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diff --git a/2935.txt b/2935.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c7ba6c --- /dev/null +++ b/2935.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1186 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Study of Zoology, by Thomas H. Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: On the Study of Zoology + +Author: Thomas H. Huxley + +Posting Date: January 6, 2009 [EBook #2935] +Release Date: November, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY *** + + + + +Produced by Amy E. Zelmer + + + + + +ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY + +by Thomas H. Huxley + +[1] + + +NATURAL HISTORY is the name familiarly applied to the study of the +properties of such natural bodies as minerals, plants, and animals; the +sciences which embody the knowledge man has acquired upon these subjects +are commonly termed Natural Sciences, in contradistinction to other +so-called "physical" sciences; and those who devote themselves +especially to the pursuit of such sciences have been and are commonly +termed "Naturalists." + +Linnaeus was a naturalist in this wide sense, and his 'Systema Naturae' +was a work upon natural history, in the broadest acceptation of the +term; in it, that great methodising spirit embodied all that was known +in his time of the distinctive characters of minerals, animals, +and plants. But the enormous stimulus which Linnaeus gave to the +investigation of nature soon rendered it impossible that any one man +should write another 'Systema Naturae,' and extremely difficult for any +one to become even a naturalist such as Linnaeus was. + +Great as have been the advances made by all the three branches of +science, of old included under the title of natural history, there can +be no doubt that zoology and botany have grown in an enormously greater +ratio than mineralogy; and hence, as I suppose, the name of "natural +history" has gradually become more and more definitely attached to these +prominent divisions of the subject, and by "naturalist" people have +meant more and more distinctly to imply a student of the structure and +function of living beings. + +However this may be, it is certain that the advance of knowledge +has gradually widened the distance between mineralogy and its old +associates, while it has drawn zoology and botany closer together; so +that of late years it has been found convenient (and indeed necessary) +to associate the sciences which deal with vitality and all its phenomena +under the common head of "biology"; and the biologists have come +to repudiate any blood-relationship with their foster-brothers, the +mineralogists. + +Certain broad laws have a general application throughout both the animal +and the vegetable worlds, but the ground common to these kingdoms of +nature is not of very wide extent, and the multiplicity of details is so +great, that the student of living beings finds himself obliged to devote +his attention exclusively either to the one or the other. If he elects +to study plants, under any aspect, we know at once what to call him. He +is a botanist, and his science is botany. But if the investigation of +animal life be his choice, the name generally applied to him will vary +according to the kind of animals he studies, or the particular phenomena +of animal life to which he confines his attention. If the study of +man is his object, he is called an anatomist, or a physiologist, or an +ethnologist; but if he dissects animals, or examines into the mode in +which their functions are performed, he is a comparative anatomist or +comparative physiologist. If he turns his attention to fossil animals, +he is a palaeontologist. If his mind is more particularly directed +to the specific description, discrimination, classification, and +distribution of animals, he is termed a zoologist. + +For the purpose of the present discourse, however, I shall recognise +none of these titles save the last, which I shall employ as the +equivalent of botanist, and I shall use the term zoology as denoting +the whole doctrine of animal life, in contradistinction to botany, which +signifies the whole doctrine of vegetable life. + +Employed in this sense, zoology, like botany, is divisible into +three great but subordinate sciences, morphology, physiology, and +distribution, each of which may, to a very great extent, be studied +independently of the other. + +Zoological morphology is the doctrine of animal form or structure. +Anatomy is one of its branches; development is another; while +classification is the expression of the relations which different +animals bear to one another, in respect of their anatomy and their +development. + +Zoological distribution is the study of animals in relation to the +terrestrial conditions which obtain now, or have obtained at any +previous epoch of the earth's history. + +Zoological physiology, lastly, is the doctrine of the functions or +actions of animals. It regards animal bodies as machines impelled by +certain forces, and performing an amount of work which can be expressed +in terms of the ordinary forces of nature. The final object of +physiology is to deduce the facts of morphology, on the one hand, and +those of distribution on the other, from the laws of the molecular +forces of matter. + +Such is the scope of zoology. But if I were to content myself with the +enunciation of these dry definitions, I should ill exemplify that +method of teaching this branch of physical science, which it is my chief +business to-night to recommend. Let us turn away then from abstract +definitions. Let us take some concrete living thing, some animal, the +commoner the better, and let us see how the application of common sense +and common logic to the obvious facts it presents, inevitably leads us +into all these branches of zoological science. + +I have before me a lobster. When I examine it, what appears to be the +most striking character it presents? Why, I observe that this part which +we call the tail