A Botanical Curriculum . 3 
afresh in his mind before he can actually begin to teach with effect; 
he must, that is, make up his own mind in what directions his know¬ 
ledge has to be expanded and strengthened, and have the means to 
do what is needed in these directions for himself; he cannot dole 
out to his unfortunate pupils the contents of “ cram ” lecture note¬ 
books : and he should be in the best position to do his own 
remoulding if he has gained the right perspective of the whole 
subject from a really good elementary course. And now if to this 
he has been able to add the experience, the wider and deeper views 
of one or more branches of his subject, gained from a real training 
in the right sort of advanced work, he will inevitably teach with 
the added power and conviction that are brought by a really 
thorough, living, and fundamental knowledge, even of a small part of 
a subject. This of course is only another way of saying that a 
genuine scientific training makes a better teacher of a man than 
the most exhaustive course of instruction in the mere “ end-results ” 
of other people’s work; a proposition which will appear sufficiently 
obvious to some of our readers, but which has certainly not been 
a guiding maxim in framing many of the current degree-examination 
systems. 
What then, is the exact nature of the ideal advanced curriculum 
in which students should be trained, preparatory to taking an honours 
degree in botany ? We believe that such a curriculum can only be 
properly conducted by specialists in various branches ot the science, 
giving independent courses on their own subjects. Each should aim 
in the first place at giving the students an exact idea of the current 
state of the particular department in question. The teacher should 
begin by building up the subject on its natural foundations, relating 
it to adjacent subject matter, “placing” it in fact, and too much 
attention cannot be paid to the careful logical enunciation of the 
fundamental ideas concerned. The subject should be developed in 
its “ etat actuel,” established principles being related to those which 
are still in the hypothetical stage, and to the nearer problems as yet 
unsolved, principles should be illustrated by observation or experi¬ 
ment in the laboratory or in the field, and at the same 
time every opportunity should be taken of getting the students 
themselves to push our knowledge a little further forward. It is 
only by thus leading a student, so to speak, along the border-line 
between the known and the unknown, that the full meaning of the 
scientific method in its actual working can be brought home to him, 
and only when this has been done, when he has lived so to speak in 
