Vol. I., No. 3, MAY, 1882. ] 
BIOLOGY IN OUR ARTS CURRICULUM.* 
es 
BY -b. W. HLULTON, PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY. 
——$—$—_ +> —__——. 
Undoubtedly we live in an age of educational unrest. From 
all sides we hear conflicting opinions as to how much, or how 
little, of the knowledge acquired during the last century should 
find a place in the general education of to-day, and as to how 
far a student’s acquaintance with that knowledge can be ascer- 
tained and appraised by examination. I am very far indeed 
from thinking that this unrest is a misfortune ; on the contrary, 
Meclieve it to be a great benefit. Harmony, unfortunately, 
always implies stagnation, conflict is necessary for progress; and 
I have no doubt but that in the struggle for existence between 
these conflicting opinions, those best adapted to the aC 
circumstances will survive. 
In the discussion, the place of biology in education ha 
received a considerable amount of attention from both the 
theoretical and practical sides. Its value as a mental discipline, 
when properly taught, was fully demonstrated by Professor 
Parker in his admirable address last year to the Otago Uni- 
versity, and the practical value of biology to agriculture and to 
medicine has been explained by Professor Huxley in lectures, 
and in his address to the International Medical Congress held 
in London last August. I cannot, of course, hope to add any- 
thing to your knowledge of the subject from these points of 
view, but there is another aspect of biology which, so far as I 
know, has not yet been brought into the discussion, and which, 
consequently, I have thought may interest you for an hour this 
evening—lI allude to the practical value of biology in an Arts 
curriculum. I shall endeavour to explain to you the importance 
of this study in politics and in ethics; and I shall do so by 
demonstrating the constant action in all human affairs of the 
principle of selection, which, as you know, is one of the leading 
principles of biology. 
The enunciation of the principle of selection is simple. It is 
that, among two or more competing individuals the worst 
adapted to the circumstances will be the first to succumb. This, 
you will say, sounds like a truism—and no doubt it is a truism,— 
but, combined with the laws of inheritance and variation, it 
_ brings about most important results. Now, it is necessary at the 
* The opening address for 1882 at the Canterbury College, University of New 
Zealand, 
