SCIENCE 



Editorial Committee : S. Newcomb, Mathematics ; K. S. Woodwaed, Mechanics ; E. C. Pickering 



Astronomy; T. C. Mendenhall, Physics; R. H. Thueston, Engineering; Iea Remsen, Chemistry 



J. Le Conte, Geology; W. M. Davis, Physiography; O. C. Maesh, Paleontology; W. K. 



Beooks, C. Haet Meeriam, Zoology; S. H. Scuddee, Entomology; N. L. Brittost, 



Botany ; Henry F. Osborn, General Biology ; H. P, Bowditch, Physiology ; 



J. S. Billings, Hygiene ; J. McKeen Cattell, Psychology ; 



Daniel G. Brinton, J. "W. Powell, Anthropology ; 



G. Brown Goode, Scientific Organization. 



Friday, August 14, 1896. 



CONTENTS: 



Paleontology as a Morphological Discipline : W. B. 

 • Scott 177 



On Pholadidea Penita and its Blethod of Boring ; 

 FRANcrs E. Lloyd 188 



Sir Joseph PrestioicJi : E. W. C 190 



Current Notes on Anthropology : — 

 Researches in Mexico ; A Neio Anthropological 

 Journal: D. G. Brinton 191 



Scientific Notes and News : — 



Adaptations in Cave-Dtvelling Animals : C. L. F. 

 Color Photography : C. L. F. The Eyesight of 

 English School Children; The Observatory of 

 Yale University ; General 192 



University and Educational Neios 199 



Discussion and Correspondence : — 



The Names Epiphysis, Conarium and Corpus 

 Pineale: BuRT G. Wilder. The Bletric Sys- 

 tem: R. D. D. Smith 199 



Scientific Literature : — 



3Iathematical Papers read at the International 

 Congress: F. N. Cole. Recent Text-hooks of 

 Geometry : Thomas S. Fiske. McDevitt's Ameri- 

 can Fonostenografy : J. N. B. Hewitt. Swann^s 

 Hand-hook of British Birds : Frank M. Chap- 

 man 200 



Scientific Journals : — 



Psyche 204 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended 

 for review should be sent to the responsible editor, Prof. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



PALEONTOLOGY AS A 3I0RPH0L0GICAL DIS- 

 CIPLINE* 



The day has forever gone by when any 

 one mind, however profound and compre- 

 hensive, can take all knowledge for its prov- 

 ince. Increase of knowledge, like advance 



*A lecture given at the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory, Wood's HoU, printed in advance of its publica- 

 tion in the Lectures of the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory by permission of the Director, Prof. Whitman. 



of civilization, necessarily brings with it a 

 division of labor, and each of the great 

 branches of science becomes more and more 

 minutely divided and subdivided for the 

 purposes of investigation. Such subdivision 

 greatly enhances the efficiency of the indi- 

 vidual worker, enabling him to concentrate 

 his attention upon some definite problem of 

 more or less limited scope, and, so far, it is 

 advantageous. On the other hand, like 

 most human devices, it has its drawbacks, 

 and what is gained in one direction is apt 

 to be lost in another. One great and grow- 

 ing evil is the subdivision of knoiuledge 

 which accompanies specialization of re- 

 search. The worker finds the greatest diffi- 

 culty in keeping abreast of all that is being 

 accomplished by fellow laborers in his own 

 field ; how, then, shall he find time to learn 

 anything of the work in other fields ? Not 

 to do so involves the penalty of such a nar- 

 rowness of view as will inevitably lessen 

 the value of his own work, because deduc- 

 tions drawn legitimately enough from a 

 single line of investigation often appear ab- 

 surd when tested by a wider range of facts. 

 Many a blunder might be avoided, were the 

 worker's vision not so strictly limited by 

 the boundaries of his own speciality. 



The narrowing effects of this subdivision 

 of knowledge result in a more or less 

 marked loss of sympathy and mutual under- 

 standing between the representatives of the 

 different branches of the same science. To 