of the lobster, is made up of six distinct hard rings +and a seventh terminal piece. If I separate one of the middle rings, say +the third, I find it carries upon its under surface a pair of limbs or +appendages, each of which consists of a stalk and two terminal pieces. +So that I can represent a transverse section of the ring and its +appendages upon the diagram board in this way. + +If I now take the fourth ring, I find it has the same structure, and so +have the fifth and the second; so that, in each of these divisions of +the tail, I find parts which correspond with one another, a ring and +two appendages; and in each appendage a stalk and two end pieces. These +corresponding parts are called, in the technical language of anatomy, +"homologous parts." The ring of the third division is the "homologue" of +the ring of the fifth, the appendage of the former is the homologue +of the appendage of the latter. And, as each division exhibits +corresponding parts in corresponding places, we say that all the +divisions are constructed upon the same plan. But now let us consider +the sixth division. It is similar to, and yet different from, the +others. The ring is essentially the same as in the other divisions; but +the appendages look at first as if they were very different; and yet +when we regard them closely, what do we find? A stalk and two terminal +divisions, exactly as in the others, but the stalk is very short and +very thick, the terminal divisions are very broad and flat, and one of +them is divided into two pieces. + +I may say, therefore, that the sixth segment is like the others in plan, +but that it is modified in its details. + +The first segment is like the others, so far as its ring is concerned, +and though its appendages differ from any of those yet examined in the +simplicity of their structure, parts corresponding with the stem and one +of the divisions of the appendages of the other segments can be readily +discerned in them. + +Thus it appears that the lobster's tail is composed of a series of +segments which are fundamentally similar, though each presents peculiar +modifications of the plan common to all. But when I turn to the forepart +of the body I see, at first, nothing but a great shield-like shell, +called technically the "carapace," ending in front in a sharp spine, on +either side of which are the curious compound eyes, set upon the ends of +stout movable stalks. Behind these, on the under side of the body, are +two pairs of long feelers, or antennae, followed by six pairs of jaws +folded against one another over the mouth, and five pairs of legs, the +foremost of these being the great pinchers, or claws, of the lobster. + +It looks, at first, a little hopeless to attempt to find in this complex +mass a series of rings, each with its pair of appendages, such as I have +shown you in the abdomen, and yet it is not difficult to demonstrate +their existence. Strip off the legs, and you will find that each pair is +attached to a very definite segment of the under wall of the body; but +these segments, instead of being the lower parts of free rings, as in +the tail, are such parts of rings which are all solidly united and +bound together; and the like is true of the jaws, the feelers, and the +eye-stalks, every pair of which is borne upon its own special segment. +Thus the conclusion is gradually forced upon us, that the body of the +lobster is composed of as many rings as there are pairs of appendages, +namely, twenty in all, but that the six hindmost rings remain free and +movable, while the fourteen front rings become firmly soldered together, +their backs forming one continuous shield--the carapace. + +Unity of plan, diversity in execution, is the lesson taught by the study +of the rings of the body, and the same instruction is given still more +emphatically by the appendages. If I examine the outermost jaw I find it +consists of three distinct portions, an inner, a middle, and an outer, +mounted upon a common stem; and if I compare this jaw with the legs +behind it, or the jaws in front of it, I find it quite easy to see, +that, in the legs, it is the part of the appendage which corresponds +with the inner division, which becomes modified into what we know +familiarly as the "leg," while the middle division disappears, and the +outer division is hidden under the carapace. Nor is it more difficult to +discern that, in the appendages of the tail, the middle division appears +again and the outer vanishes; while, on the other hand, in the foremost +jaw, the so-called mandible, the inner division only is left; and, in +the same way, the parts of the feelers and of the eye-stalks can be +identified with those of the legs and jaws. + +But whither does all this tend? To the very remarkable conclusion that +a unity of plan, of the same kind as that discoverable in the tail or +abdomen of the lobster, pervades the whole organization of its skeleton, +so that I can return to the diagram representing any one of the rings of +the tail, which I drew upon the board, and by adding a third division to +each appendage, I can use it as a sort of scheme or plan of any ring of +the body. I can give names to all the parts of that figure, and then if +I take any segment of the body of the lobster, I can point out to +you exactly, what modification the general plan has undergone in that +particular segment; what part has remained movable, and what has become +fixed to another; what has been excessively developed and metamorphosed +and what has been suppressed. + +But I imagine I hear the question, How is all this to be tested? No +doubt it is a pretty and ingenious way of looking at the structure of +any animal; but is it anything more? Does Nature acknowledge, in any +deeper way, this unity of plan we seem to trace? + +The objection suggested by these questions is a very valid and important +one, and morphology was in an unsound state so long as it rested upon +the mere perception of the analogies which obtain between fully formed +parts. The