SCIENCE 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, December 9, 1904. 



CONTENTS: 



The Recent Development of Biology: Pko- 

 FESSOB Jacques Loeb 777 



The Problems of Experimental Psychology: 

 Peofessob E. B. Titchenee 786 



Scientifio Books: — 



Thorndilce on the Theory of Mental and 

 Social Measurements: Pkofessoe C. B. 

 Davenpobt. Nutting's American Ey- 

 droids: T. D. A. Cockeeell 798 



Societies and Academies: — 



Convocation Week Meetings of Scientific 

 Societies. The Philosophical Society of 

 Washington^: Ciiaeles K. Wead. Neic York 

 Section of the American Chemical Society: 

 F. H. PouGH. Northeastern Section: 

 Aethue M. Comey. The Elisha Mitchell 

 Scientific Society: Dk. Alvin S. Wheelee. 800 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Style in Scientific Composition : De. 

 Chaeles R. Eastman" 806 



Special Articles: — 



' Beryllium ' or ' Glucinum ' : Peofessob 

 Chaeles Lathbop Paesons 809 



Current Notes on Meteorology : — 



Climate of Baltimore ; Cyclones of the Far 

 East; Climate of the Philippines: Peo- 

 fessob R. DeC. Waed 810 



Gossip About Lamarck: B. D 811 



The Total Eclipse of September 9, 1904: 

 W. W. C 812 



The American Society of Vertebrate Paleon- 

 tologists 812 



The American Society of Naturalists 813 



Scientific Notes and News 813 



University and Educational News 816 



MSS. iuteuded for publicatiou aud books, etc., intended 

 for review atiould be sent to ttie Editor of Science, Garri- 

 son-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGY* 

 I. 



The task allotted to me on this occasion 

 is a review of the development of biology 

 during the last century. The limited time 

 at our disposal will necessitate many omis- 

 sions and will force me to confine myself 

 to the discussion of a few of the departures 

 in biology which have led or promise to 

 lead to fertile discoveries. 



The problem of a scientific investigator 

 can always be reduced to two tasks; the 

 first, to determine the independent vari- 

 ables of the phenomena which he has under 

 investigation, and secondly, to find the 

 formula which allows him to calculate the 

 value of the function for every value of 

 the variable. In physics and chemistry 

 the independent variables are in many 

 cases so evident that the investigation may 

 begin directly with the quantitative deter- 

 mination of the relation between the 

 change of the essential variable and the 

 function. In biology, however, the vari- 

 ables, as a rule, can not be recognized so 

 easily and a great part of the mental 

 energy of the investigators must be spent 

 in the search for these variables. To give 

 an example, we know that in many eggs 

 the development only begins after the en- 

 trance of a spermatozoon into the egg. 

 The spermatozoon must produce some kind 

 of a change in the egg, which is responsible 

 for the development. But we do not know 

 which variable in the egg is changed by 

 the spermatozoon, whether the latter pro- 



* Address delivered at the Congress of Arts and 

 Science in St. Louis. 



