THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 87 



reference, ^^1len any subject comes up. upon which you want 

 the latest facts run through your notes and you have them. 

 Cards are better than a note-book for the reason that they can 

 be sorted out into subjects at five minutes notice. Those who 

 desire a more elaborate system can get ruled index cards at the 

 nearest book store, but the manilla cards are ([uite good 

 enough. No teacher is so well informed that he can afford to 

 stop acquiring information about his special subjects, nor can 

 I'le depend upon his memory to retain everything of value he 

 reads. 



High School Text-books. — A second evidence of our 

 confidence in systems is found in the easy insouciance witli 

 which university professors proceed to write text-books for 

 high schools. The only qualification the most of them have 

 therefor is a knowledge of their subject, and they seem to re- 

 gard any personal acquaintance with the peculiarities of young- 

 people and with the special conditions of high school work as 

 comparatively negligible. In consecjuence. these books are 

 necessarily addressed to some kind of idealized student, us- 

 uallv a bright-eved indi\i(lual thirsting for knowledge. This 

 kind does exist but in minority, whereas the real student with 

 which the high school must deal is one of a great mass willing 

 to learn if it must. Confirmation of the correctness of my view 

 that knowledge of students is as important as knowledge of the 

 subject for the writing of a high school book is found in the 

 fact that the author of the botanical text-books, most widely 

 used in the high schools of this country has had only a high 

 school experience. Another phase of our belief in the suffi- 

 ciency of systems is found In the utterly impracticable char- 

 acter of many of our books. These recommendations have 

 obviously been worked (jut in tlie comfort of the study chair 

 and have never been actually tested in use by their suggestors; 