unchecked ingenuity of speculative anatomists proved itself +fully competent to spin any number of contradictory hypotheses out of +the same facts, and endless morphological dreams threatened to supplant +scientific theory. + +Happily, however, there is a criterion of morphological truth, and a +sure test of all homologies. Our lobster has not always been what we see +it; it was once an egg, a semifluid mass of yolk, not so big as a pin's +head, contained in a transparent membrane, and exhibiting not the least +trace of any one of those organs, whose multiplicity and complexity, in +the adult, are so surprising. After a time a delicate patch of cellular +membrane appeared upon one face of this yolk, and that patch was the +foundation of the whole creature, the clay out of which it would +be moulded. Gradually investing the yolk, it became subdivided by +transverse constrictions into segments, the forerunners of the rings of +the body. Upon the ventral surface of each of the rings thus sketched +out, a pair of bud-like prominences made their appearance--the rudiments +of the appendages of the ring. At first, all the appendages were alike, +but, as they grew, most of them became distinguished into a stem and two +terminal divisions, to which in the middle part of the body, was added +a third outer division; and it was only at a later period, that by the +modification, or absorption, of certain of these primitive constituents, +the limbs acquired their perfect form. + +Thus the study of development proves that the doctrine of unity of plan +is not merely a fancy, that it is not merely one way of looking at the +matter, but that it is the expression of deep-seated natural facts. The +legs and jaws of the lobster may not merely be regarded as modifications +of a common type,--in fact and in nature they are so,--the leg and the +jaw of the young animal being, at first, indistinguishable. + +These are wonderful truths, the more so because the zoologist finds +them to be of universal application. The investigation of a polype, of a +snail, of a fish, of a horse, or of a man, would have led us, though +by a less easy path, perhaps, to exactly the same point. Unity of plan +everywhere lies hidden under the mask of diversity of structure--the +complex is everywhere evolved out of the simple. Every animal has at +first the form of an egg, and every animal and every organic part, in +reaching its adult state, passes through conditions common to other +animals and other adult parts; and this leads me to another point. I +have hitherto spoken as if the lobster were alone in the world, but, as +I need hardly remind you, there are myriads of other animal organisms. +Of these, some, such as men, horses, birds, fishes, snails, slugs, +oysters, corals, and sponges, are not in the least like the lobster. But +other animals, though they may differ a good deal from the lobster, are +yet either very like it, or are like something that is like it. The +cray fish, the rock lobster, and the prawn, and the shrimp, for example, +however different, are yet so like lobsters, that a child would group +them as of the lobster kind, in contradistinction to snails and +slugs; and these last again would form a kind by themselves, in +contradistinction to cows, horses, and sheep, the cattle kind. + +But this spontaneous grouping into "kinds" is the first essay of the +human mind at classification, or the calling by a common name of those +things that are alike, and the arranging them in such a manner as best +to suggest the sum of their likenesses and unlikenesses to other things. + +Those kinds which include no other subdivisions than the sexes, or +various breeds, are called, in technical language, species. The English +lobster is a species, our cray fish is another, our prawn is another. +In other countries, however, there are lobsters, cray fish, and prawns, +very like ours, and yet presenting sufficient differences to deserve +distinction. Naturalists, therefore, express this resemblance and this +diversity by grouping them as distinct species of the same "genus." But +the lobster and the cray fish, though belonging to distinct genera, have +many features in common, and hence are grouped together in an assemblage +which is called a family. More distant resemblances connect the lobster +with the prawn and the crab, which are expressed by putting all these +into the same order. Again, more remote, but still very definite, +resemblances unite the lobster with the woodlouse, the king crab, the +water flea, and the barnacle, and separate them from all other animals; +whence they collectively constitute the larger group, or class, +'Crustacea'. But the 'Crustacea' exhibit many peculiar features in +common with insects, spiders, and centipedes, so that these are grouped +into the still larger assemblage or "province" 'Articulata'; and, +finally, the relations which these have to worms and other lower +animals, are expressed by combining the whole vast aggregate into the +sub-kingdom of 'Annulosa'. + +If I had worked my way from a sponge instead of a lobster, I should have +found it associated, by like ties, with a great number of other animals +into the sub-kingdom 'Protozoa'; if I had selected a fresh-water +polype or a coral, the members of what naturalists term the sub-kingdom +'Coelenterata', would have grouped themselves around my type; had a +snail been chosen, the inhabitants of all univalve and bivalve, land and +water, shells, the lamp shells, the squids, and the sea-mat would have +gradually linked themselves on to it as members of the same sub-kingdom +of 'Mollusca'; and finally, starting from man, I should have been +compelled to admit first, the ape, the rat, the horse, the dog, into the +same class; and then the bird, the crocodile, the turtle, the frog, and +the fish, into the same sub-kingdom of 'Vertebrata'. + +And if I had followed out all these various lines of classification +fully, I should discover in the end that there was no animal, either +recent or fossil, which