VI PREFACE 



It is impossible ever to state the last thing about any 

 proposition. All knowledge is relative. What is very 

 elementary to one mind may be very technical and ad- 

 vanced to another. It is neither necessary nor desirable 

 to safeguard statements to the beginner by such qualifica- 

 tions as will make them satisfactory to the critical expert 

 in science. The teacher must understand that while 

 accuracy is always essential, the degree of statement is 

 equally important when teaching beginners. 



The value of biology study lies in the work with the 

 actual objects. It is not possible to provide specimens for 

 every point in the work, nor is it always desirable to do so ; 

 for the beginning pupil may not be able to interest himself 

 in the objects, and he may become immersed in details 

 before he has arrived at any general view or reason of the 

 subject. Great care must be exercised that the pupil is 

 not swamped. Mere book work or memory stuffing is 

 useless, and it may dwarf or divert the sympathies of 

 active young minds. 



The present tendency in secondary education is away 

 from the formal technical completion of separate subjects 

 and toward the developing of a workable training in the 

 activities that relate the pupil to his own life. In the 

 natural science field, the tendency is to attach less im- 

 portance to botany and zoology and physiology as such, 

 and to lay greater stress on the processes and adaptations 

 of life as expressed in plants and animals and men. This 

 tendency is a revolt against the laboratory method and 

 research method of the college as it has been impressed 

 into the common schools, for it is not uncommon for the 

 pupil to study botany without really knowing plants, or 

 physiology without knowing himself. Education that is 

 not applicable, that does not put the pupil into touch with 



