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PREFACE 



Due to a number of discussions with the late Professor 

 Wm. A. Locy, America's foremost historian of biology, 

 the writer had begun a survey of contemporary biological 

 literature some years back. It was but natural, therefore, 

 when two invitations were extended at almost the same 

 moment, ( 1 ) by the editors of a new encyclopedia for an 

 article on Modern Progress in Biology, and (2) by the 

 University of Cordoba to deliver a series of international 

 lectures at a number of South American universities, that 

 the material already collected should be extended and 

 woven into a connected whole. 



As the lectures were to be presented to an audience com- 

 posed of faculty, students, and the general public, it was 

 felt necessary to begin the series with the introduction 

 here given. This, primarily, so that the coordination, the 

 correlation, and the interrelationship of the efforts of 

 many workers in many lands could be better appreci- 

 ated — a coordination, a correlation, and an interrela- 

 tionship that alone can bring forth a perfect product of 

 any science. And in biology, the health, the happiness — 

 yes, the very life of each of us depends upon this product. 



After the survey of the literature had been made, letters 

 containing a number of questions were sent to the heads 

 of departments of biology and zoology in every university 

 in the world outside of the United States, and some 



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