Denison University - Adytum Yearbook (Granville, OH)

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wrofczsov QL. il. Sibemzicla. N representing Denison University, the claims of the Scientific Department are of the highest interest. To say nothing of the chair of Biology would be to ignore that which is becoming one of the strongest and most important factors in the progress of the institution. When, in 1885, Mr. Herrick was called to the chair of Geology and Natural History in Denison, the advantages offered in such sciences were insignificant, all interest in them was dormant. Testifying to the new and awakened condition of affairs, our Bulletin of the Laboratories is now received as an exchange throughout the United States and in Europe, and this magazine brings to the library many publications which would otherwise be unobtainable. Through printed publication and society organization, the scientific zeal of teachers and students has manifested itself. The disposition which Prof. Herrick possesses for work of this kind is observable in his early life. As a school-boy in Minneapolis he turned his attention to Ornithology, and his knowledge and achievements in the subject became consid- erable. Even at this early stage of his career several collec- tions were fitted out by him for high schools and academies. Always an intense and active student, the character of his work was shown by the fact that he gained one year over his classmates in public school. In college, he won honor for general high scholarship and was conspicuous for special activity in the line of his chosen profession, he was graduated at the University of Minnesota in 1880, with the degree of B. S. Soon after graduation he continued his special studies at the University of Leipzig, under such instructors as Luckart, Credner, and Rauber. Several positions of importance were occupied by him in 13

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PROF. C. L. HERRICK

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Minnesota, after his return, both in the University and in connection with the State Zoological Department. In 188 5, he was called to Denison University, where he remained until 1889, when he resigned to accept a similar position at the University of Cincinnati. In 1892, he again went to Europe for laboratory work, and on his return accepted the chair of Biology at Denison. Such, in brief, is the life of this man who has devoted him- self to science, and who before his fortieth year has achieved a remarkable celebrity as a scholar. The particular branch with which he is identified is Neurology, a subject which has hitherto been almost exclusively in the hands of German and Italian scholars, and to which few English or American students have turned their attention. It is with pride, there- fore, that we see an American mind take up the task and bid fair to dispute the German supremacy. Professor Herrick advocates that phase of monistic evolu- tion which recognizes the immanence of intelligent volition in all phenomena of nature. This growing school, which in- cludes some of the ablest theologians and scientific men of the world, recognizes no arbitrary distinction between what happens and what God himself does, believing that the simplest phenomena can only be adequately explained as the immediate result of forces whose cause inheres in a uni- versal intelligence. Evolution is the method Cvery imper- fectly understoodb of the creation of the visible universe-a creation which is continuous and cumulative, so that the physical and psychical development of the individual consti- tute a condensed epitome of the evolution of the race. The individual thus actually participates in the past, present, and future of the race in a way which reconciles the revelation of Scripture with the scientific theories of heredity. In whatever aspect his character is considered, the same forcefulness of purpose and intensity of conviction are 14