Decembee 5, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



817 



composition of everything, and the properties 

 of the elements and compounds, while geog- 

 raphy in the strictest sense considers the areal 

 distrihuiion of everything on the earth's sur- 

 face, and the properties — so to speak — of all 

 the natural divisions of the earth. 



Although it has been but a score of years 

 since the zoological and botanical sections 

 ■were separated, present conditions seem to 

 call for further subdivision of each. Botany, 

 for example — and a similar statement could be 

 made with respect to zoology — is not a single 

 science, but a group of sciences (plant taxon- 

 omy, physiology, geography, etc.), differing 

 widely in point of view, method of treatment 

 and personnel of followers, and haying in com- 

 mon only the fact that they all deal with the 

 vegetable kingdom, just as the distinct sciences 

 psychology, anthropology, ethnology, sociology 

 and economics all pertain to the human race. 



At the same time an additional section ought 

 to be provided for a class of investigations 

 which has come into prominence since the 

 beginning of the present century, namely, those 

 dealing with mutation, Mendelism and other 

 evolutionary problems. Some papers in this 

 category have been presented to Section F, 

 some to Section G, and some to joint meetings 

 of the two. To a new section for this group 

 might be assigned the much-abused term 

 " biology." Biology was for a long time, and 

 is still in some quarters, regarded as merely 

 the sum of zoology and botany or, worse still, 

 a mixture of a large amount of zoology with 

 a small amount of botany.^ Some also have 

 treated it as practically synonymous with ecol- 

 ogy; particularly animal ecology. But every 

 science is known by its laws, and if biology is 

 defined as the science of life its laws are those 

 which apply to all forms of life and not to 



1 At this point some readers might be interested 

 to turn back twenty years and read the discussion 

 on "the emergence of a sham biology in Amer- 

 ica, ' ' begun by Professor MacMillan in Science 

 for April 7, 1893, and continued by others in later 

 numbers of the same volume. Dr. Eamaley's note 

 on "What is Biology?" in Science for January 

 12, 1912, is also of interest In this connection. 



inanimate matter, namely, the laws of evolu- 

 tion and heredity. 



Many if not most scientists are teachers, 

 and consequently it is natural that when they 

 assemble in large numbers some of them 

 should wish to have formal discussions of edu- 

 cational problems, professors' salaries, uni- 

 versity government, etc. But teaching is not 

 a science, but an art, more closely connected 

 with psychology than with any other science; 

 and there are already quite a number of as- 

 sociations organized for the purpose of con- 

 sidering educational questions that lie out- 

 side the field of science. 



Agriculture is another art, or group of arts, 

 based mainly on plant physiology and ecology. 

 However, the newly created section for agri- 

 cultural science will be a convenient place for 

 papers on fertilizers, soil toxins, etc., which in 

 recent years have been offered in considerable 

 numbers to Section C, the most crowded of 

 all — or even to Section G — on soil formation 

 and classification, a branch of geology in 

 which very few geologists are interested, and 

 on the physiology and ecology of cultivated 

 crops, a somewhat neglected branch of botany. 



The following table is now submitted as an 

 illustration of how the number of sections 

 might be advantageously increased. No 

 doubt it has many shortcomings, which will be 

 immediately apparent to others, and criticism 

 of it will be welcomed. It is divided into two 

 columns, the first containing the names of the 

 sciences and the second a few arts correlated 

 with them, the latter being mentioned mainly 

 to illustrate the contrast between science and 

 art, and the kinds of papers that might be 

 admitted to the sectional programs whenever 

 there happened to be a dearth of genuine 

 scientific material. It is scarcely necessary to 

 remark that the list of arts is much less com- 

 plete than that of sciences. 



sciencbs 

 Astronomy. 



ARTS 



Chronometry. Naviga- 

 tion. 

 Physics and mechanics. Hydraulics. Aeronaut- 

 ics. Optics. Me- 

 chanical and electrical 

 engineering. 



