Chapter XIV: Part III: Science (1)

PSYCHOLOGICAL ORDER OF STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SCIENTIFIC TEACHING.

By DOROTHEA BEALE.

As Rosencranz expresses it, there may be distinguished three epochs:--

I. The intuitive--I use the word with the German meaning of
sense-perception.

II. The imaginative, during which the developing mind is more
accustomed to dwell on mental images, is less passive to impressions,
more active in calling them up, in fashioning them anew.

III. The logical, during which the impulse is to harmonise the world
without and the world within, to fit all things into a scheme of
space and time, of order and law.

Regarding these, we may ask what is the thought-material in which the developing mind may best work successively--or if we take the same material, in what varying way shall we deal with it? The near objects which the children can touch and taste and see objectively, these are the first things which call forth the attention, that self-activity by which the mind fastens on its prey, and converts percepts into concepts; as the jelly fish catches the floating prey in its tentacles, and absorbs it into its substance, so the child stores up experiences and memories which enrich all future percepts.

[Botany.]

What subject of systematic study can be better suited to the child then, than that which calls out its sense of wonder and beauty, and which in harmony with its own restless nature is ever changing; in which is found endless variety with underlying order? Surely the world of flowers is specially suited for teaching the little ones. How the colours and forms delight them--has not the first sight of a flower remained with many of us through life, “a joy for ever”? It is for us to teach how to observe, so that the memories shall be not mere vague impressions, but clear-cut, accurate, lasting: all the senses must combine to give unity and completeness to the sense-concept, so that the child may feel the beauty, enter into loving sympathy with Nature, and perfect that “inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude”. Children should be led to form collections, by which the first observations may be repeated and fulfilled; they should also learn to draw, so that not merely the individual, but the essential, the typical may be brought into clearness; we should, too, encourage in them the desire to co-operate with Nature in making the earth beautiful, and call out the affections towards the Unseen Giver of all good things.

These are a few of the reasons why botany in its simplest forms is fit nourishment for the child. The hard names, the intricate divisions into classes and orders, the physiology of growing plants can be touched on only lightly; but the power of observation can be greatly developed, and the main facts of classificatory botany can be taught, and teaching full of interest given as regards structure, growth, seed distribution and relations to the insect world. Mrs. Bell’s Science Ladders form a good introduction. When we have exhausted our material, so far as the little child is capable of understanding, it is better to turn to some fresh subject; we may later, when the mind is ripe for these things, take the subject up again. Children whose eyes have been opened, will be able to go into the country, and note down the things they have seen. Diaries I have seen quite beautifully kept by poor children taught at the House of Education at Ambleside. The children knew the different buds as they came out on the trees, and watched the delicate and deepening tints, saw the leaf-buds develop into leaves, and the opening of the flowers.

[Zoology.]

Elementary botany should, I think, be followed by a year of zoology (say at ten years old), treated in a simple way; the teacher should dwell not upon the internal structure, but on what presents itself to the eye, beginning with living creatures that the children are familiar with, or can get to know--domestic animals, “beasties” from garden and pond, caterpillars and birds, tadpoles and dragon-flies--they should have their menageries, and watch the creatures’ habits. Especially suited to women is the work of observing insect life, and there are worlds for us to discover, if we, as we walk round our garden, have eyes to see.

The animal world too is specially calculated to develop the affections rightly. The character of the human being is too complex, too far above the understanding of the child, and as long as he is dependent, he should not be exercised in observing and chronicling the doings of those whom he cannot yet understand. It is something to give him objects, on which he can exercise his powers of criticism and observation. So too the sense of responsibility may be fostered towards those who depend upon him, and are in his power.

[Astronomy.]

These two sciences bring the child into contact with things on the earth; he might next lift up his eyes to the heavens. It delights the child to learn the names of the constellations, and trace their forms, to notice the movements of the planets, the changing aspect of the sky as the years go round. The sense of the greatness of the universe gradually dawns on him, and the awe and reverence for that power and wisdom which is revealed in the heavens, prepares the way for those deeper teachings which belong to religion. Especially stimulating is astronomy to the developing reflective powers, from the number and variety of problems it suggests; and yet it is not altogether baffling, for the child can be led on to draw conclusions respecting the movements and distances of the heavenly bodies; very early he can be shown how to solve such questions by simple processes, and thus the mathematical passion awakened; surely most of us can remember the first time that our soul really ascended into the seventh heaven. I have heard a mathematician describe what it was to him--how at fourteen he fled from the school into the fields to be alone.

[Physical geography.]

And what next? There is something near to the child, which he can touch, which lies at his feet, a magic book with mysterious characters, in which he reads of infinite time; let him open the pages of the great rock-book, and gather the relics of the past. Geology will help him to observe in a new way; astronomy and geology (I use it in the sense of earth-history) are more suited than the two first to the beginning of the reflective period, because there is nothing to be done to alter the objects of the two last sciences--whereas we can do much, and observe the effect of our doings on plants and animals.

Physiography, including geology and all that has to do with the phenomena of Nature included under the head of physical geography, would claim a two years’ course and unify the subjects already touched on: the pupil will learn many facts on physical science.

