272 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Jail. 



it; that there should be two principal branches — one consisting of 

 chemistry and physics, the other of physiology and natural history, 

 animal and vegetable — and that the classes in natural science 

 should be entirely independent of the general divisions of the 

 school, so that boys might be arranged for this study exclusively 

 according to their proficiency in it. 



Since, owing to circumstances which it would be tedious to 

 detail, it was impossible to adopt literally the proposals of the 

 Commissioners, a system was devised which must be considered as 

 the system of the Commissioners in spirit, adapted to meet the 

 exigencies of the case. 



The general arrangement is this — that new boys shall learn 

 botany their first year, mechanics their second, geology their third, 

 and chemistry their fourth. 



In carrying out this general plan certain difficulties occur, which 

 are met by special arrangements depending on the peculiarities of 

 the school system. We need not here enter upon these details, 

 because it would be impossible to explain them simply, and 

 because any complications which occur in one school would differ 

 widely from those which are likely to arise in another. 



Next, as to the nature of the teaching. 



In botany the instruction is given partly by lectures and partly 

 from Oliver's Botany. Flowers are dissected and examined by 

 every boy, and their parts recognized and compared in different 

 plants and then named. No technical terms are given till a 

 familiarity with the organ to be named or described has given rise 

 to their want. The terms which express the cohesion and adhesion 

 of the parts are gradually acquired until the floral schedule, as 

 highly recommended by Henslow and Oliver, can be readily worked. 

 Fruit, seed, inflorescence, the forms of leaf, stem, root, are then 

 treated, the principal facts of vegetable physiology illustrated, and 

 the principle of classification into natural orders explained, for 

 the arrangement of which Bentham's " Handbook of the British 

 Flora" is used. Contrary to all previous expectation, when this 

 subject was first introduced it became at once both popular and 

 effective among the boys. 



The lectures are illustrated by Henslow"s nine diagrams, and 

 by a large and excellent collection of paintings and diagrams 

 made by the lecturers and their friends, and by botanical collec- 

 tions made for use in lectures. When the year's course is over, 

 such boys as show a special taste are invited to take botanical 



