60 THE TEACHING BOTANIST 



which is one of the most valuable features of his edu- 

 cation. It is true the student will in this way make 

 many mistakes and less apparent progress than on the 

 other plan ; but in this world there is nothing from 

 which we learn so much as from our mistakes, and it is 

 by constant struggling and effort that the mental fibre 

 is strengthened. Again, it is important not to supply 

 information, methods, terms, nor tools until students 

 have been made to feel a need for them. Such things 

 then have a meaning, and make an impression upon the 

 memory, to an extent impossible when they are sup- 

 plied without this connection. Of course all laboratory 

 work is to be carefully examined after it is completed 

 by the student, and should be marked when approved. 

 In my own experience I have found it profitable to 

 place a small oblique mark at the lower outer corner 

 of each page when it has been examined, which is 

 made a cross when the page is finally satisfactory ; 

 and the responsibility of having all their pages com- 

 pleted, examined, and checked is thrown upon the stu- 

 dents. This examination of the work is best made 

 with the student, not apart from him. 



The teacher will always, of course, keep in mind 

 the main object of the laboratory work, i.e. the cul- 

 tivation of the scientific inductive habit of mind with 

 the end to forming a scientific instinct. In another 

 chapter (Chapter II) I have tried to trace the char- 

 acteristics of this scientific spirit. It consists in the 