And now the girl, say about fifteen, with an increasing power of abstraction and reflection, and a greater knowledge of mathematics, will be ready to receive more formal and definite instruction regarding what we call matter and force--elementary physics; the subjects of light and heat, electricity or chemistry might be selected; the girl is becoming the woman--the reflective powers are gaining the ascendant--she is longing to interpret more than to gain ever more knowledge, she understands something of physics and chemistry; let her return now to her first study and carry it still further, see the mysteries of life revealed in the flower, take physiological botany, the chemical changes produced by the physical processes, watch the plants as they grow, and trace the relation of flower and insect, plant and animal--recognise that all-embracing intelligence working in all, which has harmonised not only the outward things, but the intelligence of every living creature, and made each able more or less to know the laws of their life and to obey them. The developing and deepening religious instinct will find utterances from heaven in these earthly things, hear the voice of God among the trees of the garden. Later still we can pass into the inner temple, treat of physiology, show how marvellous is the living tabernacle of the soul, how fitted for our temporary abode.

It is objected by some that physiology should not be studied because it involves the whole circle of sciences, whilst others regard it as the most necessary and fundamental branch of instruction. Experienced teachers know that much of great educative and practical value can be given on the lines of Mrs. Bell’s _Laws of Health_, and brought home to comparatively uneducated people by the tracts of the Ladies’ Health Society, and we all know how important it is for those who are growing into womanhood, that the subject should be treated with the wisdom and judgment and reverence which it demands.

On the later stages of the teaching of natural science I do not propose to dwell. Those who take up science as a speciality will have to limit the field, and others will be guided by circumstances, but whatever special line they may follow later, such a course of study must surely have nourished the powers of the mind, developed the sympathies, disciplined the character, enlarged the horizon beyond the petty concerns which occupy the whole attention of the uneducated of all sorts and conditions. The woman who has really thought about these things, when she travels will see things with different eyes, she will understand enough to profit by the companionship of able and thoughtful men, and later perhaps to share it may be a man’s work as Miss Herschel, and Mrs. Huggins, and Mrs. Proctor, and Mrs. Marshall, and Mrs. Sidgwick and many more--to be the friend of her brothers and the first teacher of her sons--and she will surely have learned the first lesson of wisdom, the humility which knows that all we know is to know that our knowledge is as nothing in the presence of the Infinite, that if any man think that he knows, he knows nothing as he ought to know it.

I have worked out the order in detail in respect to science; it will be enough to touch very briefly on the parallel teachings in other subjects, which must also be taught scientifically.

Take, _e.g._, language. The child is ever observing and imitating; restless activity characterises the child.

The teacher has to perfect the observing powers by insisting on right pronunciation, as I have shown in another chapter, first in English, then in another language; knowledge is first empirical.

Next will follow, not grammatical definitions and rules to be learned, but the discovery of classification, just as in the case of botany, through observation--the discovery of rules inductively; then, when the need is felt for a shortening of the process, the collections made by grammarians may be produced, as the book of dried specimens, say of ferns, which the child had not time and opportunity to collect for herself. Afterwards will come reading and reflection upon the relationship of words, like the systems of scientific classification of flowers, and later the age of poetry and philosophy. It is the giving the grammatical abstractions to children who are at the stage of observation merely, which creates the distaste for school learning; it is the giving dead languages at a time when children are at the active, intuitive age, and have not the powers of thought necessary to disentangle the classical authors, that makes so much of our teaching a failure.

So with history. First the simple tales, _e.g._, Jack and the Giant--no complications of character there--good and bad, black and white--stories of fairies and hobgoblins, beings so unlike ourselves, that we are not troubled too much with moral scruples; they are like dream people. Then old-world heroes, in whom the moral emerges--not the priggish boys and girls, to cramp the character, but boys and girls, writ large. Then passing from the individual to the general, the specimen to the species, we have family life enlarged to the state under a kingly constitution, as in ancient patriarchal times, the first teachings of which are best gathered from the Old Testament. As in the nature teachings we shall lead children to feel underlying all, the sense as of an unseen presence, a King of Kings ruling the course of this world, leading and guiding the mind of man to work with Him as in the nature realm. And lastly in the highest teachings, which have to do, not with the objective surroundings, but with the man himself, with his thoughts and aspirations, with the expression of these in literature, in art, in ethics, and politics, and philosophy, the student will find enough to develop the highest powers of thought, as he wrestles with the problems of life, when he has reached the later period of study.

And the same order is observed in religion. The objective first--the Divine acts seen in nature, in the acts of the good, in the punishment of evil; at first the thought of God is more objective, since it must be so in the early life of the child under parental government. Later more subjective, through conscience. Sin is at first regarded chiefly as an act against a loving person, later it is felt to be the degradation of our nature, or that of others, by taking in a poison as it were; or as ἁμαρτια, the frustration of the true ends of our being, the exclusion from the light and life and joy of the Divine presence, which is the soul’s sunlight, into outer darkness--the conceptions formed will be different, the underlying truths one, the thoughts will pass from the physical to the panpsychical, and later to the highest conceivable by us--the anthropomorphic, stripped of the transitory and the finite, but embracing all those eternal things by which we know that we are more than creatures of time, since we gladly throw from us all that would then be our highest good, for the things which eye sees not and ear hears not, but which can come to us by revelation only of the spiritual; things which all men, in all ages, have felt to be the best, whatever their actions may have been, truth, love, righteousness, justice, the eternal things.

The worst man knows in his conscience more
Than the best man does, whom we bow before.

THE TEACHING OF THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES.

By CHARLOTTE L. LAURIE.

