Oct. 21, 1875] 



NATURE 



531 



number of readily obtainable plants and animals have 

 been selected for minute description, in which the most 

 important types of vegetable and animal organisation are 

 capable of being demonstrated. With reference to each 

 species selected, an account of its anatomy is given, which 

 is followed by laboratory instructions as to the manipu- 

 latory detail necessary for its complete verification. The 

 types selected include Yeast, Protococcus, the Proteus 

 Animalcule, Bacteria, Moulds, Stoneworts, the Bracken 

 Fern, the.Bean Plant, the Bell Animalcule, the freshwater 

 Polype and Mussel, the Crayfish and Lobster, and the 

 Frog. As an illustration of the form in which che labora- 

 tory directions are given, the following quotation from a 

 portion of the dissection of the Frog will serve as a fair 

 example : — 



"Dissection of the Viscera in the Ventral 

 Cavity. 

 " I. Lay a frog, which has been killed with chloroform, 

 on its back, and pin it out on a layer of paraffin or bees- 

 wax, under water ; divide the skin along the abdominal 

 median hne from the pelvis to the front of the lower jaw ; 

 next make a transverse incision at each end of the longi- 

 tudinal one, and then throw outwards the two flaps of 

 skin thus marked out. The following points may now be 

 noted : — 



"^. A great vein iimisculo-cntaneous) on the under 

 surface of each flap of skin, about the level of the 

 shoulder. 

 " b. Some of the muscles of the abdominal wall, covered 

 by a thin aponeurosis ; through this latter can be 

 seen — 



" a. The rectus abdominis, running from pelvis to 

 sternum, close to the middle line, and divided 

 into a number of bellies by transverse tendinous 

 intersections. 

 "^. Other muscles outside the rectus on each 

 side. 

 " c. The pectoral region : part of its hard parts in 

 the middle line, only covered by tendinous tissue ; 

 external to this, muscles running towards the 

 shoulder-joint. 

 " d. The muscles of the throat : small and with a 

 general direction from the lower jaw towards the 

 sternum and shoulder-girdle. 

 " 2. Raise the tissues of the body-wall with a pair of 

 forceps, and carefully divide them, a little to |the right of 

 the median line," &c. 



From what has been said above it is evident that there 

 are two features in this volume of Prof. Huxley's which 

 call for special notice on account of their novelty. The 

 first of these is that Botany and Zoology are taught in 

 combination, as parts of the science of living organisa- 

 tions—Biology. The second is that the subject is taught 

 practically ; in other words, with full information on how 

 to observe the features described. 



Most amateur students of so-called science, or col- 

 lectors, run in a single groove of thought. They learn 

 to recognise specific differences in those groups of ani- 

 mals, fossils, or plants which they honour with their 

 patronage ; they discover minute variations in individual 

 specimens, and frequently attempt to load nomenclature 

 with fresh names, which may or may not have to be 

 swamped in the mass of synonyms — ahcady but too large 

 — according to their knowledge of the literature of the 

 subject they affect. In the scale of scientific investigators 

 these stand lowest. They do good ; their work is indis- 

 pensable ; the mental effort required for its production is. 



however, small, and is generally associated with a want 

 of power to grasp general principles which is frequently 

 quite surprising. The opportunity of seeing, or, better 

 still, possessing " type " specimens is their highest grati- 

 fication ; and their opinion on any point involving more 

 than generic differences is unreliable. 



A second class of student advances further. Collec- 

 tion of familiar forms is not the object kept in view by 

 them. They study the literature of their subject, having 

 previously received a sound educational foundation. 

 They do not make fresh and independent observations 

 themselves, but delight in verifying those of others. New 

 facts they absorb ; and by engrafting them upon their 

 previous ideas, modify the latter — generally prematurely 

 — in a direction which they prophesy to be the science of 

 the future. They draw extreme deductions on insufficient 

 evidence, and are apt to fall whilst attempting to sub- 

 stantiate them. These are not to be trusted in the defini- 

 tion of a sub-kingdom. 



A third class investigate on their own account. They 

 study the works of others ; and by thoroughly digesting 

 the new and old facts at their disposal, are in a position 

 to modify generally accepted views on important ques- 

 tions by the publication of arguments as cogent as they 

 are reliable. These original investigators have their inde- 

 pendent views on the most general principles. 



Such being the case, we may employ the scale of biolo- 

 gical relationships as ^a rough standard of the mental 

 capacities of working students. It leads us to look upon 

 everything which tends to inclusiveness as an advance in 

 the right direction, and everything in the opposite direc- 

 tion as retrograde. All biologists must therefore thank 

 Prof. Huxley for having introduced into the preliminary 

 training of students of Natural History the conception of 

 the complete unity of plant- and animal-life, and of the 

 comparative insignificance of the gulf between the two. 



Prof. Huxley teaches Biology ■practically. The pupil 

 has to see with his own eyes all that he reads about ; and 

 what is more, he has to find what he is to see. Practical 

 education is a praiseworthy characteristic of the present 

 age. Numbers of laboratories, in this country and on the 

 Continent, have been recently established for the teaching 

 of Physics, Physiology, and lastly Biology. That this prac- 

 tical phase must be generally adopted in scientific educa- 

 tion becomes more certain as the scientific training itself 

 becomes more and more a part of the preliminary educa- 

 tion. The tendency in recent times to estimate classics at 

 a lower value as a discipline than formerly, is one which 

 necessitates the introduction of a substitute ; of a means by 

 which a training in the method of work shall be the mental 

 exercise, whilst mere facts shall not have the prominence 

 generally given them in the scientific lecture-room. As a 

 training, practical biology offers all the requirements, at the 

 same time that it leaves those who have pursued it, after 

 they have finished their education, in a position peculiarly 

 favourable for the prosecution of original investigation on 

 their own account. From this view of the; subject we have 

 also therefore to thank Prof. Huxley for having added 

 Biology to the list of those sciences which are taught 

 practically as well as theoretically. 



It has also special advantages in this direction. No 

 expensive outlay is necessary for the purchase of appa- 

 ratus ; a well-lighted room, together with a microscope, 



