating on physics (like Newton and Galileo) or alchemy/chemistry.