75 



makes his own labeled collection of the most important represen- 

 tatives of the various plant s^Toups. The response has been en- 

 couraging. This year fifty people elected the course, most of 

 them teachers. 



Besides these courses, in which I was assisted by Miss Rusk, 

 I gave the spring course in Trees and Shrubs, with a reg- 

 istration of forty. In Dr. Gundersen's absence Miss Rusk con- 

 ducted a number of the exercises in the spring course on tiie 

 " Flowers and Ferns of the New York Region." In the lecture 

 course entitled " the vStory of Plant and Animal Evolution " com- 

 prising three lectures, I gave the first — Water Plants and Water 

 Animals — the other two being given l)y Dr. Gundersen. Beginning- 

 March 19 and continuing until May 21, I gave weekly lectures 

 on the classification of plants to a class of twenty-five biology 

 students from the Maxwell Training School for Teachers. 



A Voluntary Testimonial. Our coiu'ses have never been given 

 with the object of cramming- teachers with facts so that they might 

 pass examinations toward higher teaching licenses, but rather to 

 give them a fully rounded conception of the whole subject. It 

 was, nevertheless, gratifying to learn recently from one of our 

 students that he has passed examinations entitling him to the 

 position of first assistant in high school biology — in other words, 

 head of the biology department. This pupil states that he was 

 able to answer many of the questions only because of the knowledge 

 of plants derived from our field courses. 



Course for Student Nurses 



For eight weeks in the fall a course in botany was given to a 

 class of thirty-five student nurses from Kings County Hospital, 

 Clarkson Avenue. The course consisted of trips through the 

 Garden plantations, with explanatory talks about the nature and 

 functions of plants, particularl)' those of medicinal value. The 

 structure of flowers and their care in the sick room were also 

 discussed. These outdoor excursions were supplemented by in- 

 door laboratory work and informal illustrated lectures, in which 

 the nature and food value of seeds and fruits were explained. 



A list of the plants most used in medicine was furnished by 

 the regular instructors of the nurses, and as many as were avail- 



