12 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



details of the science. In short, I claim for biological 

 science a place at every part of the pupil's career beyond 

 the purely infantile stage of training, and I hope to justify 

 this claim by what I now proceed to say of the method, and 

 afterwards of the advantages, of the study. 



The question of the method in or through which biological 

 science is to be successfully taught in schools, necessarily 

 assumes somewhat of a compound nature. It includes the 

 consideration of the teacher, of his special qualifications, 

 and of the appliances and apparatus which the due study of 

 biology demands. Firstly, then, let us consider the teacher 

 himself, and the qualifications which specially fit him to dis- 

 charge his important office. That an adequate knowledge 

 of biology demands a singleness of aim in the teacher, is a 

 statement the truth and importance of which cannot be 

 doubted or over-estimated. The teacher of biology, in his 

 most typical development, cannot afford to be a teacher of 

 aught else. He exhibits, in his own person, the condition 

 of an organism whose functions exhibit the highest pos- 

 sible degree of specialisation. The biologist of to-day 

 requires to keep himself heartwhole in his scientific aspira- 

 tion and as regards other pursuits, if he would successfully 

 discharge his duty to his science and to himself. The ever- 

 widening limits of biological inquiry, extending, as we have 

 already seen, into many other and diverse paths, necessitate 

 on the part of the biologist the closest attention to his own 

 department if he means to keep pace with the times. And, 

 therefore, when we speak of the professed teacher of biology, 

 we should bear in mind that we can only so regard him who 

 specialises biology as his subject, and who devotes himself 

 to biological work alone. This is the aspect in which the 

 modern biological teacher must be viewed ; since a plurality 

 of aims is utterly incompatible with the true performance of 

 his office and functions. 



Such being the description of the teacher's requirements 

 who may aspire to fill the office of a recognized instructor, 

 it clearly follows that his training and education must have 



