6 
PREFACE. 
has been the author’s main incitement in the prepara¬ 
tion of this rudimentary work. 
It is needful here to state that the method of in¬ 
struction developed in these pages is no mere educa¬ 
tional novelty; it was tested and its fitness for the 
end proposed shown in practice by Prof. J. S. Hen- 
slow, of Cambridge, England. My attention was first 
drawn to it as I was looking about in the educational 
department of the South Kensington Museum, in 
London. In a show-case of botanical specimens, I 
noticed some slates covered with childish handwrit¬ 
ing, which proved to be illustrations of a method of 
teaching Botany to the young. They were furnished 
by Prof. Henslow for the International Exhibition of 
1851. He died without publishing his method, but 
not without having subjected it to thorough practi¬ 
cal trial. He had gathered together a class of poor 
country children, in the parish where he officiated as 
clergyman, and taught them Botany by a plan simi¬ 
lar to the present, though less simplified. The re¬ 
sults of this experiment have been given to the public 
by Df. J. D. Hooker, Superintendent of the Botan¬ 
ical Gardens at Kew, who was summoned to give 
evidence upon the subject before a Parliamentary 
Commission on Education. 
The following interesting passages from his testi¬ 
mony will give an idea of Prof. Henslow’s method 
of proceeding and its results; 
