Problems in Physical Geographic Classification, treated of in two
lessons, and the Laws of the Evolution of the Principal Topographical
Types occupied the remainder of the course. Professor Davis gave the
class the benefit of the results of his investigations, which were
original contributions of importance to the progress of physical
geography. "The graphic manner of illustrating the lessons upon the
Glacial period and the effects of the great glacier upon the area of
the Great Lakes was very effective. This was shown by means of a
relief model whose surface was composed of an ingenious arrangement of
overlying and differently painted surfaces. By removing these in
succession the lecturer traced the whole history of changes following
upon the recession of a continental glacier and its effects upon the
surface waters.... These lessons were so novel and useful to teachers
that he was invited to give a course of ten lessons during the next
winter upon the physical geography of the United States. New matter,
new models, and more extended illustrations were used in this course.
The objects of the course were: To illustrate the value of systematic
classification in the study of physical geography in order that forms
of similar origin might be grouped together; to advocate the
importance of studying the evolution of geographic forms in time, so
that forms similar in origin but dissimilar in age (and consequently
in degree of development) might be regarded as their natural
relations; to apply these principles to the physical geography of our
own land; and, finally, to promote the use of models in geographic
teaching. The different parts of the country were considered in this
order: The mountains as constituting the framework of the continent,
the plains and plateaus flanking the mountains, the rivers carrying
the waste of the land into the ocean, the lakes temporarily
interrupting the transportation of waste to the ocean and retarding
the action of the rivers, the shore line where the land dips under the
sea."
Persons interested in the improvement of the teaching of geography in
the public schools suggested to the trustee of the Lowell Institute
the advisability of hearing again from Professor Davis, and the
curator was requested to invite him to give a course of eight lectures
on geography in the autumn and winter of 1897-'98. The subjects
treated of in these lessons were selected from among those presented
by Professor Davis in his course on geography in the Harvard Summer
School, as they afforded material most directly applicable to the work
of grammar-school teachers. At the end of each meeting opportunity was
given for individual conference on questions suggested by the
lectures. This course excited more interest among teachers than any
which had been given since the beginning of the school, and it was
consequently a serious disappointment to many teachers when it became
known that Mr. Lowell did not feel able to re-engage Professor Davis
and continue this kind of instruction.
The same winter that Professor Davis gave his first course on physical
geography Prof. F. W. Putnam, of Harvard University, Curator of
Peabody Museum of American Archæology and Anthropology at Cambridge,
and now President of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, gave lessons on American archæology. The topics selected
covered the whole range of the remains of prehistoric man and his life
on this continent so far as these subjects could be presented in ten
lessons. The original methods of research elaborated by Professor
Putnam, which have placed his name among the first in his department
of archæological work, rendered this course remarkably interesting and
instructive. Specimens were studied and given away in sufficient
numbers to illustrate the modes of making stone implements and some of
the different kinds of pottery. Professor Putnam invited the teachers
to visit the Peabody Museum, and there gave them an opportunity to
inspect the larger objects which it had not been possible to bring
into the city. The audience became so interested in the famous serpent
mound in Ohio, which was then threatened with destruction, that a
subscription was started which finally made it possible to purchase
and preserve this ancient monument.
[Illustration: F. W. PUTNAM.]
The winter succeeding the lessons on archæology, Mr. B. H. Van Vleck,
who had spent a considerable portion of the previous summer in
preparing specimens for this work, gave fifteen lessons on zoölogy.
The study of the general morphology of animals was made under
advantages such as had never before been offered in this school, and
enabled teachers to see and study structures not usually within their
reach. The work was mainly directed to the observation and study of a
limited number of types, but general points in physiology and anatomy
were also taken up in a comparative way. The microscope was also used
in this work. This special course was continued during the next two
terms.
Dr. J. Walter Fewkes gave a series of ten lessons, during the winter
of 1890-'91, on Common Marine Animals from Massachusetts Bay. Special
attention was given to the mode of life, differences in external
forms, local distribution, habitats, methods and proper times to
collect the eggs, young, and adults. The anatomy, embryology, and
morphology of the species considered were dealt with incidentally.
[Illustration: J. WALTER FEWKES.]
"The relative abundance of species and individuals, local causes which
influenced distribution, the rocky or sandy nature of the shores and
their characteristic faunæ, and the influence of depth of water tides
and temperature, were also considered."
The relations and boundaries of the marine fauna of New England were
treated of under the following heads: Comparison of the Fauna of
Massachusetts Bay with that of Narragansett Bay and the Bay of Fundy,
and Causes of the Differences Observed; Pelagic Animals; Littoral and
Shallow-Water Genera; Introduced and Indigenous Marine Animals; and
Marine Animals which inhabit both Brackish and Fresh Water.
