650 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1409. 



ton in 1916, put it forcibly in the following 

 words : 



As I look over the titles of theses for doctorate 

 degrees in biology, however, knowing that they 

 must, in some fashion, reflect the activities of our 

 biological leaders, I am led to wonder if the failure 

 of science to influence legislation in the interests of 

 the people is not to be charged to the propensity on 

 the part of these leaders to shun the practical. Is 

 there a hierarchy in science that frowns upon inde- 

 pendence of thought and action in her sanctuary? 

 That can hardly be. Let the heads of departments 

 of biological research in our universities then taie 

 heart, and not be afraid to follow the lead of Pas- 

 teur, who surely committed no violence upon science 

 by xmdertaiing the solution of practical problems. 



In very recent years there has come about 

 a slight change in the attitude of teachers. 

 The great war has brought this about in 

 part, but this is not the only thing that has 

 had an influence; something intangible — 

 something difficult to locate — perhaps it is 

 many sided — perhaps it is many things con- 

 tributing to one end — something has opened 

 the minds of many single-track men, and 

 there is a gradual tendency towards broaden- 

 ing which is having its influence on college 

 curricula, on the character of the papers read 

 at the recent meetings of the great national 

 societies, and to a slight extent on the sub- 

 jects chosen for doctorates in biology in the 

 universities. The recent founding of the 

 Ecological Society of America is a strong 

 evidence of the working of a leavening ele- 

 ment ; and the recent publication of such books 

 as Cockerell's " Zoology," Needliam's " Gen- 

 eral Biology," and Shull, Larue and Ruthven's 

 " Principles of Animal Biology," and others, 

 shows that the teaching mind is broadening. 



I have mentioned the theses for doctorates. 

 I have glanced over the titles of such theses, 

 which represent the bulk of the graduate work 

 in biology in American universities, for the 

 past eight years, as published in the lists of 

 the Library of Congress and in the journal 

 Science. I find that only a very small per- 

 centage of this output represents work which 

 can be of the slightest use to humanity in 

 its immediate problems regarding the insect 



world, and even those which may prove of 

 use bear some evidence that the lines of study 

 had already been adopted by students who 

 used them incidentally to gain their degrees 

 and were not suggested by their teachers as 

 promising lines leading toward some great 

 practical outcome. . 



How can we present a convincing argu- 

 ment on the necessity for a better rounded 

 study of everything comprehended in the 

 word hiologyl And how can we emphasize 

 the prime importance of devoting our earli- 

 est attention to those problems which most 

 immediately concern our well being? This 

 can not be done authoritatively by a single 

 individual. Perhaps a convert from the pres- 

 ent religion, say an eminent authority on 

 cell biology, with that enthusiasm character- 

 istic of recent converts, could put the case 

 more forcefully than could a man who has 

 not achieved prominence in the now accepted 

 lines of work. I am praying for such a 

 convert. But much better than this would 

 be a movement participated in by as many 

 individuals as possible, all with the same 

 general idea, each putting forward the views 

 that have come to him in the course of his 

 own restricted lines of study in biology. 



Let us summarize. Few people realize the 

 critical situation which exists at the present 

 time. Men and nations have always strug- 

 gled among themselves. War has seemed to 

 be a necessity gi-owing out of the ambition 

 of the human race. It is too much, perhaps, 

 to hope that the lesson which the world has 

 recently learned in the years 1914 to 1918 

 will be sti'ong enough to prevent the recur- 

 rence of international war; but, at all events, 

 there is a war, not among human beings, 

 but between all humanity and certain forces 

 that are arrayed against it. Man is the 

 dominant type on this terrestrial body; he 

 has overcome most opposing animate forces; 

 he has subdued or turned to his ovm use 

 nearly all kinds of living creatures. There 

 still remain, however, the bacteria and pro- 

 tozoa that carry disease and the enormous 

 forces of injurious insects which attack him 

 from every point and which constitute to- 



