6 THE PURPOSE AND PLAN OF THIS BOOK 



mental Physiology arid Anatomy, American Book Company, will be 

 found useful. 



The following chapters contain such material as has been found 

 by most teachers of first-year biology to be sufi6.cient for a well- 

 rounded course in the first year of the high school. In selecting 

 material, the syllabuses for elementary botany, zoology, and human 

 physiology given by the New York State Education Department 

 have been followed. It would not be wise to attempt all of the work 

 outlined in this book. Work should be attempted only with such 

 materials as are easily obtainable in a given locality. It is thought 

 that each successive chapter, although related to that immediately 

 preceding it, is yet distinctive enough to allow of the omission of a 

 chapter or chapters without in any way interfering with the conti- 

 nuity of the work. 



Two styles of type have been used. The larger type contains 

 material which is believed to be of first importance, the smaller type 

 the less important topics. Suggestions for laboratory exercises are 

 set in the smaller sized ty^^e without leading. 



The order of the chapters follows the order in which the topics 

 are likely to be taken up when work is begun in the fall of the year. 

 The introductory experiments in physics and chemistry may be 

 omitted until the study of the seed and seedling, thus utilizing the 

 early fall days for the work on the flower, insect pollination, and the 

 fruit. The subject of protoplasm and the cell, necessarily somewhat 

 vague to the pupil, must be taken up with the flower in order that 

 the process of fertilization may be understood. The study of the 

 root, stem, and leaf follow in order, emphasis being placed through- 

 out on the function rather than structure. The chapter on plant 

 ecology is so placed simply for convenience; the work may well 

 come in connection with the physiological work already referred to. 



Some portion of the work outlined on the cryptogams is not 

 recommended to such schools as have no laboratory equipment, the 

 use of the compound microscope being essential to such laboratory 



