Laboratory Work in Schools and Colleges* 107 



tunity for a student to develop his individuality under the imme- 

 diate direction of a capable teacher. 



The educational ladder which has its lowest rung in the kin- 

 dergarten and its higher steps in the universities and among ad- 

 vanced thinkers, includes, not quite a third of the way up, the 

 high school. 



Why must there be, at this point, such a complete interrup- 

 tion of a system so well begun? Why can we not substitute 

 charts, relief maps, models and modelling, specimens of anatomy 

 and natural history, manikins and pictures, for a large part of 

 our present text books, placing the work table in place of the 

 desk and the machine-shop in the place of the class-room, and 

 pay, further, more attention to physical culture, more attention 

 to the health, morals and manners of such students* than these 

 branches now receive ? 



In the present state of school education here such a move looks 

 radical, even to an enthusiast; yet a sentiment in this direction is 

 already being felt in the most progressive schools of our older 

 states, lessening, thereby, the desire on the part of well-to-do 

 parents to cut short the high school training of their children and 

 place them where they can get a broader and more just educa- 

 tion. 



In conclusion let us hope that the time is not far distant when 

 the self hood within us will get more of a chance to assert itself, 

 when the natural gifts which now lie latent within us may be en- 

 couraged to kinetic force and originality may conquer parrotism. 



F. L. Washburn. 



ON ACCIDENTALLY INTRODUCED FORMS OF 



ANiMALS. 



Illustrations ot the way in which exotic species are acciden- 

 tally introduced into a country, have at various times attracted my 

 attention. 



Some years ago one of the local papers, in an interior county 

 ol California, contained a paragraph giving an account of the dis- 

 covery, by a resident of the place, of a small egg in a bunch of 

 bananas. The egg, it was stated, subsequently hatched, and a 

 young alligator made its appearance. 



Of course the alligator conclusion was altogether absurd, and 

 the mental picture of an alligator climbing a banana or any other 

 kind of tree is highly amusing, unless the bunches of bananas in 

 some parts of the world are considerate enough to come down 

 and await the pleasure of Mrs. Alligator, etc., and afterward re- 

 turn to their proper places. It goes without saying that these 

 large saurians do not climb trees or frequent tree-tops. Again, 

 the eggs of these huge monsters are not small, but are about the 

 size of a goose egg, though more cylindrical or elongated, and 



