THE BURDEN OF THE BIOLOGIST

It has been said, and justly, that the pursuit of science at Harvard is "orientation in a field of force." The writer has had ample opportunity in four years to become convinced that this comparison to the magnetic compass is not only true but that it constitutes a real fault in the scheme of things.

A man concentrating in Biology, for example, is dragged down on one side by a staggering amount of laboratory work, on the other side by a reading period in which no respite from laboratory is allowed, and further by tutorial work and divisionals. With the latter two little fault can be found, for the divisional examinations in Biology are being given for the first time this year, and the tutorial system is as effective as it can ever be until a replacement of "doctor's office" conferences by direct individual laboratory contact can be effected.

The chief trouble with the so-called "reading period" is, as mentioned above, that laboratory work, perhaps fifteen hours a week in a single course, is not interrupted. Secondly, the literature on the subject matter of even the most highly specialized courses is so vast that two or three weeks scarcely gives one time to organize his reading campaign. A lengthening of the reading periods, accompanied by a cessation of laboratory work, might help matters from the point of view of the reading period, but in Comparative Anatomy, for example, the work is covered all too quickly as it is, and cutting a month from the schedule would be disastrous. It would seem more desirable to disregard the reading period in the majority of courses with extensive laboratory periods and continue the lectures as usual.