It having been found that for several years the audiences at the
general courses had been decreasing, it became evident that the giving
of general information had accomplished a mission, but that there was
a demand for more specialized courses of study and that a change of
policy was warranted. It was therefore determined to abandon the
general courses and continue the special prolonged laboratory courses.
Since 1891 all lessons have been given either in the form of
laboratory lessons or field work, and the school was organized and
conducted upon a new and more effective basis. The teachers have been
required to keep notebooks and attend examinations in order to be
candidates for the certificates which have been, and will continue to
be, granted to those who have completed a series of lessons.
In the fall of 1890 was begun a course of lessons on paleontology
which had been planned for some time but had not been previously
undertaken because the teachers lacked the knowledge of the elements
of zoölogy and geology which was a necessary preparation for those
taking up the study of the history of animals as found in the earth's
crust. The members of this class, which now began to make systematic
observations upon fossils, were found to be sufficiently prepared to
study certain groups which illustrated the laws of evolution. The
class was limited in number and was under the instruction of Professor
Hyatt, who for five years conducted the most advanced course of
lessons ever given in The Teachers' School of Science, and such as
have not elsewhere been offered to teachers nor to many classes of
college students.
The lessons began with general instruction in the use of the
microscope, the structure of cells and their union and differentiation
into tissues, and then a study of simplest organisms--_Protozoa_. The
work was continued through _Porifera_, _Hydrozoa_, and _Actinozoa_,
and the types of fossils compared with their living representatives.
The periods of occurrence of fossilized remains in the rocks were
noted, and the characteristics of the different periods mentioned, but
details of stratigraphic character were subordinated to the tracing
out of the relations of the animals and the laws which governed the
evolution of their forms. Special attention was given to those classes
whose history is most complete and which furnish the best specimens
for examination.
_Echinodermata_, represented by a large number of both living and
fossil forms, was made the subject of study the second winter. The
common starfish was examined in detail, and with it were compared
other members of its class--_Asteroidea_, living and fossil forms in
_Ophiuridea_ and _Echinoidea_, the modern _Holothuroidea_, the ancient
_Blastoids_ and _Cystoids_, and both extinct and modern _Crinoids_,
the last of which were illustrated by alcohol specimens of
_Comatula_. Professor Hyatt was assisted in giving these lessons by
Miss J. M. Arms, who, in conjunction with him, had previously written
the largest of the Science Guides--entitled Insecta--and by Dr. Robert
T. Jackson, who has done much work on this group of fossils. One
member of the class a few years ago, after receiving these lessons,
looked over and prepared a large number of fossils, principally
_Crinoids_, belonging to the Natural History Society, and discovered a
form of paleozoic _Echinoderm_, which proved to be an interesting new
species and was described by Dr. Jackson as _Lepidesthes Wortheni_.
The third year of this series consisted of lessons on _Brachiopoda_
exclusively. Professor Hyatt was at that time in correspondence with
Dr. C. E. Beecher, of Yale, the distinguished paleontologist, who has
made remarkable discoveries and was then investigating _Brachiopoda_,
and communications from him regarding this group were from time to
time read to the class. "The sudden expansion or the quick evolution
in the earlier periods of the earth's history and the slower evolution
of the same types in their progressive history, after a period of
sudden expansion had been passed through," were shown in several
series.
The ancestral form of this group, the phylembryo, has been found in
_Paterina_, whose adult represents the youngest stage, the beak of the
shell, of other _Brachiopods_. There was, therefore, unusual
opportunity to here illustrate theories of evolution, particularly the
theory of constitutional tendency involving a conception of the youth,
maturity, and senescence of species. In order to make the instruction
clearer, terms used for the different stages of development by
Professor Hyatt in his writings on bioplastology were explained to and
used by the class.
The many specimens used in this study were carefully figured in the
notebooks, and the teachers became so familiar with them that they
were able to pass at the end of the term a severe examination. The
final test of the season's work consisted of three parts: The passing
in of lecture notebooks, the naming and classifying of a dozen fossils
selected by the professor, and the answering of a set of difficult
questions.
On account of the amount of time required for this course, and because
the lessons were such as were not directly applicable to work in the
public schools, the attendance decreased. The number who continued,
however, were those who felt that a broad scientific education is
necessary to the best teaching of even elementary science.
The fourth year was devoted to _Mollusca_, _Cephalopoda_ in
particular, and the class was fortunate in having for its teacher one
whose investigations in this latter group have given him world-wide
fame.
The evolution of the group from its straight radical form, now named
and called _Diphragnoceros_, was traced through the bent, curved, and
coiled forms of the _Nautiloids_, _Ammonoids_, and _Belamites_. The
phylogeny of the _Ammonoids_ presented a complete cycle, late forms
entirely uncoiling and presenting the straight characters of their
ancestors.
