January 20, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



83 



that the former alone can have any rela- 

 tions to independent work or research, 

 while the latter must consist of information 

 courses merelj'. But whatever may be true 

 of other subjects, it is certain that biological 

 studies encourage and develop independ- 

 ence in observations and reflections from 

 the beginning. I maintain, even at the 

 risk of being charged with holding low 

 ideals of graduate work, that the distinction 

 between graduate and undergraduade work 

 in biology is one of degree and not of kind. 

 Of course, elementary students cannot do 

 research work of any great value, and yet 

 they may catch the spirit of research and 

 assist in carrying out work of importance. 

 Some valuable work of the last few years 

 has grown out of the careful and independ- 

 ent study, in undergraduate classes, of the 

 structure, development and variations of 

 well-known animals. The knowledge that 

 new facts may be discovered even in ele- 

 mentary work is an inspiration to both stu- 

 dent and teacher. I pity the man who has 

 to teach a finished science ; I wonder how 

 either he or his students stand it. The 

 zoologist has here an advantage which he 

 cannot afford to throw away. If it is fur- 

 ther objected that this method would induce 

 students to neglect well-known facts in 

 ridiculous attempts to find new ones, or 

 that it would assist an ignorant or lazy 

 teacher to fill up gaps in his information 

 by ingenious speculations, I can only reply 

 that such an abuse should be credited to 

 the teacher and not to the system. The 

 thesis which I defend is simply and com- 

 prehensively this : The spirit of zoological 

 teaching should be the inquiring, independ- 

 ent, alert spirit of research. 



II. Another advance not less important 

 than the one just emphasized would be found 

 in increased facilities for studying the whole 

 of zoology. The time was when zoology 

 meant merely classification ; at present it 

 means little more than morphology ; a great 



advance will have been made we all realize, 

 and succeed in getting our institutions to 

 realize, that these subjects, however im- 

 portant, are but a part of zoology and that 

 a large and important field is still almost 

 unoccupied. The usual laboratory work in 

 zoology, viz. : the anatomy of a few alcoholic 

 specimens, is less than one-half of the sci- 

 ence and in all respects the least interest- 

 ing and important half. Research to-day 

 is tending more and more to the study of 

 living things, and in this respect, as in so 

 many others, research points out the way 

 for advances in teaching. The study of liv- 

 ing animals ; of their actual development 

 under normal and experimentally altered 

 conditions; of their food and the manner of 

 getting it ; their enemies and friends, para- 

 sites and messmates; their mating, breeding 

 and care of young ; the effects of isolation, 

 crossing and close breeding on structure 

 and habits ; the effects of varying light, 

 color, temperature, density of medium, etc., 

 on color, size and structure of every part ; 

 the daily and nightlj' activities of animals ; 

 the origin and nature of peculiar habits and 

 instincts — in short, the study of all the 

 varied ways in which animals live and 

 adapt themselves to their environment is 

 an integral part of zoology ; and who can 

 doubt that together these things form its 

 most important part, and yet there are few 

 if any places where any systematic attempt 

 is made to give instruction in these sub- 

 jects. 



Practically the only attempt which is 

 made in most institutions to meet these 

 needs is by means of field work. The value 

 of such work cannot be overestimated and 

 it must always remain an indispensable 

 part of any broad zoological training, but it 

 is not in itself sufficient. In large cities 

 and during the colder part of the year it is 

 especially difficult to carry on field work, 

 and in no case is it possible to have animals 

 under observation for considerable periods 



