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SCIENCE 



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



author of the laboratory guide book, rather 

 than the needs of the student. Where there 

 is a choice between two forms that are equally 

 good in developing the ideas of structure or 

 physiological processes, the local or more gen- 

 erally known form should always be preferred. 

 Obvious as this may appear, there are a num- 

 ber of instances where exotic or marine forms 

 are used where fresh-water local specimens 

 are available. 



The data submitted showed that there was 

 a very wide range in the time given to the 

 course, that there was nevertheless a tendency 

 to limit the number of hours to five or six a 

 week for one year. Whatever the number of 

 hours may be, there is, in so many colleges, 

 an undue importance placed upon the value 

 of lectures as against the value of self-expres- 

 sion either in the laboratory or in the recita- 

 tion. If our message is to study nature, not 

 books, even if it appears necessary to study 

 nature through the artificial medium of the 

 laboratory, as much time should be given to 

 the study of organisms at first hand as cir- 

 cumstances warrant. It is exceedingly diffi- 

 cult to state what proportion of the time 

 should be spent in the lecture, laboratory and 

 recitation. It is easier to state what is wrong 

 than what is right. It seems to the writer at 

 least that two hours in the lecture room and 

 two hours in the laboratory placed a dispro- 

 portionate emphasis upon a knowledge about, 

 rather than of, nature. Yet in twelve colleges 

 this is the situation. 



Even more surprising is the lack of appre- 

 ciation of the value of the recitation in such 

 an introductory course. In nine colleges, for 

 example, no opportunity is offered for self- 

 expression on the part of the student, or for 

 determining how far the student has grasped 

 the ideas, or to what extent the course is 

 adapted to the needs of the particular group 

 of students, but more important even than 

 these is the opportunity offered by the prop- 

 erly conducted recitation to let the student 

 appreciate the method of scientific thinking 

 and the numberless unanswered problems that 

 the biologist is wrestling with. In seven col- 

 leges only occasional recitations are held; in 



four colleges the recitations extend not more 

 than a half hour a week. 



It is to be hoped that the reserve that has 

 so long prompted many excellent teachers and 

 biologists to withhold from their colleagues 

 the results of their many years of experi- 

 mentation and thought upon the teaching of 

 introductory biology, may be set aside and 

 that appropriate means be found for an ex- 

 change of experiences. If arousing and de- 

 veloping a wholesome interest in biology is an 

 important part of our duties in the colleges or 

 universities, should we not cooperate in aid- 

 ing one another in this important work. At 

 worst, we can agree to differ. 



a. j. goldfarb 



College op the City op New Toek 



MEXICAN ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY 

 A GREATER impetus will be given to the In- 

 ternational School of American Archeology 

 and Ethnology in the city of Mexico in this, 

 the fourth year of its existence. The mem- 

 bers have been added to and the fund for its 

 use will be increased so as to permit of larger 

 activities and explorations. The school was 

 founded in 1910 by the governments of Mex- 

 ico and Prussia, Columbia University, Har- 

 vard University, the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania a.nd the Hispano Society of America, 

 under the initiative of Columbia. In the sec- 

 ond year of the school the government of 

 Russia, through the Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences, and the government of Bavaria, 

 joined the school, and in the third year the 

 government of Austria and the city of Leip- 

 sic, through its ethnological museum, joined it. 

 During the first year the budget of the school, 

 including salaries and fellowships, amounted 

 to $6,000, in the second and third years to 

 $10,000 each, and in the coming year it will 

 be $12,000, of which amount Mexico contrib- 

 utes $3,000 and two $500 fellowships. No ele- 

 mentary or popular instruction is given in the 

 school, but opportunity is ofiered to advanced 

 students to familiarize themselves with the 

 problems of Mexican archeology and ethnol- 

 ogy, and to understand researches in these 

 fields. The objects collected by the school are 



