Aprils, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



531 



ers, both in and out of the public service, 

 who really believe that there has been nota- 

 ble progress along the lines of scientific in- 

 vestigation in this country since 1789, it pre- 

 sents a common goal towards which all may 

 strive ; a higher ideal of the relations of 

 science and the government, and a more 

 patriotic conception of the true relations 

 between the intelligent citizen and the gov- 

 ernment in a genuine republic. 



J. E. Eastman. 

 Washington, D. C. 



THE NEW YORK SIATE SCIENCE TEACHERS' 

 ASSOCIATION. 



in. 

 Thursday, December 31st, two sessions 

 were held in the new Medical College of 

 Syracuse University. The morning meeting 

 was devoted to Biology. Professor C W. 

 Dodge, of the University of Eochester, read 

 a paper on ' Biological Work in the High 

 School.'* 'He was followed by Dr. Thomas 

 B. Stowell, of the Potsdam Normal School, 

 with a paper entitled : 



The Educative Value of the Study of Biology^ 

 Mk. President : Memory of the many 

 days that we have labored together in the 

 Biological Laboratory gives me greater bold- 

 ness to continue this discussion,- for I shall 

 rely upon you, sir, to supply whatever may 

 be lacking in my argument to make sure 

 defense of the cause which I gladly espouse. 

 I shall outline my idea of the educative 

 value of the biological studies from two 

 standpoints : their value by virtue of the 

 psychology of the study ; and second, be- 

 cause of the demands of practical life. And 

 I shall venture to concrete my conclusion 

 by suggesting methods and measures to 

 make this scheme efifective and operative. 



*At the request o£ the Association, Professor Dodge 

 repeated this paper, which he prepared last spring for 

 the University Convocation of the State of New York. 

 It is printed in Regents' Bulletin, No. 36, Septemher, 

 1896, pp. 46-63. 



Two problems confront us at the thresh- 

 old of practical life : the ever present 

 ' bread and butter ' problem, type of all 

 utilitarian questions ; and processes or pro- 

 cedures to effect desired ends, i. e. , the mul- 

 tiple forms of ethical questions whose solu- 

 tion depends primarily upon taste, for I take 

 it that men differ little in conclusions from 

 demonstrable or even from probable prem- 

 ises, which are intellections ; the radical 

 difference in men is in taste, or in the emo- 

 tions which prompt to specific action. 



The final cause of study is both cultural 

 and utilitarian ; forces or agencies which 

 afford increased facility in developing and 

 in directing the energies or the activities of 

 soul are termed cultural ; the results of 

 these forces, that which discovers what is 

 utilized or may be used in every-day life, 

 that which conduces to personal comfort 

 and pleasure, and that which fosters the 

 discovery of such forces arid ends are prac- 

 tical, utilitarian. 



I shall not contend for the ultilitarian 

 value of the nature studies, for their contri- 

 bution to temporal comfort, to happiness, 

 to longevity and to prosperity is generally 

 conceded. 



The discussion is restricted to the cultural 

 value of such studies. To fit men for life 

 in a broad sense demands such soul- furnish- 

 ing as will insure correctness in judgment ; 

 acquisition of such habits as will guaran- 

 tee prompt action; and assurance of con- 

 duct conformable with the high standards 

 espoused. If I err not, a critical examina- 

 tion of the school curriculum will disclose 

 the fact that its final cause is intellectual 

 acumen rather than moral power ; in other 

 words, intellectual activity rather than 

 emotional is the pu^rpose of the schools. I 

 do not decrj' the schools of to-day ; I do not 

 advocate lowered standards, but I urge 

 most persistently the need of culture of the 

 emotional life which is the spring, the source 

 of conduct. Modern psychology has happily 



