OJST THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY. 541 



That is a very favorite method o'f teaching, so that I sometimes fancy 

 the spirit of the old classical system has entered into the new scien- 

 tific system, in which case I would much rather that any pretense at 

 scientific teaching were abolished altogether. What really has to be 

 done is to get into the young mind some notion of what animal and 

 vegetable life is. You have to consider in this matter practical con- 

 venience as well as other things. There are difficulties in the way of 

 a lot of boys making messes w T ith slugs and snails ; it might not 

 work in practice. But there is a very convenient and handy animal 

 which everybody has at hand, and that is himself; and it is a very 

 easy and simple matter to obtain common plants. Hence, the broader 

 facts of anatomy and physiology can be taught to young people in a very 

 real fashion by dealing with the broad facts of human structure, such 

 as hearts, langs, and livers. Such viscera as they cannot very well ex- 

 amine in themselves maybe obtained from the nearest butcher's shop. 

 In respect to teaching them something about the biology of plants, there 

 is no practical difficulty, because almost any of the common plants 

 will do, and plants do not make a mess at least they do not make an 

 unpleasant mess ; so that, in my judgment, the best form of biology 

 for teaching to very young people is elementary human physiology on 

 the one hand, and the elements of botany on the other ; beyond that 

 I do not think it will be feasible to advance for some time to come. 

 But then I see no reason why in secondary schools, and in the science 

 classes, which are under the control of the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment and which, I may say, in passing, have, in my judgment, done 

 so very much for the diffusion of a knowledge over the country I 

 think that, in those cases, we may go further, and we may hope to 

 see instruction in the elements of biology carried out, not, perhaps, 

 to the same extent, but still upon somewhat the same principle, as we 

 do here. There is no difficulty, when you have to deal with students 

 of the ages of fifteen or sixteen, in practising a little dissection and 

 getting a notion, at any rate, of the four or five great modifications 

 of the animal form, and the like is true in regard to plants. 



AVhile, lastly, to all those who are studying biological science 

 with a view to their own edification, or with the intention of becom- 

 ing zoologists or botanists ; to all those who intend to pursue physi- 

 ology and especially to those who propose to employ the working- 

 years of their lives in the practice of medicine I say that there is no 

 training so fitted, or which may be of such important service to them, 

 as the thorough discipline in practical biological work which I have 

 sketched out as being pursued in the laboratory hard by. 



I may add that, beyond all these different classes of persons who 

 may profit by the study of biology, there is yet one other. I remem- 

 ber, a number of years ago, that a gentleman who was a vehement 

 opponent of Mr. Darwin's views, and had written some terrible articles 

 against them, applied to me to know what was the best way in which 



