192 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



called a museum of economic botany, and in its own place has 

 been proved to possess high utility ; but it is practically value- 

 less for illustration of the facts of the science as set forth in 

 modern botanical literature. 



A teaching botanical museum then, is a present-day neces- 

 sity for our educational institutions. The following practical 

 directions epitomize the experience gained by the writer in 

 organizing such. They have been brought together owing to 

 numerous requests having been made by teachers for guidance 

 in the matter. Already the example set in one of our univer- 

 sities has been followed in several schools with the happiest 

 results. It seemed fitting, moreover, that the subject should 

 be presented before such an audience as this, which includes 

 representative teachers from the educational centers of the 

 States and Canada. 



The animating idea, then, in working out the subject 

 should be to obtain in permanent form specimens that will 

 retain their natural outline, relationship, and structure. Here 

 it may be stated that, in the great majority of cases, the 

 natural color of the object is entirely removed owing to the 

 mode of treatment. This may seem, on first thought, to be 

 an undesirable result ; but with widening experience the con- 

 clusion will be reached, by teacher and student alike, that instead 

 of a necessary evil it is a real gain. A pure bleached specimen 

 often reveals details that had been overlooked in specimens 

 when decked in all their wealth of color. 



The subject can best be treated under the following heads : 

 {a) requisites for the work ; (b) selection of objects ; {c) prep- 

 aration of objects ; {d) finishing of preparations ; {e) arrange- 

 ment of preparations ; (/) description of preparations ; {g) 

 some of the results obtained. 



{a) Reqjdsites for the work. — The first and most important 

 consideration here is the type of glass jar that experience has 

 proved to be the best as combining many commendable points. 

 All things considered, three sizes of a pure blown-glass bottle, 

 with short, straight shoulder, answer best. The sizes are 

 3 X 6>^ inches, 3)^ X 7>^ inches, and 3^ X ii>^ inches, while 

 their average cost per gross, with fitted corks, is ^15, $24, and 



