ZOOLOGY 211 



the ever-increasing collections housed in rooms already 

 overstocked, this expenditure must soon be faced. 



A branch of experimental science dealing with the 

 study of variation and heredity in plants and animals 

 has recently arisen, and has already attained very 

 considerable proportions in Cambridge. It seems, 

 indeed, that we are entering on a period when such 

 studies will absorb the energies of most of the younger 

 biological students. Under Mr. Bateson some twelve 

 researchers are already at work following out Mendel's 

 law in many varieties of plant and animal. The ex- 

 treme importance of these studies, which, if they 

 prove a key to heredity, will place in man's hands an 

 instrument as powerful as Watt's application of steam, 

 is shown by the fact that Mr. Biffen has already 

 discovered that susceptibility to rust in wheat is 

 Mendelian, and is thus a property which may be 

 eliminated by breeding. For all these studies land 

 is required, as well as a greenhouse, outbuildings, 

 and a trained gardener. None of these is as yet 

 attainable. 



The recent discoveries of the protozoic origin of 

 malaria, sleeping-sickness, and other human and many 

 other animal diseases, has directed attention both to 

 the protozoa, with their complicated life-histories, and 

 to the insects which convey them from one creature 

 to another. Both protozoa and insects are highly 

 specialized groups of animals. The establishment, 

 by the aid of the Quick bequest, of a chair of proto- 

 zoology will do something to meet the necessities of 

 the case, so far as the protozoa are concerned ; but 

 some provision for the study of the insects is still 

 needed. 



A chair of physiological chemistry is urgently 

 wanted. The pressing problems of the day in physi- 

 ology require a chemical solution. Remarkable strides 

 have already been made in this subject; the inter- 



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