[Introduction.]

The biological sciences deal with the manifestations of life. This distinguishes them at once from the physical and chemical sciences; not, indeed, that it is possible to understand the life of any organism without some knowledge of physics and chemistry; thus to explain intelligibly the circulation of the blood some acquaintance with mechanics is necessary, but organisms have certain properties which belong to them from the very fact of their being endowed with life; the inherent properties of protoplasm, its contractility, irritability, etc., are all vital properties due to the presence of life.

The first point then that a teacher of biology has to decide in order to teach this subject rightly is: What is it possible to teach about life? Is this nineteenth century with its marvellous electrical discoveries any nearer the secret of life? Although it may fairly be claimed that the manifestations of life are better understood, yet scientists will be the first to confess that what life itself is still remains a mystery; _therefore_ the teacher of biology must never be satisfied without arousing in the minds of his pupils a growing consciousness of the limitations of knowledge, the basis of true reverence. Any teaching of science, not only of biology, which fails to do this is defective.

[Development of observation (_a_) in class and home work.]

The teacher of biology then will desire first of all to develop a reverent attitude of mind, so that the facts of life may be understood aright. Observation of vital phenomena is by no means an easy thing; it needs much accuracy, constant patience and minute attention to detail. In school teaching the foundations of accurate observation ought to be laid. Botany affords much scope for this. In planning lessons, in choosing specimens for home work, the teacher should aim at developing this faculty. A lesson on a buttercup may very well be followed by home work on a marsh marigold. The two plants belong to the same order and have great similarity in structure, but certain important differences; the tendency of unobservant pupils will be to conclude that the same description will apply to both, and possibly nectaries will be described as present on the sepals of the marsh marigold instead of on the carpels, etc. As a rule, home work should demand original observation on the part of the pupils; it should not be a mere repetition of what has been done in class; thus, supposing the sweet-pea has been worked through in class, clover may be set for home work, provided of course that the class is sufficiently advanced.

Then, as regards the observation of vital phenomena, it is possible to show that plants, like animals, take in oxygen. The details of “Garreau’s experiment” can be contrived even in schools where there is no physiological laboratory; with a water plant such as _Anacharis_, the evolution of oxygen in the making of starch can be demonstrated; and with such a simple thing as yeast growing in sugar and water, it is easy to show that carbonic acid gas is given off by fungi; more elaborate experiments are necessary to demonstrate the evolution of this gas by green plants. The teacher should always point out any similarity of process in plants and animals; transpiration of plants should be compared with the perspiration of animals, so that after a few lessons on the physiology of plants, it is possible to indicate the essential differences between plants and animals as far as they are known.

In zoology, as in botany, the teacher should aim at developing the power of observation, but zoology is a much more difficult subject to teach well; for it is not always possible to get animals for observation, consequently lessons in zoology are often dry; they are wanting in that living interest which comes not from book study, but from watching the animal itself. Where, however, this has been done, keen interest is aroused. A teacher who has spent hours off the coasts of Devonshire, pulling sea-anemones out of the crevices of the rocks, or watching them expand their tentacles and draw them in, will give a very different lesson from one who has merely read about a sea-anemone.

A class, having lessons in zoology, should have access to an aquarium, which can be kept in the class-room, and in planning a course on this subject, especially for young children, it is most important to choose those types which can be observed. In a first year’s course for children of ten or eleven, preference should be given to the habits of the animals, and structure introduced only so far as is necessary to explain habit. Living specimens for lessons may be obtained from aquaria in Jersey, Birmingham and elsewhere.

[(_b_) By means of field work.]

It is not possible, however, to do all that ought to be done in developing observation within the limits of an hour a week in a schoolroom. The teacher of botany or zoology should be willing to organise expeditions into the country for botanising or pond grubbing. Here we have a Field Club, consisting of three or four sections: botanical, geological, zoological, archæological. The teacher of each subject is naturally the leader of the section, and is thus able to arouse a keener interest than is possible in the class-room alone. A yearly conversazione, when collections are exhibited, gives zest to the working of the sections, brings all the members of the club together, and affords an opportunity for obtaining a lecture from some original worker. It is found that if 200 belong to a school society of this kind, each member subscribing one shilling a year, a conversazione can be held, and prizes for collections given out of the funds of the society; each member bears in addition her share of the expense of an expedition; but the less expensive and the nearer home these are, the better.

[(_c_) Through a museum.]

An excellent means of arousing a real interest in science lessons, and of developing the observation, is to have a school museum. That part of the museum devoted to natural history should combine two functions; it should have perfect specimens of the chief types of animal life arranged morphologically; for instance, the covering organs, such as scales of fishes, feathers of birds, hair of animals, should be grouped together, so that the homology of these organs can be seen at a glance; secondly, the museum should have surplus specimens specially intended for teaching purposes. One specimen will not serve these two purposes; for the only way of preserving any specimen in its perfection is to keep it under lock and key in a glass case, which _must_ be air- and dust-tight. As soon as a specimen is taken out and passed about from teacher to teacher and from class to class, it will inevitably get damaged, as the curator of many a school museum can testify.

