November U, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



671 



Sciences," " What Botany is of Most Educa- 

 tional Worth?" "The Training and Traits of 

 the Good Botanical Teacher," " The Methods 

 and Marks of Good Botanical Teaching," 

 " Drawing and Description," " Botanical 

 Laboratories and their Equipment," " Botan- 

 ical Collections and other Illustrations," 

 " Botanical Books and their Use," etc., and 

 then takes up seriatim particular directions 

 for teaching those parts of the science that he 

 considers it possible to teach in the high 

 schools. The book closes with reprints of two 

 committee reports, viz. : Report of the Com- 

 mittee of Education of the Botanical Society 

 of America, and the Report of the Committee 

 of the Association of Colleges and Secondary 

 Schools of the North Central States. 



It is impossible to point out here all the 

 good things this book contains. Each chapter 

 might be quoted here entire with profit for 

 the teacher-reader, but perhaps one of the 

 most helpful is that on botanical books, with 

 its many titles and very discriminating notes. 

 The teacher who will carefully read this chap- 

 ter will be in no danger of wasting money on 

 poor books, or those not applicable to the par- 

 ticular conditions of his school. 



In the second part of the book the prevailing 

 idea that the seed is a good starting point is 

 adopted. The writer of this notice does not 

 have that veneration for seeds which so many 

 of his colleagues have, and does not feel it in- 

 cumbent upon him to regard seeds as having 

 prior or paramount rights in the botanical 

 laboratory or lecture room. Of course the 

 well worn pedagogical axiom that in our 

 teaching " we must proceed from the known 

 to the unknown," is brought out to show that 

 this old-time sequence is the truly orthodox 

 one. But in fact how much that is of any 

 scientific value whatever does the high school 

 pupil know about a seed, one of the most 

 complex of all plant structures? It would be 

 difficult indeed to light upon anything any- 

 where in the whole plant kingdom that the 

 pupil knows less about. And yet we ask the 

 pupil to start with this complex thing, and 

 make out a good deal of its structure, giving 

 names to this and that part, of whose real 

 nature and significance he can have no con- 



ception until he has studied some of the 

 plants from which seed-bearing plants have 

 been evolved. So, the writer has no use for 

 the sequence here recommended, but he cheer- 

 fully testifies to the excellence of the presen- 

 tation of the structure of seeds, their mor- 

 phology, ecology, germination, etc., from the 

 standpoint taken in this book. Professor 

 Ganong's laboratory directions are admirable, 

 and no doubt the pupils that are brought up 

 this way will learn accurately a great many 

 things that many teachers think should enter 

 into high school botany. After thus ranging 

 the structure of the higher plants, in accord- 

 ance with the axiom quoted above, there is a 

 brief chapter of twenty-five pages given to the 

 Natural History and Classification of the 

 Groups of Plants. This is where the writer 

 would start his high school pupils, beginning 

 with simple, one-celled plants and taking in 

 succession higher and more complex forms 

 until the flowering plants were reached, quite 

 as Professor Ganong suggests in this part of 

 his book. Then, and not until then, could the 

 pupil have some ideas as to what flowers, and 

 fruits and seeds are structurally and morpho- 

 logically. 



So the writer would reverse the order, be- 

 ginning with page 386 and then after cover- 

 ing the subject as far as page 411, he would 

 go back to pages 257-385 and take up much 

 what is outlined there. In his opinion, which 

 is confirmed by a good many years of experi- 

 ence with classes of beginners, and observa- 

 tion of high school pupils in botany, such a 

 sequence is better for the pupil, and less likely 

 to lead to confusion; and he so advises all 

 teachers in high schools within his " sphere of 

 influence." 



And now, after saying aU this about the 

 mere matter of sequence, the writer here gives 

 it as his opinion that Professor Ganong has 

 made a most valuable addition to the litera- 

 ture of botanical pedagogy, and his book 

 ought to be read by every school teacher, and 

 while we are at it we might as well include 

 college and university teachers also. 



Charles E. Bessey 

 The Uxn'EESiTT of Nebraska 



