444 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. XV. No. 377. 



great extent of vacation as an evil. "With 

 the vacation shortened it would be easily- 

 possible to bring these young men into 

 active life at least a year earlier than is 

 now possible, and that would be an immense 

 gain. 



From the professors' point of view the 

 circumstances are very different. To few 

 professors is the vacation time wholly a 

 period of vacation. On the contrary, it is 

 a time which he can utilize for study, for 

 research and for the increase of all his 

 mental equipment upon which his profi- 

 ciency as a professor depends. Moreover 

 there is often work upon examination 

 papers or upon a committee of one kind 

 or another, which the professor must 

 carry on during the vacations while his 

 students are idling. For the professor the 

 vacation is certainly a great advantage 

 and I think from the standpoint of univer- 

 sity service it is an essential factor in 

 maintaining his efficiency. If therefore 

 the vacations are shortened, it seems to me 

 that every university should provide addi- 

 tional liberty for its professors. The tend- 

 ency has hitherto been rather to demand 

 too much teaching from professors, but if 

 they teach too much they cannot be quali- 

 fied to teach in the best manner and with 

 the greatest efficacy, because every pro- 

 fessor, to remain efficient, must have time 

 for study; he must advance, he must grow 

 intellectually, and from mere teaching he 

 can never grow. 



A consideration of the circumstances 

 therefore suggests these two thoiights: 

 first, that for the benefit of the students 

 the amount of vacation at our universities 

 should be diminished; secondly, that if 

 this is done, then, to preserve the efficiency 

 of the professors, the amount of free time 

 accorded them during term should be 

 increased. 



Charles S. Minot. 

 Habvabd Medical School, March 5, 1902. 



THE INTELLECTUAL CONDITIONS FOR THE 

 SCIENCE OF EMBRYOLOGY. 



I. 



Much has been written, from time to 

 time, about the conditions which must be 

 fulfilled by a scientific account of the gen- 

 eration and regeneration of living things 

 out of eggs, although little has been said 

 about the intellectual conditions. We may, 

 nevertheless, find the study of these con- 

 ditions both interesting and instructive. 



Our chief interest in embryology is the 

 hope for a scientific account of ourselves; 

 but we cannot undertake to account for 

 anything unless we know what it is that 

 we undertake to account for. 



My purpose is not to give a scientific 

 account of mind, nor to discount the fu- 

 ture progress of science. I do not believe 

 we are likely to know anything about the 

 natural history of mind except what we 

 find out by scientific discovery; nor do I 

 believe we are ever likely to have a com- 

 plete scientific account of anything, or to 

 reach a point where no new discoveries are 

 needed. 



My purpose is a more humble one: to 

 do what I can to keep the way clear for 

 progress in embryology, by trying to free 

 my own mind, and the minds of others, 

 from all notions which imply that embry- 

 ologieal science is impossible. 



PART I. THE DOCTRINE OP THE CHASM. 



The notion which, for reasons which will 

 soon be made clear, I have called the doc- 

 trine of the chasm, is dry and difficult and 

 unattractive, and as my only aim is to 

 find a way for the erabryologist across 

 the chasms which are said to lie in Ms 

 path, I have made no attempt to stimulate 

 the interest of the reader, confining my- 

 self to the briefest outline which will serve 

 my purpose, even if this outline be more 

 arid than the. works in which the doctrine 

 of the chasm is defended. 



