6o THU POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Not long ago one of the distinguislied botanists of this coun- 

 try put into the hands of his pupils a sixteen-page syllabus con- 

 taining full outlines of lectures on the seed origin, structure, and 

 uses ; the stem and root ; the leaf structure and function ; the 

 flower form and use ; the fruit kinds and functions ; ferns, moss- 

 es, algpe, and fungi. The whole was covered in six lectures, and 

 the published account bore the title Beginnings in Botany. If 

 the scientific method, or any other, will insure such a work being 

 well done, starting with no knowledge of the subject on the stu- 

 dent's part, it has much to commend it to the attention of teachers 

 of science. 



Another scientist, who claims to teach by the " natural meth- 

 od," advocates a course of study on animals in the primary 

 schools, which includes the study of the following subjects to be 

 taken up in the order given : starfish, sea urchin, and the same 

 compared ; the earthworm ; a bivalve shell, clam shell, oyster 

 shell, and the same compared ; snail and snail shell ; classification 

 of shells ; lobster, crab, and the same compared ; habits of crabs ; 

 and an excellent line of insects. 



The attempt here made to select subjects in a natural (?) se- 

 quence is attended with some drawbacks. Away from the sea- 

 coast all of the material named, except insects, would have to be 

 brought from a greater or less distance, and, being out of the range 

 of the children's common field of observation, would necessitate 

 more or less cramming. Things seen only in the schoolroom do 

 not make the deepest impressions. An extensive use of imported 

 material is directly opposed to Agassiz's injunction to use the 

 material nearest at hand. 



Moreover, it is worth while to remember that materials and 

 methods which are serviceable enough in teaching adults often 

 become forced and mechanical in teaching children. It should 

 not be taken for granted that the teacher's sequences, laboriously 

 studied out or taken from some book, are the pupil's sequences, 

 or that he can assimilate them. Prof. McMillan, of the Univer- 

 sity of Minnesota, says : " No mistake could be greater than to 

 suppose that the sequence most logical for the trained intellect is 

 necessarily the best method of presentation to the novice. In our 

 zeal to eliminate evils of systematic botany we are prone to intro- 

 duce evils of anatomical botany no less great and equally to be 

 avoided." So in our efforts to prevent pupils from being over- 

 whelmed with information " away over their heads " and almost 

 entirely the product of the adult mind, we have taken on the 

 shackles of a rigid system or scientific method, also the product 

 of the adult mind for the adult mind, and between the two meth- 

 ods the children have generally come to the ground. 



One of the best illustrations of the uncertainty that exists as 



