PREFACE. 
The following laboratory directions are intended to serve 
as the basis for an introductory course in biological science. 
A student of average adaptibility can complete the laboratory 
work here outlined in one hundred hours. 
The object in view in this course is to familiarize the stu- 
dent with scientific methods of study, to gradually introduce 
the microscope, and to teach the general structure, the life 
history and the more important physiological processes in 
phanerogams. 
Uusatisfactory results in beginning the study of plants 
and animals with such forms as Ameba, Paramecium and 
Spirogyra, led to the composition of these directions for the 
use of students in Hope College six years ago. They have 
been used every year since and have been revised and rewrit- 
ten several times. In revision especial emphasis was laid on 
the practical as well as the logical arrangement of experi- 
ments and other matter and on the needs and difficulties of 
students beginning the study of living beings, as observed in 
personally directing their work in the laboratory. 
After completing the laboratory work on any given sub- 
ject, the student is referred to literature selected from various 
