BIOLOGY IN EDUCATION. 19 



girls some of the most important structures and functions of 

 animals and plants. 



It is in this illustrative aspect that the distinct position 

 of the trained biological teacher must tell with increased 

 effect. For it must be his business and his aim to accumu- 

 late around himself the apparatus necessary for the illustra- 

 tion of his lectures. In virtue of his training and pursuits, 

 he will thus possess not only the knowledge wherewith to 

 use the apparatus, but also the time and means for forming 

 a museum or collection adapted for illustrating his teaching. 

 He will be draughtsman enough to design and draw his 

 own diagrams and pictures; his histological studies will 

 have made him skilled in the use of the microscope; he 

 will be able to procure, dissect, and display structures, not 

 onlyin the fresh state, but for preservation on his museum 

 shelves; and the formation of his apparatus thus consti- 

 tutes a task inseparable from his actual work as a teacher 

 of biology. The professed scientist thus claims a place 

 and advantage above that of the ordinary and non-specialised 

 teacher, in virtue of his facilities for the illustration of his 

 subject facilities these, which may only be imitated in a 

 faint degree by others. His example should also encourage 

 the formation by his pupils, in their respective schools, of 

 that most necessary and instructive aid, even in ordinary 

 teaching the school-museum. And it is wonderful to note 

 how a collection will grow through the efforts of many 

 gatherers, when once its nucleus has been formed. 



Thus, practically and personally, I found little difficulty 

 in illustrating my prelections, according to the age and in- 

 telligence of my pupils. A convenient box to come to 

 actual details afforded ready means for the conveyance, 

 without risk of breakage, from place to place of specimens 

 and microscopes ; and in due time this labour on the part of 

 the teacher, if his work be duly appreciated, should be 

 obviated by the formation within the school of a collection 

 of specimens, as well as the purchase of one or two micro- 

 scopes and other apparatus. 



