Sept. 12, 1872] 



NATURE 



395 



microscopy, another the elements of botany, a third the 

 elements of comparative anatomy. The principle on 

 which the teaching of zoology is based is that the student 

 should at the verv beginning be put into the position of 

 an investigator. With this object in view the student is 

 a*, first required to do all his work upon natural objecls. 

 Beginning with the so!id part of a Fungia, or some other 

 object of equal simplicity, the student is then rec|uired to 

 draw and describe the specimen, aided only by such 

 questions and suggestions as may be necessary to get him 

 over the worst obstacles. As soon as he has done the 

 litile he can do in the way of close observation, he is 

 given a Manacena or Agaricea, which he proceeds to 

 compare with the Fungia, and so making at least dia- 

 grammatic drawings with a dozen other specimens of 

 Polyps, Ha'cynoid and Actinoid. Thus the student gets 

 some idea of the general relations which exist among the 

 members of that group. When, say, in thirty hours of 

 labour he has got tlirough this work, a few lectures serve 

 to supplement and connect the knowledge he has obtained 

 from the personal study of the dry parts, illustrated by a 

 sufficient series of alcoholic preparations, and helped out 

 by such individual teaching as can be given without 

 weakening the habit of self reliance. In this way he goes 

 through group after group, until, from a study of about 

 one hundred species, he has gotten a general idea of the 

 organic forms above the Protozoa. In this stage of the 

 student's work care is taken to avoid the use of diagrams ; 

 this avoidance being dictated by the conviction that the 

 student remembers the diagram and not the object. 

 During this year botany is also taught, with the same 

 object and by much the same method. In connection 

 with the zoological instruction the students are taught the 

 elements of microscopy, the development of the subject 

 being left to the next year. 



The second-year courses are advanced zoology, pate- 

 ontology, historical geology, geography, and advanced 

 botany. The first two have one common feature ; three 

 lectures or readings are given each week to the discussion 

 of the history of zoology and pal.iontology, with special 

 reference to modern opinions concerning the relations of 

 animals. An effort is made to acquaint the students with 

 the character of the greater works in the science, by 

 giving them constant opportunities for consulting them in 

 their studies, and by showing them the methods of the 

 masters in the several departments. Besides this, each 

 student is required to pursue some special line of work. 

 In the choice of subject the largest liberty is allowed, but 

 the student is, however, recommended during a half-year 

 to study advanced microscopy ; in this work the aid of 

 an instructor is given for four hours a week. In this four 

 months he should acquire a sufficient knowledge of the 

 practical management of the instrument in all ordinary 

 investigations. The laboratory is well supplied with in- 

 struments of instruction in this branch of work. 



Besides the course in the history of the science, the 

 student who takes the elective in pateontology is required 

 to ti averse the ground covered in that part of ''Dana's 

 Manual" which is entitled historical geology, acquainting 

 himself in a practical way with the most important cha- 

 racteristic fossils of the several periods. 



The greatest value in this work is set upon the keep- 

 ing of full and accurate note-books in both the last de- 

 scribed courses. The rank of the student turns upon the 

 condition of his note-books as much as upon the cjuarterly 

 examinations which he is required to pass. 



Those students who desire to contend for honours at 

 the graduation in zoology or in pateontology are required 

 to have taken, besides their junior election in natural his- 

 tor\-, one election in physical science, and at least three 

 natural history elections in the senior year, in all of which 

 they must have attained excellence. They are moreover 

 required to write an acceptable th. is, which must contain 

 an original discussion of some cjiestion in biological 



science. Hereafter the junior electives will consist of a 

 course in anatomy and physiology, one in zoology, and 

 one in botany ; and the students in this as well as in the 

 last year will be allowed to substitute for the themes re- 

 quired in other branches theses upon scientific subjects 

 prepared under the direction of their instructor. 



The natural history education of the scientific school 

 has undergone a great change within a year ; hitherto the 

 students have worked with the professors of the several 

 departments, giving their whole time to any speciality 

 which they might select. This plan, admirably suited as 

 it was to the needs of the trained student who had fitted 

 himself in other schools for the work of a special depart- 

 ment, was not adapted to the needs of those to whom this 

 teaching was to fill the whole office of higher education. 

 With the introduction of the doctor's degree into the plan 

 of the school, it became necessary to make a change which 

 has long been desirable, by fixing a definite scheme of 

 general scientific instruction in place of the imperfect sys- 

 tem which had hitherto prevailed. A three years' course 

 has been arranged which secures to the student a broad 

 view over the whole field of science, and the advantage 

 which comes from a knowledge of the methods of research 

 in use in its several branches. It gives to those persons 

 who may not have the desire or the means to go through 

 a regular college course a systematic training which will 

 occupy their full time for three years, and give the best 

 results of culture which can be attained in any scientific 

 course. Students who can pass the required examinations 

 are admitted to the degree of bachelor of science. Gradu- 

 ates of colleges where science is taught in an effective 

 way should be able to enter this course in advanced stand- 

 ing. .Students of the college, graduating with honours in 

 the departments of natural history, should be able to ob- 

 tain the degree in this course in a year of study. The 

 student is trained in the important art of expressing him- 

 self clearly on the matters which he is studying, by re- 

 quiring him to keep carefully planned note-books ; and 

 he is urged to the preparation of theses which may embody 

 the results of some research. Ample opportunities are 

 given for tlie prosecution of studies in the field, by excur- 

 sions during term time and vacation, led by the instruc- 

 tors in zoology, botany, and geology. 



After two years' further study, one of which must be 

 spent in Cambridge, the student may apply for the degree 

 of doctor of science, which is given after an examination 

 conducted by a committee appointed by the Academic 

 Council of the University. 



The study done, the preparation for the degree must 

 be in some special department, when the student will 

 generally become the private pupil of some one professor. 

 The degree will be a certificate of capacity as an investi- 

 gator or teacher in the science which the student has made 

 his specialty. 



The resources of the University for teaching science 

 are, it is believed, not only unrivalled in this country, but 

 unsurpassed in Europe. The scientific departments have 

 a list of twenty-four instructors, and the material resources 

 which they aftbrd have cost in the aggregate over a 

 million and a half of dollars. There are six museums in 

 the University — the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 the Botanical Museum, the Muscuin of Comparative 

 Anatomy, the Museum of Morbid Anatomy, the Museum of 

 Mineralogy, and that of Ethnology. These collections 

 are unsurpassed by those of any educational institution in 

 this country ; and, taken together, they furnish an efficient 

 basis for the acquisition of the wide ranging knowledge 

 on which a scientific career must be based. The oppor- 

 tunities for contact and intercourse in scientific societies 

 are excellent. There is a working society of natural 

 history in the University, and the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, one of the largest and most efficient of 

 the American institutions of this nature, is also open to all 

 students of the science. 



