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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol,. XXVII. No. 688 



at work upon the question as to how sci- 

 ence teaching in the schools may be brought 

 to a proper degree of eiifieieney. If a need 

 for improvement is felt in Germany, is it 

 not likely that it is present also with us? 

 How often have we heard a colleague in 

 one or another of the scientific departments 

 state that he would sooner receive into his 

 classes students entirely unfamiliar with 

 his subject, than those who had received 

 some training in it in the high school 1 An 

 occasional statement of this sort might be 

 attributed to that indiosyncrasy which is 

 popularly regarded as a characteristic of a 

 university professor. But it is made too 

 frequently to be altogether due to that 

 cause, and allowing for a certain amount 

 of rhetorical exaggeration, the statement 

 is an indication that a need for improve- 

 ment in science teaching in our high schools 

 certainly exists. From what body could 

 the initiation of a movement for the im- 

 provement of instruction in the biological 

 sciences more appropriately come than 

 from this society? In passing, let me re- 

 call that at our last meeting in this city 

 we had the pleasure and profit of listening 

 to an eloquent and serious arraignment by 

 our then president, Professor Sedgwick, of 

 the prostitution of scientific teaching to the 

 intemperate propagandism of a powerful 

 organization. Have we as a body or indi- 

 vidually followed up that deserved indict- 

 ment as we should? The recent publica- 

 tion in Science of a letter from the organ- 

 ization in question shows that the snake is 

 not even scotched and that with cool ef- 

 frontery the organization proposes to con- 

 tinue its dictation of what text-books of 

 physiology shall be used in our public 

 schools. 



And even in connection with ouv college 

 courses, in which the majority of us are 

 more directly interested, there is oppor- 

 tunity for this society to exert a healthful 

 influence. Our college education is at 



present in a stage of transition, and it is 

 difficult at the moment to determine what 

 will be the final outcome. But in one direc- 

 tion at least there seems to be a definite 

 tendency and that is toward a more distinct 

 cleavage between undergraduate and post- 

 graduate work. It is showing itself in our 

 professional schools, which are more and 

 more approaching the ideal condition in 

 which they will represent post-graduate 

 courses, students being allowed to enter 

 upon the special work of the schools only 

 after they have laid a broad foundation for 

 their professional studies by completing a 

 collegiate course. In other words, the pro- 

 fessional schools are beginning to recognize 

 the value of a broad training as a prepara- 

 tion for successful specialization. This 

 movement should receive a hearty support 

 from this society, for it is at one with its 

 aims and it is a movement for whose fur- 

 ther expansion there is still ample space. 

 Up to a few years before the organization 

 of this society the completion of the liter- 

 ary curriculum meant the completion of 

 one 's education ; the man who was entitled 

 to write A.B. or some such letters after his 

 name was the final product of our educa- 

 tional system. True, there were higher 

 degrees, A.M. and what not, biit the train- 

 ing for these was more or less perfunctory 

 and unorganized, and there were also occa- 

 sional students who had the opportunity to 

 carry on their studies beyond the ordinary 

 four years of the university curriculum. 

 The majority of these, however, found it 

 to their advantage to pursue their later 

 studies in the old world universities, and 

 especially in Germany, which first had 

 recognized the advantage of making the 

 university something more than the mere 

 dispenser of knowledge already acquired. 

 In 1876 the cleavage between undergradu- 

 ate and post-graduate studies — similar to 

 that between the German university and 

 gymnasium— became established in this- 



