Septembee 26, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



431 



During the summer of 1911 a number of 

 biologists' met at Woods Hole, Mass., to dis- 

 cuss the nature and scope of the first year's 

 or introductory course in the natural sciences 

 in schools of college grade. It was agreed 

 that very profound changes in the preparation 

 of the student, in educational policies, in the 

 attitude of the student and the public toward 

 the science, and the great progress in the sci- 

 ence itself, made it imperative that the college 

 course be correspondingly modified in the light 

 of these changes. It was also agreed that 

 narrow standardization or uniformity was im- 

 possible. 



The courses as outlined by each person pres- 

 ent made it very evident that there was con- 

 siderable agreement in certain fundamental 

 principles and tendencies, namely: (1) a tend- 

 ency away from the narrow study of compara- 

 tive morphology; (2) a tendency to include 

 fewer types, studied from a wider viewpoint; 

 (3) a tendency to emphasize the study of 

 living organisms in relation to their environ- 

 ment; (4) a tendency to emphasize physiolog- 

 ical processes; (5) to include the considera- 

 tion of the relation of living organisms to 

 man; (6) to include the consideration of gen- 

 eral and fundamental phenomena, and some 

 of the big problems that biologists are en- 

 deavoring to solve. 



Unfortunately time did not permit an ade- 

 quate discussion of what appears to the writer 

 to be a very important phase of the problem, 

 namely, to what extent should the student be 

 made to realize the methods used in the in- 

 vestigation of biologic phenomena, and the 

 nature of the value of biologic evidence. It 

 would be extremely useful if Professors Con- 

 klin. Calkins, Lefevre, McClung and others 

 present at the meeting could be persuaded to 

 make their plans and experiences public. 



'■ The men present were : Professors Calking of 

 Columbia, Conklin of Princeton, Goldfarb of the 

 College of the City of New York, Kellicott of 

 Goucher College, Knower of Cincinnati, Lefevre 

 of Missouri, Lewis of Wisconsin, McClung of 

 Pennsylvania, Montgomery (who recently died), 

 Moore of Washington University (St. Louis), 

 Parker of Harvard, Patterson of Texas, Pike of 

 Columbia. 



The results of the meeting suggested the 

 desirability of obtaining certain data from a 

 larger number of institutions, in the belief 

 that they might serve as a basis for a more 

 general and open discussion of a difficult and 

 important problem. Fully conscious of the 

 limitations of such tabulated data, they are 

 nevertheless submitted, as obtained from over 

 fifty colleges and universities. Over ten, not 

 included in the tables to follow, were so in- 

 complete as to make their inclusion of very 

 questionable value. By request, the names of 

 the contributors are not mentioned. I wish 

 to express my thanks to all who so kindly co- 

 operated in furnishing the data called for. 



OPTIONAL OR REQUIRED INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY 



The term biology is here used in a very loose 

 sense to mean any introductory course in the 

 natural sciences offered in colleges. 



Number of 



Colleges 



40 



4 

 1 



Number oi 

 Colleges 

 5 

 33 

 4 

 1 

 1 



Biology is required at least of certain 



groups of students. 

 Biology is not required, optional only. 

 Biology is not offered at all, except one 



term of elementary physiology. 



Length of Course 

 one half year 

 one year 

 one year 

 two years 

 three years 



Eequired 

 Required 

 Optional 

 Eequired 

 Eequired 



PROPORTION OF THE STUDENT BODY WHO TAKE 

 INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY 



A very small part of the student body take 

 or have taken this introductory course, as 

 shown by the following table: 



