252 Ohio State Academy of Science 



not be satisfied to give up his class until his pupils are acquainted 

 in a general way with the whole vegetable kingdom and can 

 look with intelligent eyes upon the thousands of plants that sur- 

 round them, from the lowest to the highest, and are acquainted 

 with the great facts that underlie the science of vegetable 

 physiology. 



Zoology is another study that is destined to occupy the 

 attention of our educators in the future to a much greater extent 

 than it has in the past. However, once that the foundation prin- 

 ciples of plant life have been well grounded much less time need 

 be spent on this study than on Botany, in order to give the class 

 as good an understanding of the animal kingdom as they have 

 of the vegetable. 



Nowhere in the whole course of study can such an oppor- 

 tunity be found to emphasize the importance of scientific classi- 

 fication as in the two branches just mentioned. Every successful 

 man has his business systematized, and system means nothing 

 but scientific classification. It seems to me that the teacher 

 who does not bring out this principle misses the greatest oppor- 

 tunity that is offered to him. 



Need anything be said of Mathematics and Phvsics? The 

 former, by unanimous consent has long occupied a most prom- 

 inent place in every course of study, and in recent years the latter 

 has also taken its proper place as is made manifest by the fact 

 that all high school teachers are now required to pass an exam- 

 ination in it before they are given a certificate to teach. This as 

 you are aware only became law at the last session of the Ohio 

 legislature. 



Perhaps greater difficulty will be encountered in the syste- 

 matic introduction of Chemistry into our high schools than in 

 that of any other branch of science. This arises because of two 

 conditions: first the expensive apparatus required, and second, 

 the amount of time necessary for laboratory work, without which 

 Chemistry is of little value. In no other branch of science 

 teaching is there so little system and harmony. Even our colleges 

 and universities can not agree upon what they want for admis- 

 sion. Some require a year's work with plenty of laboratory 

 work, while others require none at all. Still others will accept a 

 year's work, counting it as a science credit, for entrance, yet give 

 no credit for it once the pupil is admitted. So long as this state 

 of affairs exists in the college, little but chaos can be expected of 

 the high schools. 



As yet, the teachers of Chemistry in our high schools are not 

 agreed as to the nature of the work that they should give their 

 pupils. Some think a thorough grounding in the foundation 

 principles of the science should be insisted upon, with a well 



