386 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
simpler types of flower ; it would form as real an introduction to 
natural knowledge as is school work in Latin to the study of 
languages and literature. 
Perhaps the chief objection to botany lies in the fact that 
there is still so much that is uncertain in the department of 
vegetable physiology, and the consideration of the plant asa 
living organism is quite essential to the profitable study 
of the subject. But this disadvantage may be in great measure 
counterbalanced by introducing at some part of the course a 
certain amount of zoological work, either human physiology or 
what is now known as “general elementary biology,” that is, the 
study of selected types of both animals and plants of various 
degrees of complexity, in their physiological as well as in their 
morphological aspects. Human physiology has the advantage 
of dealing with the problems of one’s own organisation, and 
therefore of being readily brought home to the pupil; elemen- 
tary biology has the advantage of furnishing a comparison 
between the two groups of living things and of giving a clearer 
conception of many fundamental biological problems than can 
be obtained from the study of botany alone or of that ofa highly 
organised animal like man. 
It was upon such considerations as these that the biology 
syllabus for Matriculation and Junior Scholarships was devised. 
Animal physiology is introduced into the matriculation scheme 
as an alternative subject, but for junior scholarships it was 
thought desirable to insist upon some knowledge of animal as 
well as of vegetable organisation, of microscopical as well as of 
naked-eye structure. It was assumed that the candidates for 
these scholarships would be the picked pupils of the schools, and 
that it would not be a very out-of-the-way thing for the small 
number of candidates in each year to do a certain amount of 
special work not included in the ordinary school curriculum. 
Mr. Thomson’s objection to dissection and microscope work for 
large classes of young people is perfectly valid, and is one I have 
myself urged ; but I can see no difficulty in putting say a dozen 
boys or girls through all the biological work for junior scholar- — 
ships in from 60 to 100 lessons of an hour each. Withafewvery — 
simple precautions, the mess caused by the dissection of a cray- 
fish is a very small difficulty, not worth considering in a school 
where practical chemistry is taught. To my mind the most 
serious objecvion to the scheme is one which Mr. Thomson does 
not bring forward, namely the risk of ruining young eyes by 
microscope work. 
Mr. Thomson very properly says that the reproduction and ~ 
development of animals are subjects which cannot well be in-’ — 
troduced into juvenile or mixed classes ; but this difficulty again 
disappears when we are concerned with a few senior pupils of 
one sex. The whole question is of course a very difficult one, 
but I quite fail to see the necessity, in the interests of morality, — 
that a boy should learn all he knows about such matters from 
