THINGS ESSENTIAL TO BOTANICAL TEACHING 51 







terbalance that monotony of yearly repetition of class- 

 work which is the greatest drawback to the life of a 

 teacher. 



A thorough botanical education stands so far above 

 all other needs for good botanical teaching that any con- 

 sideration of the cultivation of special qualities, or of 

 the use of special methods, seems hardly to belong in 

 the same chapter. There are, however, qualities which 

 may be cultivated to the great profit of the botanical 

 teacher, and methods which, like other fine labor-saving 

 tools, enable the skilled workman to do yet better work, 

 and these it will be worth while briefly to consider. 



Many of the qualities essential to good botanical 

 teaching are, of course, the same as are needed for 

 success in any teaching ; these are the qualities con- 

 stituting the teaching temperament. This consists in 

 a deep-seated pleasure in the exercise of guiding minds 

 from ignorance to knowledge, and in seeing the light 

 dawn through darkness ; in a power of positive self- 

 reliant leadership ; in ability to project one's self into 

 the student's mental position ; and in a personality that 

 can win respect and affection. Of all these character- 

 istics, sympathy is one of the most important ; for the 

 good teacher is, first of all, a mental physician of the 

 truest sort, diagnosing each individual case, and fitting 

 its proper treatment to it. He is a leader, and not a 

 driver. He is always an uncompromising though genial 

 critic, using sarcasm only for otherwise incorrigible 