did not at once fall into one or other of these +sub-kingdoms. In other words, every animal is organized upon one +or other of the five, or more, plans, whose existence renders our +classification possible. And so definitely and precisely marked is the +structure of each animal, that, in the present state of our knowledge, +there is not the least evidence to prove that a form, in the slightest +degree transitional between any of the two groups 'Vertebrata', +'Annulosa', 'Mollusca', and 'Coelenterata', either exists, or has +existed, during that period of the earth's history which is recorded by +the geologist. Nevertheless, you must not for a moment suppose, +because no such transitional forms are known, that the members of the +sub-kingdoms are disconnected from, or independent of, one another. On +the contrary, in their earliest condition they are all alike, and the +primordial germs of a man, a dog, a bird, a fish, a beetle, a snail, and +a polype are, in no essential structural respects, distinguishable. + +In this broad sense, it may with truth be said, that all living animals, +and all those dead creations which geology reveals, are bound together +by an all-pervading unity of organization, of the same character, though +not equal in degree, to that which enables us to discern one and the +same plan amidst the twenty different segments of a lobster's body. +Truly it has been said, that to a clear eye the smallest fact is a +window through which the Infinite may be seen. + +Turning from these purely morphological considerations, let us now +examine into the manner in which the attentive study of the lobster +impels us into other lines of research. + +Lobsters are found in all the European seas; but on the opposite shores +of the Atlantic and in the seas of the southern hemisphere they do not +exist. They are, however, represented in these regions by very closely +allied, but distinct forms--the 'Homarus Americanus' and the 'Homarus +Capensis': so that we may say that the European has one species of +'Homarus'; the American, another; the African, another; and thus the +remarkable facts of geographical distribution begin to dawn upon us. + +Again, if we examine the contents of the earth's crust, we shall find +in the latter of those deposits, which have served as the great burying +grounds of past ages, numberless lobster-like animals, but none so +similar to our living lobster as to make zoologists sure that they +belonged even to the same genus. If we go still further back in time, +we discover, in the oldest rocks of all, the remains of animals, +constructed on the same general plan as the lobster, and belonging +to the same great group of 'Crustacea'; but for the most part totally +different from the lobster, and indeed from any other living form of +crustacean; and thus we gain a notion of that successive change of the +animal population of the globe, in past ages, which is the most striking +fact revealed by geology. + +Consider, now, where our inquiries have led us. We studied our type +morphologically, when we determined its anatomy and its development, and +when comparing it, in these respects, with other animals, we made out +its place in a system of classification. If we were to examine every +animal in a similar manner, we should establish a complete body of +zoological morphology. + +Again, we investigated the distribution of our type in space and in +time, and, if the like had been done with every animal, the sciences +of geographical and geological distribution would have attained their +limit. + +But you will observe one remarkable circumstance, that, up to this +point, the question of the life of these organisms has not come under +consideration. Morphology and distribution might be studied almost +as well, if animals and plants were a peculiar kind of crystals, and +possessed none of those functions which distinguish living beings so +remarkably. But the facts of morphology and distribution have to be +accounted for, and the science, whose aim it is to account for them, is +Physiology. + +Let us return to our lobster once more. If we watched the creature in +its native element, we should see it climbing actively the submerged +rocks, among which it delights to live, by means of its strong legs; or +swimming by powerful strokes of its great tail, the appendages of whose +sixth joint are spread out into a broad fan-like propeller: seize +it, and it will show you that its great claws are no mean weapons +of offence; suspend a piece of carrion among its haunts, and it will +greedily devour it, tearing and crushing the flesh by means of its +multitudinous jaws. + +Suppose that we had known nothing of the lobster but as an inert mass, +an organic crystal, if I may use the phrase, and that we could suddenly +see it exerting all these powers, what wonderful new ideas and new +questions would arise in our minds! The great new question would be, +"How does all this take place?" the chief new idea would be, the idea +of adaptation to purpose,--the notion, that the constituents of animal +bodies are not mere unconnected parts, but organs working together to +an end. Let us consider the tail of the lobster again from this point of +view. Morphology has taught us that it is a series of segments composed +of homologous parts, which undergo various modifications--beneath and +through which a common plan of formation is discernible. But if I look +at the same part physiologically, I see that it is a most beautifully +constructed organ of locomotion, by means of which the animal can +swiftly propel itself either backwards or forwards. + +But how is this remarkable propulsive machine made to perform its +functions? If I were suddenly to kill one of these animals and to take +out all the soft parts, I should find the shell to be perfectly +inert, to have no more power of moving itself than is possessed by +the machinery of a mill when disconnected from its steam-engine or +water-wheel. But if I were to open it, and take out the viscera