PREFACE 



For this purpose, the writer has practically confined his 

 attention to the larger plants. 



Desiring also to cultivate, as far as possible, the ability to 

 draw correct inferences from exact observations, the writer 

 has deemed it best to consider the subject from a somewhat 

 different point of view from that usually adopted, and has 

 attempted to make the morphological study bear fruit 

 in this direction. The great difficulty in most laboratory 

 work is to make the students realize the significance of 

 the morphological details. They may observe accurately 

 and record their observations carefully, but what of that? 

 The physiological significance is overlooked even in many 

 cases where experiments are used to illustrate physiological 

 phenomena. 



That the plant is a living thing, is a fact that must be 

 borne actively in mind, both by teacher and by student. 

 The plant must obtain the materials for its support, and to 

 do this it must compete with other plants ; it must protect 

 itself against or seek the aid of animals ; it must obtain the 

 energy and materials to reproduce its kind, and endeavor to 

 place its offspring where they may have a proper chance for 

 development ; and, destitute of a mind as it is, it exercises 

 an ingenuity, so to speak, that is of no mean order. We 

 must, then, think of the plant as a living, working, struggling 

 being with a single object in life, viz. to reproduce its kind ; 

 and every variation in structure, be it great or little, is to be 

 examined to determine, if possible, its use or history. 



The writer has had the teachers particularly in mind in 