What share can the pupils take in the museum work? They may furnish specimens, but here the difficulty is to get them perfect enough; children require to be trained to aim at a standard of perfection, and in this particular the school museum may do valuable work; at the same time if the curator demands too much, the ardour of the children becomes damped; so it is sometimes well to accept an imperfect specimen, and put it in the museum until a more perfect one is forthcoming. Pupils can also do much useful work in making diagrams and drawings; every specimen in the science portion of the museum should be drawn, and parts explained by means of an accompanying diagram. Reference may here be made to the scheme at the end of this paper for a specimen museum case, illustrating the flowering plant. It has been drawn up on the lines of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, where, as is well known, great attention is paid by Sir William Flower to the homology of organs. This scheme has been carried out in our museum; almost every specimen has been illustrated with a drawing done by pupils, the scientific explanation being written by the teacher. In the first instance, as the case was being arranged, specimens and diagrams were merely _pinned_, not gummed, so that as the work progressed it was possible to alter and improve upon the first arrangement.

[(_d_) Use of microscopes.]

In connection with the development of observation, a word may be said about the use of the microscope in schools. Every school should have at least one microscope, if even it has only one or two powers; a great deal can be done with a 1-inch and 2-inch objectives. At present many girls take the course required by the University of Oxford for the Senior Local without having seen a single structure under the microscope. This ought not to be, especially now that microscopes are so inexpensive (a microscope with 1-inch and ¹⁄₄-inch objectives can be obtained for £3 6s.).

There is considerable difficulty in managing microscope work with large classes; not more than two pupils, or at the most three, can work at a microscope at the same time, and where there are only one or two microscopes in a school, the simplest plan is for the teacher of botany to have pupils out singly, whilst the rest of the class are doing paper work at their desks. Lantern slides are an immense help in class work, but they cannot altogether take the place of the microscope, and it is very important that elder pupils likely to do anything at science should learn to manipulate the microscope.

[Order of lessons.]

In no subject is it more necessary to plan lessons carefully than in science, for not only does the development of the observing faculty depend on a right sequence, but the scope of science is ever widening.

Biology alone includes at the present time subdivisions which hardly existed thirty years ago. Teachers of botany now have to find time for vegetable morphology, histology and physiology, for the life-histories of plants as well as for the descriptions necessary to classification. At the same time there are other considerations, besides a right sequence, which must be borne in mind in planning a course. Theoretically, it would be best in botany to begin with a description of the plant as a whole; root, stem, leaf, flower, branch, and the relation of these parts to each other, should be the subject of the first lessons. But children of ten or eleven could hardly be expected to be interested in learning that a leaf is a lateral appendage of a stem, and a branch an axillary outgrowth, whereas they are fascinated by flowers, and enjoy lessons about the visits of insects to flowers, etc. Undoubtedly with young children it would be wiser to begin with the flower and gradually lead up to the plant as a whole. The teacher, too, must be guided to some extent at any rate by his own individuality. In a subject as wide as botany some minds are attracted by one part, some by another; one teacher can be so luminous in his account of structure and its adaptation to function that the children are in their turn interested, especially if minute structure is seen through the microscope, and the delight of drawing forms part of the lesson. Another teacher revels in classification, and loves to point out the resemblances between plants of one order and those of another.

There must be, and it is almost impossible to over-emphasise this, a certain sequence, a certain gradation, a definite plan, on which the lessons are arranged; but this plan, this sequence should be the teacher’s own, it should be the outcome of his own individuality; he will best teach what most interests him, hence he had better follow his own order than that of any text-book, however excellent. In higher classes, where the work is arranged on examination lines, the teacher has a definite syllabus for his guidance; but even in this case there is play for his individuality, and nothing can dispense with this. He must be always reading the new books on his subject; he must keep himself in touch with the new work that is being done through visiting museums, botanical gardens, working in laboratories, etc., so as to be keen about his subject, otherwise his lessons will be dull and lifeless, and the unforgivable sin in a teacher is dulness.

[Science cultivates the faculties of imagination and reasoning.]

Although teachers of biology will naturally attach much importance to the development of observation, it is very necessary to remember that observation is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. If teachers aim only at cultivating the faculty of observation, they are likely to produce pupils who will make good collectors (a work not to be despised), but nothing more. The accurate observation of facts is absolutely necessary, but it is by no means the only thing to be done in science teaching. The power of generalisation, from the facts collected, should follow if science is to advance at all. It may be thought that this cannot be done in school work, but surely some attempt should be made in this direction, for it is most necessary that pupils should be taught to understand, to some extent at any rate, when a generalisation is sound and when unsound. This is specially the case in teaching physiology; for instance, pupils are most interested in hearing something of the cell theory of the body, and can quite appreciate the bearing of the discovery, that the walls of the capillary blood-vessels are composed of cells, on this theory.

Science is not a matter merely of memory and accurate observation, it needs considerable reasoning power and much imagination, for without the power of seeing resemblances in facts, _i.e._, true induction, progress is impossible. The theory of evolution, which has revolutionised not only science, but the whole thought of the present day, could never have been formulated had Darwin and Wallace been mere observers, however accurate, and in this connection a science teacher may be allowed to bear witness to the importance of the Humanities in the training of the mind. As a scholar of Shrewsbury Grammar School, Darwin had little training in science, but possibly without the mental discipline of the classics, he would have been unable to accomplish what he did for science in later life; for the higher walks of science require much imagination. In science lessons pupils may be called on to devise experiments for themselves, to invent diagrams, to find out resemblances, to note dissimilarities, in order to develop the faculty of imagination. Speaking very generally, in younger classes the aim of the teacher will be to cultivate the faculty of observation, in the upper to develop not only observation, but the imagination and power of reasoning.

