X PARAGRAPHS FOR THE TEACHER 



Four epochs can be traced in the teaching of 

 elementary botany: (1) The effort to know the names 

 of plants and to classify. This was the outgrowth of 

 the earlier aspect of plant knowledge, when it was 

 necessary to make an inventory of the things in the 

 world. (2) The desire to know the formal names of 

 the parts of plants. This was an outgrowth of the 

 study of gross morphology. Botanies came to be dic- 

 tionaries of technical terms'. (3) The effort to develop 

 the powers of independent investigation. This was 

 largely a result of the German laboratory system, 

 which developed the trained specialist investigator. It 

 emphasized the value of the compound microscope 

 and other apparatus. This method is of the greatest 

 service to botanical science, but its introduction into 

 the secondary schools is usually unfortunate. (4) The 

 effort to know the plant as a complete organism 

 living its own life in a natural way. In the begin- 

 ning of this epoch we are now living. 



There is a general protest against the teaching of 

 "big names" to pupils; but the pupil does not object 

 to technical terms if he acquires them when he learns 

 the thing to which they belong, as he acquires other 

 language. When a part is discovered the name 

 becomes a necessity, and is not easily forgotten. He 

 should be taught not to memorize the names. The 

 "hard" words of to-day are the familiar words of 

 to-morrow. There are no words in this book harder 

 than chrysanthemum, thermometer, and hippopotamus. 



