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PREFACE 



THIS book is intended primarily for medical students 

 and others who do not necessarily intend to continue 

 the study of botany, but who desire or are obliged to 

 obtain some elementary knowledge of plants, particularly 

 in relation to general biology. It may perhaps also 

 be useful in the highest forms of schools where biology 

 is taught, as well as in training colleges. But it 

 is unsuitable for pupils under seventeen. 



The book is based on the first portion, which deals 



mainly with plants, of the course in Elementary 



Biology for the Preliminary Examination in Science 



and the First Examination for the M.B. degree at 



Cambridge. This part of the course has been framed, 



in complete freedom as to the material chosen and 



its treatment, but in co-operation with the Professor 



of Zoology, to serve as an introduction to Biology 



suitable for freshmen, many of whom know nothing 



& whatever of the subject. This first portion of the 



^ course, which is covered by the present work, occupies 



one term, and comprises twenty-four lectures and 



> forty-eight hours of practical work in the laboratory. 



The rest of the course, which deals mainly with 



p animals, comprises about thirty-six lectures and 



seventy-two hours of practical work, and includes 



some elementary treatment of heredity and evolution. 



No claim is made to ideal pedagogic method. The 



problem we are faced with at Cambridge is a strictly 



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