45^ 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



.a-f'^j 



l>y Mr. AV. C. Greenougb, of the Providence JSTormal School; zool- 

 ogy, by Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, then custodian of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History; botany, by Dr. W. G. Farlow, of Cambridge — 



in all thirty-three lessons. 

 These courses were wholly 

 tentative and experimental, 

 but attained success that was 

 most encouraging. 



Through the kindness of 

 Professor Runkle, President 

 of the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology, Hunting- 

 ton Hall, in which so many 

 great scientists have spoken, 

 was opened for the first les- 

 son in geography. Professor 

 ^^^^^^^^ Niles here delivered six lec- 

 i ^^^^^^^H ^^^^^- '^ He undertook to 



ft- ^B^^HH §^^^ ^^^ more general fea- 



' i^^<^ «,,.-:^\ 1 ■• tures of the earth's surface, 



and then to apply these gen- 

 eral principles to the explana- 

 tion of the physical charac- 

 teristics of Massachusetts." 

 The success of this course may be judged by the average attend- 

 ance, wliieh was about six hundred teachers of all grades, and by 

 the fact that the teaching of geography in some of the public schools 

 at once underwent a change in favor of the more natural method 

 introduced by him. 



'' On account of the necessity of actually handling and dissect- 

 ing specimens, the tickets issued for the succeeding lessons were 

 limited, and at the six lessons on mineralogy and eleven on zoology 

 there was an average attendance of about fifty-five. The mate- 

 rials for the course in zoology were gathered in sufficient abundance 

 through the extraordinary facilities for collecting marine animals 

 afforded by Prof. S. F. Baird, United States Commissioner of Fisher- 

 ies; those for the course in botany were furnished with equal readi- 

 ness and generosity by Prof. Asa Gray from his botanical garden 

 at Cambridge." 



The society's attem])t to iiitrixluce natui-al history into the pub- 

 lic schools met with favor at the hands of the superintendent, Mr. 

 Pliillu'ick, and a committee of school principals was appointed, with 

 Mr. James A. Page as chairman, who canvassed the teachers re- 

 iranlinii' this matter. Ai-coi-dini^ly. in Octol)er, 1871, a circular was 



.loilN ClMMINGS. 



