CHAPTER VIII 



CURRENT PROBLEMS AND METHODS OF 

 ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE 



IT is sometimes said that the course of scientific progress, 

 even the existence of entire branches of science, has been 

 determined by a few men of genius, whose interest in partic- 

 ular fields has forced certain facts into prominence. As a 

 result, science develops in some directions while it lags in 

 others. This may possibly be true, but at times we can 

 discern changes which appear simultaneously in the work of 

 many individuals, affect a science as a whole, and are thus 

 independent of any single investigator. The present genera- 

 tion has witnessed a change of this composite nature within 

 the field of zoology. During the last three decades a transi- 

 tion has been accomplished from a science the methods of 

 which were largely observational to one in which the domi- 

 nating methods are experimental. No commanding person- 

 ality has been involved, but rather the growing conviction 

 of many that progress cannot be continued without more 

 analytical methods of investigation. Proceeding to specific 

 illustrations, we may consider some of the problems now 

 being attacked by zoologists, their methods of work, and the 

 results attained. We may contrast their attitude with that 

 of investigators during the greater part of the nineteenth 

 century. Also, we may consider what the more analytical 

 spirit means for this branch of science. This account of 

 present-day zoology does not summarize all current investi- 

 gation. The method of random sampling is applied, with a 

 view to the selection of representative examples of zoological 

 research. 



187 



