T H E 
NEW PHYTOLOGIST 
Vol. 2., No. i. January i6th, 1903. 
TOWARDS AN IDEAL BOTANICAL CURRICULUM. 
Part III. 1 
ADVANCED UNIVERSITY TEACHING. 
T HE conditions governing advanced botanical work, such as 
should lead up to an Honours degree at a University, are, or 
should be, very different from those which obtain in the elementary 
part of a botanical curriculum. The time has definitely passed 
when a candidate for such a degree can hope to have even a decently 
competent knowledge of the whole field covered by the modern 
science of Botany, and the same is true, we imagine, of all other 
branches of science. It may have been possible twenty or perhaps 
even ten years ago ; it is certainly impossible to day, and will become 
more obviously hopeless with every year that sees the continuance 
of the enormously increased and increasing activity in every branch 
of science. The sooner this is explicitly recognised the better for 
both teachers and students. The attempt to “ cover the ground ” 
which is still made in certain quarters, can only result in unmiti¬ 
gated “ cram,” and that worst of its results, the utter weariness of 
a mind which has lost all its freshness in the constant effort to 
store up for examination purposes an endless series of details. It 
is true that there is a type of mind which does attain extraordinary 
success in this kind of occupation. It is the type to which some of 
the most brilliant “ examinees ” under the old system belong, and 
there is no need to disparage the peculiar intellectual powers that 
characterise it. Properly employed, this kind of capacity for the 
absorption and mental pigeon-holing of detailed facts is of the 
greatest use. But it must be insisted that the mere endless 
repetition of this process is in no sense a training in science—the 
student would be almost as usefully employed in acquiring an ex¬ 
haustive knowledge of the various issues of postage stamps in the 
1 Parts I. and II. appeared in June and October, 1902. 
