NA TURE 



25 



THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1888. 



FORMS OF ANIMAL LIFE. 

 Forms of Animal Life. A Manual of Comparative 

 Anatomy, with Descriptions of Selected Types. By 

 the late George Rolleston, D.M., F.R.S., Linacre Pro- 

 fessor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University 

 of Oxford. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged 

 by W. Hatchett Jackson, M.A., Natural Science Lec- 

 turer, St. John's College, Oxford. (Oxford : Clarendon 

 Press, 1888.) 



THE first edition of Prof. Rolleston's "Forms of 

 Animal Life" was published in 1870. Avowedly 

 an educational work, and written expressly for students, 

 it came at a time when the teaching of zoology was in a 

 very different position from that which it now holds, and 

 opportunities for systematic laboratory instruction were 

 rare. 



At Oxford there already existed an admirably equipped 

 Museum, in the arrangement of which the wants of 

 students received special attention ; facilities for labora- 

 tory work were also offered, and among the Linacre 

 Professor's pupils were men destined to become the 

 leaders of the younger school of English zoologists. 

 Elsewhere, however, the conditions were less favourable. 

 The Cambridge school of biology, which has made for 

 itself so great and honourable a reputation, as yet had no 

 existence. Indeed, it was not till the year of publication 

 of Prof. Rolleston's volume that the Trinity Praslector in 

 Physiology entered on the duties of his new office ; and 

 it was in October of the same year that the late Prof. 

 Balfour commenced his brilliant University career. 



In other centres the state of things was very similar. 

 Zoology was taught almost exclusively by lectures, often 

 indeed of great value, but supplemented at most by 

 demonstrations. Individual students worked hard at 

 dissections or in museums, but organized laboratory in- 

 struction, in direct connection with systematic lectures, 

 existed on a very small scale, if at all. 



There was, however, a firm conviction on the part of 

 those most directly and intimately concerned, that a great 

 change was necessary ; and a determination to carry out 

 this reform at the earliest possible opportunity. In 1872, 

 Prof. Huxley entered into possession of the new Biological 

 Laboratories at S^outh Kensington, and at once inaugur- 

 ated a system of combined lecture and laboratory in- 

 struction which has formed the model on which all 

 subsequent courses have been framed. Three years later 

 he published, in conjunction with Prof. Martin, the 

 " Course of Elementary Instruction in Practical Biology," 

 and from that time the teaching of biology by lectures 

 only became impossible. 



This same year, 1875, witnessed the commencement of 

 Prof. Balfour's systematic courses of practical morphology 

 at Cambridge, and the introduction, by its newly elected 

 Professor of Zoology, of the reformed system into one 

 of the most eminent of the London medical schools. 

 The change spread rapidly throughout the country, and 

 the adoption of the new methods of teaching, pushed to 

 its logical conclusion, led to the establishment of numer- 

 ous appointments, and to the building and equipment of 

 Vol. xxxviii.— No. 967. 



the splendid Laboratories at Cambridge, Manchester, and 

 elsewhere. 



It would not be wise to attempt to estimate too accur- 

 ately to what extent Prof. Rolleston's book was instru- 

 mental in bringing about this reform, by which the whole 

 scope and method of biological teaching were altered. It 

 must be noted, however, that the time of its appearance 

 was most opportune, and that the two leading principles 

 of the book, in which it differed most markedly and most 

 deliberately from all other works of the time, were pre- 

 cisely the characteristic features of the new school. 

 These are, in the first place, the insistence on accurate and 

 practical examination of selected types before a student 

 is allowed to proceed to the systematic study of the groups 

 to which the types belong ; and, secondly, the importance 

 of direct reference to the original sources of information. 

 On the first of these points, Prof. Rolleston says, in his 

 preface : — 



" The distinctive character of the book consists in its 

 attempting so to combine the concrete facts of zootomy 

 with the outlines of systematic classification as to enable 

 the student to put them for himself into their natural 

 relations of foundation and superstructure. The founda- 

 tion may be made wider, and the superstructure may 

 have its outlines not only filled up, but even considerably 

 altered, by subsequent and more extensive labours ; but 

 the mutual relations of the one as foundation and of the 

 other as superstructure, which this book particularly aims 

 at illustrating, must always remain the same." 



On the importance of direct reference to the original 

 authorities he speaks very positively : — 



" In some cases, even the beginner will find it necessary 

 to consult some of the many works referred to in the 

 descriptions of the preparations and in the descriptions 

 of the plates ; but the bibliographical references have 

 been added with a view rather to the wants indicated in 

 the words ' Fur akademische Vorlesungen und zum 

 Selbststudium,' so often prefixed to German works on 

 science, than to those of the commencing student." 



" Forms of Animal Life " was the first student's text- 

 book in which these principles were distinctly formulated 

 and deliberately adopted ; and there can be no doubt 

 that it played a most important part in stimulating and 

 enforcing a direct study and accurate acquaintance with 

 type forms as a necessary prelude to systematic zoological 

 work : just as the admirable series of preparations by 

 Mr. Robertson, the description of which forms so charac- 

 teristic and important a feature of the book, have fur- 

 nished a model from which other museums have copied 

 freely and to their great advantage. 



Prof. Rolleston took great interest in his book : during 

 the later years of his life he was actively engaged in pre- 

 paring the second edition ; and very early in this work 

 he asked Mr. Jackson to act with him as joint author. 

 Some progress was made in this joint work, but it was 

 soon interrupted by the illness which, in the winter of 

 1880, compelled Prof. Rolleston to go abroad, and which 

 proved fatal only a few months later. 



" When Prof. Rolleston went abroad," says Mr. Jack- 

 son, "he put me in possession of his plans for the rest of 

 the work, handed his papers to me, and expressed a hope 

 that, if he were disabled from completing the new edition, 

 I might be the person to do it in his stead. It is almost 

 needless for me to add that in fulfilling this sacred trust 



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