January 31, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



111 



possible to a general class. But to omit the 

 broad foundations of classification or to 

 neglect its connection with its morphological 

 basis is to lose one of the best mental dis- 

 ciplines and also to leave the student without 

 that systematized grouping of facts with 

 which he is dealing, that is so fundamentally 

 essential to any clear grasp of correlations, or 

 the orderly handling of facts that present 

 themselves in the course of his life. I know 

 of no discipline better, to give training in 

 the systematic arrangement of matter than 

 through the basic principles involved in the 

 orderly arrangement of the myriad forms of 

 animal life. 



Above all of course we should have freedom 

 of action for the individual teacher. The 

 best in any teacher may be expected only 

 when he can give his whole heart and en- 

 thusiasm to his work. I believe that it is 

 jxjssible with intelligent and sympathetic co- 

 operation to secure both this freedom of 

 action and a well-balanced and correlated 

 agreement on the main content and aim of 

 instruction and with this goes opportunity and 

 responsibility which we need not attempt to 

 measure. 



I make no apology for introducing what 

 may seem at first sight a rather primary and 

 academic discussion in this line. We must 

 all recognize that the ranks of our future 

 zoological workers must be recruited in large 

 part if not entirely from among the students 

 of our high schools and colleges. It is cer- 

 tainly most vital to the progress of our science 

 that we secure our share of the best talent 

 represented among such students. It is of 

 even greater consequence that the coming gen- 

 eration should have such fundamental train- 

 ing in the activities of life that they may be 

 best qualified for citizenship. 



I have purposely omitted any detailed dis- 

 cussion of the more advanced courses of 

 zoological study offered in our college or uni- 

 versity curricula, partly because I feel that 

 there is the greater need of careful, construc- 

 tive attention to our introductory courses, 

 which should by all means have the advantage 

 of the most able and experienced teachers, and 



partly because the drift and detail of the more 

 specialized courses will be in considerable part 

 a response to the changing demands of pass- 

 ing years. Our product of the advanced 

 training should certainly provide us with 

 qualified investigators and teachers in the 

 many phases of zoological work. There is, 

 however, I fear, a tendency to meet so many 

 of these purposes that we are in danger of 

 offering entirely too many special subjects as 

 courses for undergraduate students. Zoology 

 has perhaps not gone to the extreme of certain 

 other departments of education, some of which 

 appear to me entirely out of reason, but I 

 find for instance in one of our well known 

 schools no less than 57 different subjects 

 offered as regular lecture or laboratory courses. 

 Could not many of these more profitably stand 

 as subjects for the individual student in sem- 

 inary or graduate work or ought not the stu- 

 dent with proper biological foundation to be 

 able to follow them up independently after 

 cutting loose from the leading strings of his 

 academic instructors. Some of his time as an 

 undergraduate ought certainly to be allotted to 

 work that will give him the spirit and method 

 of research, so that with separation from 

 direct supervision he may meet the responsi- 

 bilities and opportunities of adding to science 

 with whatever talent and resource he may 

 possess for original work. 



EXTENSION ACimTIES 



Within the last few years we have witnessed 

 the organization of a plan of extension activi- 

 ties in education which is nation-wide in scope 

 and the full significance of which, at least 

 for zoology, I suspect we have failed to fully 

 realize. The support available through the 

 Smith-Lever act, while relating particularly 

 to agriculture and home economics covers 

 these in a broad way and, even in a rather 

 close interpretation, must involve extension 

 activities in biological lines, and zoologists 

 will fail to meet their opportunities if they 

 do not energetically occupy this field of en- 

 deavor. 



That the field is pregnant with great possi- 

 bilities may be surmised if we but review the 



