Abstract
Z OOLOGY has been suffering during recent years under the unjust and wholly undeserved criticism that it does not readily lend itself to experiment and is therefore, in this respect, inferior to botany as a subject for inclusion in the school curriculum. It is true that there is still a tendency to lay too much stress on structures and to neglect the functions served by those structures, but this is the fault of the teachers rather than the subject. Prof. Dakin's book is at once a complete justification of the right of zoology to be considered as an experimental subject for school work, and a guide to the teacher as to how the relative claims of function and structure can be adequately met in their courses. Function is the dominating note of the book and, except for a chapter specially devoted to the Protozoa, the subject matter is arranged under the headings of the various functions of animals and not undet the customary systematic groups. In dealing with any one function, the author has given just so much structural detail of the organs concerned as is necessary for a proper comprehension of their uses, and has saved much valuable space by the free use of carefully annotated drawings and diagrams to impart the details of anatomy.
The Elements of General Zoology: a Guide to the Study of Animal Biology, correlating Function and Structure; with Notes on Practical Exercises.
ByProf. William J. Dakin. Pp. xvi + 496. (London: Oxford University Press, 1927.) 12s. 6d. net.
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A New Approach to Zoology. Nature 119, 631 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119631a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119631a0