266 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
means for imparting that knowledge of the simpler anatomical structures and 
elementary physiological principles of the animal body which should be a 
part of the equipment of every man and woman. 
Many strange objections have been brought forward in the past against 
the introduction of the teaching of Natural History of animals in schools. 
Perhaps the most serious of these is the statement that there is not time in 
the school curriculum for the introduction of another subject, that the time- 
table is already overloaded with subjects, and that it is most undesirable 
that the number of school hours should be increased. This is an objection 
that it is difficult to answer without a full discussion of the present school 
curriculum, but from our knowledge of what can be done in the way of giving 
some sound teaching of Zoology in a few schools at the present time it does 
not appear to be an objection that is insuperable. 
It is a curious fact that in England alone, among civilised countries, a 
boy and girl can reach the age of eighteen or nineteen years and leave school 
without having received any school instruction in animal physiology or the 
natural history of animals. In Japan, to take only one example out of many, 
the courses in the middle school (fourteen to nineteen years of age) include 
Botany, Physiology, and a two years’ course in Zoology, and the official text- 
book for these schools shows that the standard aimed at, if not acquired, is 
a very high one—far higher, indeed, than that of any school in this country. 
And this mstruction is given not only to the few scholars that are passing on 
to a specialised course in Science in the Universities, but to all scholars 
without exception. 
It would be too much to expect, perhaps, that our standard of education 
in this respect should reach that attained in Japan immediately, but we are 
convinced that a few periods a week could be spared for the subject at all 
stages in the curriculum without impairing the educational value of the other 
subjects. 
A second objection that is frequently raised is that the expense of providing 
the necessary equipment for the efficient teaching of the subject is beyond 
the means of the average secondary school. We think that this objection has 
been greatly exaggerated. Provided that there is a well-lighted laboratory, 
which can also be used for Chemistry and Physics, a few microscopes, which 
can also be used for Botany, the expenses for purely zoological teaching are 
not great. There should be a fresh-water aquarium, and in schools by the 
sea a sea-water aquarium as well, a few simple dissecting instruments and 
lenses, and a few prepared skeletons and other preparations which can he 
increased as time passes. The difficulties of obtaining specimens are not 
great if the teachers keep in touch with the larger departments in our 
Universities, and many specimens can be obtained in sufficient quantities 
from the fields and ponds in the neighbourhood of the schools if occasional 
field excursions are organised. 
It is even suggested as an objection that the subject cannot be studied 
without inflicting pain upon animals. To this we reply most emphatically 
that in the school classes no vivisection and no cruelty to animals is necessary 
or desirable. In fact, the knowledge the boys and girls gain of the structure 
and organisation of animals counteracts the desire that many may possess to 
crush and kill the creeping things they do not understand. Knowledge does 
not stimulate hatred and cruelty, but does create love and sympathy. If the 
boy knew something about the wonderful structure of the fly or wasp that 
he squashes on the window-pane, he would hesitate to strike. ! 
We plead boldly for the teaching of Zoology as an antidote to cruelty to 
animals, as a basis for a more general and sympathetic appreciation of Nature, 
and as an indispensable approach towards a sound understanding of human life | 
itself. k 
Of other objections that have occasionally been raised, passing reference must 
be made to that which suggests that it is objectionable to refer to questions of — 
sex in animals. To most of us, who are interested in the subject, the fact that — 
Zoology does provide authoritative instruction on the physiology of sex in 
animals is one of the strongest arguments in favour of the introduction of the | 
subject in schools. We lay stress on the fact that it is a matter of universal 
experience that when the phenomena of sex are taught in a series from the 
