318 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 12. 



The third, Dr. Henry Hastings Hunt, has 

 within a month ceased from his labors, and 

 been borne to his honored grave ; but I feel 

 justified in giving his testimony emphatic- 

 ally in its favor. 



My plan, slightly detailed, is as follows : 

 Beginning with some explanations of a gen- 

 eral character, and the definition of certain 

 terms which are so technical that the novice 

 cannot be expected to know them, I give 

 the names, both English and Latin, and the 

 limits of extension of all of the superficial 

 parts; for I have learned that it is not safe 

 to count on anybody's knowing what an 

 anatomist or surgeon means by various 

 terms applied to parts which are visible 

 without dissection, and have vernacular ap- 

 pellations. Histology is then presented in 

 an elementary way, and the student is 

 taught the essential truths about the simple 

 tissues. The different kinds of membranes 

 are discussed, and the structure of glands 

 in general is naturally given the next place. 

 The student is now fairly equipped for the 

 study of the viscera, and these are taken up 

 in whatever order the physiologist of the 

 institution prefers. In one important par- 

 ticular my course at this period differs from 

 visceral anatomy as presented in most of 

 our books ; the braiu and spinal cord, the 

 noblest and most interesting of all entrails, 

 are included in the company of the viscera, 

 and not, as ordinarily in the text-books, 

 with the nerves. After this come in regu- 

 lar, conventional style the bones, ligaments, 

 muscles, arteries, veins, lymphatics and 

 nerves ; and, last of all, topogTaphical, or, 

 as I prefer to call it, relational anatomy. 



In this scheme no separate place is as- 

 signed to embryology, a subject usually 

 treated in obstetrical and physiological 

 works, as well as in anatomical. By agi-ee- 

 ment with my colleague in physiology, its 

 systematic presentation is made by him ; 

 but all through my course the facts of de- 

 velopment are introduced, not only to in- 



fonn the student upon points of practical 

 moment, but also to illustrate and enforce 

 many features of adult structure. 



At the end of his first year in the school the 

 student is required to pass a satisfactory 

 examination in histology, splanchnology, 

 and osteology, and he is not permitted to 

 enter upon second-year studies until he 

 has so passed. At the end of his second 

 year he is examined on the remainder of 

 systematic and all of relational anatomy, 

 failure excluding him from Ms third j'ear. 



It will be observed that I have confined 

 my remarks strictly to the subject an- 

 nounced, and have refrained from discuss- 

 ing the relative merits of various methods 

 of imparting instruction, as by lectures, 

 recitations, demonstrations, and so forth. 

 I wish it to be understood, however, that, if 

 any expression of mine has seemed to im- 

 plj' that the old-time method of teaching by 

 lectures holds the first place in my esteem, I 

 have unwittingly done an injustice to a cher- 

 ished conviction ; for the lecture system, 

 as an exclusive, or even principal, method 

 of instruction, has long seemed to me to 

 be the worst which has been devised. 



Frederic Henry Gerrish. 



BowDoiN College. 



CURRENT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY (IV). 



MERRIAM ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAIil 



AND PLANTS. 



A STUDY that is admirable, alike in its 

 quality and its results, has been presented 

 hy Dr. C. Hart Merriam in a vice-presiden- 

 tial address to the National Geographical 

 Society of Washington, under the title, 

 ' Laws of tempei-atm-e control of the geo- 

 graphical distribution of terrestrial animals 

 and plants' (Nat. Geogr. Mag., VI., 1894, 

 228-238). The life zones of the United 

 States, as mapped two years ago (Ann. Eep. 

 Sec'y Agriculture, 1893), are now shown to 

 be limited northward by the total quantity 

 of heat during the season of growth and re- 



