SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 531 



in their proper genus or species, the parts being generally too 

 fragmentary for using ordinary methods of determination. 



Many drugs are received, the physical appearance of which 

 alone is not a safe criterion for %'erification ; barks, leaves, stems, 

 and roots often arrive in a crushed and broken condition, which 

 renders it very hard to tell whether or not they are what they 

 purport to he. lu such cases the appeal is to the microscope, and 

 here an outfit for histological work has its use. Sections are pre- 

 pared ; the cell-structure and arrangement of tissues almost un- 

 erringly reveal the identity of the material. A set of slides of 

 the officinal parts of plants has been commenced and will form a 

 valuable part of the laboratory's equipment. 



In the examination of powdered drugs, the compound micro- 

 scope is indispensable; crystals, starch granules, and fragments 

 of cells often betray adulterations at a small outlay of labor. 

 In addition to the use of the microscope in drug inspection, it is a 

 necessity in investigation alongthe line of pharmaceutical botany. 



Interesting and practical results are expected from the cultiva- 

 tion of medicinal plants in the propagating case. Medicinal 

 plants are grown from the seed with the purpose of learning 

 more about their life history; seeds of adulterants are germinated 



in hope of ascertaining the origin of the adulteration, and other 

 work of similar nature, relating to pharmacy, is in progress. 



Correspondence relating to botanical origin of drugs and plants, 

 which arises in connection with business, is attended to by the 

 botanist in charge, and in this work the laboratory is of much 

 service. 



Daily practical demonstrations are seen of the use of a botani- 

 cal laboratory in connection with the trade. As an aid in the 

 examination of drugs alone the laboratory finds its existence justi- 

 fied. As a means for investigation, it has great value, and 

 through such means alone can some things, very important to the 

 trade, be worked out. 



The discoveries and determinations of adulterations of jalap, 

 cubebs, Arnica flowers, Calendula flowers, and many ether im- 

 portant drugs was only possible because botanists worked upon 

 them ; it cannot be said to have been otherwise, as pharmacists 

 who have made these discoveries have had botanical training, 

 used botanical methods, and succeeded in so far as they were good 

 botanists. 



The laboratory referred to in this article was founded primarily 

 to provide accurate and scientific means for determining plant 

 products used in manufacture ; the acquisition of an herbarium 

 which includes representatives of families and genera not medi- 

 cinal, the provision for plant culture, histology, and microscopy 

 is in recognition of the fact that botany in a broad sense has a 

 direct and practical bearing on pharmaioy. 



OX THE EMERGENCE OF A SHAM BIOLOGY IN 

 AMERICA. 



BY CONWAY MACMILLABT, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS, 

 MINN. 



Those whose attention, daring the past fifteen or twenty years, 

 has been directed towards the various phenomena attendant upon 

 the establishment and modiScaiion of university curricula will 

 scarcely have failed to notice, in certain quarters, an interesting 

 eructation of courses in biology. Upon even a casual examination 

 these courses, in almost every case, turn out not to be courses in 

 biology at all, but courses in zoology masquerading under an at- 

 tractive but deceptive name. Chairs of biology occupied by men 

 practically ignorant of one-half of the content of the science they 

 profess to teach are not unknown in institutions otherwise alto- 

 gether reputable. This ignorance of theirs is not merely the normal 

 failure to push beyond the beach-line of the great unknown ocean 

 of truth, but is a failure to comprehend or admit that the ocean 

 extends away equally in both of two directions rather than in one 

 alone. When one remembers how intolerant are most men of 

 liberal education when they discern through the thin veil of pre- 

 tence the deformity which it tries to hide, it seems remarkable 

 that more vigorous protests have not already arisen against the 

 sham biologist and the sham biology. It is because the writer 

 believes that opportunities for a development of the true biology 

 are lost, sometimes, through the mistaken acceptance of the 

 sham, that he ventures upon the unpleasant task of pointing out 

 what, after careful examination, seem to him the places where 

 the healing cautery should be applied. 



First of all, it is important to note what should be the proper 

 limitation of the term " biology." Historically and etymologically 

 it is still to be defined as by Lamarck and Treviranus — both 

 distinguished botanists — who invented it. It is indeed the sci- 

 ence of living things; it is that vast mass of knowledge bearing 

 upon the organized world of plants and animals. Biological 

 science is therefore to he set over against physical science in the 

 broadest sense, and is to be considered as a generic name, under 

 which are grouped the specific sciences of botany, zoology, and 

 doubtless also psychology, if that is to be considered as co ordinate 

 with zoology rather than as one of its subdivisions. Here, then, is 

 the proper definition : " Biology is the science of living things." 

 These are the two groups of subject matter: Plants and ani- 

 mals. 



In Gormany, and sparingly elsewhere in Europe, a limited and 

 secondary meaning is imparted to the word "biology.'' Of this 

 use an excellent example is furnished by Wiesner,' who groups 

 together the various phenomena of inter-relation between plant 

 and environment under the name of Pflanzenhiologie. To this 

 restricted use of the term, Strasburger^ very properly objects, 

 characterizing it as " falschlich bezeichnet." This employment 

 of the term, as if it were synonymous with Q^^cology, does not, 

 however, seem to be prevalent in America, where is to be found 

 the third and most misleading use of the word — as generally 

 exclusive of botany and sometimes also of zoology. For example, 

 at Columbia College their exist together departments of botany 

 and biology,'' and, upon examination of the courses offered in 

 " biology," it appears that they are almost purely courses in ani- 

 mal biology, and indeed this modified term is quietly brought 

 forward in a foot-note. At Columbia College, then, it is apparent 

 that the subject of botany, since it stands by itself under its own 

 organization, is supposed, at least by the " biologists" of that in- 

 stitution, to be quite without the pale of their own science. And 

 a further examination of the circular shows that the biological 

 work is in the hands of zoologists, both the professor-in-charge 

 and the adjunct professor being known to the scientific world only 

 through zoological research and not through botanical. 



The department of biology, then, at Columbia College seems to 

 the writer to have false colors fiying at the mast-head. 



It is concerning the false use of the word ' ' biology " in some 

 American institutions that I wish particularly to speak. I have 



1 Blologie der Pflanzen, Wlen (1889). 



2 Pau und Verrichtungen der Leitungsbalinen, vorwort vlU., Jena (1891). 



3 Columbia College Circular of Information, Ft. iv., pp 44^5 (1692-93). 



