BIOLOGICAL TEACHING IN COLLEGES. 585 



of labor on the part of his hearers. Such a teacher fails in a most im- 

 portant respect. The pupil under his guidance becomes a passive 

 recipient of knowledge, and is not trained to rely on himself or to be- 

 come an active worker in any direction. Patting one on the back and 

 saying, " Don't you see this ? " and " Don't you see that ? " does not 

 tend to produce a very robust mental development. You can not 

 make a boy a good mountain-climber by carrying him up the Mount 

 Washington Railway, no matter at how rapid a rate ; and, in ordinary 

 life, there are many mountains to be climbed, up which there is no 

 railway. 



As far as I can judge from the qualifications of students who come 

 under my instruction, the schools have within the last six or seven 

 years made no perceptible progress in training the observing powers. 

 The good advice given and the good text-books by competent author- 

 ities have not, as yet, produced any marked effect. As far as element- 

 ary training is concerned we are about where we were ten years ago. 

 The college-instructor must still regard the student who studies under 

 him as a school-boy whose capacity for observing and investigating 

 natural objects has been blunted by a one-sided course of instruction 

 at school. Hence we are still under the necessity in college courses of 

 beginning at the very beginning, and, if there is any mistake in our 

 colleges, it is that the instruction in biology is pitched in too high 

 a key. For those who are to study practically animal and plant life 

 it is better to stick to commonplace topics for a year or two, and insist 

 upon the careful examination of living plants and animals, befoi'e pro- 

 ceeding to an elaborate discussion of theories which, however great 

 their value to mature scientific minds, would easily lead a beginner 

 into mere vague speculation. The distinction between lecture courses 

 for the general information of those who are not intending to enter 

 pursuits which demand practical training in biology and courses for 

 those who do need such training should be carefully adhered to. 

 Again, an instructor should not hurry with his elementary classes. 

 Knowing how much there is to be learned, he naturally feels obliged 

 to teach as much as possible. But it is better to be slow and sure in 

 the beginning, and, if necessary, hurry at a later stage. 



One serious difficulty under which our colleges labor in laboratory 

 instruction is the lack of a sufficient number of suitable assistants. 

 This is not usually because properly qualified assistants can not be 

 obtained, but because they can not be obtained for the salaries which 

 are usually paid. In teaching elementary classes of from twenty-five 

 to fifty persons in branches requiring the use of the compound micro- 

 scope, one assistant is not enough. To do the work properly, at least 

 two, and, better still, three assistants are needed, supposing, as is gen- 

 erally the case, that all the work is done on three days of the week. 



The question arises whether we are ever to expect that the ele- 

 ments of biology will be properly taught in schools. At present there 



