Notes on the Study of Boo an v. 243 



conducive to health and cheerfulness. Botany is not a sedentary study, 

 which can be followdMJ^^ie house, but one the love of which compels 

 its devotees to seek thet^fmusement out of doors, thus to breathe the 

 pure air where the objects of their search are to be found ; in the fields, 

 along the winding brooks, on the mountain side, or in the cool depths 

 of the forest. In every pursuit a certain amount of recreation and 

 exercise is necessary for the maintenance of health, and walking is the 

 means commonly employed to procure this. A walk taken merely as a 

 duty is wearisome, but when indulged in with a definite and pleasant 

 end in view it becomes delightful. As soon as one in his rambles 

 begins to search for and collect any special class of objects he becomes 

 interested, and marvels how he could formerly have been blind to so 

 much that is curious and beautiful. To those who know anything o^ 

 out-door life what a source of enjoyment it is to wander through the 

 fields and woods. Each step brings some object of interest, or some 

 new discovery ; a flower not hitherto noticed, or some familiar one 

 showing variation from the common form ; a rare bird flitting from 

 branch to branch ; or some brilliantly colored insect pursuing its erratic 

 flight. 



During the past thirty years the methods of teaching botany have 

 undergone a radical change. As formerly pursued the study consisted 

 mainly in learning from some book, the names of the different kinds of 

 roots, stems, leaves and flowers. If plants were obtainable the scholar 

 was perhaps made to run superficially over a few of them, and by aid 

 of an artificial key determine their names. The terms used were hard 

 and unfamiliar and there were no specimens to illustrate the lessons. 

 Was it any wonder then that pupils acquired a disgust for the science ? 

 Little or no field-work was attempted, and no thought was taken to 

 promote habits of close observation, or to secure a knowledge of the 

 mysteries of plant-life. By the new system of teaching, the special 

 design of which is the training of pupils to fit them for original work, 

 objects are studied before books, and the student is at once set to 

 investigating and experimenting for himself. 



To give you an idea of this modern method of teaching botany, I 

 have made a short resume of a paper on the subject by Professor Heal. 



