RANK OF DIFFERENT NATIONS 185 



shown greater originality, and greater philosophical 

 grasp in zoological fields, the Germans have been 

 better developers of these new territories. 



If we select the overshadowing contributions of 

 Darwin and Pasteur we might be inclined to place 

 English and French contributions to biological 

 thought above those of the Germans. This is, how- 

 ever, a too restricted view, and, broadly considered, 

 it appears that the different nations break about 

 even as regards eminent contributions to biological 

 progress. They constitute an international group of 

 peers among whom it is invidious to make distinc- 

 tions. 



The fact that German contributions to scholarship 

 have been more energetically advertised and are 

 therefore more widely known, has given rise to a 

 wide-spread opinion that the Germans have been 

 unquestioned leaders in biological progress. But, 

 this general impression gives way under a candid 

 consideration of the quality and the importance of 

 the scholarly output of other nations. 



Zoology and Intellectual Progress. Undoubtedly 

 the progress of zoology has played an important 

 part in the intellectual development of civilized 

 mankind, but the reason for this is only vaguely 



