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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



vious vague notions of the development 

 of animals by exact accounts of the cell- 

 origin of different organs of the body. 

 Others have studied the abilities of mu- 

 tilated animals to reproduce the parts 

 lost and the conditions and limitations 

 of such regeneration. Such studies have 

 greatly broadened our views of the na- 

 ture of animal tissues. Others have in- 

 vestigated the results of artificial con- 

 ditions on the development of animals, 

 especially in the earliest stages. For 

 instance, from eggs broken into pieces 

 there have been developed twins, trip- 

 lets and monsters of various sorts. Such 

 experiments as these are producing data 

 concerning the very fundaments of liv- 

 ing matter and are leading biology be- 

 yond the mere description of animal 

 structures and functions towards an in- 

 sight into the elementary principles of 

 development. Among the numerous re- 

 searches, some seventy in all, which are 

 being carried on at Woods Holl this 

 summer, those of the most general in- 

 terest are Prof. C. O. Whitman's study 

 of hybrids and Prof. Jacques Loeb's 

 study of artificial fertilization. Prof. 

 Whitman has been breeding pigeons of 

 a large number of species for several 

 years, as a means of studying the phe- 

 nomena of heredity shown in hybrid 

 forms. More or less incidentally, he has 

 discovered many notable facts about the 

 instincts and habits of the birds and 

 about various physiological functions 

 connected with reproduction. Biologists 

 everywhere are coming to realize the 

 necessity of systematic and continuous 

 study of families of animals through a 

 number of generations. Prof. Whit- 

 man's is the most extensive of such 

 studies in this country. The detailed 

 results of Prof. Loeb's continuation of 

 his experiments on the action of various 

 salts on unfertilized eggs will naturally 

 be awaited with great interest. We 

 have already noticed his success in caus- 

 ing unfertilized eggs of the sea-urchin 

 to develop into normal individuals as 

 far as the pluteus stage. He has this 

 year succeeded in producing artificial 

 parthenogenesis not only in starfish 



(Asterias), but also in worms (Chaetop- 

 terus). Through a slight increase in 

 the amount of K-ions in the sea-water, 

 the eggs of the latter can be caused not 

 only to throw out the polar bodies as 

 Mead had already observed, but also to 

 reach the Trochophore stage and swim 

 about as actively as the larvae origina- 

 ting from fertilized eggs. 



In the courses of instruction offered 

 at Woods Holl there are two of more 

 than ordinary interest. Professor Loeb's 

 course in physiology departs from the 

 traditional study of physiological func- 

 tions in the frog and in some mammal, 

 and offers instead experimental work 

 on the simpler invertebrate forms. The 

 phenomena of life are there presented in 

 diagrammatic form, and are interpreted 

 as far as possible in terms of physics 

 and chemistry. The course in nature 

 study, given this year for the first time, 

 offers to students without technical 

 training a chance to learn about ani- 

 mals and plants from specialists. It has 

 shown clearly that the best science is 

 popular, that really scientific work can 

 be done without previous drill in ter- 

 minology or technique. A novel fea- 

 ture of the course has been the sys- 

 tematic experimental study of the in- 

 stincts and intelligent performances of 

 animals. The method of offering to in- 

 telligent men and women, who wish to 

 know about animal life, but have no 

 time or need for special technical train- 

 ing or detailed anatomical work, a 

 chance to get something better than 

 mere book knowledge or haphazard 

 personal observation, should be widely 

 extended. 



The laboratory of the Brooklyn In- 

 stitute of Arts and Sciences, situated at 

 Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, is 

 nearly as old as the Woods Holl Labora- 

 tory. Prof. C. B. Davenport, its direc- 

 tor, is probably the most active worker 

 in this country in the quantitative 

 study of variation, and one of the 

 leading lines of research at Cold Spring 

 Harbor is now and will probably be for 