only, +leaving the white flesh, I should perceive that the lobster could bend +and extend its tail as well as before. If I were to cut off the tail, I +should cease to find any spontaneous motion in it; but on pinching any +portion of the flesh, I should observe that it underwent a very +curious change--each fibre becoming shorter and thicker. By this act of +contraction, as it is termed, the parts to which the ends of the +fibre are attached are, of course, approximated; and according to the +relations of their points of attachment to the centres of motions of the +different rings, the bending or the extension of the tail results. Close +observation of the newly-opened lobster would soon show that all its +movements are due to the same cause--the shortening and thickening of +these fleshy fibres, which are technically called muscles. + +Here, then, is a capital fact. The movements of the lobster are due to +muscular contractility. But why does a muscle contract at one time and +not at another? Why does one whole group of muscles contract when the +lobster wishes to extend his tail, and another group when he desires to +bend it? What is it originates, directs, and controls the motive power? + +Experiment, the great instrument for the ascertainment of truth in +physical science, answers this question for us. In the head of the +lobster there lies a small mass of that peculiar tissue which is known +as nervous substance. Cords of similar matter connect this brain of +the lobster, directly or indirectly, with the muscles. Now, if these +communicating cords are cut, the brain remaining entire, the power of +exerting what we call voluntary motion in the parts below the section +is destroyed; and on the other hand, if, the cords remaining entire, the +brain mass be destroyed, the same voluntary mobility is equally lost. +Whence the inevitable conclusion is, that the power of originating these +motions resides in the brain, and is propagated along the nervous cords. + +In the higher animals the phenomena which attend this transmission have +been investigated, and the exertion of the peculiar energy which resides +in the nerves has been found to be accompanied by a disturbance of the +electrical state of their molecules. + +If we could exactly estimate the signification of this disturbance; +if we could obtain the value of a given exertion of nerve force by +determining the quantity of electricity, or of heat, of which it is +the equivalent; if we could ascertain upon what arrangement, or other +condition of the molecules of matter, the manifestation of the nervous +and muscular energies depends (and doubtless science will some day or +other ascertain these points), physiologists would have attained their +ultimate goal in this direction; they would have determined the relation +of the motive force of animals to the other forms of force found in +nature; and if the same process had been successfully performed for +all the operations which are carried on in, and by, the animal +frame, physiology would be perfect, and the facts of morphology and +distribution would be deducible from the laws which physiologists +had established, combined with those determining the condition of the +surrounding universe. + +There is not a fragment of the organism of this humble animal whose +study would not lead us into regions of thought as large as those which +I have briefly opened up to you; but what I have been saying, I trust, +has not only enabled you to form a conception of the scope and purport +of zoology, but has given you an imperfect example of the manner in +which, in my opinion, that science, or indeed any physical science, +may be best taught. The great matter is, to make teaching real and +practical, by fixing the attention of the student on particular facts; +but at the same time it should be rendered broad and comprehensive, by +constant reference to the generalizations of which all particular facts +are illustrations. The lobster has served as a type of the whole animal +kingdom, and its anatomy and physiology have illustrated for us some +of the greatest truths of biology. The student who has once seen for +himself the facts which I have described, has had their relations +explained to him, and has clearly comprehended them, has, so far, a +knowledge of zoology, which is real and genuine, however limited it may +be, and which is worth more than all the mere reading knowledge of the +science he could ever acquire. His zoological information is, so far, +knowledge and not mere hear-say. + +And if it were my business to fit you for the certificate in zoological +science granted by this department, I should pursue a course precisely +similar in principle to that which I have taken to-night. I should +select a fresh-water sponge, a fresh-water polype or a 'Cyanaea', a +fresh-water mussel, a lobster, a fowl, as types of the five primary +divisions of the animal kingdom. I should explain their structure very +fully, and show how each illustrated the great principles of zoology. +Having gone very carefully and fully over this ground, I should feel +that you had a safe foundation, and I should then take you in the same +way, but less minutely, over similarly selected illustrative types of +the classes; and then I should direct your attention to the special +forms enumerated under the head of types, in this syllabus, and to the +other facts there mentioned. + +That would, speaking generally, be my plan. But I have undertaken to +explain to you the best mode of acquiring and communicating a knowledge +of zoology, and you may therefore fairly ask me for a more detailed and +precise account of the manner in which I should propose to furnish you +with the information I refer to. + +My own impression is, that the best model for all kinds of training in +physical science is that afforded by the method of teaching anatomy, +in use in the medical schools. This method consists of three +elements--lectures, demonstrations, and examinations. + +The object of lectures is, in the