HYATT: REPORT OF THE CURATOR. 
51 
on Wednesday afternoons in addition to those on Saturdays. A 
class in laboratory work, also conducted by Mr. Grabau and directly 
connected with these held excursions, is held on Saturdays at 
9 o’clock, with an attendance of about twenty persons. These 
courses have been developed out of the efforts of a Boston lady to 
furnish the public with better guidance in the Museum, and are a 
great and welcome addition to the public usefulness both of our 
Museum and of the Teachers’ School of Science. 
Lowell Free Courses. 
The held course in geology, begun in the spring of 1896, was the 
last series of ten lessons in a three years’ course. The more distant 
points visited were Haverhill, Mount Holyoke, and Wachuset. The 
two former occupied one day each, and the last three days. The 
average attendance at these lessons was twenty-seven. In the 
autumn of 1896 a new held course was begun, and a series of ten 
lessons given. The more distant points visited were Marblehead, 
the region about Mount Greylock, and Iloosac tunnel. The last 
trip occupied two days and was extraordinarily successful, the 
attendance being 89. The average attendance at these lessons was 
73.4. The spring course for- 1897 was begun, April 24, with an 
attendance of 35 persons. 
The regular laboratory course in geology began the first Saturday 
in December and finished April 10. Fifteen lectures and exercises 
were given, and the subject of petrology was hnished, this being the 
third year in a four years’ course. The attendance at these classes 
is larger than upon any other subject. The class numbered 139, 
the average attendance was 100. The usual examinations have 
been held, and the results as in previous years were satisfactory. 
Dr. Robert W. Greenleaf gave a series of lessons upon “ The 
principles of classification of flowering plants,” beginning November 
7, 1896, and ending March 13, 1897. The topics were as follows: 
(1) Fundamental characters involved in the relative positions of 
leaf and stem, plan of the flower, embryonic conditions, etc.; (2) 
Environmental characters ; color of flower, stem, and leaf in relation 
to surroundings, etc. It should be remembered that these lessons, 
like all others in the Teachers’ School of Science, are strictly objec¬ 
tive, dealing with plants themselves, which the pupils observe, study, 
and draw in the laboratory under the direction of the lecturer. 
