THE 

 MAIN CURRENTS OF ZOOLOGY 



CHAPTER I 



ZOOLOGY AS A SUBJECT OF GENERAL EDUCA- 

 TION. OUTLINE OF THE PROGRAM 



THERE are no problems of greater human interest 

 than those of biology, and when we recognize that 

 zoology is the central subject of biology it imme- 

 diately emerges for consideration as a subject of 

 general education. The richness of zoology as a 

 science and its many-sided appeal is just beginning to 

 dawn on those who arrange courses of study. Owing, 

 however, to the way in which it is commonly pursued 

 attention is so exclusively confined to observations 

 of animals and the means of identifying them that 

 the student is not made aware of its other aspects 

 and, as a consequence, a narrow conception of its 

 scope has prevailed. 



Although, in treatises on the subject, it has been 

 well expounded from the standpoint of the structure, 

 the development and the life histories of animals, the 



