FEBRU.VKY •22, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



201 



in tliis way think afterwards iu a weak sub- 

 jective form. The objects depicted are present 

 to them as pictures, not as things. The 

 classes in drawing at the Lowell Institute 

 were objectively taught and not permitted 

 to draw fi-om illustrations, but among the 

 pupils there were often some that had had 

 instruction according to this method. They 

 were seated and placed so that no two per- 

 sons got the same Anew of a cube mounted 

 on a stand, in one of their lessons. Those 

 that had had no training from copying flat 

 illustrations tried to depict what they saw; 

 those that had had this sort of training us- 

 ually outlined the cube as they thought a 

 cube ought to appear, giving it the conven- 

 tional shape and aspect it had in their own 

 minds. "Whether seated on the floor or on 

 chairs, or standing, in ft-ont or at one side, 

 the cube almost invariably appeared on 

 their sheets with the top side in perspective, 

 whether they saw the top or did not see it 

 from their station. 



Able pupils carry awa3- from our lessons 

 much more than they can from lectures, 

 however elaborately adorned with illustra- 

 tions, and our results show that even the 

 crudest efforts to observe facts with ex- 

 amples in hand lead often to a realization 

 of the effectiveness of objective work and a 

 desire for more culture in this direction. 



These lectures to large audiences created 

 gradually a demand for more precise and 

 extensive instruction in some of our pupils. 

 and this demand led to the giving of si'ries 

 of lessons on the same subjects to more 

 limited numbers and extending over longer 

 periods of time. These have lately taken 

 the form of consecutive courses running 

 through each winter for four yeai-s. We 

 have just finislied one on Geologj', of this 

 amount of time, about one hundred and 

 thirty hours in all, and another in Botany, 

 and have still another in Zoologj- and Pale- 

 ontology, of about the same length, which 

 will be finished this year. 



In these classes numbering from thirty- 

 six to forty-eight the lecturer treats the au- 

 dience in much the same way as far as 

 specimens are concerned, but having more 

 time and more control over the pupils, he 

 can do his work more effectually. Each 

 pei-son must have a note-book and magni- 

 fier; microscopes are furnished by the So- 

 ciety. The pupils are told that they must 

 make notes, and must make sketches of the 

 specimens. Those who state that they can- 

 not draw are insti-ucted to try and are 

 shown that the quality of their tb'awing is 

 not of so much importance as the employ- 

 ment of the ej-es and mind in tiying to 

 draw the object before them. The act of 

 trying to draw a specimen is not absolutely 

 essential to the success of this method, but 

 it is very helpful. It holds the pupil down 

 to his work, keeps him constantly observ- 

 ing, and he soon learns to make approxi- 

 matel}' a good outline of the specimen, and 

 then studies the details much more closely 

 than he would otherwise do, if not making 

 an effort to represent them on his sketch. 



Different teachers have different ways of 

 doing their work, but in general it may be 

 said that those at present at work in the 

 school follow this process more or less and 

 also hold either examinations at stated in- 

 tervals or have reviews in which the stu- 

 dents are questioned with regard to what 

 they have been studying and so on. One 

 gentleman keeps a complete card catalogue 

 of names and marks, so that he can follow 

 accurately the exact course of each jmpil 

 back through the entire four years, and he 

 holds no final examination, preferring to 

 make his work perfect as he goes along. 



Two of the teachers — there are onlj' four 

 in all — have constantlj'' had the services of 

 two assistants who helped to set out the 

 specimens and clear the tables after the les- 

 .sons were finished. These assistants were 

 for the most part selected from the audience, 

 and can generally be obtained in this way, 



