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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 9.58 



factors should be of especial importance in the 

 lubrication of motors, flying-machines, automobiles 

 and similar machines. 



The work is presented in regard to paper 

 and printing with the characteristic skill and 

 care of the German publisher, and with the 

 patient thoughtfulness on the part of authors 

 and publisher that we are led to expect in 

 German publications. 



Charles F. Mabery 



Applied Biology. An elementary text-book 

 and laboratory guide. By Maurice A. 

 BiGELOW, Ph.D., Professor of Biology in 

 Teachers College. Columbia University, and 

 Anna N. Bigelow, Teacher of High School 

 Biology. 8vo. Pp. xii -|- 583. New York, 

 The Macmillan Company. 1911. $1.40 net. 

 Teachers Manual of Biology. A handbook 

 to accompany the preceding. By Maurice 

 A. Bigelow, Ph.D. 8vo. Pp. viii + 113. 

 New York, The Maemillan Company. 1912. 

 Readers of Science have sometimes been 

 entertained by bursts of eloquent disapproval 

 of all courses in general biology. Certain 

 noted botanists especially have been wont to 

 speak of such courses as impossible, decadent, 

 reprehensible ; as maladies of a peculiar Amer- 

 ican epidemic, that has, happily, long since 

 run its course. Their ills have been solemnly 

 charged against presumptuous zoologists who 

 have rushed in where modest botanists fear to 

 tread. Fie on any one who would teach about 

 plants and animals in the same course! 



This protest has been loud — perhaps a bit 

 too loud; for certain it is that courses in gen- 

 eral biology were never so widespread as at 

 the present time, nor were there ever so many 

 new text-books offered for such courses, not 

 only in America, but in Germany and France 

 as well. Perhaps the reason lies in a perma- 

 nent educational need, which such courses ful- 

 fill. There are those who have tried to test the 

 matter by scientific methods who think so. 



Among the many new books offered in this 

 field is an important one by the Bigelows for 

 secondary schools. Its title is " Applied Biol- 

 ogy," but, fortunately, the applied part of it 

 is mostly in the title. It would be an im- 

 portant book, if for no other reason, because 



it represents a great deal of honest effort on 

 the part of competent teachers of extensive 

 and varied experience, to put together into 

 one consistent course what they deem best of 

 all that they have tried. One does not need 

 to be committed wholly to its plan in order to 

 agree that it has been carefully laid out, and 

 based on long experience and good judgment. 



It is a conservative book. It begins with a 

 chapter on definitions and another on the dis- 

 tinctive characteristics of living things (32 

 pages). Then follow chapters on the frog and 

 the bean plant, these two types serving as an 

 introduction to animal and plant biology re- 

 spectively (122 pages). Then follow the more 

 customary series of plant and animal types, 

 the plants in descending, the animals in as- 

 cending series (300 pages), leading to a con- 

 cluding part devoted to the consideration of 

 the principles of biology as applied to human 

 structure and life (118 pages). In all this 

 there is much careful culling of both subject 

 matter and methods: and a well-balanced in- 

 door course for city schools is the result. 



The biology taught is distinctly that of the 

 laboratory — not of the outdoors. While there 

 are here and there hints of the existence of 

 outdoor biological phenomena, there is no plan 

 provided for the study of them. 



The technical terms used are few, but ade- 

 quate. One notes almost with surprise how 

 great is the gain resulting from the omission 

 of most of the rubbish of terminology that 

 encumbers the average high-school text. Of 

 more doubtful value is the relegation of most 

 of the laboratory work to demonstration by the 

 teacher. Though this saves time and yields 

 fewer failures of individual experiments, one 

 may well doubt whether the pupil will learn, 

 by handling pen and paper and recording re- 

 sults, what the handling of the things would 

 teach him. 



The illustrations are old — some of them so 

 old that the original sources appear to have 

 been lost. The authors seem to think that 

 " well-known figures from standard biological 

 works are to be preferred to new ones." At 

 least, they are cheaper. One notes with regret 

 the perpetuation of the grossly inaccurate fig- 