first place, to awaken the attention +and excite the enthusiasm of the student; and this, I am sure, may +be effected to a far greater extent by the oral discourse and by +the personal influence of a respected teacher than in any other way. +Secondly, lectures have the double use of guiding the student to the +salient points of a subject, and at the same time forcing him to attend +to the whole of it, and not merely to that part which takes his fancy. +And lastly, lectures afford the student the opportunity of seeking +explanations of those difficulties which will, and indeed ought to, +arise in the course of his studies. + +But for a student to derive the utmost possible value from lectures, +several precautions are needful. + +I have a strong impression that the better a discourse is, as an +oration, the worse it is as a lecture. The flow of the discourse carries +you on without proper attention to its sense; you drop a word or a +phrase, you lose the exact meaning for a moment, and while you strive to +recover yourself, the speaker has passed on to something else. + +The practice I have adopted of late years, in lecturing to students, +is to condense the substance of the hour's discourse into a few dry +propositions, which are read slowly and taken down from dictation; +the reading of each being followed by a free commentary expanding +and illustrating the proposition, explaining terms, and removing any +difficulties that may be attackable in that way, by diagrams made +roughly, and seen to grow under the lecturer's hand. In this manner you, +at any rate, insure the co-operation of the student to a certain extent. +He cannot leave the lecture-room entirely empty if the taking of notes +is enforced; and a student must be preternaturally dull and mechanical, +if he can take notes and hear them properly explained, and yet learn +nothing. + +What books shall I read? is a question constantly put by the student to +the teacher. My reply usually is, "None: write your notes out carefully +and fully; strive to understand them thoroughly; come to me for the +explanation of anything you cannot understand; and I would rather you +did not distract your mind by reading." A properly composed course +of lectures ought to contain fully as much matter as a student can +assimilate in the time occupied by its delivery; and the teacher should +always recollect that his business is to feed, and not to cram the +intellect. Indeed, I believe that a student who gains from a course +of lectures the simple habit of concentrating his attention upon a +definitely limited series of facts, until they are thoroughly mastered, +has made a step of immeasurable importance. + +But, however good lectures may be, and however extensive the course of +reading by which they are followed up, they are but accessories to the +great instrument of scientific teaching--demonstration. If I insist +unweariedly, nay fanatically, upon the importance of physical science as +an educational agent, it is because the study of any branch of science, +if properly conducted, appears to me to fill up a void left by all other +means of education. I have the greatest respect and love for literature; +nothing would grieve me more than to see literary training other than +a very prominent branch of education: indeed, I wish that real literary +discipline were far more attended to than it is; but I cannot shut my +eyes to the fact, that there is a vast difference between men who +have had a purely literary, and those who have had a sound scientific, +training. + +Seeking for the cause of this difference, I imagine I can find it in the +fact that, in the world of letters, learning and knowledge are one, and +books are the source of both; whereas in science, as in life, learning +and knowledge are distinct, and the study of things, and not of books, +is the source of the latter. + +All that literature has to bestow may be obtained by reading and by +practical exercise in writing and in speaking; but I do not exaggerate +when I say, that none of the best gifts of science are to be won by +these means. On the contrary, the great benefit which a scientific +education bestows, whether as training or as knowledge, is dependent +upon the extent to which the mind of the student is brought into +immediate contact with facts--upon the degree to which he learns the +habit of appealing directly to Nature, and of acquiring through his +senses concrete images of those properties of things, which are, and +always will be, but approximatively expressed in human language. Our +way of looking at Nature, and of speaking about her, varies from year +to year; but a fact once seen, a relation of cause and effect, once +demonstratively apprehended, are possessions which neither change nor +pass away, but, on the contrary, form fixed centres, about which other +truths aggregate by natural affinity. + +Therefore, the great business of the scientific teacher is, to imprint +the fundamental, irrefragable facts of his science, not only by words +upon the mind, but by sensible impressions upon the eye, and ear, and +touch of the student, in so complete a manner, that every term used, or +law enunciated, should afterwards call up vivid images of the particular +structural, or other, facts which furnished the demonstration of the +law, or the illustration of the term. + +Now this important operation can only be achieved by constant +demonstration, which may take place to a certain imperfect extent during +a lecture, but which ought also to be carried on independently, and +which should be addressed to each individual student, the teacher +endeavouring, not so much to show a thing to the learner, as to make him +see it for himself. + +I am well aware that there are great practical difficulties in the way +of effectual zoological demonstrations. The dissection of animals is not +altogether pleasant, and requires much time; nor is it easy to secure an +adequate supply of the needful specimens. The botanist has here a great +advantage; his specimens