THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF BIOLOGY. 307 







moreover, as we shall be here, in more or less close connection with a 

 splendidly-equipped hospital, so that we shall be able constantly to 

 combine skilled pathological observation with physiological experi- 

 ment in an excellent laboratory, we have duties to perform toward 

 the advancement of scientific medicine, from whose performance I 

 believe it would be criminal in us, as it would be shameful, to flinch 

 in any way. 



But to return to our special subject : the last three months of the 

 student's second year should be occupied with a laboratory course 

 of instruction in vegetable morphology and physiology, and with a 

 course of lectures on embryology, accompanied with a full practical 

 study of the development of the chick from the earliest stages of in- 

 cubation. 



The student will have now got an extensive acquaintance with 

 biological facts and methods, and henceforth he should be allowed and 

 encouraged to specialize his work. He would be permitted to select 

 for, more detailed study in his third year either animal morphology, or 

 botany, or physiology, and the best men in each subject would be 

 picked out and allowed to act as demonstrators to the second-year 

 students, and so be given the opportunity of acquiring a far more 

 accurate knowledge than they could attain in any other way. For 

 these third-year men, too, short advanced courses of lectures would 

 be given from time to time, such as on the physiology of nutrition, 

 the physiology of the senses, the geographical distribution of animals, 

 on special morphological points, and so on, and also on the more im- 

 portant recent discoveries in various branches ; and the best of them 

 might be put on some easy bit of original work, to try their metal 

 and whet their appetites. 



After all this has been gone through, I think we can do no more 

 in the way of teaching for our typical student ; he has now advanced 

 enough to teach himself, and, if he is good for anything, will do it 

 better than others can do it for him. I think that among students 

 so taught, as I have endeavored to indicate, we should be certain 

 to meet with a large number of well-qualified men from among whom 

 to select some of our fellows and associates, and would be justified in 

 expecting from them work of the highest quality. As regards the 

 remainder, those who display no special aptitude for scientific investi- 

 gation, or no desire to devote themselves to science as a profession, 

 they will at least have had the opportunity of acquiring a very thor- 

 ough and practical knowledge of what modern biology means. 



It now remains for me to give a sketch of what our work for the 

 present year will be, so far as I see my way at present. To-morrow 

 I commence a course of lectures on animal physiology, which I pro- 

 pose to deliver twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, at 1.15 p. m. I 

 have been induced to select this hour on account of special circum- 

 stances affecting many of those who wish to attend this year, though as 



