1892.] f Botany. 957 
plished, as the perfectness of outline of the synergidæ amply testify. 
The upper vacuole shows a contraction toward the upper extremity of 
the embryonal sac, and is more oval in outline. At this stage, also, 
the upper polar nucleus exhibits retarded action in its descent toward 
its counterpart from below, even in many cases refusing descent until 
after or about the fertilization period. 
Botanical Teachers and Text-Books.—At its best, the 
botanical text-book is a necessary evil. One student and one teacher 
is the ideal college. The time-worn epigram of Garfield about Mark 
Hopkins and the log contains the gist of the matter. But where the 
class-system is necessary our few great teachers are brought into con- 
tact with the multitude of learners by means of the text-books. A 
man’s personality is, however, rarely caught in print. The peculiar 
charm of his presence and the inspiration of his own living enthus- 
iasm is lost, while, in its stead, there may be but a dry collection of 
ex-cathedra facts and generalizations. Therefore, one must supple- 
ment the cold repast with something appetizing and warm of one’s 
own, if one has anything of one’s own to offer. And in this connec- 
tion it may be well to emphasize the necessity of interest and intelli- 
gence on the part of the teacher. Of course, an uninterested teacher 
is forever an uninteresting teacher. A teacher who is content with 
“ hearing the lesson” is an enemy of education. The idea which some 
have that the text-book is the teacher and that the individual by 
courtesy named “teacher,” or sometimes “ professor,” is merely a kind 
of intellectual galvanometer which indicates by a series of figures 
running from one to ten whether the electric current of information 
from text-book to pupil is relatively strong or weak; this idea, be it 
respectfully said, is so ingeniously perverted that it quite commands 
our admiration. Deliver us from botanical teachers who hear the 
lessons.—Conway MacMiLuan, in Education. 
