Reconstruction of Elementary Botanical Teaching. 257 
As far as I am aware such a change of view can be introduced 
to-morrow into the courses in the botanical departments of any 
University in Britain if the head of the department so wishes it, 
with the exception perhaps of the Universities of London and Wales. 
In the case of the former surely the signatories of the memorandum 
have enough influence to effect the changes they desire. We 
who are younger and uninfluential look to them to show us the way. 
1 remain, dear Sir, 
Yours faithfully, 
WALTER STILES. 
Botany Department, Institute of Physiology, 
and 
The University, Leeds University College. London. 
16th November 1918. 
A VOICE FROM THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 
To the Editor of The New Phytologist. 
Sir, 
It has been suggested to me that a contribution to this 
discussion from the point of view of the secondary school teacher 
may be of some interest, and I should like to call attention to one 
aspect of the question which has scarcely been mentioned by 
previous contributors, namely the importance of the method of 
teaching as well as of what is taught. While we are coming more 
and more to consider the plant as a living active organism, let us 
not forget to regard the minds of our pupils in the same light, 
rather than as passive receptacles for receiving knowledge. It 
seems to me that one of the chief values of botany as a subject of 
education is the possibility it affords for training in original 
observation, accuracy, and reasoning; but its usefulness in these 
respects is largely determined by the manner in which it is taught, 
especially in elementary classes. For example, what training in 
observation is afforded by morphology when the method is first to 
give a descriptive lecture on a plant or group of plants, and after¬ 
wards to supply the students with material showing the facts 
mentioned ? Or what practice in reasoning by physiology when it is 
first stated for a fact that certain processes take place in plants, 
and then the students are invited to perform or witness certain 
routine experiments to verify the statements made ? Surely not only 
must the study of function be more closely associated with that of 
structure, but there should also be a far closer union of theory and 
practical work than we have been accustomed to in the past. I 
