BEGINNINGS IN BOTANY. 515 



for the several operations are distinct. "Will some genius combine 

 them into a single one ? Will it be possible ever to throw into a 

 hopper a side of leather and take out a finished shoe ? Such a 

 question appears absurd to-day. But what would our great- 

 grandfathers have thought of the McKay or Goodyear stitchers ? 







BEGINNINGS IN BOTANY. 



By BYRON D. HALSTED, Sc. D., 



PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN RUTGERS COLLEGE, NEW JERSEY. 



MUCH has been said, largely in a theoretical way, concerning 

 the general question of university extension. Various 

 experiments have been made, and by another year definite plans 

 will be matured for the popular presentation of many of the sub- 

 jects that come within the scope of the extension movement as 

 now understood by those who have had the most to do with 

 the scheme for the education of the masses. 



The writer has recently finished a brief course in botany, and, 

 as the method pursued differed in some features from any pre- 

 viously followed, there may be sufficient reason, in this, for pre- 

 senting an outline of the ground covered and the ways and means 

 employed for bringing the subject to the attention of a popular 

 audience. 



The course consisted of six meetings, and the average attend- 

 ance was fifty. Each session extended over two hours, namely, 

 from four until six in the afternoon of successive Fridays for six 

 weeks in late spring. The first hour of each exercise was devoted 

 to a lecture, and the following were the subjects considered : (1) 

 The Seed, its Origin, Structure, and Uses ; (2) the Stem and Root ; 

 (3) the Leaf, its Structure and Function ; (4) the Flower, its 

 Form and Use ; (5) the Fruit Kinds and Functions ; (6) Ferns, 

 Mosses, Algae, and Fungi. 



A full outline of these lectures was furnished each pupil in a 

 sixteen-page syllabus, and the points covered were fully illus- 

 trated by means of papier-mache models of various sorts of 

 plants, by numerous wall-charts, and, best of all, by a large num- 

 ber of living specimens. 



The lecture served as an introduction to the class exercise 

 which it immediately preceded. In this latter each pupil was 

 furnished with a seat at a table and provided with specimens 

 upon which to work. As before stated, the first lecture was upon 

 seeds. This embraced the whole question of germination, and 

 for a portion of the class-hour attention was given to the study 

 of seedling plants, each pupil having specimens of young corn 



