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1894.] Zoology in the High School. 1007 
force by the master-teacher of modern biology, Professor Hux- 
ey, who, in the revised edition of his Course in Practical 
Biology, begins with the frog and works downward. That 
the experience of American teachers does not lead them to 
attach so much importance to the objection is shown by the 
fact that all of the authors of our best laboratory manuals— 
such as those of Dodge, Bumpus, Brooks and Boyer—have 
adopted the method of proceeding from below upward, and I 
think the practice of a majority of biological teachers points 
in the same direction. Possibly the aptness of American 
boys and girls in mastering such details as those of micro- 
scopic technique may account for the difference in the prac- 
tice. 
A serious objection to beginning the study of zoology with 
the frog or any higher animal is that it involves putting the 
student to the work of dissection before his interest is aroused. 
To many boys and more girls this is sufficient to give them a 
dislike to the whole subject. But if they first study living 
animals by watching their movements beneath the microscope, 
their interest can be so aroused that they can be led to simple 
dissections without difficulty. Many of them, indeed, will be 
so charmed with the work that they will echo the sentiment of 
the young lady at a leading New England college who „is 
credited the enthusiastic remark that “ Earthworms are per- 
fectly lovely, especially the inside.” 
The teacher should adopt one of the newer laboratory 
guides, selecting the one that seems best adapted to the needs 
of the class and the time to be given to the subject, and having 
devoted a preliminary exercise to the use of the microscope, 
should start the students in individual studies of the types 
treated of in the guide. Abundance of material should be 
provided, and the students should be taught to rely upon their 
own resources to as great an extent as possible. At first they 
will need constant assistance, but later they will become more 
independent. Drawings and full notes are to be required. 
An important part of the educational value of a laboratory 
course in biology depends on the requirements as to the stu- 
dent’s notes. If one adopts the somewhat common practice of 