NOTES OF A SPECIMEN LESSON ON GROWTH OF SEEDLINGS FOR SENIOR OXFORD CLASS.

_Time--one hour._

In a previous lesson the structure of the seed of bean, maize and sunflower has been given.

Material required:--

A. Seedlings of bean, maize and sunflower, ten days old; one of each
kind for each pupil.

B. Seedlings of the above, three weeks old.

C. Seedlings grown in different media; water, sawdust, soil.

1. _The Seedlings of the Broad Bean_ should first be examined.

(_a_) The radicle, observed in the seed, has given rise to the
primary root, on which possibly lateral roots have begun to develop.
This is an instance of a true tap root.

(_b_) The plumule is beginning to form the stem.

(_c_) The cotyledons are gradually getting smaller, for the seedling
is feeding on them.

These points should be emphasised by means of the blackboard, the pupils themselves drawing the seedlings as exactly as possible, always naming each part.

2. _Seedlings of Sunflower._--These the pupils should describe as far as possible by themselves. They should notice from the green colour and absence of soil on the cotyledons that they are above ground, and that there is a portion of the seedling between the cotyledons and the beginning of the root; this the teacher tells them is called the hypocotyledonary portion of the stem, and the pupils ought to be able from previous lessons to explain the word, or even to make it up for themselves.

3. _Seedlings of Maize._--Here the pupils will be able to describe by themselves the endosperm and the primary root, provided that only one root has shown itself. If the lateral roots have begun to develop, the teacher must explain which are lateral and which primary, and point out the difference between the primary root of this seedling and that of the bean and sunflower. It should be noticed that there is only one cotyledon, and here the point to emphasise is, that the bean and sunflower live on the food contained in, or made by, the cotyledons; the maize on the food present in the endosperm.

The seedlings three weeks old should then be compared with those already observed, the differences in length of radicle and plumule being noted.

The observation of these seedlings will naturally suggest the subject of growth. What is growth? By judicious questioning the teacher will show that it is impossible to define it, except by its manifestations in plants and animals; it is associated with the taking in of food; then by comparing the growth of a building or rock with that of a plant and animal, it will be possible to give some idea of growth by accretion as distinct from growth by assimilation; thus the mystery of growth will be gradually approached, the teacher pointing out that growth is only possible where there is life. This should be illustrated in every possible way, _e.g._, growth of the body, of the mind, of a school, a nation, etc.

Lastly, the effect of environment on growth will be illustrated by the seedlings grown in different media.

The home work in connection with this lesson should consist of: (1) Descriptions of seedlings; instead of maize, wheat may be given; nasturtium instead of bean; these the teacher must have ready for distribution; a drawing of each should be insisted on, with parts named; (2) Short notes on the conditions of growth and its essential nature.

The children should also be invited to grow seedlings for themselves; these should be exhibited in subsequent lessons.

LIST OF BOOKS ON BOTANY.

(A) TEXT-BOOKS FOR CLASS USE.

_Elementary Botany._ By Joseph Oliver. 2/-. Blackie. Useful for S.
Kensington and London Matriculation.

_Elementary Text-book of Botany._ By Edith Aitkin. 4/6. Longmans.
This is specially suitable for Senior Oxford Course.

_Student’s Introductory Handbook of Systematic Botany_ (Blackie’s
Science Text-books). By Joseph Oliver. 4/6. This is one of the best
text-books for Group E of Cambridge Women’s Examination.

_Practical Elementary Biology._ By Bidgood. 4/6. Longmans. This gives
most of the types, animal as well as vegetable, required for the
Biology of Group E of Cambridge Women’s Examination.

(B) FOR TEACHERS.

_Naked-eye Botany._ With Illustrations and Floral Problems. By F. E.
Kitchener. 2/6. Percival & Co. Very useful for teachers of younger
classes; it is most suggestive.

_A Manual of Botany._ By Reynolds Green. Churchill. Vol. i.
Morphology and Anatomy. 7/6. Vol. ii. Classification and Physiology.
10/-. Very helpful for London Examination work.

_The Natural History of Plants._ From the German of Kerner von
Marilaun. Translated by F. W. Oliver. 4 vols. 12/6 each. Blackie.
This is a very readable book, full of suggestion and beautiful
drawings, and not too technical.

_Handbook of the British Flora._ By Bentham. Vol. i., 10/6.
_Illustrations of the British Flora_, vol. ii., 10/6. Reeve & Co.
This is indispensable for the identification of species.

_A Student’s Text-book of Botany._ By Vines. 21/-. Sonnenschein.

_Practical Botany._ By Bower and Vines. 10/6. Macmillan. Both of
these are very technical, suitable only for advanced work.

MUSEUM SPECIMEN CASE.

BOTANY.

ANGIOSPERMS OR FLOWERING PLANTS.

ROOT.

Tap Root.--Seedling of Sunflower.

Primary Root.--Seedling of Maize (not a tap root).

[Histology of root.]

Drawing of transverse section of a dicotyledonous root, showing axial
arrangement of bundles.

[Development of bundles.]

Illustrated by drawings of transverse sections of young and old roots.

[Origin of lateral roots.]

Drawing through long section of root, showing lateral roots arising
from pericycle.

[Forms of roots.]

Drawings of carrot, turnip, orchid, etc.

STEM.

