SCIENCE 



Fkidat, February 24, 1911 



CONTENTS 



Bacteriology in General Education: Peo- 

 FBSSOE Veeanus A. MooEE S77 



The Address of the President of the Paleon- 

 tological Society : Db. John M. Clabke . . 284 



The Distribution of the College Men 296 



Scientific Notes and News 296 



University and Educational News 299 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 

 Botanical Evidence of Coastal Subsidence: 

 Peofessoe D. W. Johnson. Miastor and 

 Embryology : De. E. P. Felt. Trematodes 

 of the Dry Tortugas: Peofessoe Edwin 

 Linton 300 



Quotations : — 

 Commercialism in Education 303 



Scientific Books: — 



Ledu&s ThSorie physieo-chimique de la vie 

 et generations spontanees: Peofessoe 

 Bashfoed Dean. Kisskalt and Hart- 

 mann's Prakticum der Bakteriologie und 

 Protosoologie : Peofessoe Chaem:s A. 

 KoFOiD 304 



Triphen/ylmethyl : Peofessoe J. Bishop 

 Tingle 306 



Special Articles: — 

 Suggestions as to the Culture of Butter- 

 flies: Peofessoe John H. Geeould. 

 Variegation of European Alfalfas: De. L. 

 R. Waldeon 307 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Geological Society of Washington: 

 Edson Bastin and Feanqois E. Matthes 312 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be seat to the Editor of Sciehce, Garrison-on- 

 Hudsoa, N. Y. 



BACTERIOLOGY IN GENERAL EDUCATION '^ 

 In casting about for a topic around 

 which might be gathered a few thoughts 

 suitable for this occasion, I was impressed 

 with the lack of appreciation of the value 

 of bacteriology in general education and 

 the comparatively small amount of sys- 

 tematic effort that has been put forth to es- 

 tablish efficient methods for teaching this 

 important new science. I became so deeply 

 interested in these phases of the subject 

 that perhaps with more zeal than wisdom 

 I chose for my topic "Bacteriology in Gen- 

 eral Education." 



The practical value of any branch of 

 science keeps pace with the general knowl- 

 edge of it and an understanding of the 

 methods by which it can be applied. This 

 in turn depends largely upon the teaching 

 of those who are versed in its details of 

 fact and law. The earlier recognition of 

 bacteria did not suggest the important role 

 they play in nature's economy. While 

 their existence had been known for more 

 than two centuries, it was not until their 

 causal relation to infectious diseases was 

 recorded that they made an impression 

 upon society in general, and the medical 

 profession in particular. It was the dis- 

 covery of this great power which they pos- 

 sess to destroy man and beast that afforded 

 a point of contact between humanity and 

 this vast, invisible, organic world about us. 

 If I correctly understand the meaning of 

 our declaration in the constitution of this 

 society, that its object is the promotion of 

 the science of bacteriology, it would seem 



' Presidential address delivered before the So- 

 ciety of American Bacteriologists, Ithaca, N. Y., 

 December 28, 1910. 



