52 Ecology as a Subject for Teaching. 
single lecture. After that the teacher would he reduced to the 
mere descriptive part, of which there is a vast quantity, and which 
can be understood without any thought at all, and to the speculative 
part. How he would deal with the last depends on his individual 
temperament. Some would state the dogmas as facts and insist 
on their accurate reproduction in the examination room ; the 
intellectual powers of few students would stand such a strain. 
Others would state them with much reserve, but the reservations 
and qualifications would he so numerous that listening to the 
lecture would be intolerable, and the average elementary student’s 
touching faith in the omniscience of his or her teacher would be 
seriously disturbed. The most satisfactory solution would probably 
be to drop the dogmas altogether and convert the course into a 
series of interesting magic lantern entertainments. The residual 
effect on the mind would probably be zero, but this is the best 
result that could be expected. 
There remains the question of the conveyance of information. 
This means an insistence on the descriptive part of the subject, 
which is an important scientific work in itself, ranking with 
stratigraphical geology. A difficulty must, however, not be over¬ 
looked. Associations are mainly specified by their dominants, and 
most dominants in this country are grasses and sedges. Often, 
as in the case of Agrostis v:ilgavis and A. alba, a wide ecological 
difference is associated with minute external characters. To 
distinguish associations a sound knowledge of these groups is there¬ 
fore necessary, and this implies an extensive field training. To 
make even the rudiments intelligible to the average student would 
take at least two summers, the first being for the most part 
devoted to the task of learning to recognise the easier dicotyledons. 
After this ecology could profitably be taught, but by that time the 
student would be in his third year and regarded by most people 
as beyond the elementary stage. Thus in any case it seems 
impossible to include ecology as a set subject in an elementary 
course, though an increased amount of field botany might well he 
taught and certain ecological ideas imparted in connection with 
other subjects. I understand, however, that the last is done already. 
In an advanced course the matter is quite different. The 
student is already prepared with enough knowledge to appreciate 
the differences between the plants considered, and can glean 
suggestions for research at every point of the descriptive part of 
the subject. Then ecology can be taught with profit. When 
