1V PREFACE 
A first-hand knowledge of biological material, and training 
of the powers of observation and interpretation of biological phe- 
nomena, are assumed to be the primary aims of laboratory work 
in this field. In this guide these ends are sought by a combina- 
tion of the verification method of Huxley with the investigation 
or problem-solving method of Agassiz, in proportions suited to the 
needs of students with little or no previous experience in bio- 
logical laboratory work. In using the verification method it is 
believed that more valuable results will be obtained if descriptions, 
rather than drawings or diagrams, are used as a guide for study; 
drawings should be made by the student himself, as a record of 
what he has actually observed. In the solution of problems in- 
volving more than a single observation, the motto of the student 
should be “‘ divide and conquer”; by focussing the attention upon 
one feature at a time, the various elements of a complex struc- 
ture or process are gradually revealed. When properly carried 
out, such a laboratory course should represent not only an im- 
portant accessory to the class-room instruction in biological prin- 
‘ciples, but a training which in itself is of the highest value to the 
general student as well as to the future biologist. 
BERTRAM G, SMITH. 
State NorMAL COLLEGE, YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN, 
January, 1914. 
