Apeil 16, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



581 



This text-book is frankly based upon the well- 

 known earlier work of Sedgwick and Wilson 

 and follows it closely in subject-matter, method 

 and illustrations. It is, however, even more 

 strictly of the informational type and omits 

 all reference to practiced exercises or labora- 

 tory directions. The physiological side of the 

 subject is emphasized. In th& order of treat- 

 ment the present work departs from the plan 

 of its prototype and substitutes the logical 

 course of proceeding from the simple forms 

 to the complex, for the more practical one 

 of introducing the student to the subject 

 through contact with an organism of such size 

 that it can be studied by the ordinary method 

 of observation. For most teachers this would 

 seem to be a change of doubtful expediency. 

 While the fern and earthworm are stiU con- 

 sidered at some length, other types (Ameha 

 and other Protozoa, Hydra, Homarus) receive 

 as much attention. In each case, however, the 

 particular form is studied in connection with 

 some biological principle which it illustrates. 

 The amoeba typifies the activities of one-celled 

 animals; hydra, the nature of animals with 

 tissues; the earthworm, the conditions devel- 

 oping where organ systems are present; the 

 lobster, a more complex condition of organ 

 systems involving the subject of homology. 

 More briefly the nature of one-celled plants is 

 treated in connection with yeast and bacteria; 

 parasitism, as exhibited by Tcenia, is discussed; 

 and animal associations, adaptations against 

 parasites, and the mechanism of immunity are 

 appropriately presented. A series of these 

 general subjects, including animal descent, evo- 

 lution, conformity to type, somatic and germ 

 plasm, and Mendelism, appears in the last 

 chapter of the book, wherein the most recent 

 work receives attention. 



General biology is defined by the author as 

 the science which deals with " the funda- 

 mental principles of living matter " and he 

 then outlines specifically seven subdivisions 

 which embrace practically the entire realms 

 of morphology and physiology. That the re- 

 cognition of such a subject as general biology 

 is purely a matter of expediency is admitted 

 when the author states that a thorough study 

 of any one of the seven topics would compass 



the whole field. The purpose of general biol- 

 ogy is, however, conceived to be that of form- 

 ing a foundation upon which the other more 

 specific subjects can be built. It is the thought 

 of the author, and of others who write similar 

 books, that students can be made acquainted 

 with the main biological conceptions through 

 a course designed for this specific purpose in- 

 stead of acquiring the knowledge as a result of 

 personal experience with many animals and 

 plants. The large results of biological research 

 are presented to the beginner before he is 

 much acquainted with the varied materials 

 manifesting the properties of living matter. 



Whether this method is the best for use with 

 an elementary class in the freshman or sopho- 

 more year of a college course is open to ques- 

 tion. Much depends upon the circumstances 

 in each institution. It may be said, in a gen- 

 eral way, that the observational sciences won 

 a place for themselves in the curriculum be- 

 cause they promised a training, through per- 

 sonal experience, that could not be obtained in 

 subjects which are studied merely from books. 

 Information comes thus as a result of dis- 

 covery, and with knowledge comes training. 

 Not only are facts gained but the method of 

 their acquisition appears through repeated 

 experience with concrete examples. The stu- 

 dent is not told that the lobster has twenty 

 somites in its body, but he is asked to discover 

 for himself the number present in a certain 

 specimen. He is not offered the generaliza- 

 tion that all normal lobsters have the same 

 number, but he is led to form this conclusion 

 himself through opportunities for comparison 

 with other representatives of the species and 

 by means of the collective experiences of his 

 fellow students. He is not told that there is 

 a large group of branchiate arthropods char- 

 acterized by this fundamental organization, 

 but he is guided to the formation of such a 

 conception by the observation that a consider- 

 able number of such animals, although differ- 

 ing in many other ways, presents a repetition 

 of the same numerical condition. Experience, 

 not authority, is the guide ; the goal is a devel- 

 opment of the power of accurate observation 

 and the formation of judgments based upon 

 such observations, not the acquisition of cer- 



