1250 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



Zop/oi^y (Bigelow). What should be included in an elementary course in 

 zoology for secondary schools, is a problem upon which no two persons will 

 exactly agree. Certainly one point should be borne constantly in mind, viz., 

 that the great majority of pupils will be unable to pursue the subject further 

 than the one course, for which reason the subject matter should be selected 

 from the standpoint of a liberal education, as distinguished from special and tech- 

 nical education. 



The tendency has been to present courses embracing the detailed compara- 

 tive study of the anatomy of animals to the exclusion of other phases of the 

 subject, as the natural history, physiology, etc. It is now generally recognised, 

 that this imparts an extremely narrow view of the animal kingdom in its varied 

 aspects. That anatomy should form a part of any course, is beyond question, 

 but to enter into anatomical details of half a dozen types at the expense of all 

 other points of view must be regarded as of little value in a liberal education, 

 and furthermore as using time which should be devoted to undoubtedly more 

 important phases of zodlogical study. The physiological side of animals has in the 

 past received but little attention comparatively, but has been found, in the ex- 

 perience of the present writer, a most profitable study for secondary pupils. 

 He believes that no other phase of zoological study arouses a deeper interest 

 and appreciation, or is more spontaneously applied by the pupils in connection 

 with study of their own life activities. 



It has been, therefore, the endeavor of those who outlined the course in zool- 

 ogy for the Horace Mann High School to combine the fundamentals of morphol- 

 ogy, physiology and natural history, and thus give the pupils the most valuable 

 ideas of animals and the widest view of animal life. Structure and function are 

 studied in their natural relations. The principles of physiology are introduced 

 as the different animals are studied morphologically, each principle being 

 exemplified by concrete application. Such specific and comparative studies are 

 made to lead to the direct application of the principles of comparative physiology 

 to the activities of the human body. 



As stated above, the method of study is analytical, that is, the pupils begin 

 with multicellular animals with which they are more or less acquainted, and 

 proceed down the scale of structural and functional complexity to the simplest 

 forms. By this method pupils are introduced gradually to the compound micro- 

 scope and are therefore able to use it with a degree of intelligence when they 

 undertake the study of microscopic organisms. Furthermore, the pupil is better 

 able to understand the principles of physiology when concretely applied to 

 organs of an animal in which there is considerable physiological division of labor, 

 than were he to begin with the study of a form in which the various functions 

 are performed by the single cell. From the standpoint of the secondary school, 

 the simple animal appears to be, after all, the most complex for the young 

 beginner. 



The course therefore, as outlined for the Horace Mann High School, begins with 

 the complex animal, which is examined from the several view-points of zoology, as 

 anatomy, histology, embryology, classification in connection with the near allies 

 of the introductory type, distribution and ecology, general fundamental princi- 



