The Annals 



of 



Scottish Natural History 



No. 6l] 1907 [JANUARY 



WANTED THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



OF SCOTLAND. 



By JAMES W. H. TRAIL, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. 



THE time is long past since it was possible for any one to 

 claim that he took all knowledge for his province ; and 

 societies, like individuals, have had to restrict their scope to 

 ever-narrowing fields as knowledge has grown and deepened. 

 Some have applied themselves to the investigation of a 

 single science or portion of a science ; while others, with 

 wider range of subjects, have limited their action within a 

 definite, it may be a relatively small geographical area. 

 More and more has it become evident that concentration 

 in a definite field is a condition necessary to the production 

 of work of permanent value, and that for all but a gifted few 

 that field must not be wide. 



But while the subdivision of labour is necessary, and 

 has brought with it very great increase in knowledge in 

 almost every field of study, it has also brought very serious 

 loss and danger. The many workers toil on within their 

 narrowing limitations ; and however precious the ore they 

 seek, they tend to shut themselves off from the wider vision 

 6 1 B 



