222 OBJECT LESSONS IN BOTANY. 



there anything m the neat and sufficiently elegant "get-up" of the 

 whole to explain the six shillings. 



Any one who knew the Cambridge Elementary Biology Course 

 ten years ago will be struck with the great and fundamental change 

 in the arrangement. Then the type system, borrowed from zoology, 

 was in full swing. The student was taken carefully through the 

 life-histories of seven or eight plants, beginning with yeast and 

 finishing with the bean. At the end of the course it was his own 

 fault if he had not learnt something about them. But the natural 

 history of plants was still a sealed book, and the knowledge gained, 

 though extremely valuable, did not tend to excite him to observe 

 and study growiug plants out of doors. Mr. Darwin's Elements 

 marks a higher stage of evolution in the treatment of the subject. 

 "We have not," he says, "attempted to adhere to a small number 

 of species, but have preferred to fix on certain phenomena, and to 

 make use, as far as the schedule permits, of the plants which most 

 strikingly and conveniently illustrate them." The morphology, 

 physiology, and natural history of phanerogams is not illustrated 

 only by the bean, but other well-known plants are pressed into 

 service for the study of the various parts and their functions. 

 The student who has honestly worked through the course, including 

 the practical exercises, will have acquired not only a good idea of 

 the general principles of Botany, but also an interest in the natural 

 history of plants, and should be induced to observe further for 

 himself the methods of fertilization, the distribution of fruit or 

 seed, and various phases of the struggle for existence going on 

 around him. A. B R 



Object Lessons in Botany from, Forest, Field, Wayside, and Garden. 

 (Book ii., for Standards III., IV., & V.) Being a Teachers' 

 Aid to a Systematic Course of One Hundred Lessons for Boys 

 and Girls. By Edward Snelgkove, B.A. 8vo, pp. xviii, 297, 

 with 153 figs. London : Jarrold & Sons. (No date.) Price 

 3s. 6d. 



A YEAR ago we noticed a more elementary book of the same kind 

 by the same author, forming, in fact, an introduction to the present 

 work, which is to be followed by a third more advanced course, 

 "We congratulate Mr. Snelgrove on his second venture. It is hard 

 to imagine a more useful set of lessons, better arranged or more 

 clearly put ; all who have to do with the education of children 

 "from nine to eleven years of age" will do well to take the book 

 for their guide, and, having done so, will, we are convinced, gladly 

 acknowledge their indebtedness to its author. There are four 

 sections, the substance of which is so arranged that each is an 

 increase in difficulty on the previous one. The first deals, in 

 82 lessons, with leaves, stems, and roots, their forms and functions ; 

 the second with flowers, in 3G lessons ; the third with fruits and 

 seeds, in 21 lessons; and the fourth with classification, in 11 

 lessons. In each lesson, if the teacher follows the directions given, 

 the child is led to observe for himself the points of interest and 

 scientific value in the specimens with which he has been provided. 

 Thus not only is he likely to take a lively interest in the plants 



