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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



this period one eau see many changes in men 

 and institutions with regard to this subject. 

 In some cases men who were at first hostile 

 to any disturbance of the orthodox courses 

 (which largely ignored ecological relations), 

 have mellowed with time; others who were 

 agnostics, and wished to be shown that ecol- 

 ogy was worth while— was a real subject and 

 not merely a name— have since been con- 

 vinced ; many indifferent ones have felt 

 obliged to become interested and informed ; 

 while the younger generation accepts the 

 subject as a matter of course, in the same 

 way as it does physiology or anatomy. Be- 

 fore many years we may e.xpect siiiiilai- 

 changes in secondary instruction, because 

 without doubt modern ecology includes, both 

 in subject matter and in method, the ma- 

 terials which are of the greatest interest to 

 young students, and are not surpassed edu- 

 cationally by any other aspect of zoology. 

 And in case schooling is limited, ecology con- 

 tains a greater amount of valuable subject 

 matter than any other phase of zoology, be- 

 cause it is more closely connocted with 

 human economic problems. 



A striking indication of the healthy 

 growth of ecology is seen in the successful 

 development of the "Ecological Society of 

 America." In 1914, the agitation for an 

 organization began to take shape on a pro- 

 vincial scale, but this rapidly grow to na- 

 tional proportions, and finally took definite 

 form as an international organization. In 

 the recently published list (1917) there are 

 names of more than three hundred members 

 who are willing to be called ecologists, per- 

 sons who are interested or working in ecol- 

 ogy. This does not mean, of course, that 

 there are that many professional or trained 

 ecological investigators. If, however. Prof. 

 J. McK. Cattell 's criterion of the amateur, 

 "A man must be regarded as an amateur 

 in work to which he does not devote more 

 than half his time," be applied, only a rela- 

 tively small number of these persons are 

 professional ecologists, although many of 

 them are professionals in allied sciences. 

 They are, nevertheless, a very representative 

 body of American scientific workers. In 

 number, the plant and animal ecologists are 

 rather equally divided, the subjects in which 

 greatest interest is shown being plant ecol- 

 ogy and forestry, and animal ecology and 

 entomology. There is in the world no other 

 similar large body of experienceii ecological 



workers. Such an outlook is certainly favor- 

 able for the future development of ecology 

 in America, and of its applications to human 

 problems. It is hardly necessary to remark 

 that numbers alone are not decisive in the 

 progress of science, but numbers and able 

 men are decisive, and the ecological society 

 has both of these. 



Can this growth of ecology in America be 

 merely accidental, or is it a result of our 

 newness and our freedom from tradition, or 

 has it an even greater significance? Can it 

 possibly be another indication of intellectual 

 leailership which for some time has been 

 developing in America? A botanical friend 

 informs me, as a result of his European 

 travels made before the present war liegan, 

 that eminent Dutch and German botanists 

 expressed their opinion that scientific botani- 

 cal leadership was passing from Europe to 

 Ameiica. Such a statement is startling to 

 those wlio liave lieen accustomed to hear and 

 to see American science slighted or ignored 

 by European students. In Europe, ecologi- 

 cal leadership has long been with Denmark, 

 whose botanists, as well as students of ma- 

 rine and fre.-^h-water animals, have been the 

 model for all other countries. Our leading 

 universities have been developing an excel- 

 l(Mit blend or combination of the best teach- 

 ing and research ideals and methods from 

 Europe, a fact which speaks well for the 

 training of future ecologists. The wonderful 

 progress matle by American students of 

 heredity already has become prophetic of 

 what may be expected, with proper encour- 

 agement, from other branches of zoology. 

 Financial, economic, and democratic leader- 

 ship already have followed the course of the 

 "Mayflower" and with such a foundation 

 there should be, corresponding to these obli- 

 gations and opportunities, scientific leader- 

 ship in America. 



If ecologists are equal to the occasion and 

 see the strategic and critical period now im- 

 pending, they may be able to gain an ad- 

 vantage for ecology which previously has not 

 been accorded it, and which its merits de- 

 serve. There are evidences in several other 

 lines of activity which appear to harmonize 

 with the preceding suggestions. The impor- 

 tant feature at the present time is alertness 

 as to opportunities and obligations, with a 

 desire to do whatever is best to advance a 

 subject of so much interest and of such 

 general usefulness. 



April 27, 1917. 



