Mabch .17, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



433 



ontogeny to understand and to leave these 

 figures without complete description is to give 

 the student the impression that simple epi- 

 boly is involved. These are but passing 

 thoughts and are not in any waj meant to de- 

 tract from the value of the book. 



The question, however, remains, how many 

 institutions could equip their students with 

 the apparatus which is practically necessary 

 for the carrying on of work along the lines 

 laid down by Hegner ? It will be remembered 

 that the exact studies on the behavior of proto- 

 zoa were made possible through the applica- 

 tion of the Greenough binocular microscope 

 in the hands of Jennings and others. The 

 time necessary for the development of tech- 

 nique for such experimental work had better 

 be spent, in the mind of the present writer, in 

 covering the subject of biology somewhat 

 more broadly. Again, there are not many 

 students in the first year in the subject who 

 could make much of a series of demonstra- 

 tions of the development of Cambarus. It 

 may be that the present writer does not under- 

 stand fully the raison d'etre of the book and 

 that the illustrations are not covered in the 

 laboratory. If this is true, why bring into 

 the student's mind at all the intricacies of 

 crustacean development? It does not involve 

 any more completeness, for there are still 

 many things left out of consideration, such as 

 phylogeny. Does embryology rightly form a 

 part of the beginner's training? Above all, 

 dogmatism is the hete noire of all teaching. Is 

 it not necessary to be dogmatic in teaching 

 embryology in this course? Can the data be 

 verified by the student? 



It is the firm belief of the present writer 

 that the division of the subject into its two 

 grand divisions is a decided loss to the general 

 student. Living things, after all, partake of 

 the same general characters. The more plants 

 are studied in terms of animals, the better they 

 have been understood. The best zoologist is 

 he who has had at the same time the best 

 botanical training. If it be urged that there 

 are few men who are capable of covering the 

 two fields well, the answer may be made that 

 it is so much the more deplorable. Specializa- 



tion is carried too far even for the good of 

 investigation if the zoologist can not think in 

 terms of plants. The great principles of the 

 science have been formulated by studies upon 

 both plants and animals. A well-marked in- 

 stance of this is the present-day work in 

 genetics, in sex, in growth and the like. If 

 this is true, why not give the student the ad- 

 vantage of it? 



It is the belief of the writer, too, that more 

 than one year can very seldom be given by the 

 general student to any one science. Unless he 

 be a prospective student of medicine, sanita- 

 tion or biology itself, his major work must of 

 necessity take him into other fields. The de- 

 plorable ignorance of the average art student 

 in things biological would be more quickly 

 effaced if he were able to gain in one year a 

 comprehensive course in this subject com- 

 parable to tliat he may receive in physics and 

 in chemistry. To present the subject as zool- 

 ogy and botany defeats the end. 



The physicists and chemists have found 

 time from their research to discuss teaching 

 methods in their respective subjects, but the 

 biologist — well, the biologist is made of finer 

 stuff. A symposium upon elementary biology 

 at the American Association, resembling the 

 discussions of the chemists and physicists 

 which have been held in the past, would be 

 most valuable to all who are concerned, 

 directly or indirectly, in presenting the sub- 

 ject to the students of our universities and 

 colleges. 



Max W. Morse 



Teinity Coujlge 



Metabolism in Diabetes Mellitus. By Francis 

 G. Benedict and Elliot P. Joslin. Car- 

 negie Institute of Washington. 1910. 

 The book contains 193 tables. It has the 

 detailed record of work on thirteen cases of 

 diabetes, ten classed as severe and three as 

 light. Calorimetric measurements have been 

 made, the carbon dioxide excretion and oxy- 

 gen absorption recorded, urinary analyses ac- 

 complished, and the influence of food observed. 

 It represents the most ambitious attempt yet 

 made in the study of human diabetes and is a 



