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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1301 



state and that the same broad underlying bio- 

 logical principles are applicable to both. In- 

 deed there are some teachers who become so 

 inspired with the idea of biology as the study 

 of living organisms and with the prime im- 

 portance of underlying hiological principles 

 that their students, pondering over the vague 

 structures and intangible phenomena of a 

 mysterious microscopic world, are led to lose 

 sight completely of the fact that, after all, it 

 is plants and animals they are dealing with — 

 something they have been familiar with all 

 their lives. 



There are some botanists and zoologists to 

 whom a general biology course means some- 

 thing quite different from what has just been 

 described. It means two virtually independ- 

 ent, but consecutively arranged and more or 

 less closely coordinated courses, the one in 

 plant biology or elementary botany, and the 

 other in animal biology or elementary zool- 

 ogy: these two, alike in their pedagogical ob- 

 jects but different in their material, being 

 grouped together for educational or adminis- 

 trative purposes. But this is not the sort of 

 a general biology course with which the 

 present article deals. We are concerned 

 rather with the first-mentioned type — the type 

 which, in no small degree at any rate, has 

 been responsible for the popular delusion that 

 biology is the study of animals : that the 

 words hiology and zoology are synonymous. 



Through the influence of Martin and his 

 students general biology obtained a rather 

 strong foothold in this country. It has been 

 widely adopted by the high schools and was 

 given a place in the curricula of many col- 

 leges and universities. Abroad, however, so 

 far as the higher institutions of learning are 

 concerned, it was not so favorably received. 

 " In the universities of Britain, Germany and 

 in most cases of France," according to a 

 prominent American botanist, " a biology 

 course has never been admitted or regarded as 

 of sufficient thoroughness." And even in our 

 own country, as will be pointed out in detail 

 presently, the number of institutions of col- 

 lege grade which offer a course in general 

 biology has diminished greatly in recent 

 time. To use the picturesque phraseology of 



a noted contemporary botanist: general biol- 

 ogy " is a kind of course introduced years ago 

 by the Huxley and Martin book and discarded 

 when botany became strong enough to stand 

 on its own legs." 



For a number of years it has been the con- 

 viction of the writer that a course in general 

 biology of the type specified above ought not 

 to be offered to elementary students, either as 

 a cultural study or in preparation for more 

 advanced work in botany or zoology. It has 

 seemed particularly undesirable that in an 

 institution having both a department of 

 botany and a department of zoology such a 

 course should be given by one department 

 alone. With a view to ascertaining certain 

 facts and securing a consensus of opinion 

 regarding certain relevant problems, a ques- 

 tionnaire on this subject was recently sub- 

 mitted to 105 botanists, representing 67 col- 

 leges and universities, and to 65 zoologists, 

 representing 49 similar institutions. Replies 

 have been received fromi 86 botanists and 46 

 zoologists, representing altogether 66 institu- 

 tions. The present article, in the main, is 

 based on these replies and on a series of 19 

 letters relating to similar problems which was 

 secured a number of years ago and coiur- 

 teously loaned to the writer by Professor 

 Margaret C. Ferguson, of Wellesley College. 

 To a very large extent the writer has acted 

 merely in the capacity of editor or compiler 

 in adapting and coordinating the various in- 

 dividual expressions of opinion set forth in 

 these communications. Although quotation 

 marks are seldom used, much of the subject 

 matter in this paper has been quoted verbatim 

 or with slight modification. For obvious rea- 

 sons neither individuals nor institutions are 

 referred to by name. 



For present purposes American colleges and 

 imiversities may be divided more or less nat- 

 urally into two classes: Class A, those which 

 maintain distinct departments of botany and 

 zoology; and Class B, those in which both 

 botany and zoology are under one head, the 

 department of biology. Among the institu- 

 tions investigated by the questionnaire, 47 of 

 those heard from belong to class A, 19 to 

 class B. Of those belonging to class A there 