are easily obtained, are clean and wholesome, +and can be dissected in a private house as well as anywhere else; and +hence, I believe, the fact, that botany is so much more readily and +better taught than its sister science. But, be it difficult or be it +easy, if zoological science is to be properly studied, demonstration, +and, consequently, dissection, must be had. Without it, no man can have +a really sound knowledge of animal organization. + +A good deal may be done, however, without actual dissection on the +student's part, by demonstration upon specimens and preparations; and +in all probability it would not be very difficult, were the demand +sufficient, to organize collections of such objects, sufficient for all +the purposes of elementary teaching, at a comparatively cheap rate. Even +without these, much might be effected, if the zoological collections, +which are open to the public, were arranged according to what has been +termed the "typical principle"; that is to say, if the specimens exposed +to public view were so selected that the public could learn something +from them, instead of being, as at present, merely confused by their +multiplicity. For example, the grand ornithological gallery at the +British Museum contains between two and three thousand species of birds, +and sometimes five or six specimens of a species. They are very pretty +to look at, and some of the cases are, indeed, splendid; but I will +undertake to say, that no man but a professed ornithologist has ever +gathered much information from the collection. Certainly, no one of the +tens of thousands of the general public who have walked through that +gallery ever knew more about the essential peculiarities of birds when +he left the gallery than when he entered it. But if, somewhere in that +vast hall, there were a few preparations, exemplifying the leading +structural peculiarities and the mode of development of a common fowl; +if the types of the genera, the leading modifications in the skeleton, +in the plumage at various ages, in the mode of nidification, and the +like, among birds, were displayed; and if the other specimens were put +away in a place where the men of science, to whom they are alone useful, +could have free access to them, I can conceive that this collection +might become a great instrument of scientific education. + +The last implement of the teacher to which I have adverted is +examination--a means of education now so thoroughly understood that +I need hardly enlarge upon it. I hold that both written and oral +examinations are indispensable, and, by requiring the description of +specimens, they may be made to supplement demonstration. + +Such is the fullest reply the time at my disposal will allow me to give +to the question--how may a knowledge of zoology be best acquired and +communicated? + +But there is a previous question which may be moved, and which, in +fact, I know many are inclined to move. It is the question, why should +training masters be encouraged to acquire a knowledge of this, or +any other branch of physical science? What is the use, it is said, of +attempting to make physical science a branch of primary education? Is it +not probable that teachers, in pursuing such studies, will be led astray +from the acquirement of more important but less attractive knowledge? +And, even if they can learn something of science without prejudice to +their usefulness, what is the good of their attempting to instil that +knowledge into boys whose real business is the acquisition of reading, +writing, and arithmetic? + +These questions are, and will be, very commonly asked, for they arise +from that profound ignorance of the value and true position of physical +science, which infests the minds of the most highly educated and +intelligent classes of the community. But if I did not feel well assured +that they are capable of being easily and satisfactorily answered; that +they have been answered over and over again; and that the time will come +when men of liberal education will blush to raise such questions,--I +should be ashamed of my position here to-night. Without doubt, it +is your great and very important function to carry out elementary +education; without question, anything that should interfere with the +faithful fulfilment of that duty on your part would be a great evil; and +if I thought that your acquirement of the elements of physical science, +and your communication of those elements to your pupils, involved any +sort of interference with your proper duties, I should be the first +person to protest against your being encouraged to do anything of the +kind. + +But is it true that the acquisition of such a knowledge of science as +is proposed, and the communication of that knowledge, are calculated to +weaken your usefulness? Or may I not rather ask, is it possible for you +to discharge your functions properly without these aids? + +What is the purpose of primary intellectual education? I apprehend +that its first object is to train the young in the use of those tools +wherewith men extract knowledge from the ever-shifting succession of +phenomena which pass before their eyes; and that its second object is to +inform them of the fundamental laws which have been found by experience +to govern the course of things, so that they may not be turned out +into the world naked, defenceless, and a prey to the events they might +control. + +A boy is taught to read his own and other languages, in order that he +may have access to infinitely wider stores of knowledge than could ever +be opened to him by oral intercourse with his fellow men; he learns to +write, that his means of communication with the rest of mankind may be +indefinitely enlarged, and that he may record and store up the knowledge +he acquires. He is taught elementary mathematics, that he may understand +all those relations of number and form, upon which the transactions of +men, associated in complicated societies, are built, and that he may +have some practice in deductive