760 The American Naturulist. [September, 
against the specialist, a cry which, however loudly uttered, 
will not be heeded. Where proper organization exists, I do 
not share these apprehensions. The principle of specialization 
and subdivision of labor has been the great factor in scientific 
progress. Whenever a body of scientific knowledge has 
reached a stage of development in which its extent is consid- 
erable and its problems and the methods of attacking them 
are special, it is convenient and proper to recognize it as a 
branch of science whose interests will be best furthered by 
workers specially trained to its service. | 
But while conceding to the fullest extent the practical bene- 
fits which attend the separate cultivation of different depart- 
ments of biology, I would even more strongly emphasize the 
essential unity of the biological sciences. In essence these 
sciences constitute but one science, and the great service of the 
word “biology” in its present use is to embody this concep- 
tion. The fundamental problems everywhere in biology are 
the same, the determination of the structure and the proper- 
ties and the laws controlling them of living matter. In what- 
ever department knowledge be gained as to these fundamental 
questions, it is a contribution to all departments of biology. 
The expansion of our knowledge brings closer together all 
physical and natural sciences, physics with chemistry, and 
both with biology. It is of incalculable advantage that the 
surfaces of contact between the different branches of biological 
study should be kept clearly in view, and that knowledge. 
gained by one should be made readily available for others. 
Hence it seems to me that the general plan of organization of 
these laboratories, providing as they do for special develop- 
ment in all proper directions of biological study, while retain- 
ing the conception of biology as one science, is eminently 
wise. 
It would be a hopeless task for me to attempt to indicate to 
you all of the more important questions in which biologists at 
the present time are especially interested, even if I were my- 
self familiar with them all. They penetrate into all provinces 
of life and relate to such matters as the complex organization- 
of cells, the problems of heredity and development, the causes 
