68 THE TEACHING BOTANIST 



Drawing in the laboratory should be begun only 

 alter observation of at least the main features of the 

 object has been completed, though the very act of 

 drawing will call attention to features otherwise over- 

 looked. Drawings should at first not be idealized or 

 pieced out from several specimens, but rather should be 

 accurate delineations of a selected typical specimen, 

 which as soon as possible the student should be taught 

 to select from several presented to him. In the very 

 first lesson, he should be given a fair object, and 

 told to first study and then draw it without help, 

 himself selecting the number of views, etc., necessary 

 to illustrate it fully. Most students under these cir- 

 cumstances answer in despair that they cannot draw. 

 This answer is a sad commentary upon our modern 

 system of education, which so largely neglects this 

 most natural, elemental, and valuable discipline, thus 

 depriving the student of training in an additional and 

 most vivid mode of expression. 1 Of course all stu- 

 dents must be required to try to draw, and if at first 

 perspective, shading, etc., are discouraged, and correct 

 outlines alone are insisted upon, all find that they 

 can draw somewhat, and many find an unsuspected 

 power in themselves of drawing well. Certainly, the 



1 An exception should lie made in favor of the drawing accompanying 

 nature study in many schools. I'.ut tins, as manifested in the work one sees 

 in school exhibitions, is much less valuable than it should be, for it leans 

 too much to the impressionist and too little to the diagrammatic side. 

 This i>, ol i OUrse, l>c. ause the teachers are not trained in scientific drawiiv. 



