April 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



653 



mental principles which underlie modern 

 methods of study in all departments of 

 knowledge: which were tirst fully devel- 

 oped and are still best exemplified in the 

 field of biology. 



Now it seems to me that the considera- 

 tion of these matters will help us to de- 

 termine what are some of the things that 

 should constitute part of the intellectual 

 stock-in-trade of the average coming 

 citizen, who will go no further in formal 

 studies than the high school. I will ven- 

 ture to name seven phases of biology now 

 more or less commonly studied, the value of 

 which as parts of a high-school course I 

 consider already demonstrated : 



1. Elementary classification — the sys- 

 tematizing of the random observations of 

 nature study in the grades and of contact 

 in life Avith living things. It need not be 

 very extensive, and might about as well 

 use common names as technical; but it 

 should be a genuine gathering together of 

 knoM'u forms into natural groups and a fix- 

 ing of such groups by names. It will not 

 matter much if, through lack of insight, 

 some forms occasionally get into the wrong 

 group, for such slips still occur with ac- 

 complished specialists. Classification nat- 

 urally and properly follows hard upon the 

 heels of observation, and only goes astray 

 when it runs on ahead. Classification fur- 

 nishes the handles by which we move all 

 our intellectual luggage. Let us have just 

 enough for our needs. 



A modicum of collection making may be 

 allowed here; if fondness is shown for it, 

 it may even be encouraged in individuals 

 and outside the allotted program; and the 

 use of keys analytical should certainly be 

 taught by a little practice. How many 

 naturalists have begun their careers by 

 making collections, and how great and how 

 good is the influence in the present day of 

 the ever-increasing number of manuals and 



hand-books that are spreading abroad the 

 knowledge of living things. 



For many years I have heard profes- 

 sional botanists railing against the old- 

 fashioned course in flower analysis; but I 

 want to testify that I once had such a 

 course, and I have never had a better 

 course in botany or in any other subject 

 whatsoever. It was all nature study of 

 the very best sort and full of the delights 

 of discovery; and the worst that could be 

 said of it is that it was one-sided and in- 

 complete — not a very bad charge, consider- 

 ing the limitations of our knowledge and 

 the immensity of the field. 



2. The study of living nature; whether 

 we call it old-fashioned natural history or 

 new-fashioned ecology does not matter. In 

 either case we mean the study of plants 

 and animals in relation to their environ- 

 ment. This is the study of the phenomena 

 of fitness. It is simple enough to interest 

 the youngest mind, and profovind enough 

 to have furnished the basis for our most 

 important biological generalizations. 



It should never be merely reading and 

 talking about remote and wonderfully 

 adapted creatures, but instead, detailed 

 and practical studies of the adaptation of 

 common plants and animals. For instance, 

 protective coloration should not begin with 

 the kallima butterfly, but with the grass- 

 hoppers and moths of the dooryard, and 

 results should be secured that are as 

 definite as those of the study of the anat- 

 omy of the grasshopper. Merely noting 

 resemblance is not studying it. The pupil 

 should record comparatively the details of 

 the resemblance, whether general or 

 specific, whether in form or in color, how 

 brought about, to what particular environ- 

 ment best fitted, the relative perfection of 

 it, the differences in different animals, 

 etc. 



With all the emphasis that is placed on 

 ecology in many recent high-school books. 



