Tt A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES 



thing of what could be learned about these organisms by observations made in 

 the field. He was a man characterized above all by the range of his interests, 

 which might encompass the entire field of natural history. He was the man who 

 is referred to now, sometimes with respect, sometimes with a sort of envy, and 

 sometimes with a slightly condescending air, as the "Old Time Naturalist." The 

 race e:^isted until well into the early years of the present century; some of its 

 members have died only within the last few years. Now with the passing of the 

 last few stragglers it is extinct or so nearly extinct that at the most it constitutes 

 a "relict species." The intellectual climate has changed and it is perhaps as well 

 for their own sakes that the "Old Time Naturalists" are gone. They would not 

 be comfortable in the present climate! The environmental pressures are too great! 



Here is an example of the alteration of a species brought about by changes 

 in the environment. Natural history has changed to meet the demands of the 

 new environment and naturalists have either disappeared or altered their out- 

 look to meet the new conditions. 



Continuing this method of nomenclature, these "Old Time Naturalists" have 

 been replaced by what, at the best, might be called the "New Time Naturalist." 

 He is a modification of the earlier form, a derivative of it, but modified to succeed 

 in this new climate. He has of necessity become a specialist in some one or more 

 of the many subdivisions into which the old field of natural history has been 

 fragmented; but he retains something of the spirit of his predecessor and some 

 vision of the freedom with which that predecessor roamed at will over his domain. 

 There are a few men still who deserve the distinction of being thus listed in the 

 line to which the "Old Time Naturalist" gave rise. But alas! Even they are now 

 relatively few and perhaps lonely. They have, of necessity, largely themselves 

 been superseded by the "narrow specialist," whose interest is bounded by a fence 

 surrounding one of these fields or fragments of the fields into which natural 

 history has been shattered and subdivided, fields that all too often are surrounded 

 by a fence "hog tight, bull strong, and horse high"^ through which they cannot 

 escape, even if they would. They have been conditioned to accept their fate and 

 seek for no other. 



But there are signs that these fences may be in part crumbling and of recent 

 years there have been indications that still another breed is rising, a second gen- 

 eration in which the recessive or suppressed characteristics of the Fi generation 

 are now reappearing in the F2 generation. There are now an increasing number 

 of men in biology who recognize that restriction to these narrow fields is neither 

 comfortable nor desirable and who have begun the task of reintegrating them 

 into fields of larger dimensions. Perhaps those reintegrated fields are not yet as 

 large as was the old natural history, but there are indications that in time they 

 may become even larger and more productive. Here, as is the nature of wheels, 

 the wheel begins to come back full circle but farther along. 



So it is perhaps a propitious time at which to consider what the contribution 

 of natural history to human progress has been in the past, in part as an aid to 

 developing an appreciation of what was done and in part as an aid to the appre- 

 ciation of what may still be done by one who refuses to be confined within a 

 narrow specialty. 



i 



1. A characterization derived from advertising contemporaneous with the last days 

 of the Old Time Naturalists and the early days of the author as a farm boy. 



