Barker: Present Status of Instruction in Genetics 



71 



ences used. There seems to be no book 

 in English that covers the whole subject 

 satisfactorily in a general way, or that 

 is universally suited to the extremely 

 diverse modes of presentation of the 

 various teachers.' Perhaps Walter's 

 "Genetics" comes nearest to filling 

 this place, because it is mentioned as 

 being in use at 26 of these 51 institu- 

 tions. Bailey and Gilbert's "Plant 

 Breeding" comes second, being reported 

 from 12 places; Davenport's "Principles 

 of Breeding" was mentioned by 11; 

 Morgan's two books "Heredity and Sex" 

 and the "Mechanism of Mendelian 

 Heredity" together, by 15; Punnett's 

 "Mendelism" by 7; Thomson's "Hered- 

 ity" 6; Castle's "Heredity" 5; DeVries' 

 "Plant Breeding" 6; Newman's "Plant 

 Breeding in Scandinavia" 3; Bateson's 

 "Mendel's Principles of Heredity" 4; 

 Jordan and Kellogg's "Evolution and 

 Animal Life" 2; Pearl's "Modes of 

 Research in Genetics" 2; Goldschmidt's 

 "Einfiihrung in die Vererbungswissen- 

 schaft" 2. In many courses several 

 of these books are used, and among 

 other supplementary references men- 

 tioned were Prof. Lochhead's "Outlines 

 of Heredity and Genetics," the Journal 

 OF Heredity, Journal of Genetics and 

 other journals; American Breeders' Asso- 

 ciation Magazine and Reports; Romanes' 

 "Darwin and after Darwin"; Osborn's 

 "From the Greeks to Darwin" ; Kellogg's 

 "Darwinism Today"; Darbishire, Don- 

 caster, and both Darwin's "Origin of 

 Species" and his "Animals and Plants 

 under Domestication." Besides these 

 there is a rather general use of experi- 

 ment station bulletins. 



I am indebted to the Macmillan 

 Publishing Company through the cour- 

 tesy of their traveling sales agent, B. P. 

 Jones, for some figures that are much 



more significant than those obtained 

 from the questionary. They include 

 all the small colleges and also the wo- 

 men's colleges where Macmillan publi- 

 cations are used as texts in connection 

 with courses in genetics. According to 

 their figures Walter's Genetics is being 

 used this year at 118 places in this 

 country, Bailey and Gilbert's Plant 

 Breeding at about 50, and Pearl's 

 Modes of Research in Genetics at 9. 

 The genetics courses at these smaller 

 institutions are generally more uniform 

 in character, as the instructor is apt to 

 follow a text-book quite closely. 



SPECIALIZATION INCREASING 



The trend of organization for instruc- 

 tion in genetics seems to be toward 

 specialization and centralization under 

 trained experts in the science. Indeed, 

 the most efficient system seems to be 

 that of giving a general elementar}^ 

 course, quite theoretical in nature, in 

 some one department, to be followed by 

 more advanced courses in that same 

 department and by courses in other 

 departments where the practical appli- 

 cation of the principles here taught is 

 pointed out in regard to breeding 

 specific crops and kinds of animals. 



There seems to be need on the one 

 hand of more thoroughly scientific 

 instruction in some of the courses that 

 are of a very "practical" nature, and on 

 the other hand, more emphasis in the 

 theoretical courses on the eminently 

 utilitarian importance of genetics as an 

 applied science. Above all, there is 

 need of a deeper knowledge of the great 

 truths of variation, heredity and evolu- 

 tion and their bearing on our lives, and a 

 better and more thorough way of teach- 

 ing these facts to the uninformed. 



Annual Business Meeting of the A. G. A. 



The annual business meeting of the 

 association was held, in accordance with 

 the provision of the by-laws, at 5 

 o'clock, on Thursday afternoon, January 

 11, in the home of Alexander Graham 

 Bell, Washington. Reports from the 

 secretary, treasurer and editor were 

 read and approved. The three retiring 

 members of the council, George M. 

 Rommel, T. H. Kearney, and Dr. W. C. 



Rucker, were elected to succeed them- 

 selves. 



At the annual meeting of the council, 

 held in the Cosmos Club on Tuesday, 

 January 16, the present officers of the 

 association were re-elected. Dr. Fred- 

 erick Adams Woods, of Brookline, Mass. 

 was elected a member of the council, 

 vice Dr. Arthur W. Gilbert, of Cornell 

 University, resigned. 



2 This was written before the publication of Castle's "Genetics and Eugenics." 



