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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. ( 



scientific subjects ; a student in C with 10.5 

 per cent, of non-scientific subjects; and a 

 student in D with only 5 per cent. It 

 seems certain that one or other of the ex- 

 tremes must be utterly bad in principle. 

 The one represents a broad collegiate train- 

 ing upon which the student may build a 

 specialized university course, the other is 

 extreme specialization by which the student 

 is carried into the graduate type of work 

 before he has acquired a well-rounded col- 

 legiate training. Indeed, it may be pointed 

 out that in the extremely specialized course 

 the student is allowed to devote ten houi's 

 a week throughout his final year to research 

 in zoology. 



I do not wish it to be understood that 

 such narrow courses as have been men- 

 tioned above are frequently taken. Indeed, 

 I believe that the great majority of students 

 of their own accord choose rather a broader 

 course, and, furthermore, in some institu- 

 tions elections must be approved by a mem- 

 ber of the faculty or by a committee, a 

 system conducing to some extent to the 

 prevention of extreme specialization. But 

 such courses as I have indicated are pos- 

 sible ; indeed, in the institution D a student 

 who expects to teach zoology is openly ad- 

 vised to elect as many as possible of the 

 courses offered in that subject, that is to 

 say, to elect the extremely specialized course 

 mentioned above. Surely such advice be- 

 trays a sad misunderstanding of the proper 

 functions of the college and university and 

 must tend in the long run to prejudice 

 rather than to advance the claims of zool- 

 ogy to a place among the so-called culture 

 studies. 



Nor do I wish to imply that zoology is 

 the only grievous offender in this respect. 

 Eesults similar to those already given may 

 be obtained from the study of possible elec- 

 tions in other courses, both scientific and 

 non-scientific. A student may graduate 

 from college without ever having seen the 



inside of a laboratory or listened to a single 

 course of lectures on a scientific subject 

 during his four years of attendance. And 

 to give such a student an imprimatur which 

 should imply that he has received a broad 

 collegiate foundation is a crime against 

 good scholarship. 



But this is not the occasion for a general 

 discussion of this question; we are con- 

 cerned with it especially as it relates to 

 biology. I may say, I believe, without an 

 imputation of Chauvinism, that biological 

 investigation on this continent stands sec- 

 ond in quality to none, and it should be 

 our endeavor to see that quality is not sac- 

 rificed to quantity. A multitude of effu- 

 sions characterized by narrow specialism 

 will advance the position of biological re- 

 search far less effectually than a more 

 moderate product in which thoroughness 

 is combined with a scholarly appreciation 

 of the scope of the problems in hand. This 

 latter desirable conjunction will not be se- 

 cured by devoting a considerable part of a 

 student's collegiate course to university 

 studies. An instructor in collegiate courses 

 may and should, by both precept and ex- 

 ample, set forth the methods of the in- 

 vestigator and endeavor to awaken in his 

 students the spirit of the investigator. But 

 let him see that a vaulting ambition is not 

 allowed to o'erleap itself, and secure for 

 his students that broad outlook which alone 

 can produce the scholarly investigator. 

 That extreme specialization should be even 

 possible in an undergraduate course is a 

 serious mistake. It narrows the field of 

 vision and is a serious obstacle to the carry- 

 ing out of the cooperation so much needed 

 in biology. And cooperation implies soli- 

 darity, the main plank of the platform 

 upon which the Society of Naturalists 

 stands. Surely there is still work for the 

 society both in advocating a system of 

 training in our schools and colleges which 

 will make cooperation in investigation pos- 



