430 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 978 



of the Deity make no appeal to any special 

 sense, only a universal appeal; and our 

 methods are, as we know, incompetent to 

 detect complete uniformity. There is a 

 principle of relativity here, and unless we 

 encounter flaw or jar or change, nothing 

 in us responds; we are deaf and blind, 

 therefore, to the immanent grandeur 

 around us, unless we have insight enough 

 to appreciate the whole, and to recognize 

 in the woven fabric of existence, flowing 

 steadily from the loom in an infinite prog- 

 ress towards perfection, the ever-growing 

 garment of a transcendent God. 



SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT 



A marked feature of the present scien- 

 tific era is the discovery of, and interest 

 in, various kinds of atomism; so that con- 

 tinuity seems in danger of being lost 

 sight of. 



Another tendency is toward compre- 

 hensive negative generalizations from a 

 limited point of view. 



Another is to take refuge in rather 

 vague forms of statement, and to shrink 

 from closer examination of the puzzling 

 and the obscure. 



Another is to deny the existence of any- 

 thing which makes no appeal to organs of 

 sense, and no ready response to laboratory 

 experiment. 



Against these tendencies the author con- 

 tends. He urges a belief in ultimate con- 

 tinuity as essential to science; he regards 

 scientific concentration as an inadequate 

 basis for philosophic generalization ; he be- 

 lieves that obscure phenomena may be ex- 

 pressed simply if properly faced; and he 

 points out that the non-appearance of 

 anything perfectly uniform and omni- 

 present is only what should be expected, 

 and is no argument against its real sub- 

 stantial existence. 



Oliver Lodge 



THE TEACHING OF COLLEGE BIOLOGY 

 In schools below college grade it is con- 

 sidered eminently desirable and necessary that 

 the teacher shall have given some attention to 

 the art of teaching. It is furthermore ex- 

 pected that he keep himself informed through 

 meetings, reports, journals and discussions of 

 progress in the art as well as the science he is 

 expected to teach. He is expected to keep in 

 touch with new ideas, in the subject matter 

 and in the best methods of presenting them to 

 his classes. 



There appears to be a sharp distinction in 

 this respect between these schools and colleges 

 or universities. As a rule, college teachers 

 are not expected to annoy themselves with 

 principles of education or with methods of 

 teaching. To do so is to ally oneself with 

 prep, school ideas and associations. To be in 

 open sympathy with any effort to arouse in- 

 terest in the teaching side of one's profession 

 is to lose caste with one's colleagues. Though 

 primarily employed to teach, the consideration 

 of one's specialty from the teaching stand- 

 point is considered a necessary evil to be tol- 

 erated but not encouraged. Each new ap- 

 pointee is expected to adopt the university 

 methods of his teacher or to stumble upon a 

 plan which so frequently is a compromise be- 

 tween the limitations set by the institution 

 and the bias of his training and experience, 

 with little or no regard for the real needs of 

 the student. 



Very slowly there has developed a growing 

 consciousness that the plans and methods that 

 served so admirably during the last genera- 

 tion no longer met the needs of the college 

 man or woman of the present day, particularly 

 in the natural sciences. And the opinion has 

 frequently been expressed that an exchange of 

 ideas and experiences by men from different 

 colleges or universities of the country would 

 tend to clear the ground for an understanding 

 of the nature and scope of the biology courses 

 in schools of college grade. It was felt that 

 the first effort should be directed toward a 

 study of the introductory course in biology, 

 the only one that the great majority of college 

 students ever take. 



