SUGGESTIONS FOE A SCIENCE COURSE 143 



If the course in botany is to be extended, the lessons on a fern, 

 a moss, and a mushroom mould should be introduced, and the yeast 

 plant may be studied, though only in the case of the last-named are 

 any physiological experiments advisable. In the case of yeast, how- 

 ever, the pupils should riot omit to convince themselves of the 

 fundamental differences between its method of nutrition and that 

 of the bean. 



ANIMALS 



In the case of animals, nothing should be attempted except 

 investigation of structure. This being the case, it is advisable to 

 depart somewhat from the previously suggested plan, though as 

 before, a highly organised form such as the frog should be taken 

 first. The structure and development of this animal should be 

 studied as thoroughly as possible, though not beyond the limits laid 

 down in the late Prof. A. Milnes Marshall's admirable little book 

 " The Frog." The great amount of detail insisted upon by Huxley, 

 although doubtless theoretically an excellent training, has been 

 found in practice to be quite impossible in the case of the ordinary 

 student. After the frog has been fairly well mastered an animal far 

 from being typical of the class to which it belongs * the pupil should 

 be encouraged to examine as many amphibians as possible, beginning 

 with the toad, though not in such great detail ; and as a holiday 

 exercise he should write an essay on amphibian structure as it 

 appears to him. The other invertebrate animals dealt with in the 

 lesson may next be considered, arid in the same way a mussel, or 

 far better a limpet, a crayfish, a hydra, and an amoeba may be 



* It is remarkable that the so-called " types " which run throughout our text-books are 

 in nearly all cases quite non-typical, but highly specialised animals, e.g. the frog, hydra, 

 mussel, crayfish, and earthworm. 