(_a_) Underground stems.

Rhizome--Solomon’s Seal.

Bulb--Long: Section of _Ranunculus bulbosus_.

Corm--Long: Section of crocus.

Tubers--Drawing of potato in different stages of growth.

Runner--Drawing of strawberry.

(_b_) Histology of stem.

Drawings of transverse and longitudinal sections of monocotyledonous
and dicotyledonous stems.

Specimens of bast fibres of hemp, Mexican aloe, lace tree.

(_c_) Axillary outgrowths of stem or modified branches.

Tendrils--Sweet bryony.

Thorns--Black thorn and gorse.

LEAVES.

1. Drawing of poppy plant in five different stages, showing
cotyledons, foliage and floral leaves, in illustration of Goethe’s
generalisation, “all lateral appendages of the stem are leaves”.

2. Cotyledons. Seedlings of mustard, cress, nasturtium, etc. Drawings
of bean to show fleshy cotyledons. Seedling of maize.

3. Covering leaves.

(_a_) Bud scales from horse chestnut.

(_b_) Bracts forming an involucre as in the wild carrot, black
knapweed, acorn.

4. Foliage leaves.

A typical leaf with parts named.

Drawing of transverse section.

Arrangement of foliage leaves, alternate and whorled (including
opposite).

The chief types of “simple divided” and “compound” leaves should be
mounted.

Chief modifications of foliage leaves:--

(_a_) Tendrils for climbing--Vetch.

Petiole developed into tendril--Lathyrus aphaca (rare).

(_b_) Spines--Barberry.

(_c_) For food, _e.g._, carnivorous plants, sundew, pitcher plant,
bladder-wort.

(_d_) Modifications due to the medium in which the plant lives--Water
crowfoot.

THE FLOWER.

I. _Inflorescences._--A specimen and diagram of each.

Racemose. (1) Capitulum, _e.g._, daisy; (2) raceme, _e.g._, lily of
the valley; (3) spike, _e.g._, wheat.

Cymose. 1. Dichotomous, _e.g._, most of the Caryophyllaceæ.

2. Helicoid cyme. Forget-me-not.

3. Scorpioid cyme. Rock-rose.

4. Verticillaster. Dead nettle.

II. _Flower._--Drawings (coloured alike throughout) to show
hypogynous, perigynous and epigynous flower.

Calyx--Spurred, larkspur; galeate, monkshood.

Corolla--Papilionaceous, sweet-pea; bilabiate, dead nettle; rotate,
convolvulus; cruciform, wall-flower.

Andrœcium--Diadelphous, sweet-pea; monadelphous, mallow;
didynamous, dead nettle; tetradynamous, wall-flower. Attachment of
anthers--drawings.

Ovaries--Diagram of monocarpellary and unilocular, tricarpellary
and unilocular, polycarpellary and unilocular, polycarpellary and
multilocular; free central.

Ovules--Drawing of orthotropous, anatropous and campylotropous--each
part of the ovule coloured the same throughout.

FERTILISATION.

The two forms of primrose to show heterostylism.

Drawing of figwort to show protogyny.

Drawing of epilobium angustifolium to show protandry.

Nectaries--Drawings of petal of buttercup, stamens of wall-flower,
stamens of violet, carpel of marsh marigold, style of coltsfoot;
nectaries coloured blue throughout.

FRUITS.

A specimen and explanatory diagram of each.

Dry Indehiscent. Dry Dehiscent. Succulent.
Nut-- Follicle-- Berry--
Hazel. Marsh marigold. Drawing of
Acorn. gooseberry.
Achene-- Legume--
Corn buttercup. Sweet-pea.
Yellow goat’s beard. Capsule-- Drupe--
Clematis. Thlaspi arvense. Drawing of peach.
Schizocarps-- Shepherd’s purse.
Geranium and Violet.
umbelliferæ. Porous Capsule--
Poppy.

SPURIOUS FRUITS.

Pome--Apple; Hip--Rose; Haw--Hawthorn, etc., etc.

Modes of Dehiscence of Fruits. Diagram of

Septicidal--specimen of datura.
Loculicidal-- „ „ horse chestnut.
Septifragal-- „ „ cruciferæ.

SEED.

Bean (_a_) with testa; (_b_) without testa.
Maize (_a_) with pericarp; (_b_) without pericarp.
Date cut through to show position of embryo.
Coffee „ „ „ „ „ „ „
Walnut to show cotyledons.

DISPERSION OF SEEDS.

1. _Wings._-- Scale attached to seed of pinus.
Wing attached to fruit of sycamore and ash.
Seed of Bignonia alba.

2. _Hairs._--_E.g._, silky hairs of seed of cotton and epilobium.
Pappus of compositæ (fruit).
Awns of clematis (fruit).

3. _Hooks._-- Bristles of geum.

GEOGRAPHY.

By MARGERY REID, B.Sc. (Lond.).

[Aim in teaching.]

It is a vexed question how far the study of geography should be looked upon as a training for the mind, or whether its primary function be not to supply material on which the trained mind may work.

This difficulty may be to some extent solved by dividing the geography teaching into two distinct branches--physical and general geography.

If this be not done it will be found that the general geography lesson is overloaded with a mass of explanations of physical phenomena.

Thus, in a general lesson on the climate of India, it detracts from the unity of the subject if the teacher is obliged to make a digression to explain the theory of barometric pressures, but, presupposing this scientific knowledge, references to the special application of it are within the bounds of the lesson.

