76 LECTURES 



which the forms I have mentioned severally belong. 

 And it then becomes possible for him to read with profit; 

 because every time he meets with the name of a struc- 

 ture he has a definite image in his mind of what the 

 name means in the particular creature he is reading 

 about, and, therefore, the reading is not mere reading. 

 It is not mere repetition of words; but every term em- 

 ployed in the description, we will say, of a horse, or of 

 an elephant, will call up the image of the things he had 

 seen in the rabbit, and ne is able to form a distinct con- 

 ception of that which he has not seen, as a modification 

 of that which he has seen." (Huxley.) 



So far as I have examined the course in elementary bi- 

 ology as given here in our public schools, it seems to me 

 to be a worse than useless one, inasmuch as it, by the use 

 of a text-book alone, puts into the heads of the juvenile 

 scholars some very erroneous ideas upon but one branch 

 of biology, that is, physiology. The sole aim would seem 

 to be to impress upon the minds of the pupils that the 

 principal value of the study of physiology is to warn them 

 against the evil results of the use of tobacco and alcoholic 

 stimulants. There is no reason to believe to the contrary 

 but what such misguided, fanatical reformers would also 

 introduce into the public schools some elementary text- 

 book in anatomy, having as its chief aim to paiat some 

 lurid picture of the violence done certain structures in 

 the matter of hanging and the pain attached to that 

 operation, in order to warn them against the penalties 

 that might follow willful murder. 



Such pernicious instruction as this should be super- 

 seded at as early a day as possible by a thorough, sound 

 and practical course in elementary biology, adapted to 

 school children, to the ages from eight to fifteen; and it is 

 truly remarkable the interest children exhibit in such 

 matters when interestingly and rationally taught them. 

 Between the ages just mentioned there is no reason why 

 they should not gain some idea of the distribution of the 

 animals and plants of their own country, at least, taken 

 in connection with their elementary lessons in physical 

 geography. By the use of a good text-book, by colored 

 diagrams, by models and certain material that can be 

 obtained at any butcher's stall, they can easily be taught 

 the structure and physiology of the principal organs, tis- 

 sues and parts of the human body; and, finally, there 

 may with great advantage be employed elementary in- 

 struction in botany by dissections upon specimens of 

 properly selected plants. Farther than this it is not de- 



