6 THE TEACHING BOTANIST 



and materials, is most healthful, and directly in the 

 line which produces success in all occupations. As a 

 whole, the logical and desirable outcome of present 

 tendencies in laboratory instruction, so far as books are 

 concerned, seems to me this, to separate the Labora- 

 tory Manual entirely from the Text-book, and to make 

 the former a series of model outlines for the use of the 

 teacher only, who, aided by suggestions as to alterna- 

 tive materials, etc., will make up from them for each 

 exercise special outlines to be given to the students, 

 which shall fit exactly the material at their disposal, 

 their state of advancement, and the particular mode of 

 treatment the teacher prefers; while the Text-book, used 

 only for supplementary reading after the laboratory 

 work, shall be truly a book of texts in the old sense, 

 as synthetically and attractively written as possible. It 

 is a Laboratory Manual of this type, addressed to the 

 teacher alone, with model outlines and advice upon 

 teaching the Science, which is offered by the present 

 book. 



The leading idea in the construction of any set of 

 model outlines must, of course, be that of the Optimum, 

 an Optimum which is a resultant between practical con- 

 ditions and their author's opinion as to what is the best 

 kind of a botanical course, both for training and knowl- 

 edge. On this latter point opinions differ widely, and 

 I shall consider the leading ones in a later chapter ; but 

 there is one which is so fundamental as to need men- 