[Physical geography.]

The first course in physical geography should consist of lessons requiring only observation of phenomena with which the children are well acquainted.

[Observation and experiment.]

In a town like Cheltenham, situated within walking distance of the source of the Thames, the subject of the watershed dividing the small streams flowing into the Severn from those flowing into the Thames, forms a much better subject for observation and reasoning than the form and movements of the earth. Simple experiments also may be performed, but artificial conditions should as far as possible be avoided. Thus in a lesson on the principles of evaporation, the children may be made to observe the gradual drying of a cloth, but if heat artificially obtained be used to hasten the operation, the object-lesson loses the greater part of its value.

[Style of written work.]

At the beginning of this course the work should be almost entirely that of observation and simple reasoning, but it is well to insist from the very first that exercises either spoken or written should be good in form as well as in matter. The composition should be as terse as is compatible with clearness, though this applies rather to the description of experiments than observations, for in the case of an observation, if we are to minimise the danger of overlooking the true cause, all accidental circumstances must be carefully noted.

The difference between an observation and experiment should be carefully explained, and the children should be shown that whereas in an observation we have to listen to whatever Nature says, an experiment is a question so framed that Nature will answer “Yes” or “No,” and that we must only ask one question at a time. Thus we may ask the question: “Is water-vapour lighter than air?” We boil water in a kettle and the visible cloud appears above the spout showing that the invisible vapour must have risen as it left the kettle. The question asked was “Does water-vapour rise through the air?” and the answer is “Yes”. The children should then write a description of the experiment with as close attention to form as though it were a proposition of Euclid.

_Experiment._ To prove that water-vapour is lighter than air.

_Apparatus._ A kettle containing water and a spirit lamp.

_Method._ Place kettle on spirit lamp, light lamp and boil the water.

_Result._ Water-vapour issues from the spout in an invisible form and
becomes visible as a cloud some little distance above the level of
the spout.

_Deduction._ That water-vapour is lighter than air.

_Subject-matter of the earliest course in Physical Geography._

This course should include lessons on the following subjects:--

[Subject-matter of early course in physical geography.]

1. Clouds: introducing the foregoing experiment to show why they occur high up in the atmosphere and how they are produced.

2. Rain, snow, hail, etc.: the different conditions under which clouds discharge their moisture.

3. Winds, with only such simple facts about their causes as can be shown by the movements of air or draughts in a room. If tissue paper be cut into fine strips, and held at different points in a room in which is a fire, the draught towards the fire may be simply demonstrated and also the draught up the chimney.

4. The sea: its saltness, the rising and the falling of the tide and the fact that high tide is later by nearly an hour every day, also that some tides rise higher and retire lower than others. (Causes of tides should not be touched upon till later.) Waves and their causes.

[Definitions.]

As this course proceeds the children should be exercised in the making of good definitions. It is a mistake to think that definitions must be given by the teacher. It is well to ask one child what she means by the word to be defined. Write the definition on the board, and then, by means of a series of questions to the children, criticise all those points which are superfluous in the definition given. Having eliminated all these, let the teacher take the definition as it now stands, and by giving examples of all the facts which come under it, show that it is probably a great deal too wide, and draw from the children gradually all the necessary limitations.

A definition so obtained will be easily remembered, and, as the children get practice in framing them, they will appreciate the meaning and neatness of a clear definition.

In the later part of this course the physical features of countries may be introduced, and the children should get clear conceptions and accurate definitions of terms commonly used in geography, such as mountains, valleys, plains, islands, capes, etc., and they should both be shown models and allowed themselves to make them.

The simpler facts concerning the work of rivers and other forces modifying the surface of the land will also find a place among these lessons.

The physical geography which should follow this preliminary work must of course be modified to suit the age and intelligence of the pupils.

[Later course in physical geography.]

Physical and chemical experiments may now be introduced, and the mathematical side of the subject will be more insisted upon as the children begin to learn algebra and geometry.

The illustrations also need no longer be drawn from the child’s immediate surroundings, but may be the result of reading, or of description on the part of the teacher, and whereas in the lesson general laws are arrived at from special cases, in the home work the class should be encouraged to search for new cases illustrating the laws.

These later courses should be preceded by simple work on the physical and chemical properties of air and water. The form and movements of the earth should be treated of, and with the help of a tellurium most of the simple facts may be made clear, and the phenomena of the seasons and the varying length of day and night may be demonstrated. The nature of the proof of the earth’s movement round the sun is appreciated by few, and the children should be encouraged to make for themselves some of the observations on which it is based.

Thus they might be expected to keep an account of the groups of stars seen due south every evening at a given hour. The change of constellations will stimulate their curiosity, and it will not be necessary to wait for the whole year before giving them some explanation. Or they might be asked to keep a register of the varying length of the shadow of a stick at noon for three months. The fact could then easily be drawn from the children that the sun is at some times higher in the heavens than at others, but they would almost certainly have to be helped to find out the reason.

The meaning and use of the various lines ordinarily drawn on a globe may now be given.

[The atmosphere: pressure and temperature.]

After this work on the earth as a planet, its gaseous envelope should next be studied, _i.e._, the atmosphere, its composition, pressure and temperature, and the instruments used for measuring them. In an earlier course the instrument and its use will be enough to deal with; in a course to older pupils the construction and correction of the instruments may be considered.

