Exploration of the Fossil Records.--Explorations of the fossil records have been recently carried out on a scale never before attempted, involving the expenditure of large sums, but bringing results of great importance. The American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, has carried on an extensive survey, which has enriched it with wonderful collections of fossil animals. Besides explorations of the fossil-bearing rocks of the Western States and Territories, operations in another locality of great importance are conducted in the Fayûm district of Egypt. The result of the studies of these fossil animals is to make us acquainted not only with the forms of ancient life, but with the actual line of ancestry of many living animals. The advances in this direction are most interesting and most important. This extensive investigation of the fossil records is one of the present tendencies in biology. Conclusion.--In brief, the chief tendencies in current biological researches are mainly included under the following headings: Experimental studies in heredity, evolution, and animal behavior; more exact anatomical investigations, especially in cytology and neurology, the promotion and dissemination of knowledge through biological periodicals; the provision of better facilities in specially equipped laboratories, in the application of results to the benefit of mankind, and in the investigation of the fossil records. The atmosphere of thought engendered by the progress of biology is beneficial in every way. While its progress has dealt the death-blow to many superstitions and changed materially views regarding the universe, it is gratifying to think that it has not been iconoclastic in its influence, but that it has substituted something better for that which was taken away. It has given a broader and more wholesome basis for religion and theories of ethics; it has taught greater respect for truth and morality. However beneficial this progress has been in the past, who can doubt that the mission of biology to the twentieth century will be more important than to the past, and that there will be embraced in its progress greater benefits than any we have yet known? FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 9: It is a source of gratification to biologists that--thanks to the Wistar Institute of Anatomy--the publication of the _Journal of Morphology_ is to be continued.] READING LIST The books and articles relating to the history of biology are numerous. Those designated below embrace some of the more readily accessible ones. While some attention has been given to selecting the best sources, no attempt has been made to give a comprehensive list. I. GENERAL REFERENCES Cuvier. Histoire des Sciences Naturelles. 5 vols., 1841-1845. Excellent. Written from examination of the original documents. Carus. Geschichte der Zoologie, 1872. Also Histoire de la Zoologie, 1880. A work of scholarship. Contains excellent account of the Physiologus.