68 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 419. 



Of course it is impracticable to turn 

 out full-fledged systematists, but it is prac- 

 ticable to give men the kind of education 

 that will enable them to take up systematic 

 work to advantage after their college days 

 have been completed. The mental or intel- 

 lectual equipment needed by the system- 

 atist includes three prime requisites: (1) 

 accurate observational poAver, (2) a well- 

 trained and reliable power of discrimina- 

 tion, and (3) the power to describe accu- 

 rately and in good English. Now, be it 

 observed that these three accomplishments 

 are the very ones that are the most val- 

 uable intellectual gifts in almost any walk 

 in life, and hence it follows that that sort 

 of education which turns out good timber 

 for systematists is the very one that serves 

 the best and most iiseful pedagogical pur- 

 poses; and the plea which I here make for 

 more attention being paid by our colleges 

 to preparing men for sj'stematic work, is 

 at the same time a plea for the best and 

 strongest preparation for almost any walk 

 in life. 



It will, of course, be conceded that the 

 first of the requisites cited above, namely, 

 accurate observational power, is the pri- 

 mary aim of work in all material science; 

 and it will also be conceded that the edu- 

 cation of the power of discrimination or 

 judgment is also included in any thorough 

 scientific work; but I do not believe that 

 any other branch of biological science does 

 so much toward evoking fine descriptive 

 power as does systematic work, either in 

 botany or in zoology. After an experience 

 of some seventeen years as a teacher of 

 science, it is my deliberate judgment that 

 good descriptive ability is much more rare 

 than the ability either to observe or to dis- 

 criminate, which is really a part of obser- 

 vation. It woiild be laughable, were it 

 not pathetic, to see the utter helplessness 

 of even the better class of university stu- 

 dents when they are told to describe even 



the simplest object. Time after time I 

 have found that a class of twenty or more 

 sophomores did not contain a single one 

 who could really describe any defijaite ob- 

 ject with even approximate success. But 

 it is a never-failing delight to see the 

 power that they can acquire in this direc- 

 tion after a year of faithful work along 

 systematic lines. 



Teaching of the sort that I have indi- 

 cated need not be confined to the largest 

 and best-endowed colleges. Fairly large 

 collections in certain definite groups are 

 a necessary prerequisite, but such collec- 

 tions can be secured at less expense than 

 the laboratory equipment that includes a 

 good compound microscope for each stu- 

 dent, and in many cases the teacher can, 

 with the help of stiidents, make suitable 

 collections in such groups as birds and 

 insects. 



The whole scheme of systematic arrange- 

 ment lends itself admirably to the gradual 

 evolution of descriptive power. Com- 

 mencing with the larger groups, the stu- 

 dent is drilled in discriminating the 

 broader characters, such as differentiate 

 classes and orders, for instance; then 

 closer work is required in studying the 

 families. Lastly, some few families are 

 taken up and the work becomes focused 

 on the fine discriminations required in 

 describing genera and even species. 



In the University of Iowa, for instance, 

 the student works for one third of a year 

 on the classes and orders of the lower in- 

 vertebrates. Then he studies the groups 

 of mammals, down to and including the 

 families, for an equal length of time, the 

 remainder of the collegiate year being de- 

 voted to the study of birds, more than 

 half of this latter period being given to 

 a careful study of the Passeres. The 

 work is focused more particularly on birds 

 because the imiversitj^ museum is particu- 

 larly well equipped in birds, they are 



