VI 
PREFACE 
work, i.e., in a year of work with five hours of laboratory work 
weekly. This gives considerable flexibility to the course, since 
certain of the exercises may be omitted; or they may be abbre¬ 
viated or given in the form of demonstrations on the part of the 
teacher. Moreover, an outline which covers more ground than 
the class as a whole can cover, gives much opportunity for 
optional work on the part of those students who work more rapidly 
than the majority, or who have more time to devote to the 
subject. 
The course here outlined has been found to have not only a 
large practical value as a basis for intelligent living, but experi¬ 
ence has shown that it serves also as an excellent introductory 
college course in Zoology, (i) since its practical personal appeal 
is more generally felt by the beginning student, whose knowledge 
of the content of general Zoology is often slight and whose interest 
in and taste for the subject is most naturally developed by 
beginning at the point of personal interest; (2) since the course 
deals not merely with adult Human Anatomy and Physiology but 
involyes a study and comparison of many forms and stages of 
development, and thus gives a basis for understanding Com¬ 
parative Anatomy, Histology, Comparative Physiology, and 
Embryology; (3) since the course gives training in all the usual 
methods of laboratory study, such as the study of dissections, 
macroscopic and microscopic study and interpretation of sections 
in various planes, drawing conclusions from sets of measurements, 
and the performance of a few simple experiments involving the 
use of precise apparatus; and (4) since the course introduces the 
more usual forms of zoological technic, such as the preservation of 
material both for dissection and for microscopic study, the injec¬ 
tion of circulatory systems, the use of the microscope, and the 
preparation of microscope slides by teasing, by smears, and by 
sectioning. 
It is because of the nature of the course as a possible intro¬ 
duction to other work in Zoology that the BNA nomenclature, 
which has in general been followed in these outlines, has been 
departed from somewhat in the descriptive terms of orientation, 
DORSAL, VENTRAL, ANTERIOR, and POSTERIOR, which I have 
endeavored to use consistently in their comparative morpholog- 
