﻿817 
  

  

  NOTICES 
  OE 
  NEW 
  BOOKS. 
  

  

  The 
  Natural 
  History 
  of 
  some 
  Common 
  Animals. 
  By 
  Oswald 
  H. 
  

   Latter, 
  M.A. 
  Cambridge 
  : 
  at 
  the 
  University 
  Press. 
  

  

  The 
  author 
  of 
  this 
  volume 
  recognizes 
  the 
  need 
  for 
  a 
  new 
  

   departure 
  in 
  the 
  elementary 
  teaching 
  of 
  zoology. 
  When 
  we 
  

   take 
  stock 
  of 
  the 
  tangled 
  mass 
  of 
  information 
  which 
  constitutes 
  

   what 
  we 
  are 
  pleased 
  to 
  call 
  our 
  scientific 
  knowledge, 
  we 
  cannot 
  

   fail 
  to 
  regret 
  its 
  many 
  imperfections, 
  its 
  detail 
  as 
  regards 
  the 
  

   organism 
  combined 
  with 
  its 
  ignorance 
  of 
  the 
  status 
  of 
  a 
  living 
  

   creature. 
  We 
  find 
  ourselves 
  either 
  systematists, 
  comparative 
  

   anatomists, 
  philosophical 
  evolutionists 
  — 
  anything 
  but 
  sympa- 
  

   thetic 
  students 
  of 
  another 
  animal 
  life 
  than 
  our 
  own 
  ; 
  in 
  fact, 
  we 
  

   have 
  bartered 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  living 
  creatures 
  in 
  order 
  to 
  

   become 
  museum 
  specialists. 
  And 
  if 
  we 
  retrace 
  our 
  studies 
  to 
  

   their 
  starting-point, 
  we 
  shall 
  soon 
  discover 
  our 
  infirmities 
  as 
  due 
  

   to 
  the 
  original 
  sin 
  in 
  teaching. 
  We 
  have 
  dissected 
  the 
  animal 
  

   for 
  structural 
  knowledge 
  ; 
  have 
  compared 
  it 
  with 
  its 
  allies 
  for 
  

   taxonomical 
  purposes 
  ; 
  have 
  theorized 
  over 
  its 
  appearance 
  in 
  

   connection 
  with 
  its 
  environment 
  ; 
  have 
  looked 
  at 
  it 
  in 
  every 
  

   other 
  way 
  than 
  as 
  a 
  fellow 
  living 
  creature, 
  with 
  a 
  problem 
  of 
  

   existence 
  as 
  difficult 
  to 
  understand 
  as 
  that 
  of 
  our 
  own. 
  We 
  

   have 
  been 
  simply 
  regarding 
  organized 
  automata, 
  or 
  copying 
  the 
  

   vices 
  of 
  the 
  old 
  historical 
  method. 
  However, 
  the 
  writing 
  on 
  the 
  

   wall 
  is 
  — 
  back 
  to 
  nature, 
  and 
  the 
  bionomical 
  method 
  will 
  come 
  

   by 
  its 
  own. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Latter, 
  in 
  the 
  preface, 
  gives 
  us 
  his 
  conclusion, 
  that 
  

   " 
  Sixteen 
  years' 
  experience 
  has 
  convinced 
  me 
  that 
  we 
  have 
  been 
  

   too 
  closely 
  wedded 
  to 
  structure, 
  and 
  have 
  wrongly 
  divorced 
  

   function 
  from 
  our 
  elementary 
  courses 
  of 
  instruction. 
  Structure 
  

   alone 
  is 
  very 
  liable 
  to 
  become 
  dry 
  bones 
  in 
  very 
  deed, 
  and 
  con- 
  

   sequently 
  to 
  fail 
  to 
  attract 
  that 
  interest 
  without 
  which 
  good 
  work 
  

   is 
  almost 
  impossible." 
  

  

  In 
  order 
  to 
  advance 
  this 
  new 
  teaching 
  of 
  zoology, 
  which 
  may 
  

  

  