94 



MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



evolution of higher individual types. Variation is the doorway to suc- 

 cess. Since so widely differing in its operation it opens up an unending 

 path of research. Man taking advantage of its aid has given us the 

 roadster and heavy draft horse. Shorthorn and Aberdeen Angus cattle, 

 fine and coarse wool sheep, light a«d heavy swine, the members of each 

 pair though tracing to' common ancestry present wide differences not 

 only in characteristics but also in adaptability. This department of 

 study brings the student into close touch with many lines of science. He 

 must have a knowledge of anatomy in order to be able to understand and 

 appreciate modifications in fundamental structure. Physiology must be 

 to him a familiar field so that he may understand the body functions of 

 the subjects with which he has to deal, and thus comprehend what may be 

 possible in the way of affecting certain functions whose operation is 

 favorable by varying surrounding conditions. The student further learns 

 that improvement is effected only through taking advantage of the tend- 

 ency to variation, not by any other volition on the breeder's part so that 

 he must acquaint himself with every known variation of cause and effect 

 along this line. 



The last division of this study is concerned directly with the relation 

 existing between animals and plants and necessitates not only a knowl- 

 edge of varieties of cultivated food plants, but also of their chemical com 

 position as units, as well as their relative composition with regard to 

 varying proportions of food nutrients. An extensive working knowledge 

 of organic chemistry is therefore indispensable. Under this head the 

 'student proceeds still further with the study of physiological problems 

 looking towards an intimate knowledge of the unit and relative values 

 not only of ordinary food stuffs but of the many commercial products 

 within his reach. An interesting line of investigation rests in the problem 

 as to what extent animal form may be modified through the use of food 

 stuff rich or poor in their content of certain essential constituents. This 

 brings us directly into touch with the work of the biological laboratory. 

 At several institutions, experiments are conducted which terminate only 

 when the animals used have been literally dissected in class clinics. 



This then is in brief an outline of Animal Husbandry work as it is. We 

 have endeavored to indicate that its intelligent pursuit calls into opera- 

 tion an extensive knowledge of several of the pure sciences. It would be 

 true to say that it takes its place as one of the ajjplied sciences for there 

 are but few lines of human endeavor into which so many of these enter 

 so largely and which respond more quickly to their application. 



Perhaps we may be permitted to go a step further and hazard the sug 

 gestion that in a commercial way we might make use of its possibilities 

 with even a wider field in view. Since every student is more or less 

 familiar with the various forms of domesticated animal life might we not 

 make use of many of its forms in our zoological and biological laboratories 

 having them replace many of the species less known to the every day 

 world. An o)t)jection is urged against the pursuit of the classics and 

 higher mathematics Hiat they are as it were, but drill grounds in which 

 the student is worked to develop his thinking powers. The same is true 

 of much of the laboratory work along the line mentioned. It is well and 

 good at the time but in later life there is usually no connecting link 

 between such and the surroundings of the matured student. We are all 

 more or less in touch in some form or other with commercial animal 

 life in its various forms. Might it not be that in a laboratory study of 



