590 



SCIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 174. 



the hospitality of Cornell University the 

 Teachers' Association had found for itself a 

 host of friends. Invitations to go this year 

 to Syracuse and Utica were set aside, and 

 the Council voted to meet with Columbia 

 University and the Teachers College in 

 1898, following, again, the American 

 Naturalists. 



At the first session, Thursday afternoon, 

 Miss Mary E. Dann, of the Girls' High 

 School in Brooklyn, read a paper on 

 ' Physical Laboratory Work in Secondary 

 Schools.' It was evident from this paper 

 and the discussion following it that the 

 sentiment of the Association is unanimous 

 in favor of laboratory work by the pupil in 

 physics, the chief questions being how 

 much ? and how ? No one questioned the 

 desirability of making some sort of a begin- 

 ning in schools where such laboratories do 

 not exist. 



Dr. E. L. Nichols, the President, lectured 

 in the evening on ' The use of the Lantern 

 in Science Teaching.' He demonstrated 

 the comparative virtues of kerosene, the 

 lime light and electricity, by throwing 

 these three lights side by side on the same 

 screen from three separate lanterns. A 

 number of demonstrations in physics were 

 then projected by the electric lantern. 



The evening reception by Dr. Nichols 

 and Mrs. Nichols was a very delightful fea- 

 ture of the meetings. 



On Friday morning Professor Cooley, 

 Chairman of the Committee of Nine, read 

 the preliminary report prepared for this 

 meeting. The full text may he obtained 

 from members of the committee. It is 

 printed in the April number of the Journal 

 of Pedagogy, Syracuse, together with the 

 papers by Miss Dann and Professor Under- 

 wood. The report concludes with three 

 significant theses, which may be summed 

 up as follows : 



1. An immediate effort should be made 

 to formulate the objects, lay out plans and 



surmount the difiBculties in the way of a 

 continuous course of nature study in ele- 

 mentary schools. 2. The sciences should 

 be taught in secondary schools by a com- 

 bination of oral instruction, text-book 

 study and laboratory work ; laboratory 

 work should be definitely provided for in 

 the planning of courses, programs and ex- 

 aminations. 3. Science should be accepted 

 as preparation for college when the science 

 has been pursued five hours per week for a 

 year by the method outlined above; when 

 the original records of laboratory work are 

 submitted for inspection by the college, and 

 when all tests of the quality of the work 

 are not less severe than those applied in 

 mathematics and Latin. 



These conclusions were well sustained by 

 the speakers of the morning. Lack of suit- 

 able preparation on the part of science 

 teachers in the secondary schools was fre- 

 quently referred to, and it was urged by 

 several speakers that the Association should 

 do something definite in the way of assist- 

 ing such unprepared teachers in making the 

 right beginning in their science work. This 

 matter and several other propositions deal- 

 ing with more thorough science work in 

 secondary schools, and the recognition of 

 this work as a requisite for entering college, 

 were referred to the Committee of Nine, to 

 be acted upon before the next annual meet- 

 ing. 



' The Study of Botany in High Schools ' 

 was the subject of Professor L. M. Under- 

 wood's paper, and of the well sustained dis- 

 cussion following it. Here, again, the im- 

 portance of trained teachers who can teach 

 lessons from plants as well as from books 

 was repeatedly emphasized, and various 

 means of self improvement were suggested, 

 such as summer schools and special courses 

 in our colleges and universities. 



The claims of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science were pre- 

 sented by Mr. William Orr, Jr., of the 



