ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY 365 



method of teaching anatomy, in use in the medical schools. 

 This method consists of three elements lectures, demon- 

 strations, and examinations. 



The object of lectures is, in the first place, to awaken the 

 attention and excite the enthusiasm of the student ; and 

 this, I am sure, may be effected to a far greater extent by 

 the oral discourse and by the personal influence of a re- 

 spected teacher than in any other way. Secondly, lectures 

 have the double use of guiding the student to the salient 

 points of a subject, and at the same time forcing him to 

 attend to the whole of it, and not merely to that part 

 which takes his fancy. And lastly, lectures afford the 

 student the opportunity of seeking explanations of those 

 difficulties which will, and indeed ought to, arise in the 

 course of his studies. 



But for a student to derive the utmost possible value 

 from lectures, several precautions are needful. 



I have a strong impression that the better a discourse is, 

 as an oration, the worse it is as a lecture. The flow of the 

 discourse carries you on without proper attention to its 

 sense ; you drop a word or a phrase, you lose the exact 

 meaning for a moment, and while you strive to recover 

 yourself, the speaker has passed on to something else. 



The practice I have adopted of late years, in lecturing to 

 students, is to condense the substance of the hour's discourse 

 into a few dry propositions, which are read slowly and 

 taken down from dictation ; the reading of each being 

 followed by a free commentary, expanding and illustrating 

 the proposition, explaining terms, and removing any 

 difficulties that may be attackable in that way, by diagrams 

 made roughly, and seen to grow under the lecturer's hand. 

 In this manner you, at any rate, insure the co-operation of 

 the student to a certain extent. He cannot leave the 

 lecture-room entirely empty if the taking of notes is en- 

 forced ; and a student must be pret era atur ally dull and 

 mechanical, if he can take notes and hear them properly 

 explained, and yet learn nothing. 



What books shall I read ? is a question constantly put 

 by the student to the teacher. My reply usually is, " None : 

 write your notes out carefully and fully ; strive to under- 

 stand them thoroughly ; come to me for the explanation of 

 anything you cannot understand ; and I would rather you 

 did not distract your mind by reading/' A properly 

 composed course of lectures ought to contain fully as much 