The study of _Cephalopods_ amply illustrated the neo-Lamarckian theory
of evolution, including the inheritance of acquired characters which
is now believed by most paleontologists.
The fifth and last year of this course included the study of
_Arthropoda_ and _Vertebrata_. The insects presented many
illustrations for the theory of natural selection, which the
neo-Lamarckians consider an aid, but a subordinate factor, in the
origin of species.
About this time Poulton gave a series of twelve lectures on animal
coloration at the Lowell Institute, drawing his illustrations mainly
from insects. Many of the students of The Teachers' School of Science
in zoölogy and paleontology attended these lectures.
After working on fishes, batrachians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, in
which the structural development of some animals--man, for
example--was found to be retrogressive and the physiological
development progressive, the lessons closed with the study of man's
structure as compared with the anthropoid apes and the few remains of
prehistoric man, and finally with a discussion of the works of
paleolithic man.
The teachers who had attended this course throughout the five years
and had passed satisfactory examinations have been presented with
diplomas testifying to their proficiency.
[_To be continued._]
PROPER OBJECTS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE.
BY EDWARD ORTON,
PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY IN OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY; PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.
The objects of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
are clearly expressed in the opening paragraph of its constitution,
which was adopted at its first meeting, held September 20, 1848, in
Philadelphia. From that day to this the paragraph referred to has not
been modified except by the replacement of three words, viz., "the
United States" by a single and more comprehensive word--"America."
As here defined, the objects of the association are "to promote
intercourse between those who are cultivating science in different
parts of America, to give a stronger and more general impulse and a
more systematic direction to scientific research in our country, and
to procure for the labors of scientific men increased facilities and a
wider usefulness."
Three distinct elements are included in this general statement, viz.:
(1) The cultivation of personal intercourse or acquaintance among the
workers in science in this country; (2) the encouragement, extension,
and proper direction of scientific research; (3) the gaining of
popular recognition and good will for the results of scientific work.
These objects may be conveniently summarized as (1) _social_, (2)
_scientific_, (3) _practical_.
There is nothing in the original paragraph to indicate whether the
elements of this threefold division were counted of equal value, or
whether they were arranged in either an ascending or descending scale
of importance, but from the fact that in the development and expansion
of the association during the last fifty years nothing has been added
to and nothing subtracted from this general statement, while in many
other divisions of the constitution large and sometimes radical
changes have been adopted, it seems safe to conclude that the present
members of the association see its work and office in very much the
same light as its founders did.
But, while sailing under the old colors and apparently by the old
charts, it is quite possible that the association is, insensibly to
itself, undergoing modification more or less important. Such an
experience is unavoidable in all human institutions, at least in those
that retain their vitality in state, society, or church.
The fifty years that cover the life of the association are
unquestionably the most important, so far as the growth of science is
concerned, in the history of the race. Within this period every
science has been recast and rewritten, and divisions and subdivisions
of the old units have gone forward and are still in progress. Of every
one of these sciences the boundaries have been so enormously extended
that even the _dream_ of universal knowledge on the part of any man
has gone by, never to return. Leibnitz, it has been said, was the last
of the intellectual giants of old who mastered all that was knowable
in his day. Alexander von Humboldt could almost claim the same for the
knowledge of Nature that was attainable in the first quarter of our
century. But since the application of the compound microscope to the
study of Nature and the subdivisions of the sciences that have
resulted therefrom, and especially since the extension of the method
of science to all the branches of anthropology, as language, history,
institutions, the task of mastering all that is known is seen to be
altogether too great for finite powers and span-long lives.
It might well be, therefore, in view of the amazing changes that have
taken place in the entire field covered by the association, that it
should have outgrown the aims and ambitions of its early days. The
fact that it continues to use the identical statement of its objects
with which it began its work, while it does not definitely settle the
question, affords at least presumptive evidence that no such change
has taken place.
How, then, do the objects originally recognized by the association as
its _raison d'être_ correspond to the needs of our own time?
1. Is the _social_ feature of the association, to which the first
place was assigned by the founders, whether by design or not, worthy
of preservation by us? In other words, is it as important "to promote
intercourse between those who are cultivating science in America" at
the close of the nineteenth century as it was at the middle of the
century--the need that was responded to by the formation of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science? While
revolutionary changes have taken place in the country at large during
this period in modes of travel, facilities for acquiring education,
and the diffusion of intelligence, it would be hard to show why the
need in this field should be in any respect less urgent. There is a
far larger number of people who are cultivating science, and there are
many more branches of science to be cultivated.