reasoning. + +All these operations of reading, writing, and ciphering, are +intellectual tools, whose use should, before all things, be learned, and +learned thoroughly; so that the youth may be enabled to make his life +that which it ought to be, a continual progress in learning and in +wisdom. + +But, in addition, primary education endeavours to fit a boy out with a +certain equipment of positive knowledge. He is taught the great laws +of morality; the religion of his sect; so much history and geography as +will tell him where the great countries of the world are, what they are, +and how they have become what they are. + +Without doubt all these are most fitting and excellent things to teach +a boy; I should be very sorry to omit any of them from any scheme of +primary intellectual education. The system is excellent, so far as it +goes. + +But if I regard it closely, a curious reflection arises. I suppose that, +fifteen hundred years ago, the child of any well-to-do Roman citizen +was taught just these same things; reading and writing in his own, +and, perhaps, the Greek tongue; the elements of mathematics; and +the religion, morality, history, and geography current in his time. +Furthermore, I do not think I err in affirming, that, if such +a Christian Roman boy, who had finished his education, could be +transplanted into one of our public schools, and pass through its course +of instruction, he would not meet with a single unfamiliar line of +thought; amidst all the new facts he would have to learn, not one would +suggest a different mode of regarding the universe from that current in +his own time. + +And yet surely there is some great difference between the civilization +of the fourth century and that of the nineteenth, and still more between +the intellectual habits and tone of thought of that day and this? + +And what has made this difference? I answer fearlessly--The prodigious +development of physical science within the last two centuries. + +Modern civilization rests upon physical science; take away her gifts to +our own country, and our position among the leading nations of the +world is gone to-morrow; for it is physical science only, that makes +intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force. + +The whole of modern thought is steeped in science; it has made its way +into the works of our best poets, and even the mere man of letters, who +affects to ignore and despise science, is unconsciously impregnated with +her spirit, and indebted for his best products to her methods. I believe +that the greatest intellectual revolution mankind has yet seen is now +slowly taking place by her agency. She is teaching the world that +the ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment, and not +authority; she is teaching it to estimate the value of evidence; she is +creating a firm and living faith in the existence of immutable moral and +physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the highest possible aim of +an intelligent being. + +But of all this your old stereotyped system of education takes no note. +Physical science, its methods, its problems, and its difficulties, will +meet the poorest boy at every turn, and yet we educate him in such a +manner that he shall enter the world as ignorant of the existence of the +methods and facts of science as the day he was born. The modern world +is full of artillery; and we turn out our children to do battle in it, +equipped with the shield and sword of an ancient gladiator. + +Posterity will cry shame on us if we do not remedy this deplorable state +of things. Nay, if we live twenty years longer, our own consciences will +cry shame on us. + +It is my firm conviction that the only way to remedy it is, to make the +elements of physical science an integral part of primary education. I +have endeavoured to show you how that may be done for that branch of +science which it is my business to pursue; and I can but add, that I +should look upon the day when every schoolmaster throughout this land +was a centre of genuine, however rudimentary, scientific knowledge, as +an epoch in the history of the country. + +But let me entreat you to remember my last words. Addressing myself to +you, as teachers, I would say, mere book learning in physical science is +a sham and a delusion--what you teach, unless you wish to be impostors, +that you must first know; and real knowledge in science means personal +acquaintance with the facts, be they few or many. [2] + + + +[Footnote 1: A Lecture delivered at the South Kensington Museum in +1861.] + +[Footnote 2: It has been suggested to me that these words may be +taken to imply a discouragement on my part of any sort of scientific +instruction which does not give an acquaintance with the facts at first +hand. But this is not my meaning. The ideal of scientific teaching is, +no doubt, a system by which the scholar sees every fact for himself, and +the teacher supplies only the explanations. Circumstances, however, do +not often allow of the attainment of that ideal, and we must put up +with the next best system--one in which the scholar takes a good deal on +trust from a teacher, who, knowing the facts by his own knowledge, can +describe them with so much vividness as to enable his audience to form +competent ideas concerning them. The system which I repudiate is that +which allows teachers who have not come into direct contact with the +leading facts of a science to pass their second-hand information on. +The scientific virus, like vaccine lymph, if passed through too long +a succession of organisms, will lose all its effect in protecting the +young against the intellectual epidemics to which they are exposed.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's On the Study of Zoology, by Thomas H. Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY *** + +***** This file should be named 2935.txt or 2935.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/2935/ + +Produced by Amy E. 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