634 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 69. 



do ; wherefore very little has come of them, and 

 very little is left of them ; and now nobody 

 knows what they were, save a few archasologi- 

 cal old gentlemen who scratch in queer corners. 



"But Epimetheus was a very slow fellow, 

 certainly, and went among men for a clod, and 

 a muff, and a milksop, and a slow coach and a 

 bloke, and a boodle, and so forth. And very 

 little he did for many years ; but what he did 

 he never had to do over again. -Stupid old 

 Epimetheus went working and grubbing 

 on, always looking behind him to see what 

 had happened, till he really learned to know 

 now and then what would happen next, and 

 understood so well which side his bread was 

 buttered, and which way the cat jumped, that 

 he began to make things which would work, and 

 go on working too, till at last he grew as rich as 

 a Jew and as fat as a farmer, and people 

 thought twice before they meddled with him, 

 but only once before they asked him to help 

 them." W. K. Brooks. 



April 8, 1896. 



the retinal image once more. 

 I REJOICE to learn, in the current number of 

 Science (April 3, 1896, p. 517), that C. L. F. 

 does not include me with the ' Medical Society in 

 Philadelphia,^ and the ^ Prominent Baltimore Phy- 

 sician,^ among those '■Distinguished Scientists 

 ivho think there is anything which needs explana- 

 tion in the fact that the image on the retina is in- 

 verted;' but as I know no reason why the 

 readers of Science should rejoice with me, I do 

 not care to dwell on the matter. 



W. K. Brooks. 



ON THE DIS.4.PPEARANCE OF SHAM BIOLOGY 

 FROM AMERICA. 



Almost exactly three years ago I contributed 

 to Science* a paper entitled 'On the Emergence 

 of a Sham Biology in America.' In this article I 

 found it necessary to criticise severely the con- 

 dition of things in some of the leading American 

 universities where courses in zoology were per- 

 mitted to masquerade under the larger title of 

 Biology. I protested vigorously against the 

 educational deception which, in at least one im- 

 portant institution — where the official announce- 



* Science, Old Series, 21: 184. 7 Aj)., 1893. 



ment was made that only lack of funds pre- 

 vented a proper development of botanical sci- 

 ence — attempted to cover up this poverty by 

 naming the courses in zoology courses in ' biol- 

 ogy.' It was pointed out that much harm was 

 done to true biological science by such ignoring 

 of one-half of the science and professing that 

 the moiety remaining was the whole. 



Following this article of three years ago was 

 a great outcry against my position from gentle- 

 men professing to represent Johns Hopkins 

 University and Columbia University in the 

 columns of Science, but at the same time I re- 

 ceived some half hundred letters of congratula- 

 tion from both zoologists and botanists, repre- 

 senting the leading institutions of the country 

 from Harvard to California. In Science for 

 May 26, 1893, 1 closed the discussion and waited 

 for the outcome, for it was clear that attention 

 to the matter had been excited. 



Within a year Chicago University announced 

 the withdrawal of its Department of Biology 

 and the title of Dr. Whitman was changed from 

 Head Professor of Biology to Head Professor of 

 Zoology. Following this came the announce- 

 ment of the creation of a Department of Botany 

 at that institution, and one stronghold had 

 fallen. 



This year I learn that on March 2d the 

 Trustees of Columbia University have changed 

 the name of the Department of Biology to De- 

 partment of Zoology, and have altered the titles 

 of the staff to correspond. I am exceedingly 

 gratified at this action which places Columbia 

 upon the reasonable and honest basis. It now 

 remains for the one important institution that 

 is at the same time the greatest offender of all 

 to awaken to its isolated and dishonest position 

 and to cease sending out Doctors of Philosophy 

 in Biology when the botanical . work is still in 

 the hands of a tutor and the preponderant stress 

 is laid upon zoology. A full professorship of 

 botany should be established at once, requiring 

 no change in staff, but giving a fair recognition 

 to both biological sciences and saving the insti- 

 tution from such spectacles as it had to witness 

 three years ago when its ' biologists ' stood up 

 manfully for a sham biology that is now vanish- 

 ing like mists in the morning. 



Conway MacMillan. 



