Nat Sci Gen Ed Course Will Study Evolution

The Committee on General Education yesterday approved the establishment of a lower-level course on evolution. The course-Nat Sci 6-will be taught by William W. Howells '30, professor of Anthropology, and a second lecturer still to be appointed.

It will replace Howells's Anthropology to a half course. Nat sci 6 will cover much the same material, but in greater depth. Anthropology majors will probably be allowed to apply the Gen Ed course toward their concentration requirements.

Howells said that Nat Sci 6 will be "an attempt to show man as the kind of animal he is." Entitled "Man's Place in Nature," it will be limited to 150 students meeting in two lectures and one section a week.

The course will review the past hundred years of evolutionary theory, ending with a presentation of current thought. It will stress the behavior of other primates as a key to understanding man.

Irven B. DeVore, now at the University of California, will probably assist Howells in the course. A social anthropologist known for his studies of wild baboons, DeVore plans to spend this summer investigating the bushmen of South Africa.

Howell may lecture chiefly in the fall term, but he and Devore will not divide the teaching assignment by semesters. Other University scientists are expected to give occasional guest lectures.

John H. Finley, Jr. '25, chairman of the General Education committee, said that Nat Sci 6 had been approved "with cheers." He added that the committee was "delighted" with the course, which has long been one of Howells' favorite projects.

Approving Nat Sci 6 was the only step taken by the group at its monthly meeting yesterday. Emphasizing the difficulty of winning approval for a new course, Finley said he was "not terribly sanguine" about making further changes in the Gen Ed program for next year.

Nothing has yet come of the proposal that Government 1 be made a Social Science course, according to Finley.