196 PHYSIOLOGY 



a more seasonable time, sometimes they were unanswer- 

 able. But there was no difficulty about correlation. 

 Every subject that could be correlated with botany was 

 touched upon and many hazy points cleared that had 

 been left over in other subjects. And the teacher never 

 turned out a class which in the same time had absorbed 

 so much botany, and whose members were so well able 

 to make observations and draw their own conclusions. 



Such a method reacts on the teacher. Her mind can 

 not grow stagnant, it has to be alert or she will be 

 caught fatally napping. And she learns very quickly 

 that nothing is gained by pretense. Sooner or later 

 " bluffing " will cost her the children's confidence and 

 respect. If she does not know a thing it is safest to 

 confess ignorance. If she has a sufficient mental equip- 

 ment she can afford to forego the pretense of omni- 

 science. 



Since the introduction of laboratory work in the 

 schools many teachers have been blinded by its obvious 

 advantages and have" allowed it to usurp the place of 

 a more important phase of the work. It is introduced 

 in so many subjects and takes so much time that, to 

 accomplish the tasks set him, the pupil spends all of his 

 time working in the laboratory and transcribing the 

 results in a notebook. The result is that he gets no 

 chance to think over what he has seen or done, and 

 digest it in his mind. Laboratory work is of no value 

 unless it is made a suggestive basis for mental excur- 

 sions and unless the suggested thoughts are seized upon 

 and made to crystallize. 



To study a section of potato takes the average pupil 



