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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1002 



and require assistance at the same time. 

 The transition from the histology of the 

 frog to the amoeba is a simple one, and in 

 the succeeding series of forms we get not 

 only more or less of a gradational morpho- 

 logical sequence which will give the student 

 some idea of evolutionary progress, but a 

 good series for the introduction of the ideas 

 of animal behavior, differences between 

 plants and animals and other fundamental 

 problems. For instance, in volvox we see 

 the beginnings of the body as distinct from 

 the germ, and it affords a splendid oppor- 

 tunity for introducing ideas relative to ger- 

 minal continuity, evolution of sex and the 

 like. Hydra and Gonionemus, besides open- 

 ing the way for the conception of meta- 

 genesis, illustrate the simpler principles 

 of differentiation. The frog, crayfish and 

 bee, when contrasted in their structural ad- 

 justments to environmental conditions, give 

 an excellent selection for showing diverse 

 means of meeting the same fundamental 

 problems of existence. Lastly, the bee is 

 excellent for guiding the student into the 

 problems of genetics. I find that the single 

 query in the laboratory outline as to how, 

 inasmuch as the workers are sterile, their 

 various characteristics are passed on to the 

 next generation, is more serviceable in 

 opening up to the student the real under- 

 lying problems of heredity than a consid- 

 erable amount of mere lecture declamation 

 on the subject would be. 



From the first year on there will be a di- 

 vergence among the students, depending 

 upon their future intentions. Many will 

 never get beyond the first course. On the 

 part of general students, however, I find a 

 strong and increasing demand for at least 

 one or two additional courses which will 

 afford them greater opportunity to get the 

 bearings of biological principles on human 

 problems. I think it can be justly urged, 

 therefore, that this applied phase of the 



work is worthy of a modest course some- 

 where in the departmental curriculum after 

 the first year. If "the true study of man- 

 kind is man," certainly the most promising 

 approach to this study is through biology. 

 Our social and educational problems have 

 suffered too long already at the hands of 

 the biologically untrained. I suspect that 

 to the great majority of our students who 

 will never become trained zoologists there 

 is nothing of greater value we can give them 

 than a clear-cut biological orientation 

 towards the problems of human life. 

 Train such students week by week and 

 month by month in scientific discrimination 

 and in the handling of biological evidence 

 secured by their own efforts at observation, 

 and we shall contribute to society fewer vic- 

 tims for the demagogue, the sensationalist 

 and the charlatan. 



Of all people, the prospective teacher 

 and the social worker need the vivid knowl- 

 edge of facts concerning living things that 

 can be gained only by direct contact with 

 the objects themselves, yet how few of 

 either of this class ever get more than the 

 colorless remnants of biological truth that 

 may be gained at second hand through the 

 paths of pedagogy and sociology! Many 

 professors of pedagogy and sociology are 

 coming to realize the importance of prelim- 

 inary biological training for their proteges, 

 and, although themselves biologically un- 

 trained, are endeavoring to make good the 

 deficiency. While one sympathizes heart- 

 ily with the feeling of necessity which 

 prompts their endeavor, he can not but 

 marvel at some of the biological rag-time 

 effects not infrequently served up in these 

 fields as biological truths. 



How many teachers have an adequate 

 understanding of the functional adjust- 

 ments necessary to normal activities in 

 either simple or complex animals? Yet, 

 lacking this, how can they be expected to 