What particular service is to be expected from such intercourse as the
association seeks to provide? The gathering of the workers in the
diverse fields of science into a single organization has a tendency to
_unify_ them. They find that a common spirit animates them, that they
all make use of essentially the same method of research or inquiry,
and that the results which they reach all have a common note of
certainty, being herewith differentiated from other and older views on
the same subjects, as knowledge differs from opinion. They are thus
led to see more clearly than they could otherwise see the unity of the
universe, that knowledge is one, and that each science is but a facet
cut on the crystal sphere of natural truth, touching other facets at
many points, and by no means independent, but supported by the
integrity of the sphere.
Such a gathering tends to an increase of mutual respect and confidence
on the part of all engaged in scientific work. It tends to discourage
the narrow conceit of the specialist, who, if left entirely to his own
tastes, comes to think that his own facet is the only one that
deserves to be regarded, and practically to ignore its relation to the
sphere of which it constitutes an essential though a minor part.
Such an association tends toward making specialists intelligible to
each other. In other words, it puts a premium on the art of
popularizing science, for when the specialist makes himself
intelligible to his brethren in their widely separated fields he makes
himself intelligible to all educated men, whether especially trained
in science or not.
The specialist is under a strong temptation to limit himself to a
language of his own, which is an unknown tongue even to the rest of
the scientific world. Technical terms, carried out to minute
subdivisions, are indispensable in every branch of modern science, but
the student of any science is in an evil state who can not present his
results to the world without appealing to the technical jargon of the
branch which he cultivates.
There even seems a reluctance on the part of some to use plain
language in stating scientific conclusions, as if the cheapening of
science were feared by its being made intelligible. Such a fear is
certainly unworthy. The masters have never felt it. In lucidity and
directness of speech and in general intelligibility Tyndall, Huxley,
and Darwin were not surpassed by any men of their generation. To whom
are we as much indebted for the great advance of science in their day
as to these very men?
If the scientist neglects this popularizing of science, the sciolist
is sure to take it up, and his work in this field always makes the
judicious grieve. Is there not possible danger that this phase of
scientific work and the function of the association corresponding
thereto are losing consideration to some extent?
But instead of its being true that the scientific work of the country
has outgrown the need of the association, is it not rather true that
we are in far more urgent need of its unifying agency than even the
founders were fifty years ago? We have all the divisions of science
that were then recognized, and half as many more. Physics and
chemistry could then be classed in one section without offense, and
zoölogy and botany were assigned without protest to a single heading.
Now, not only does every science demand recognition by and of itself,
but all are represented by separate societies as well--as the
Mathematical Society, the Chemical Society, the Geological Society,
etc. These societies hold meetings, publish bulletins, reports, and
sometimes monthly journals, and, in short, aim to cover the entire
field for the branches which they represent. They are generally
affiliated with the association, and it is becoming usual for them to
hold joint summer meetings of society and section. Their annual
meetings are held in the winter, and, as their membership is more
select than that of the association, standing as it does in all cases
for published or recognized work already in evidence, these winter
meetings are coming to be preferred for the presentation of technical
papers. Those who read them feel sure of "fit audience, though few."
These societies are all vigorous and successful. They obviously meet a
"felt want" on the part of American science, but just what their
effect will be upon the association remains to be determined.
Certainly, with these centrifugal tendencies in growing activity, this
is not the time for the attraction of our one centripetal force to be
relaxed. More than ever do we need such a unifying agency as the
association was designed to supply.
Some _modus vivendi_ between section and society will doubtless be
found. Perhaps the more abstract and technical papers will be reserved
for the winter meetings, while those dealing with the larger phases,
and especially those pertaining to the philosophy of the subjects
discussed, will find their places in the joint meetings of the summer.
It would be well if the association meetings of whatever character
could be made memorable by the announcement of important discoveries
made during the preceding year. The custom of holding back such
announcements is said to obtain in the transatlantic national
associations, and notably in the British Association, which is the
mother of all the rest. Those who were present at the Boston meeting
of the American Association will remember the enthusiasm created there
by the announcement of the discovery of a new element--etherion. If
later discussions have thrown doubt upon the discovery of a new
element, the alternative explanation suggested of the facts proves
scarcely less interesting or important than the original claim.
Whether our eager American workers would be willing to hazard their
claims to priority by holding back the announcements of their
discoveries for months after they have been made is a question, but
the foreign practice in this regard has certainly much to commend it.
It would be a calamity of real magnitude to American science if the
sectional meetings of the association were abandoned to men who have
not done enough approved work to entitle them to places in the several
societies already named. The old title--The American Association for
the Advancement of Science--might still be retained, it is true, but
what a humiliating misnomer it would be if none of the men who _have_
advanced science in the past by their labors and none of those who are
prepared to advance it in the future by their training were now
included! It would be the omission of the part of Hamlet from the
play.
The foremost men in all the societies, our leaders in the branches
represented there, owe it to themselves, owe it much more to the great
name of American science, to maintain and magnify their connection
with, their service to, the American Association.