Mr. Elliot's Address 229 



difficult research, and they also involve great expense, 

 which often necessarily comes from the teachers' 

 pockets. Illustrations by diagrams and lantern-slides 

 undoubtedly assist in making the lecture vivid, and 

 especially preserve interest. 



The laboratory time is divided between the study 

 of flowers, fruits, or other specimens, and microscopic 

 work. In the study of flowers we try to.. get every 

 point from the students by questioning. Our aim is 

 to obtain an explanation of every detail of the struc- 

 ture of the flower by referring to its importance in 

 the life of the plant. We consider a thorough train- 

 ing in this part of our work essential. Not one in 

 twenty of these details are described in any accessible 

 book, and by occasionally asking the class to do un- 

 seen flowers by themselves, we can readily distinguish 

 as to who are becoming efficient. Drawing is not 

 encouraged, because whereas in one hour only one or 

 at the most two flowers can be drawn and described, 

 at least four, or even six, flowers may be thoroughly 

 studied and details noted in the same period. Thus 

 we can, if fortunate in time, manage to describe fifty 

 to sixty flowers thoroughly in a session, which gives 

 enough experience for future work. 



As regards microscopic work, all but a very few 

 students managed to mount and examine some twenty 

 microscopic slides. The sections were also all cut by 

 the students' own hands. Of course skill in micro- 

 scopic work is of a very evanescent character, but it 

 is easily reacquired. It is also almost impossible for 

 any student to learn microscopic manipulation with- 

 out assistance. I have a very strong belief in the 

 necessity of using the microscope in teachers' classes. 



