Sbptembee 26, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



433 



Colleges 



Protozoan type used in 38 



Coelenterate 37 



Annelid 36 



Crustacea 33 



Amphibia 31 



Inseeta 25 



Mollusc 22 



Echinoderm 19 



Flat worm 16 



Fish 13 



Sponge 12 



Mammal 11 



Embryology 8 



Bound worm 4 



Bird 3 



Reptile 3 



Man 1 



This table also shows that there is a distinct 

 tendency not to include in the course a type 

 from each phylum. It is far more significant 

 as indicating the choice of types that are be- 

 lieved to have the greatest teaching value, as 

 judged by teachers in different colleges. The 

 first half of the table includes the types that 

 will probably be chosen more and more for the 

 kind of course under discussion. 



When the botanical types are grouped ac- 

 cording to their frequency in the sixteen col- 

 leges, it is found that the 



Fern is used in 13 colleges, 



Yeast in 11 colleges, 



Algffi in 11 colleges, 



Flowering plants in 9 colleges. 



Fungi in 8 colleges. 



One-celled plants other than the above in 3 colleges, 



Fern and lower plants only in 5 colleges. 



This table shows that plant phenomena are 

 taught in most of the colleges from represen- 

 tatives of all the main plant groups, namely, 

 bacteria, algse, fungi, ferns and flowering 

 plants, that economically important plants are 

 given splendid recognition. This distribution 

 of types stands in marked contrast to the 

 zoologic courses in which invertebrate types 

 predominate. 



It may be interesting to note that only 

 seventeen colleges used the well-known ascend- 

 ing or evolutionary order in the study of the 



types, three colleges used the descending or 

 so-called pedagogic order, i. e., from organisms 

 best known to the student to those least 

 known, or those whose study involves the 

 greatest technical difficulties. In fourteen 

 colleges an introductory type is studied in- 

 tensively to acquaint the student with biologic 

 apparatus and methods, and to afford a basis 

 for comparison with subsequent types. The 

 ascending order in most colleges follows this 

 introductory type. In four colleges only the 

 type method of instruction is not used at all, 

 as splendidly illustrated in Needham's book. 



TIME IN HOURS DEVOTED TO THE COURSE 



There is an extremely wide range in time 

 and in the distribution of the time to lecture, 

 recitation, laboratory and field work. The fol- 

 lowing tables give the detailed information. 



Far more significant than the mere fact 

 that most colleges provide four to six hours 

 per week for one year, which arrangement 

 seems to be the one more and more in vogue, 

 are the facts shown in the next table, which 

 gives the time devoted to lecture, recitation 

 and laboratory. 



Hours per week 0**123456789 



To lecture 023 13 19 4000000 



To recitations 974 18 20100000 



To laboratory 0000 13 10 824031 

 * Occasional. 



It wiU be observed that in several colleges 

 as much time is given to lecturing about 

 things as to the study of the things them- 



