1 8 LEISURE-TIME STUDIES. 



teacher, with or without assistance, and relieved by being 

 invested with a practical element in the shape of specimens 

 placed before the pupil, to be described and referred to 

 their place in the series, are, after all, the surest tests of 

 the progress of the pupils in any branch of physical or 

 natural science. The extension of their notes, and the 

 oral examinations, act as convenient and effective prepara- 

 tion for these periodical competitions ; and thus the much- 

 to-be-detested practice of " cramming " should be entirely 

 avoided in the practice of biological school-teaching. 



I have incidentally spoken of the illustration of bio- 

 logical instruction, and it will readily be allowed that this 

 topic forms one of the chief points for consideration in 

 discussing the general method of teaching biology. It is 

 an admitted fact that all biological teaching is nothing if 

 it is not illustrative and demonstrative in its nature. Touch- 

 ing, and handling, and seeing, are the essential and necessary 

 preliminaries to understanding the things of biology; and 

 in its most typical and advanced aspect, biological teaching 

 must be largely, or almost wholly, demonstrative in its 

 character. Every educated and intelligent boy or girl will 

 not in these days rest content with having microscopic 

 objects described for example, but will expect that they 

 may be shown where to find, how to see, and how to pre- 

 pare the objects for themselves. Thus the demonstrative 

 aspect of biology opens up to us a means for the actual 

 and practical cultivation of observing habits, quick per- 

 ceptions, and neat-handedness in many ways. The means 

 at the disposal of even the amateur biologist for the de- 

 monstration of his studies are now so cheap and so widely 

 diffused, that no excuse for the imperfect illustration of his 

 teaching on the ground of cost or elaborateness of apparatus 

 can be maintained. In a humble but effective enough 

 manner, when aided by a little experience, the teacher, with 

 his microscope, his scalpel, and a few common type-speci- 

 mens which the fishmonger's shop, his seaside stroll, or his 

 inland walks will furnish, may demonstrate to his boys and 



