Reconstruction of Elementary Botanical Teaching . 53 
vast amount of structural detail which is really inessential and 
indeed useless to anyone but the comparative morphologist may 
be more satisfying, at all events at its first impression, than the 
collection of quantitative and qualitative data which result from a 
physiological study, because of the greater concreteness of the 
mental images produced. But it is often found that students who 
have been attracted at first to comparative morphology later 
transfer their attention to the physiological side when they realise 
its state of active development. And the greater appeal at first 
of the complete picture formed in the mind by a thorough study of 
structure is certainly no argument against the treatment from 
a physiological standpoint of the material (which is necessarily 
mainly structural) of an elementary course in which the object 
should he to give a picture of the plant as a living organism. A 
desire to know “ how things work ” is exhibited by most active 
youthful minds unless they have been stunted in this direction by 
a too severely literary training. It is to this mental character¬ 
istic that a more physiological treatment of the elementary 
course would appeal, especially as it can be shown—until at 
least we reach the “ higher synthesis ” of morphology and 
physiology—that both the main line of progress of the subject and 
contact with practical life lie in this direction. 
The question of treatment is not, of course, quite simple. Some 
of the difficulties, such as that of physiological work with large 
classes, are only concerned with special conditions, and do 
not affect the question as to the direction in which an ideal 
elementary class lies. The difficulty of large classes can be 
surmounted to a certain extent by the demonstration of physio¬ 
logical experiments, but there is no doubt that large classes, 
except under the very best conditions, of ample space, an adequate 
staff of demonstrators, etc., are inimical to the most satisfactory 
teaching. Then again there is the difficulty that most of the 
fundamental processes of plants cannot yet be fully explained 
in terms of chemistry and physics, and that for the proper 
consideration of some processes a knowledge of the more 
recondite aspects of physical chemistry is necessary. There is how¬ 
ever a very considerable body of physiological knowledge, not 
requiring for its due appreciation a special knowledge of other 
sciences, which might be incorporated in elementary work. There 
can be no doubt that a teacher concentrating his attention on the 
presentation of aspects of the subject other than comparative 