The children might keep a chart of both temperature and pressure for a month, and at the end of that time be taught to find the average temperature for the month, and to understand the methods for showing variations of the barometer used in the leading daily papers. The nature of isobars and isotherms should also be explained, and the isobars for July and January should be filled into two maps and kept for use later. A map with isotherms filled in should also be given, and the children encouraged to find reasons for the curves in any given line.

[Winds.]

They will now be prepared to understand the laws treating of movements of the atmosphere. With younger classes only the more important winds should be taken, such as cyclones and anti-cyclones, land and sea breezes, trade and anti-trade winds and monsoons, whilst the older classes should be led to observe the local variations arising from peculiar circumstances.

When the principles are grasped, an exercise might be given to indicate with arrows the direction of the wind on the maps on which they have already marked the isobars.

[Ocean depths.]

The water envelope of the world will next demand attention, _i.e._, the depth of the ocean and its deposits. This at first sight will appear to the children to be a subject about which they cannot possibly be expected to have any knowledge, but by a short recapitulation of the work of rivers treated in the preliminary course, the fact of the necessary existence of a continental shelf may be drawn from them, as also the fact that the breadth of this shelf will depend on the slope of the continent in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, and on the amount of deposit made by rivers.

A wall map contoured to show depths in the Atlantic should be shown to the class, and the instruments should be described used in investigating depth and nature of the deposits on the ocean floor. With an older class the nature of the evidence with regard to the belief in the permanence of ocean basins may be touched upon.

Saltness of sea and causes regulating it. Various seas should be compared with regard to their salinity.

[Tides.]

The tides. Their causes; spring and neap tides; reason for high tide being fifty-four minutes later each day. The subject of the tidal wave as experienced in England requires careful treatment, as many text-books leave the impression on the minds of children that the tidal wave in the North Sea travels from east to west, and that the shores of the Baltic are experiencing low tide when the eastern coast of England is having a high tide.

[Currents.]

Currents. Causes of currents should be sought in the movements of the atmosphere. The class should be asked to indicate on the map showing winds, which they drew to illustrate a previous lesson, the effects of the trade and anti-trade winds in the production of currents. Attention must then be drawn to the way in which the position of the land modifies the currents so produced, and thus the class may gradually evolve a chart of the currents of the Atlantic. For an exercise they may be given a chart of the currents of the Pacific and asked for the causes of the direction of the currents.

[Land.]

The teacher must then proceed to the more complex subject of the physical features of the land.

Mountains produced by folding; their position with regard to the ocean. Volcanoes and their distribution.

Hills produced by denudation.

Plains and valleys.

Rivers; their work and the various causes determining their volume, velocity and course.

Springs.

Islands.

Climate. Temperature and rainfall.

Distribution of plants and animals.

* * * * *

[General geography.]

The order of treatment of the general geography of various countries does not vary, and consequently, notes of a first term’s course will sufficiently indicate the lines of later work. Opinions differ as to whether it is better to begin with the study of a continent or a smaller division of land.

_Lesson I._ Before the actual course begins, the children should have a preliminary lesson on the making of plans and the use of scales. A plan of the schoolroom and of the immediate surroundings has now-a-days generally been made by children whilst still in the Kindergarten, but if so, a little recapitulation will do no harm before a first lesson on the nature and meaning of a map.

The teacher’s preparation should be done several weeks in advance, so that no point essential to a later lesson may be omitted in its proper place.

[Position of places on earth’s surface.]

_Lesson II._ For the second lesson an outline map of the continent or country to be studied is given to the children with the lines of latitude and longitude. If the work has not already been done in a physical course, the meaning of latitude and longitude should be clearly explained. After having shown that the distance between the equator and either of the poles is divided into 90 degrees, a sphere may now be taken, and by rough measurement the two parallels corresponding to those through the top and bottom of the given map may be drawn upon it. After a short description of what we mean by longitude, the longitude of the given country is then indicated on the sphere, and the use of the two sets of lines to show exact position on the earth will be appreciated. If it be not a first course, the position of the given country may be compared with others equidistant from the equator, or on the same meridian.

In this lesson may also be introduced a few words about the temperature of the given country so far as it is dependent on latitude.

_Lesson III._ Height above sea level.

[Contouring.]

For this lesson the teacher should have drawn and painted for the class a map of the continent being studied, with contour lines marked in two different colours or with two different kinds of lines. (Too great detail only tends to confuse the children.)

The first contour line should be drawn joining all places 500 feet above the sea level, and the second joining all those places 1500 feet above sea level. Each child should then be provided with one of these maps, and a wall map similarly contoured and also coloured should be hung on the wall.

The teacher then explains the nature of contour lines, and shows that if that part of the map between the 500 contour line and the sea be coloured green, the coloured part will represent all that part of the land which is less than 500 feet high, that is, generally speaking, the plains. That part between the 500 and 1500 contour lines is then coloured light brown, and all those areas enclosed within the 1500 contour line a darker brown. When the maps are coloured, and each child has her own, they may then be taught how to read a map so coloured. The teacher will draw from the class that if the contour lines come close together the ground slopes very rapidly, but that the slope is more gradual when the contour lines are more widely separated--that the greatest height of the land lies near the greater ocean, and that the more gradual slope is towards the smaller ocean, and that this allows of the development of larger but slower rivers than those flowing down the steeper slope.