Decembei! 23, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



881 



justified by practical 'and educational consid- 

 erations, and is in this case the more fitting 

 since there runs through them both a certain 

 agreement in thought and treatment. Both 

 consist of monographic chapters upon the im- 

 portant phases of their subjects, discussing 

 both their educational theory and their prac- 

 tical applications, enriched by full bibliog- 

 raphies and frequent citations of opinions and 

 authorities. The attempt to analyze the philo- 

 sophical or psychological basis of the matters 

 under discussion, quite in jjlace in a work in- 

 tended for teachers, is prominent in both, but 

 especially in the botanical part, where, indeed, 

 it is sometimes carried to a length not easy to 

 follow. But in neither is fact subordinated 

 to theory, and both are notable for their clear, 

 positive, full discussion of the practical phases 

 of their subjects. In reading the book one is 

 impressed again and again by the remarkable 

 advances that have been made of late in the 

 spirit and method of biological teaching, and 

 also by the great amount that has been done, 

 through such books as this and others, for the 

 guidance of the teacher of biology. Obviously 

 the method of the leaders is far ahead of the 

 general practise, and it is the task of the im- 

 mediate future to bring the latter more closely 

 into touch with the former. 



Professor Lloyd's chapters deal with the 

 value of biology in education, with nature 

 study (which requires particular attention in 

 these days of shallow and lying ' nature 

 books '), with the value of botany in secondary 

 education and with the proper content of a 

 botanical course. The author refers to the 

 development of the popular idea which has 

 been so disastrous to the educational interests 

 of this science, that, in the words of a writer 

 of 1829, ' botany is peculiarly fitted for girls' 

 schools, and is admirably adapted to the tastes, 

 feelings and capacities of females ' ; and all of 

 us will agree with Professor Lloyd that the 

 subject must be made to stand, ' in some part 

 at least, for plain, old-fashioned discipline.' 

 There can be no doubt that it is along this 

 line the educational salvation of the subject 

 must be worked out. When botany and zool- 

 ogy aim to teach the love of nature, or the 

 wisdom of the Creator, or a habit of observa- 



tion, or anything whatsoever exce^ot a knowl- 

 edge of the facts and a training in the meth- 

 ods of study in those sciences, they are lost. 

 In the chapter on the various types of botan- 

 ical courses the author gives his strong support 

 to the synthetic course, that which disregards 

 the conventional divisions of the subject and 

 selects the most important parts of the science 

 for educational use, a matter which will be 

 rendered the easier in the future through the 

 rapidly growing disregard of the same con- 

 ventional boundaries by investigators. It is a 

 question, however, whether our author is not 

 too severe in his judgment upon the ' sys- 

 tematic ' course, which, after all, was what the 

 teacher made it, and which gave some, even if 

 not the greatest, opportunity to a teacher of 

 good spirit. Chapters on the method of 

 thought, and upon general principles to be 

 emphasized in this teaching (the raison d'etre 

 of the limitations of the chapters being not 

 always plain), lead to the most important chap- 

 ter of the book, the ' detailed discussion of the 

 course in botany for the high school.' This 

 discussion is more detailed, practical and gen- 

 erally excellent than anything heretofore at- 

 tempted, a notable and new feature being the 

 frequent references to where scientific studies 

 of the commonly used materials may be found. 

 Sections upon the laboratory and its equip- 

 ment and materials, and upon botanical books 

 complete this valuable work. 



Professor Bigelow's part is somewhat more 

 direct and simple in style than his colleague's, 

 chiefly because of a lesser attempt at method 

 analysis. His chapters deal with the educa- 

 tional value, the subject-matter, the laboratory 

 method in the teaching of zoology, and the 

 relation of the animal nature study and human 

 physiology of the elementary school to high 

 school zoology. The author does not minimize, 

 but faces squarely, the practical difiiculties of 

 teaching zoology in the high school, which are 

 undoubtedly considerable, and it is interesting 

 to observe that he, like his colleague, argues 

 for more intensity of work in the subject as 

 essential to the realization of its full value. 

 Other chapters deal with the elementary 

 course, the selection of types for study, an 

 outline for an elementary course, zoological 



