Dartmouth's Intellectual Life
The Department of Zoology
THE department of Zoology has enrolled among its various courses in the present year about five hundred students. These men may be classified in three groups. The first group is composed of typical sophomores with a vague, general interest in nature, who hope to find in Zoology the easiest and most human of the sciences. The second group is composed of more serious men, young philosophers, who, having lost their old credo, are looking for a fresh solution of the riddle of the universe in the theories of evolution and materialism. The third group is composed of practical men who are anxious to make an early start in the preparation for some profession, usually medicine.
A serious problem in teaching policy is presented by this varied host of gentlemen of leisure, philosophers and pre-medics. The responsibility for such a policy has been faced anew this year by a thorough reorganization of courses in harmony with the aims of the new curriculum. Several extensive changes have been made, to take effect during the next academic year. The old purely technical courses will be discontinued as such, on the theory that a broad knowledge of general principles is the best foundation for a profession. Greater thoroughness will be secured by extending the time given to any course from a single semester to a full year. A more distinctly critical attitude on the part of the student will be fostered by adopting the "honors system" in advanced work. Although the irksome business of cutting up "bugs" and learning ten-syllable Greek terms cannot be entirely abolished, less emphasis will be laid on formal discipline and more on general principles. Wherever it is feasible, the old-fashioned lecture and laboratory methods will be replaced by the new "demonstration- discussion" method, especially in the smaller classes. The end aimed at in all these changes is a broad understanding and appreciation of nature for its own sake.
The courses are now arranged in three grades or groups, each with its own method and policy: Elementary Courses. The old beginning course, known as Zoology 1, has been extended to a full year. It not only supplies a background and vocabulary for advanced work, as was formerly the case, but it now has a function all its own in giving the student a fairly complete bird's eye view of the animal kingdom as a whole. Working with the principle of evolution as a guide, it stresses all phases of animal life—anatomy, physiology and embryology. Another general course, called Natural History, taught from a more philosophical standpoint, shows how animate nature fits into the inanimate realm. This is a one-semester, purely elective course which does not count toward science credit. Both these courses are now in operation and each has been elected by more than two hundred students.
Intermediate Courses. A closer approach to nature is made by turning from the broad outlook of an elementary course to the narrower path that leads into one of the special fields into which modern Zoology is divided. Five intermediate courses will be offered next year. All are of equal value and the student may select the one in which his greatest interest lies, taking into consideration materials, methods and the personality of the professor. Each course will emphasize someone broad manifestation of life. Anatomy presents the old problem of animal form and architecture, which has fascinated naturalists since the days of Aristotle. Physiology proceeds on the working hypothesis of "mechanism," viewing the animal body as a physico-chemical machine, a theory which has been of the greatest moment in biological thought. Histology uses the most modern instruments, the microscope and the microtome, to reveal a new world of cells and tissues to the student who seeks to find a solution of the riddle of life in a world of little things. Ecology is the proper field for the out-door man whose interest lies in the habits, instincts and adaptations of living things. Experimental Zoology brings to bear on biological problems the methods used in physics and chemistry. Experiments are made in regeneration, embryology and heredity. This is the newest, and in many ways, the most promising of the fields of modern Zoology. The department does not undertake to determine which is the most valuable of these courses but rather it regards them all as well-tried paths to an intimate approach to nature.
Advanced Course. The numerous advanced courses in Zoology, formerly given, have been discontinued as such, being replaced by a single course, called "Advanced Zoology." This course is open to any man who has done good work in an intermediate course. The "honors method" of the new curriculum will be substituted for the old classroom style of teaching. Each student will work independently under the general guidance of a professor of his own choice, in some field of his own choice. Laboratory work will be supplemented by extensive readings in the literature of the subject chosen. Personal conferences and seminas will take the place of lectures. Every effort will be made to develop a critical judgment in the mind of the student as his knowledge and experience increase. If this new plan proves successful each professor will gather about himself a small group of seniors, working along with him in his chosen field, perhaps helping him in his research, all in that intimate and personal relationship which has always been the real joy and satisfaction of a teacher's profession. This new policy of conducting advanced work is a radical departure from the old conventional methods but it is full of promise.
Narrow specialization has been avoided by extending the scope of the major in Zoology to include certain courses in Botany and the new course called Growth ofScience. The course in bacteriology as given in the Botany department stresses broad human interests in medicine, agriculture and industry. The Growth ofScience enables the student to view the great hypotheses, that underlie the sciences, in their proper historical perspective in relation to other systems of philosophy.
